Marc Aplin's Blog, page 224
July 3, 2014
Crossing the Borders – Guest Post by Adrian Tchaikovsky
When I write a fantasy setting, it stays written. Ten books now, in the Shadows of the Apt series, and I’m still trading on the world-building that took place before the first one. New vistas, new kinden, new technological developments, but it all flows from the ground rules I determined right at the start. Even […]
July 2, 2014
Free China Mieville Story & Confirmation of New Anthology
It seems like a long time since we’ve read something aimed at adults by China Mieville, and even longer since we read a short story – but finally his publishers have put us out of our misery and confirmed that a new collection is coming in June 2015. Rumors initially settled on the final third of […]
The Oathbreaker’s Shadow by Amy McCulloch
The Oathbreaker’s Shadow is a book written by one of the country’s most renowned and talented editors, Amy McCullough of Harper Voyager. That’s right; adviser has become applicant in a bold move that surely places a lot of pressure on her shoulders to perform. You see, over the years Amy has worked on books by […]
June 30, 2014
Raven’s Banquet – Free First Chapter…
A few years ago, Clifford Beal delighted readers with his historical fantasy novel Gideon’s Angel. This first book was set at the end of the English Civil war (mid 1650′s) with King Charles having just ‘died’ and Oliver Cromwell ruling as King in all but name. We meet an exiled soldier-for-hire to the fallen King […]
June 29, 2014
The Crimson Campaign by Brian McClellan
The second book in Brian McClellan’s Powder Mage Trilogy, The Crimson Campaign, is graced by a cover – and quote – that swaggers onto the scene with a unique blend of machismo and world-weariness. Designed by Lauren Panepinto, the cover depicts Tamas, one of four primary point-of-view characters in the series, in the midst of […]
June 28, 2014
Mining the Data: Genre and Gender
A few weeks ago, publishing savant and all-around Wonder Woman Jane Friedman shared incredibly interesting data she’d collected about debut authors, by genre and gender. Her intent was to examine the question of whether gender was linked to the type of advance a debut author earned. While the insights in that respect are certainly intriguing […]
June 27, 2014
The Philosophy of Writing and Reading
phi·los·o·phy, n: The study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline. The word philosophy derives from the Greek philo (“loving”) and sophia (“knowledge, wisdom”). Although the etymology of the word would lead us to think that philosophy is the love of knowledge, the term refers to […]
Lee Harris leaves Angry Robot for Tor’s New Imprint
In news I’m both happy about (personally) and worried about (as a genre fan), Lee Harris has left Angry Robot to join Tor’s new imprint, The Imprint. Firstly, the thing I’m happy about is that Lee Harris is one heck of an editor. He and Marc Gasgoigne have built Angry Robot from nothing into one of […]
Prince of Fools by Mark Lawrence
As with most of my reviews, this post contains spoilers, but for no more than the first 1/4 of the book. Because so many reviews of this book are out there I wanted to do a bit more in-depth as to what you can expect. Jalan has never had to think about anybody but himself. […]
June 25, 2014
Atlantis, We Meet Again!
The mythical lost continent of Atlantis is a staple of the fantasy genre, from the science romances of Jules Verne and Arthur Conan Doyle to the swords and sorcery of the early pulps, through Tolkien’s epic prose and into the popular culture of today, including Disney, Marvel and DC comics, and more. The story of […]
