Marc Aplin's Blog, page 251
January 21, 2014
Woman Sculpts Smaug the Dragon Out of ‘The Hobbit’ Pages
Within ‘The Hobbit’, J.R.R. Tolkien used words to craft one of the most memorable fantastical beasts all time; the massive, fire-breathing Dragon, Smaug. One reader wasn’t content to use just those words and her imagination to shape our good friend, Smaug, though – oh no! Victoria, an artist based out of Denmark who specialises in […]
Women Kick Arse in WotF (Again!)
In a genre that often sparks debate over fairness to each sex – whether it is the representation within stories, the amount that get published or the amount of that get read/reviewed – it is great to see that, for the second time in so many years, 3 of the 4 quarter final winners in […]
January 20, 2014
A Dance of Mirrors by David Dalglish
A Dance of Blades was much the same as A Dance of Shadows, in fact, as I mentioned, it wasn’t different enough, in my humble opinion, to warrant an entire book on its own. I wanted something new, something more to challenge Dalglish as an author and me as a reader. Can I say he […]
New trailer for 300: Rise Of An Empire…
Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures have released a new trailer for the highly anticipated sequel to 300, “300: Rise of an Empire”. “After its victory over Leonidas’ 300, the Persian Army under the command of Xerxes marches towards the major Greek city-states. The Democratic city of Athens, first on the path of Xerxes’ army, bases […]
January 19, 2014
Snake-Sticks and Cheap Tricks: Magic versus Miracle
I think one could be forgiven for confusing magic and miracle. If presented with a list of remarkable achievements – walking on water, splitting the moon in half, turning sticks into snakes, pulling rabbits from hats – it’s pretty tough to know whether you’re dealing with one or the other. Jesus is said to have […]
January 18, 2014
Fantastical Creatures of Greco-Roman Mythology: Ophiotaurus
Ah, monsters. Who doesn’t love a good, unique monster now and then? As great as it is to read about another dragon or giant spider, there’s something special about a hero encountering a strange, unknown creature that adds both tension and wonder to a story. That said, coming up with a monster that’s “different” can […]
Fantasy Movies & Games Encouraging Children To Read
We often see on the news or hear from public figures that children are spending too much time in front of screens playing computer games or watching television. Of course, with new media, children are never going to read as much as the they did in the past, but new research suggests that films and […]
January 17, 2014
How I Love Books and Why I Re-Read
Many people read to improve themselves, or to learn things. I read because it’s usually the most fun I can have at any given moment. As to why I re-read, well, I do that because it’s fun too. I refuse to be made guilty about this. Yes, re-reading means I won’t read all the books […]
Cover Art for John Gwynne’s Valour
I’m sure that the vast majority of Fantasy-Faction fans have heard of John Gwynne by now. John is the author of the hugely successful Malice, which won the David Gemmell Morningstar Award for best fantasy debut of 2012. For good reason then the sequel, Valour, has been highly anticipated and is undoubtedly on many of your 2014 […]
Sanderson to Write a Story… Live Tonight!
I was hugely excited to learn that Brandon Sanderson had promised to write live on air for five hours as a thank you to fans and supporters of the Worldbuilders project for helping the organisation meet their goal of $100,000. The reason I got – and still am – so excited about this is because […]
