Marc Aplin's Blog, page 255
January 14, 2014
The Grendel Affair by Lisa Shearin
New York City. The city that never sleeps is also the first one to be invaded by aliens, face end-of-the-world natural disasters, or signal the beginning of human extinction by some out-of-control technological creation. So, of course it is fitting for NYC to take center stage in a new urban fantasy series where a secret […]
January 13, 2014
The Whatnot by Stefan Bachmann
I can only imagine that after writing an astonishing debut novel (and one of Fantasy-Faction’s best of 2013), it would be difficult to maintain such high quality in any subsequent books. The pressure must be immense. There is no way but down, right? Thankfully author Stefan Bachmann neatly sidesteps this problem with The Whatnot, the […]
Game of Thrones Season 4: Trailer
The trailer for season 4 of Game of Thrones is up and available to be enjoyed! The trailer begins with the deluded King Joffrey celebrating his recent marriage to Margaery Tyrell and declaring that “They know I saved the city, they know I won the war,” before Jaime Lannister tells the truth of it: “The […]
January 12, 2014
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
It’s been a year since Peter Jackson took us back to Middle Earth and Bilbo Baggins set out on An Unexpected Journey. After mixed reviews, the consensus seemed to be that Tolkien fans were largely disappointed with the adaptation, which seems inevitable when such a beloved classic is presented to fans through someone else’s eyes. […]
Half A King by Joe Abercrombie gets a cover!
I’ve been waiting to say this for agesssssss and finally I can! Half A King, Joe Abercrmbie’s upcoming novel aimed at young adults, has got a cover! The reason I was so interested in this cover is because a different publishing house is taking over the publishing of Joe’s Young Adult novels (and, therefore, covers), so […]
January 6, 2014
Your New Year Writing Resolutions
Every January, for more years than I care to admit, I would rather infamously declare to my closest friends that my New Year’s resolution was “to write THE book”. For me it was a declaration of how seriously I took trying to get published but to my friends it seemed like an empty promise, made […]
January 5, 2014
Top Anticipated Fantasy Books For 2014 – Publishers’ Choice
Every year, in addition to our own Most Anticipated list, we invite the world’s top fantasy publishers to let us know what novels from their following year’s list they are most excited about and which they think us fantasy readers should be looking out for. Although each of these publishing houses are rival businesses, it […]
January 4, 2014
Authors, Reviews and Commenting
Most of the advice I’ve seen for authors is not to read reviews, although by no means all. I’m going to disagree and say it’s a useful practice but you’d be wise to put on your armour before you do and remember that a review is an opinion. One person’s opinion, and that person could […]
January 3, 2014
My Neighbor Totoro
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the family-favourite animated movie, My Neighbour Totoro, Viz Media published the story in novel format, as well as featuring a new edition of the previous picture book. Released in 1988, My Neighbour Totoro was the third movie of Studio Ghibli, producers of other highly successful and beloved titles like […]
My Neighbour Totoro
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the family-favourite animated movie, My Neighbour Totoro, Viz Media published the story in novel format, as well as featuring a new edition of the previous picture book. Released in 1988, My Neighbour Totoro was the third movie of Studio Ghibli, producers of other highly successful and beloved titles like […]
