Marc Aplin's Blog, page 28

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

“West Side Story meets Fists of Fury.” Australian-born-and-raised, American-educated, ethnically Chinese author Chloe Gong became a social media sensation with her TikToks drumming up anticipation for her YA historical fantasy debut, These Violent Delights. With a title taken from a line in Shakespeare, it should come as no surprise that Simon and Schuster marketed the […]

The Nautilus Ark: A Johnson Corp Odyssey – Critical Role One-Shot Review

As many of you know, I am one of the many fans of Critical Role, a show where a bunch of nerdy ass friends play Dungeons & Dragons. I watch pretty much all of their content (Narrative Telephone anyone?), so when they announced the one-shot lead by cast member Ashley Johnson was going to be […]

Empire of Shadows by Alicia Wanstall-Burke – Cover Reveal

Today we are lucky enough to reveal the cover for the last book in Alicia Wanstall-Burke’s Coraidic Sagas: Empire of Shadows! But first the author herself would like to say a few words. – – – 2014—the year I started writing The Coraidic Sagas—in so many ways, for so many reasons, feels like a lifetime […]

Miss Percy’s Pocket Guide to the Care and Feeding of British Dragons by Quenby Olson

I loved this book. I loved this book. I loved this book! I went back over the reviews I’ve written for Fantasy-Faction and found I’ve used love to describe aspects of books I enjoyed, but I haven’t flat out said “I loved this book” without caveats or equivocations on this site. Precedent broken. If you […]

Burn Red Skies by Kerstin Espinosa Rosero – Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off #7: Round One 1st Place Winner

And today we come to the end of Round One in the 7th Annual Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO) with our pick for the winner of the semi-finals! Congratulations to Kerstin Espinosa Rosero and Burn Red Skies! This book will go on to the finalist and compete against nine other books to be the winner of […]

Seasons of Albadone by Élan Marché and Christopher Warman – Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off #7: Round One 2nd Place Semi-Finalist

After much deliberation we have come to our picks for our Round One semi-finalists! This year was tricky, because each judge picked a different book as their overall favorite, meaning our second place book is actually two books! This is a review for one, you can find the review for the other here. If you […]

Dragon Mage by M. L. Spencer – Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off #7: Round One 2nd Place Semi-Finalist

After much deliberation we have come to our picks for our Round One semi-finalists! This year was tricky, because each judge picked a different book as their overall favorite, meaning our second place book is actually two books! This is a review for one, you can find the review for the other here. If you […]

Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off #7: Round One 4th Place Semi-Finalists

* Disclaimer * Everyone is different and likes and dislikes different things. Reading is no exception. One person’s all-time favorite might seem too bland or too high stakes for another. That being said, the opinions of our judges in this contest are just that, opinions. Just because we let a book go, doesn’t mean it […]

Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off #7: The Last Four Fall

* Disclaimer * Everyone is different and likes and dislikes different things. Reading is no exception. One person’s all-time favorite might seem too bland or too high stakes for another. That being said, the opinions of our judges in this contest are just that, opinions. Just because we let a book go, doesn’t mean it […]

Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Many space operas revolve around space exploration and warfare within a galactic empire; and many individuals are drawn to them due to the spaceships and the space battles. Some of those stories are about threats to humanity, or, at times, a threat to the entire universe. Shards of Earth, the first book in The Final […]