Marc Aplin's Blog, page 36
March 19, 2021
His Dark Materials: Season Two – TV Series Review
Over the years, fans of media adaptations of books had to learn to live with the possibility the sequels and/or the follow ups to TV shows and/or movies would never be made. The opposite of this would be when the sequels were made and released, and the audience was left feeling the same finesse was […]
March 15, 2021
Testament of Steel by Davis Ashura
If Cradle were set in South Asia with elves and dwarves. I had been aware of Davis Ashura as an author of South Asian fantasy for several years and got to see him speak on a panel about diversity in fantasy at DragonCon (before the plague cancelled all the cons). Duly impressed by demeanor and […]
March 11, 2021
Joshua Phillip Johnson Interview – Odyssey Writing Workshop
Today I get the rare chance to interview a fellow fantasy author Joshua Phillip Johnson concerning is debut novel The Forever Sea (DAW, 2021) and how his time at the Odyssey Writing Workshop program helped him pursue his writing dreams. Enjoy! To start, Josh, tell us a little bit about yourself. Hello! I live in […]
March 10, 2021
The SFF Content That Got Me Through 2020 – YouTube & Podcasts
[Editor’s Note: As the author relays below. Last year was A YEAR. Turns out this year has also been A YEAR. Which is why this article is going out in March instead of January. (Completely my fault.) Someday reality will return to a semblance of normalcy. Until then thank all that is good in the […]
March 7, 2021
Lost Gods edited by Joanne Hall and Dolly Garland
They have slept for centuries. Buried. Forgotten. Lost. Until they awake. Or are awoken… When the deities of old return, will they bring blessings or destruction to a time that no longer remembers them? Should they be left to lie in peace, or used for our own ends? Are they gods, or monsters? What lies […]
February 28, 2021
Nether Light by Shaun Paul Stevens – SPFBO #6 Finals Review
Take a journey through a world punished by a dark, imprisoned magic. A world where children are given poison. A world where your talent is decided by the state. A world where reality is breaking down. When refugee Guyen washes up in the land of his enemy, he knows he will fight, but soon finds […]
February 24, 2021
God of Gnomes by Demi Harper
“eSports meets Civilization” I never understood the appeal of eSports, and my every attempt to read LitRPG could be described by Thomas Hobbes: brutish, nasty, and short (the attempts were not solitary, since the other LitRPG books I tried to read were otherwise popular). Enter God of Gnomes, by Demi Harper (aka, Laura Hughes), which […]
February 21, 2021
Last Memoria by Rachel Emma Shaw – SPFBO #6 Finals Review
Sarilla has learnt one thing from stealing memories. Everybody lies. There’s nothing Sarilla hates more than stealing memories, but the king forces her to, just so he can keep his subjects in line. She wants to escape to where nobody knows what she is or what she can do, but her plans go awry when […]
February 18, 2021
The Memory of Souls by Jenn Lyons
Epic stories—especially epic fantasy (the term “saga” is used for science fiction)—are known for their long narration. Epic fantasy stories consist of a slew of characters, layered and complex plots and subplots, and A LOT of worldbuilding—which often includes family trees and timelines of historical events. In the midst of these factors is the recollection […]
February 16, 2021
Oh, That Shotgun Sky by Sarah Chorn
The other night I caught the Cohen Brothers’ remake of True Grit. When I saw it in the theater, I thought it a profound meditation on the price of freedom—that fabled freedom of the Old West, which comes at such a high cost that most of us would choose the safety and strictures of “civilization.” […]
