Marc Aplin's Blog, page 43
August 13, 2020
Nightblade’s Vengeance by Ryan Kirk
Shogun meets the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy. With over a thousand reviews on Amazon, Ryan Kirk’s Nightblade trilogy is perhaps the most popular Asian fantasy, with the exception of Will Wight’s Cradle series. I had listened to book one a couple of years ago, and while I enjoyed the characters, story, and worldbuilding, I didn’t […]
August 12, 2020
TorCon 2020: V. E. Schwab & Neil Gaiman
Editor’s Note: This post is a wee bit late. My June got a bit crazy and this article got lost in the shuffle. Apologies to the authors and organizers for the late posting. – JI Let’s look back for a moment. It’s the middle of June and COVID-19 is still raging across the lands, changing […]
August 11, 2020
Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi
The 21st Century has seen a slew of diverse authors writing and releasing stories that have expanded the speculative fiction canon. Not only have these authors written stories for readers like them, but also presented a deeper look into issues—both past and present—that affect their represented groups. Themes of oppression, slavery, colonialism, poverty, and genocide […]
August 9, 2020
Breaking Chaos by Ben Galley
Spoiler Warning: This review has minor spoilers. Please read with caution if you have yet to finish the book. As I turned, I gave the city one last glower, and saw a faint glow on the edge of the Outsprawls. I was jealous of that ghost, whoever she or he may have been. For they […]
August 6, 2020
The Moonsteel Crown by Stephen Deas – Cover Reveal & Excerpt
This week we are ending on a high note with a cover reveal and excerpt from author extraordinaire: Stephen Deas! His newest book, The Moonsteel Crown, is due out next year from Angry Robot. You may know Stephen from his dragon filled series, Memory of Flames. This book, however, is the first in a new […]
August 4, 2020
Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off #6: The First Five Fall
* Disclaimer * As my friend and colleague GR Matthews has written in these introductions many times, reading is a subjective exercise. Some readers will see classical character and narrative arcs, while others perceive a dull landscape of tired tropes. Whether a book thrills or bores depends as much on the reader as the author—check […]
July 28, 2020
The Museum of Magical Miniatures: Gallery One
With museums and art galleries across the world closed to the public, now seems like a good time to introduce a little virtual museum created just for Fantasy-Faction. Presenting: The Museum of Magical Miniatures! A museum of the mythical, the weird, and the fantastical. In Gallery One we have three miniatures from three different continents. […]
July 27, 2020
Open Letter to WSFS Board and Norman Cates as the Chair of the 2020 WorldCon
Dear WSFS Board members, and dear Norman, As writers, publishers and readers of science fiction and fantasy, we are writing to express our concern that Saudi Arabia has been accepted as a potential host site for the 2022 World Science Fiction Convention (WorldCon). SFF is the great genre of possibilities and pluralities. As readers, writers […]
July 26, 2020
The Glamourist by Luanne G. Smith
The Last Jedi in Paris. Figuring the audience for a fantasy sequel is smaller than that of a book one, I haven’t written a review of one for Fantasy-Faction in quite a long while. However, The Glamourist, Luanne G. Smith’s follow-up to her amazing debut, The Vine Witch, had me so engrossed, it deserved more […]
July 23, 2020
SFF Books by Authors of Color: An Incomplete List of Suggestions
People who know me know I love making book lists. And here is one full of fantasy and science fiction authors of color! When we started lockdown here in Germany, I couldn’t go to work for a couple of weeks, so I had a lot of time on my hands! And so, I started a […]
