Marc Aplin's Blog, page 49
February 20, 2020
A Sea of Broken Glass by Sonya M. Black – SPFBO #5 Finals Review
*Disclaimer* Writing and reading are subjective arts. What some folks will absolutely love, others will dislike. It is a bit like Marmite in the UK—normal people dislike it intensely, but some weird folks actually enjoy the taste of warm road surface and fresh roadkill on their tongue. To each their own, I suppose. These are […]
February 18, 2020
2019’s Best New Genre TV Shows
I still remember my childhood, when I wasn’t much interested in TV shows due to their being a pointed lack of sci-fi and fantasy adaptations. But these days not a week goes by when some new genre fiction gets adapted. Original material also keeps springing up left and right. So, it is almost criminal not […]
February 16, 2020
Luanne G. Smith Interview – The Vine Witch
The Vine Witch was an Amazon First Read last September and has since garnered over 3,500 reviews. I picked it up not because I was particularly interested in wine or witches, but rather because it was free with Amazon Prime. Going in with low expectations, I was blown away by the creativity and wordsmithing. In […]
February 12, 2020
Firefly Original Graphic Novel: The Sting by Delilah S. Dawson
If you don’t know anything about me, one thing you should know is that I am a big damn Firefly fan. I just got a Firefly cookbook for my birthday—which you KNOW I’ll be putting out a review once I try Book’s chicken noodle soup and Jayne’s mudder’s milk—and two action figurines—hello, Wash and Zoe, […]
February 10, 2020
G. R. Matthews Interview – Six Kingdoms
G. R. Matthews is a self-published writer with eleven books under his belt. He is also head mod on the Fantasy-Faction Facebook Group and the official Bureau Chief of Fantasy-Faction proper. Recently he signed with Jamie Cowen from Ampersand Agency and now has a manuscript out with an interested publisher! We can’t wait to say, […]
February 6, 2020
Spire – Role-playing Game Review Part One: Core Rulebook
What is Spire? Created by Rowan, Rook and Decard, it’s a weird, dark fantasy RPG about waging a morally grey war of resistance against an oppressive and demented regime. It’s a game of espionage, horror and impossible choices. It’s a bubbling stew of fantasy, steampunk, pulp and sci-fi. Most importantly, it’s bold, bloody and beautiful. […]
February 4, 2020
The Vine Witch by Luanne G. Smith
If Game of Thrones was isolated to the French wine country. I confess, the cover for The Vine Witch didn’t grab my attention, nor did the premise particularly interest me. A witch and a French vineyard? MEH. Besides the old TV show, Bewitched, witch stories have never particularly interested me. And wine? Well, remember the […]
February 2, 2020
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
Zachary Ezra Rawlins, the son of a fortune-teller, is studying for his Masters in Emerging Media (video games). His peaceful, semi-solitary, existence is thrown off course when he checks an old book out of the university library. The book clearly predates Zachary’s birth, but it describes an odd incident from his childhood—a time when he […]
January 30, 2020
Sorcery Reborn by Steve McHugh
Sorcery Reborn is the first in a new series by Steve McHugh. At the same time, it’s sort of a direct sequel to the end of his first series, The Avalon Chronicles. If you are new to the author, I absolutely recommend starting with The Hellequin Chronicles, then The Avalon Chronicles, and only then start […]
January 28, 2020
The Cardboard Box: Women as Protagonists – Guest Blog by R.W.W. Greene
Gentle readers, I will be using wide strokes to paint the picture following. The end work could even be dubbed an abstraction. If you stand back from it and see some representation of truth and reality, great. If all you see are random colors, shapes, and gestures, none of which apply to you, I love […]
