Marc Aplin's Blog, page 50
January 26, 2020
Talk Like A Man by Nisi Shawl
“She would have to do something. Something else besides living. Something more.” PM Press’s Outspoken Authors series, edited by Terry Bisson, is part of the radical indie press’s politically engaged mission, in which they publish some of speculative fiction’s most insightful voices. Each volume concentrates on some of the most provocative and politically engaged of […]
January 23, 2020
Asian Fantasy: SPFBO Edition
With Lunar New Year around the corner, I joined a group chat with SFPBO past and present finalists Rob J. Hayes (Never Die, 2019), Virginia McClain (Blade’s Edge, 2019), M. L. Wang (The Sword of Kaigen, 2019), and K. Bird Lincoln (Tiger Lily, 2017) to discuss English-original Asian fantasy. Due to time zones and deadlines, […]
January 22, 2020
Vita Nostra by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko – Translated by Julia Meitov Hersey
Readers who enjoyed The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins must read Vita Nostra—the first book in the Metamorphosis series. If not, then they are missing out on this mind-bending, anti-Hogwarts, Russian import! We must show our appreciation to Julia Meitov Hersey as well, for translating the […]
January 14, 2020
Books to Read in Fantasy: A Look at Lists
Recently a question was asked in the Fantasy-Faction Facebook Group. This is that question and some of the reasons why its answer looks the same, every time the question is asked. Question: What are the books which you think are a great introduction to fantasy—the books which every fantasy should read throughout their journey? Now, […]
January 12, 2020
Fantasy-Faction’s Best Fantasy Books of 2019
Hello Factioners! I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season full of family, friends, food, and fantasy books! We spent a lot longer working on our Best Of list this year than we normally do, as there were so many amazing titles to choose from. Even after weeks of debate, we couldn’t fit […]
January 9, 2020
January 5, 2020
Mark Lawrence Interview – The Girl and the Stars
Today we are very happy to have back Mark Lawrence! Lawrence is the author of multiple bestselling series: The Broken Empire, The Red Queen’s War, The Book of the Ancestor, Impossible Times trilogy,and his new upcoming trilogy: Book of the Ice. Again, thank you Mr. Lawrence for agreeing to another interview with Fantasy-Faction. What influenced […]
January 2, 2020
Figures Unseen: Selected Stories by Steve Rasnic Tem
Figures Unseen by Steve Rasnic Tem is a collection of horror tales for grownups. Oh sure, if a reader really wants to find them, there are ghosts and werewolves and corpses and other staples of the commercial side of the genre to be found. But there is also a boy on a fishing trip in […]
December 30, 2019
Year in Anime 2019
2019 is coming to its end. Anime has reached new heights in popularity in the Western Hemisphere and now even popular streaming services like Netflix have taken up producing original animes. And despite the volume of anime there is content that is quite good and deserves to be watched and enjoyed. So, I stand here […]
December 22, 2019
God of Gnomes by Demi Harper
I first heard of LitRPG a little over a year ago—and my understanding extended only so far as it was a genre that in some way combined novelisation with role playing games. However, this was not in the R. A. Salvatore way where Crystal Shards and Halfling’s Gems guide characters through a world totally recognisable […]
