Marc Aplin's Blog, page 53
November 3, 2019
On the Importance of Critique Groups
Writing can be—and often is—a solitary journey. The stereotypical and sometimes romantic notion of a writer alone in a room penning the next great novel does stem from truth. Most of the time, writers do their work alone, whether that be in a coffee shop surrounded by people or in their one-bedroom apartment surrounded by […]
October 31, 2019
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
From the listless repose of the place, and the peculiar character of its inhabitants, who are descendants from the original Dutch settlers, this sequestered glen has long been known by the name of Sleepy Hollow… Halloween is my favorite holiday, probably due to the many fond memories of my mom putting up decorations and trick-or-treating […]
October 30, 2019
Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off #5: Next Five Fall
* 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 with fresh roadkill upon their tongue. To each their own, I suppose. […]
October 28, 2019
‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
Novelist Ben Mears returns to his hometown of ‘Salem’s Lot after the death of his wife. He becomes part of local life and begins a new relationship, but things are not going well in the town. An antiques shop has just opened, run by two suspicious men, and a spate of deaths and disappearances plagues […]
October 22, 2019
Scion RPG 2nd Edition Review – Part One – Scion: Origin
Scion is an urban fantasy roleplaying game (RPG) of a very particular sort and one that’s likely to appeal to fans of fantasy fiction. It’s not about secretive societies of seductive vampires and passionate werewolves lurking in the shadows. (Though you could use it for that, at a stretch.) It’s about the children of the […]
October 20, 2019
Rosewater by Tade Thompson
The description of Rosewater sounds more like a thriller than a science fiction novel, and that is one of the many appeals surrounding this debut novel. A government agent with a criminal past and with psychic abilities must determine whether or not the notorious alien biodome in Nigeria is responsible for killing other people with […]
October 17, 2019
Fierce Fantasy Night – Writing Panel Recap
Living in a mostly rural area, I get few opportunities to attend book signings. For the big names, you can guarantee you’ve got to travel to London, but when my local Waterstones made me aware of a Fierce Fantasy night they were hosting back in June, with a panel of female authors, I knew it […]
Fantasy-Faction is Looking for Contributors!
Hello Factioners! I hope you are all enjoying your beginning of autumn/spring (depending on your locale. In my area of the world we are gearing up for a chilly Halloween full of fake spiders and candy corn! In Fantasy-Faction world however, we have run into something even spookier! We are low on contributors! So, if […]
October 16, 2019
Unsouled by Will Wight
The Monkey King meets Up. For a novel entitled Unsouled, Will Wight’s prototypical story has a lot of soul. I’d picked it up a couple of years ago, but each time I’d tried to start, like many books buried on the slopes of Mount TBR, I never made it past the first two pages. Not […]
October 15, 2019
Jesse Teller Interview – Onslaught of Madness
Today we are happy to welcome author Jesse Teller to Fantasy-Faction! Teller’s writing is the definition of epic fantasy. The stories are comparable to Steven Erikson’s Malazan in scope and scale, and likewise could be classified as “high grimdark” fantasy. So far, Teller has published eight books set on the continent of Perilisc, with plans […]
