Marc Aplin's Blog, page 63
February 27, 2019
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Sometimes trips to the local charity shop can be a bust. There are however rare occasions where you’ll find a gem. For me, that gem was Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book. Confession time: the only other works by Gaiman that I’ve read are The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Stardust, Hansel & Gretel […]
February 26, 2019
Publishing Program at Portland State University
In early 2014, I was lucky enough to be accepted into the Master of Science in Writing: Book Publishing Program at Portland State University (PSU). I quit my day-job, moved from Alaska to Oregon, and started the program in fall 2014. That particular move was a whirlwind, by the way—driving down to Oregon with my […]
February 25, 2019
The Blackest Heart by Brian Lee Durfee
Spoiler Warning: Minor spoilers for The Forgetting Moon and The Blackest Heart. “It is what we do with our own selves that defines us. Not where we came from. Or who gave us birth.” The singular image that drew me into Brian Lee Durfee’s The Five Warrior Angels series was the German edition of The […]
February 24, 2019
Never Die by Rob J. Hayes
“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets The Walking Dead.” As an ethnic Chinese martial arts practitioner, I have a love-hate relation with Wuxia. My first introduction to the genre came not through literature, but through Shaw Brothers movies. One of my favorite ages of cinema is 1990s Hong Kong, where Jet Li rose to fame in […]
February 21, 2019
Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri
It isn’t much of an exaggeration to say that I grew up on epic fantasy. One of the earliest book series I remember (aside from a series about Girl Scouts that I only had three books of) is The Chronicles of Narnia. My mother read me the whole series, and when I learned the Pevensie […]
February 20, 2019
Sword of Kaigen by M. L. Wang
The Poppy War’s darkness meets The Last Airbender’s elemental magic. Being a second world conflict between China and Japan, M. L. Wang’s Sword of Kaigen brought to my mind R. F. Kuang’s meteoric debut, The Poppy War. With all the hype surrounding it, The Poppy War was my most anticipated release of 2018, but one […]
February 19, 2019
Silent, Simple, Trouble: Corin Hayes Omnibus by G. R. Matthews – Cover Reveal
Fantasy-Faction is pleased as pop to announce that our own G. R. Matthews is putting out an omnibus of his first three Corin Hayes books! And he is letting us do the cover reveal!
February 17, 2019
Taking Comedy Seriously
From Geoffrey Chaucer to Raymond Chandler—and a lot of people in between—all kinds of writers have used comedy to entertain and inform in their writing. Comedy can form a useful distraction from a darker story, or can take the form of a sly comment on the main action—or it can be the backbone of a […]
February 14, 2019
Lela Gwenn Interview – Bad Luck Chuck
An intriguing new comic mini-series is heading our way in March from Dark Horse Comics. Billed as ‘slapstick noir’ from the writer, Lela Gwenn, it’s about the cursed Charlene “Chuck” Manchester who decides to monetise her own bad luck. With art by Matthew Dow Smith, colours by Kelly Fitzpatrick, and letters by Frank Cvetkovic, it […]
February 13, 2019
Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeannette Ng
“So desperate are you to speak to us that you see us everywhere. You look across your borders, your walls, and instead of your neighbours, you see us. As your ships sail further and countries and continents discover each other, you see not each other. You see us. You want to see us.” Jeannette Ng’s […]
