Marc Aplin's Blog, page 66

The Best of r/Fantasy Stabby Award 2018 Winners Announced!

Congratulations to all the winners and nominees! If you’ve not visited the r/Fantasy Reddit, there has never been a better time to check it out. 2018 really was an amazing year for fantasy! Best Novel Bloody Rose by Nicholas Eames Best Independent Novel Ghostwater by Will Wight Best Debut The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang Best […]

Gryphon Riders Trilogy by Derek Alan Siddoway – Series Review

My first recollection of gryphons in fantasy literature was in Dragons of Winter’s Night. In a world where dragons and their riders were in the spotlight, I was enamored with the lion-bodied, eagle-headed creatures ridden by the reclusive Silvanesti elves. Specifically, ridden by Alhana Starbreeze, who I adored probably because of my teenage obsession with […]

The Blue Mountain by G. R. Matthews

Spoiler Warning: This review contains minor spoilers for The Stone Road and The Blue Mountain. “You were a diplomat, what do you know of war…” I’d like to thank G. R. Matthews for allowing me to review his first self-published trilogy The Forbidden List. This trilogy was entered into Mark Lawrence’s (author of The Broken […]

Karen Lord Interview – 2018 Edinburgh International Book Festival

Karen Lord is an exciting writer of speculative fiction from Barbados. Her novel The Best of All Possible Worlds (2013) is a powerful science fiction novel that explores two people in the aftermath of a planetary genocide. Its follow up The Galaxy Game (2015) is out now from Jo Fletcher Books. Her debut novel Redemption […]

Harlem Unbound by Chris Spivey – Cthulhu Mythos RPG Setting Review

I should note that a whole team of people worked on this book, from writers to artists and editors. It’s not clear who wrote on which section, however. So, where I’ve felt the need to mention the writers by a name, I’ve credited Chris Spivey himself, as the mastermind of the book. My apologies to […]

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson

As a big fan of titles by Becky Chambers and Pierce Brown, this space adventure by Sanderson sounded like a no brainer. In the online announcement that Sanderson made, he noted that it would be sold under the young adult branch in the US but under science fiction in the UK; it definitely felt like […]

A Noob Plays Minecraft

Gaming. It’s a big thing in nerd culture, and yes, I do consider myself a gamer. Though perhaps not a super serious one, I played quite a lot while growing up—Zelda, Mario, Spyro, Crash Bandicoot—and I always turn back to video games even now when I need a break. (I got Zelda: Breath of the […]

Chasing Embers by James Bennett

Behind every myth there is a spark of truth. There’s nothing special about Ben Garston. He’s just a guy with an attitude in a beat-up leather jacket, drowning his sorrows in a downtown bar. Or so he’d have you believe. What Ben Garston can’t let you know is that he’s also known as Red Ben. […]

A Message From The Staff

Merry Christmas Factioners! We at Fantasy-Faction wish you all the best this holiday season! And whether you are celebrating today or not, you can spread good cheer to your favorite authors by reviewing their books on Amazon and Goodreads and wherever else you frequent in your non-reading time. Just telling your friends about your favorite […]

Web of Eyes by Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle

If 48 Hours was Sword & Sorcery. As a writer in way too many fantasy author groups on Facebook, I saw an early cover for Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle’s Web of Eyes, and knew I wanted to eventually read it. While the new covers each feature one of the three main characters, the […]