Marc Aplin's Blog, page 67
January 31, 2019
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
If GRRM wrote a mix of The Incredibles and Avatar, with a necromancer heroine. Last year, Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone came in second to RF Kuang’s The Poppy War on my personal list of Most Anticipated Debuts. After seeing Ms. Adeyemi’s interview with Jimmy Fallon (he lauded her success at an early […]
January 29, 2019
Firefly: A Traveler’s Companion to the ‘Verse
I am a huge Firefly nerd. Like, seriously huge. I’ve watched the show and the movie many times. I took a movie criticism class in college and compared Star Wars and Serenity, just because I could. When I left my first full-time job, my coworker gave me Firefly comics as a parting gift. When I […]
January 28, 2019
Worldbuilding: More Than Just Maps
When we think about worldbuilding, we tend to think of it on a grand scale: maps of continents in the front of fantasy novels, or astral charts showing rival galactic empires. But worldbuilding is deeper, and more subtle, than that. A novel can have a huge cast and be set in a huge background, but […]
January 27, 2019
RJ Barker Interview – King of Assassins
If you’ve not see Fantasy-Faction’s Best of 2018 list yet, then you are missing out on some great reads. But lucky for you, we have the author of one of our top five picks (two years in a row!) here to talk with us today! RJ Barker is the author of The Wounded Kingdom. The […]
January 24, 2019
Small Press, Big Stories: 2018 in Review
Humans need fantasy to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape. So, said the great Sir Terry Pratchett, and in the last year we needed fantasy more than ever to keep ourselves from falling backwards. Fortunately, there was a hell of a lot of good fantasy about and, […]
January 23, 2019
Grim Solace by Ben Galley
Spoiler Warning: Minor spoilers for Chasing Graves and Grim Solace. “They say avoiding death makes a man do desperate things, but I tell you, it’s only when you’re dead and bound that you know the true meaning of desperation.” The second installment of Ben Galley’s Chasing Graves Trilogy is undeniably one of desperate undertakings. And […]
January 22, 2019
Witchmark by C. L. Polk
“Help me, Starred One. I am murdered.” Witchmark, the debut novel of C. L. Polk and the first in The Kingston Cycle, quickly bicycle-raced its way to my favourite book of 2018. A murder mystery novel set in a world alike to Edwardian England post-WWI, the fast-paced tale is quick to hook and doesn’t let […]
January 21, 2019
Bloodchild Cover Reveal
It’s always a pleasure to do a cover reveal, but when it’s for our of our favourite authors it’s all the more exciting!
January 14, 2019
The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden – Spoiler Free Review
This is the third and final book in The Winternight Trilogy. It resumes directly after the events of the second book, The Girl in the Tower. As with the previous books, this sequel is influenced by Russian folklore and is partly set in Moscow. Once again, we follow Vasilisa “Vasya” Petrovna, a young girl trying […]
The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden
This is the third and final book in The Winternight Trilogy. It resumes directly after the events of the second book, The Girl in the Tower. As with the previous books, this sequel is influenced by Russian folklore and is partly set in Moscow. Once again, we follow Vasilisa “Vasya” Petrovna, a young girl trying […]
