Marc Aplin's Blog, page 77

Fantasy Worldbuilding: From the Bottom Up – Guest Blog by Cameron Johnston

Falling down wiki-holes of research in the cause of plausible worldbuilding, and why magic shit is such an important resource. We’ve all seen those hefty articles on building fantasy worlds, the ones that discuss how to draw maps and invent the geography, trade and economies, the details of rulers, peoples and politics, and of course […]

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

Robert Jackson Bennett’s Foundryside combines the action scenes and snarky banter of a summer blockbuster with the complex characters and keen-eyed societal critique of an Oscar-winner. What begins as a heist and chase adventure becomes a richer story that asks big questions about power, exploitation, and revolution. Foundryside is a fun, thought-provoking, and wondrous tale. […]

Once Upon A Time: Fairy Tales and Fantasy

Once upon a time… Just about anyone familiar with the Western literary canon knows that phrase. It opens familiar fairy tales we’ve grown up with, like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, along with more obscure ones, like Katie Crackernuts. It appears in modern fiction, too, albeit slightly translated. After all, what else could “A long time […]

Warriors by Erin Hunter – Series Review

When I hear my twelve-year-old weeping, I know one of two things is happening: a) she’s reached the climax of another Warriors book, or b) there’s been another tragic death in a Warriors book. This massive series has been my daughter’s singular book obsession for roughly a quarter of her life. She occasionally takes a […]

Monthly Short Story Winner: Letters

This month we had our entrants try their hand at writing a letter. Sounds boring and not fantasy-ish at all? We hope not! We didn’t want them to just write a random letter. Instead there were four topics to choose from, some funny, some sad, some what they make out of it. First person was […]

Weaving A Narrative

A story is more than its central plot tenants. It is more than the broad strokes of its grand events and dramatic moments. It is a woven tapestry of differing narrative threads and layers that weave together to create a cohesive whole. Yes there will be the macro arc of the greater plot that directs […]

Darius Hinks Joins Angry Robot Books with The Ingenious – Guest Blog

Today we have author Darius Hinks with us to talk about his upcoming release, The Ingenious, due out February 2019, from Angry Robot Books! Waaay back in 2011 I wrote my first Games Workshop novel, Warrior Priest, and over the last seven years, all my fiction has been set in one of the Warhammer universes. […]

The Armored Saint by Myke Cole

To be able to write efficiently in more than one genre is a rare talent. Although I loved his first series, I going to be really honest at the onset of this review by admitting I didn’t expect Myke Cole to possess this trait. And boy am I glad to be proved so wrong. The […]

Frances Hardinge Interview – A Skinful of Shadows

Frances Hardinge is one of the finest fantasy authors around. Her inventive and beautifully written YA novels, the most recent of which is A Skinful of Shadows (2017), are widely loved by readers of all ages and have received many awards. They run the gamut from richly invented fantasy worlds populated by homicidal geese or […]

Monthly Short Story Winner: Writing In A Subgenre You Don’t Like

We chose this topic to achieve two things: First, to acquaint entrants with something new, and second, to help entrants identify what they normally don’t like about their chosen subgenre. We hoped this would force them to write something different, rejuvenating the genre for them. And we are happy to say, the experiment was a […]