Marc Aplin's Blog, page 84

How Ideas Become Stories

One of the most common questions an author will hear is, “Where do you get your ideas from?” As if that was all you needed to write a successful book. Ideas are important, but they’re not some mystical spark from the divine, if you’re in the right mind-set you can probably come up with dozens […]

Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames

When I started reading Kings of the Wyld it was already quite hyped and I am someone who is rather uncomfortable dealing with stuff which accumulated hype overnight. Thus, I approached the book being extremely skeptical and had a nagging feeling in my gut that it was going to be overrated. Boy was I dead […]

Small Press, Big Stories: Shadow Alley Press

Today on #smallpressbigstories, Michael Gruneir gives us a look at James A. Hunter’s publishing company: Shadow Alley Press. I am a huge fan of James Hunter’s work. He was also my very first interview at Fantasy-Faction. I talked to him recently about his publishing company Shadow Alley Press, its beginnings, its projects, and its mission statement. […]

Tree of Ages by Sara Roethle

Some books grab you from the get go with breakneck action. Others, with a lovable character in a difficult situation. In many, we are immersed in new, fascinating worlds which don’t follow expected rules. Oftentimes, we get a combination, such as Pee Wee’s Playhouse. In Tree of Ages, by Sara Roethle, we get: a tree. […]

An Echo of Thing to Come by James Islington

An Echo of Thing to Come is the second book in The Licanius Trilogy, the first being The Shadow of What Was Lost. The trilogy is an epic fantasy set in the fictional world of Andarra. Book two picks up roughly a month after the events of the first book. It starts with a refresher […]

The Sons of Heaven by Kage Baker

Whew. Eight books and several hundred years later (or several hundred thousand years, depending on whether you’re counting from the Spanish Inquisition or Options Research and Back Way Back… time travel is a rather messy business to write about), here we are. 2355. The Silence. All the pieces are going to come together, and after […]

The A-Zs of Worldbuilding: Building a Fictional World From Scratch by Rebekah Loper

Though I usually don’t confess what I am about to tell you in polite circles, I imagine it will be a badge of honor on Fantasy-Faction: Once upon a time, when Advanced Dungeons & Dragons was still in its first edition, I was a Dungeon Master. One of the greatest joys of being Dungeon Master, […]

The War of Undoing by Alex Perry – SPFBO Review

“My name is Tay Raining, and this is my brother Ellstone. I wonder if you’ve heard of us . . . I have a birthmark shaped like a question mark on my hand, I think it might mean something but I’m not sure what. My brother is probably important too, though I can’t imagine how. […]

A Streak of White Hair: Fantasy or Reality?

I was recently reading a fantasy romance novel where the main character pushed himself to the limits of his magical abilities and nearly died. Afterward, he was left with a streak of white in his long black hair (if you don’t mind spoilers, this is the book). I’ve seen this before many times in fantasy, […]

Malice of Crows by Lila Bowen

Spoiler Warning: This review contains spoilers for earlier books in the series, but nothing beyond what you’d see on the back covers of the books. Malice of Crows, book three of The Shadow series, by Lila Bowen (a.k.a. Delilah S. Dawson) was ranked among Fantasy-Faction’s Best Books of 2017 but somehow, we didn’t review it when […]