Marc Aplin's Blog, page 89

Space Mavericks by Michael Kring

“I activated.” And on those words you are carried away into a world of adventure and action. Actually, as this is sci-fi, more than one world. I own two copies of this book. I had to buy a second when the first started to fall apart from many years of re-reading. In fact, I just […]

Fantasy-Faction’s Best Fantasy Books of 2017

2017 was a heck of a year! And we mean that we a giant *SIGH* right after it. But while the world around us seem to darken as the year went by, in the universe of fantasy fiction there were hundreds of new stars born to lighten our paths! It was a great year for […]

The Tale of Shikanoko by Lian Hearn – Spoiler Free Series Review

Depending on which edition of these books, you will either have four books or two bind ups containing two books each. The four books are Emperor of the Eight Islands; Autumn Princess, Dragon Child; Lord of the Darkwood; and The Tengu’s Game of Go. This series is set in the same world as the author’s […]

Small Press, Big Stories – 2017 In Review

While the world goes to hell in a handcart, it’s still been a heck of a year in fantasy fiction. And small and independent presses have definitely had their fair share of the highlights! Grimbold Books won Best Independent Press at the British Fantasy Awards, of course, and though their output this year has been […]

The Graveyard Game by Kage Baker

The Company novels have finally become true science fiction. (I say finally, though I will gladly admit that I loved cyborgs in history). After a brief sojourn in a year some readers of this blog may remember – 1996 – we’re off to the future. The twenty-first century (about fifty years in our future), the […]

SPFBO Finalist Review: Chaos Trims my Beard by Brett Herman

The SPFBO team here at Fantasy Faction (G. R. Matthews, James Latimer, Kitvaria Sarene, Michael Everest and myself) have been through something of a turbulent decision-making process during these past few weeks. While choosing this year’s finalist we found ourselves torn between three equally very good books. Marina Finlayson’s Stolen Magic (our second place finalist) […]

SPFBO Review: Stolen Magic by Marina Finlayson

Stolen Magic is a fun, compelling and well paced urban fantasy tale which almost – almost! – became our Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off finalist. Finlayson’s novel – a story of supernatural forces, gods and monsters in modern-day Australia – is alternatively reminiscent of Paternus (Fantasy Faction’s SPFBO finalist last year), Kate Daniels, and Mercy Thompson. Of the five […]

SPFBO Review: Wings of Justice by Michael-Scott Earle

Michael-Scott Earle is one of the more well-known names to have entered the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off this year. That Wings of Justice made it so far in the competition (we’re officially declaring it our third place runner up) is perhaps unsurprising; but while the SPFBO team here at Fantasy Faction enjoyed Earle’s entry quite a […]

The Iron Circlet by Phil Tucker

Spoiler Warning: This review contains spoilers for books 1 – 3 of the Chronicles of the Black Gate series. Please read with caution if you’ve yet to finish the first two, just in case The Iron Circlet’s cover had you buying the books out of order. The Iron Circlet’s cover reveal came around late March […]

Books You Should Buy With Your Holiday Money

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Factioners! At this festive time of year whether you celebrate Yule, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, or any other December holidays, you may end up facing a dilemma that is known far and wide within the SFF universe: What books should you spend your gift cards on?? Earlier this month we asked […]