Marc Aplin's Blog, page 30

Mulan meets Swordsman 2. As a mostly-audiobook consumer with little time to actually read, it had taken me two weeks to finish Nghi Vo’s short novella, Empress of Salt and Fortune (though only two hours on the re-read); and a week and a half to complete Aliette de Bodard’s short novella, Fireheart Tiger, both of […]

If you know me, then you know Women in SFF is a topic I am rather passionate about.  Some years back, I was prompted to look closely at my SFF shelves. Always preferring little to no romance, aside from very few exceptions, I found the ratio was quite a bit horrendous, with about 80 male […]

There are words you know and use all the time, but you’ve never thought about their actual dictionary definitions. Rhapsody was one of those words for me. I frequently waxed rhapsodic while describing the first chocolate pecan pie I ever ate. I knew “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin is the United Airlines corporate theme. […]

* Disclaimer * Everyone is different and likes and dislikes different things. Reading is no exception. One person’s all time favorite might seem to bland or too high stakes for another. That being said, the opinions of our judges in this contest are just that, opinions. Just because we let a book go, doesn’t mean […]

Fantasy villains. Either you love them or you hate them, but good villains are memorable either way. But writing good villains is hard! I know. I’ve written two fantasy books out through Desert Palm Press and the whole time I was writing, I kept going back to the villains. Why was the big bad, the […]

When an author writes their second book, fans of the first one wonder whether or not the next one will be similar to its predecessor. In most cases, the themes and the characters remind readers of what they’ve read before. Then, there are the authors whose second book moves in a different direction from their […]

Today we’re really excited to reveal the cover of Forging A Nightmare by Patricia A. Jackson! A new urban fantasy, “with a black-led cast, this biblical, mythological retelling, is Rivers of London meets American Gods.” What is it about? Let’s take a look! FBI agent Michael Childs is tasked with tracking down a serial killer […]

“They claim we are trying to become a god, that we have too much power.” G. R. Matthews newest novel delivers in all the best ways, that is, if you enjoy political intrigue, magic, and battles nestled within a dark plot. A plot that, I felt, borrowed from Tacitus’ Germania, that is, if the Roman […]

Today on Fantasy-Faction we are excited to reveal the cover for Alex Thomson’s Spidertouch from Angry Robot. Even better, we have an exclusive preview of Chapter One! But who is Alex Thomson and what is Spidertouch about? Let’s find out! Alex Thomson is the author of Death of a Clone, published in 2018. He lives in […]

Concept and Writing: Paul Mitchener Additional Writing: Guy Milner Art and Layout: Jason Behnke Rules Wrangling: Neil Gow Logo and Cartography: Stephanie McAlea Editing: Guy Milner and Elizabeth Behnke Liminal is a slick British urban fantasy RPG, inspired mainly by the Peter Grant series (Rivers of London) by Ben Aaronovitch and the Dresden Files by […]