Northern Lights by Philip Pullman
I’ve always found that the best examples of children’s literature are those that don’t try to be for children, they don’t pander to a younger reader, but rather just aim to be a piece of literature in their own right. Pullman drew his inspiration for His Dark Materials from Milton’s Paradise Lost, Blake’s Songs of […]
10 Ways To Up Your Word Count
Writing takes time, and in the case of novels, a lot of time. I don’t think there’s a writer out there who doesn’t wish they could write quicker. If you’ve ever attempted to write a novel you’ll know just what a huge investment it is. Personally, as much as I love writing, there are times […]
Shift Omnibus by Hugh Howey
This review contains spoilers for Wool. If you haven’t read Hugh Howey’s Wool, stop here and go do so immediately. You should do this first because Wool is one of the best science fiction books to come out in recent memory, and second because it’s very much a big-reveal kind of book—one I can’t help […]
Is Fantasy for Gardeners?
At some convention in the distant past on some panel about something or other, someone once asked me whether I was an architect or a gardener. I had really no idea what they were talking about but replied that, as a physicist and an engineer, I was probably more of an architect with everything laid […]
Introduction to Visual Novels
Interactive fiction games have been around for some while now: the original grandparents being the old-fashioned, non-linear game books and their more recent, upbeat offspring called text adventures. Whilst the latter only allows software-based text to forge your own path (most often through puzzles), and game books require the reader to choose set options to […]
Swords of Haven by Simon R. Green
Swords of Haven introduces us to Hawk and Fisher; they’re husband and wife, the only truly honourable cops in Haven, a violent and corrupt city filled with monsters, wizards, thieves and politicians. This volume from 2006 collects the first three stories – Hawk & Fisher, Winner Take All, and The God Killer – published between […]
The Gospel of Loki by Joanne M. Harris
Laughter disarms the fiercest of men. – Lokabrenna A child’s fascination with something can last a long time and spark great ideas; ideas that can be turned into books. As a little girl, Joanne Harris found Thunder of the Gods by Dorothy G. Hosford in her local library. She loved the book so much that […]
Elspeth Cooper adds her thoughts on Industry’s Sexism Problem
Fantasy-Faction is lucky enough to have a good number of talented published authors – especially female authors – posting in our forums. Perhaps I am being presumptuous, but I’d like to think that each of these wonderful ladies are friends of mine and so am very interested in their opinions and experiences revolving around the […]
Jonathan Ross Withdraws from Hugos
Twitter has been alight with the news that one of the UK’s biggest and best known talk show hosts, Jonathan Ross, has withdrawn from his role as Master of Ceremonies at this year’s Hugo Awards. For those who don’t have a clue who he is, he isn’t too far from the mould of Jay Leno […]
A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin
After years of making us wait, 2011 rolled into town and so did Mr. Martin’s long awaited book, number five in a planned seven book series. It is safe to say that many of you were patiently waiting with dread as to whether it would be more of the same crawling to useless strings in […]
Orleans by Sherri L. Smith
I find the post apocalyptic genre simultaneously interesting and frustrating. I think that it has a lot of interesting potential to comment on social trends and social experimentation, but I find that it is frequently bogged down by the same story arcs over and over again. Someone who once was an elite is cast down, […]
Jen Williams responds to opinions on Bookshops’ perceived SFF Prejudice
So, yesterday we published a piece on Fantasy-Faction highlighting the observations made by three of British fantasy’s female authors suggesting that UK Booksellers are selling them and their contemporaries short. A number of comments and tweets came flooding in, and Forum Members even started a topic; the overwhelming feeling was that ‘yes, there is a […]
