Browsing all articles by Ben Galley.
Chasing Graves by Ben Galley – Cover Reveal & Guest Blog
I’m a firm believer that cover art is part and parcel of the book – conjoined twins impossible to separate. The cover plays an important role. It represents the words inside a book, communicates genre, indicates quality, and is ultimately responsible for attracting the eye of the reader. It’s got a vital job, and although […]
How To Self-Publish
This one has been bubbling up for a while… Over the last few months, various discussions have erupted around the subject of self-publishing, specifically how it should be done. There have also been a few blog posts on the subject. There’s been a lot of banter. Mostly friendly, but it has got heated in places. […]
The Use of Drugs In Fantasy
As fantastical as our genre is, there has always been some leakage from the real world to the ones lodged between the pages we devour. Love, war, anger, sex, despair, greed, politics, disease, mythology…After all, it is hard to forge a book 100% removed from ours. My question today is if real-world elements sneak into […]
Western Fantasy – Mismatch, or Perfect Match?
In January of this year, I began to write a new book, Bloodrush. I was stepping away from my dark, epic, medieval roots and seeking something new in what I believe to be a relatively unexplored sub-genre – Western Fantasy, also called Weird West. I’m not the first to do venture into such a realm, […]
Believable Fantasy Character Design
Enter a man. He is tall, ruggedly handsome, a pinch over six foot, with eyes of swirling green and blue. His arms were toned and muscular, and there was a light shading of stubble about his cheeks. This man stumbles across an armed gang of men in an alleyway, harassing a young woman, all legs […]
Where Is Fantasy Headed?
Change is good they say. Change is progress. Well we’ve seen a lot of mighty changes in the book industry over the last decade, seismic changes that have redefined the world of publishing and literature forever. Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last ten years, it’s hard not to ignore what’s been […]
Dishonoured Review
In one hand I hold a clockwork crossbow. In the other hand I hold a sword that can fold away in a moment’s twiddling. I flit from grubby rooftop to grubby rooftop in an instant. My eyes see through walls. I can call swarms of rats to my aid with the lift of a finger […]
What Makes A Fantasy Fan?
I wrote a blog a long time ago about trying to spot fantasy authors while doing book signings. For anyone who might have read that old dusty post (it’s been long since buried by others) you would have seen that I had a very tough time picking us out. In fact, I was wrong every […]
Sex In Fantasy
Sex in Fantasy. Forgive the pun, but for some it’s a complete turn off, and for others it’s a complete turn on. As an author myself, describing the innards of my novels can be quite interesting at times, especially when I mention my book has ‘adult content.’ I usually get the occasional eyebrow raise, the […]
The Way of Kings – Part One by Brandon Sanderson
We’ve all heard of Sanderson. We’ve all encountered his books, whether in a curious flip-through or in a one-weekend devouring of the Mistborn series. We’re fully aware of his staggering capabilities as a world-creator and epic yarn-spinner. I am pleased to admit, The Way of Kings does not deviate from this reputation one bit. The […]
Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
First, a word on the author. Catherine Fisher, unbeknownst to me before spying the glittery cover of Incarceron at my local bookstore, is a veritable factory of fiction. Her writing CV reads like a YA bestsellers list, and the Sunday Times quotes her as ‘A writer of rare talent’. I have to agree. Incarceron is […]
