Browsing all articles in Articles.
Kill or Cure: Medicine and Healing in SFF
Humans are fragile creatures. Flesh breaks easily and even the most healthy, brawny and athletic of us fall prey to sickness from time to time. Depending on the severity of whatever ailment or injury befalls us, it can have a significant impact on the way we live the rest of our lives. Most fantasy stories […]
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 […]
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Twitter has been alight with the news that one of the UK’s biggest and best known talk show hosts, Jonathan Ross, has withdrawn from his role as Master of Ceremonies at this year’s Hugo Awards.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 […]
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 […]
David Gemmell Awards – 2014 Longlist Revealed & Voting Open
The Longlists for the David Gemmell Awards has been revealed and voting has opened!!! For those unfamiliar with how The David Gemmell Awards work, the first stage (that has resulted in this longlist) is where publishers nominate titles they think should be considered for the three award categories: best book, best debut and best cover. […]
I Don’t Need No Women In My Fantasy
My Twitter stream regularly expresses a variety of opinion on the treatment of women, or of people of colour or unconventional sexuality, in genre fiction. This is, I presume to imagine, a reflection of the treatment of women, or of people of colour or unconventional sexuality in the wider world. It’s also a consequence of […]
Bookshops’ SFF Prejudice Problem?
There has been a recent highlighting of the fact by three well-known female authors that UK Booksellers are selling them and their contemporaries short. My aim today is to take the numerous articles they’ve written and interviews they’ve been involved in and present to our readership, in a single post, along with the observations they have made. […]
Love in SFF – From True Love to BFFs
Romance in SFF is one of those things that people either love, hate, or are frankly indifferent about. I’m not one of those; I will eagerly admit that I love romance. Since Valentine’s has just been and gone in a flutter of rose petals, stuffed bears, wine, chocolates and the odd grumbling status update about […]
Fantasy Book Club – March 2014: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
For March, we were looking for books with a female protagonist. Our book club selected Seraphina by Rachel Hartman. I’ve seen some great reviews for this one, including on here on Fantasy-Faction where it earned a 10 star rating. I look forward to reading it myself and hope a number of people join us. In […]
Way of Kings Read Along (Chapters 1-3)
Hey there my WOK Readalongees, Firstly, I want to thank each and every one of you who has decided to commit and join me on this journey through one of the decade’s finest fantasy books. Whether you are simply following this readalong to catch yourself up and jog your memory ready for Brandon Sanderson’s Words […]
