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Unicorn Mirror: A Compendium of Unicorn Lore
Introduction: The Ethereal Glimpsing of a Unicorn “The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone. She was very old, though she did not know it, and she was no longer the careless color of sea foam, but rather the color of snow falling on a moonlit night. But her eyes were […]
A Fantasy Geek’s Guide to YouTube: Vampires
Vampires. They’re better than zombies. I’ve demonstrated this conclusively in a previous article. From True Blood to Let the Right One In to V Wars, vampires are all over literature, films and TV and they show no sign off stopping. But let’s talk about vampires as they appear in that little corner of the world […]
On Planning My First Solo Author Event
Planning a book related event is stressful on all accounts, no matter if it’s a simple reading or a large writing conference. Regardless of size, the same questions remain: Will people have a good time? Does the agenda flow smoothly? Will people discover something exciting? Are there enough networking opportunities? What about food and drinks? […]
Blade Skill, Iron Sensing and Hypnosis: Behind the Scenes Look at Shadowblade – Guest Blog by Anna Kashina
Despite being a scientist in my day job, in my writing I tend to gravitate to fantasy. This means, magic rather than technology, supernatural and mystical as opposed to rationally explained. People often ask me why I am not using my science background in my writing, and up until now I have always come up […]
40 Years of The Perfect Organism: Does Alien Hold Up?
Spoiler Warning! This article contains many spoilers! When I was about 15, Aliens had a reputation among my friends as a great film. It was part war movie, part science fiction film: futuristic in a tough, edgy way. After watching it on a battered VHS videocassette and thinking it was excellent, I settled down to […]
As I Learn: Or Why I Stopped Calling Myself A Pantser
Do you already know what type of writer you are? You may call yourself a discovery writer, an outliner or a mixture of both. We traditionally think of discovery writers, gardeners, and pantsers as writers who make up their stories as they go, and outliners, architects, and plotters as writers who pre-construct their plots before […]
Fantasy-Faction Game of Thrones Discussion: Season 8, Episode 2
*Spoilers* Watch through Season 8, Episode 2 before reading! If there’s one thing we should take away from the first two episodes of the season, it’s that we all just devoured with rapt attention what were essentially two hour-long episodes of placid preamble to the battle at Winterfell. With any other, less beloved show we […]
Hell: An Exploration
The nature of the afterlife has fascinated and terrified humanity for tens of thousands of years. What, if anything, waits for us after death? Is there more than one place to go? And what happens if you end up in the wrong place? Mythology tells us that there are many destinations for the wicked or […]
Fantasy-Faction Game of Thrones Discussion: Season 8, Episode 1
*Spoilers* Watch through Season 8, Episode 1 before reading! In March I posted a poll in the Fantasy-Faction Facebook group asking people to name their all-time favorite fantasy serial (either TV or streaming). HBO’s Game of Thrones ran away with the number one spot, garnering almost twice as many votes as the number two series, […]
Gene Wolfe 1931 – 2019
“…that is to say, in all of this, I think, I believe in some sense much akin to the belief of faith, that I noticed, felt, or underwent what I describe—but it may be that the only reason childhood memories act on us so strongly is that, being the most remote we possess, they are […]
Monthly Short Story Winner: Fire
This month we asked our entrants to write about fire. The beauty of fire is its ambivalence. On the one hand we need it to survive (cooking our food, keeping us warm, protecting us) on the other hand it’s dangerous, maybe even diabolical (arson, battle magic, forest fires, household accidents). A fire—no matter if it’s […]
Dear SFF Community,
Though spread across the globe, we come together around our passion for science and fantasy fiction. As such, our community must be supportive of one another—be strong enough to stand up in defence of those who cannot, or fear to, speak in their own. This past week has seen a test of that community, of […]
