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The Fantasy-Faction Anthology Is Coming…
Those of you who have been with us for a while will already know a bit about this, but back in 2012 we ran our first international writing contest. People were asked to write an 8,000 word or less fantasy story. Six winners would be chosen out of the entries. This would give budding writers somewhere […]
‘Dragonriders of Pern’ Movie?
With the success of the Game of Thrones TV show, television studios have been optioning and piloting a number of our favourite fantasy novel series over the last few years. The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss, the Shannara books by Terry Brooks, The Magicians by Lev Grossman, to name but a few. And now it seems Hollywood […]
Win Robin Hobb & George R.R. Martin Tickets
As you have no doubt heard by now, George R.R. Martin and Robin Hobb are soon to be visiting London. This world exclusive event will offer readers the opportunity to spend an evening listening to two of the world’s greatest storytellers, discussing how they build their fictional universes, create their characters and balance fantasy and […]
All 7 Harry Potter ‘Children’s Edition’ Covers Released
Regular readers of Fantasy-Faction will be fully aware that Bloomsbury plan to re-release new editions of Harry Potter later this year. Essentially, the publisher are putting together what they call ‘Children’s Editions’ of the books that are editions that adults and older siblings can give to a new generation of readers. The slogan for this […]
Epic Fantasy Dream Team do a panel together
When I was younger I’d spend hours talking with friends about football, usually we’d discuss which players should form a team together and take on the world: Fantasy Football, I think it’s a thing now. I wanted David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Freddie Ljungberg and Frank Lampard all playing together in my midfield (sorry, I do […]
The State of Fantasy: Videogame News from the Scrying-Glass of E3
Fantasy has always been a salient feature in the videogame landscape, right down to the essential footprint of guiding an idealised persona through an imagined world. The hallmarks of fantasy – high fantasy especially – have become a reliable foundation for a great many titles over the years, and there are no signs of it […]
Titus Groan: A Clash of Generations
I suppose this novel, the first of what was intended to be a lengthy series unfortunately cut short by Mervyn Peake’s passing, can be hailed as a rarity. It is, in short, a fantasy that pre-dates The Lord of the Rings. In a genre where each new volume pretty much owes at least one iota of […]
‘Lords of the Fallen’ looks pretty awesome
We at Fantasy-Faction are pretty big fans of Dark Souls, despite having gone through about six controllers playing it (they keep accidentally hitting the wall). So, when we heard that the developers were working on a new game that looked to include more traditional fantasy elements into it (such as a relatively deep story and […]
Peter V. Brett’s ‘Messenger’s Legacy’ Announced!
We here at Fantasy-Faction are huge fans of Peter V. Brett’s Demon Cycle books. Now at number three in the series, with book four due next year, what we’ve come to appreciate – in addition to the excellent way the plot is moving forwards – is Peter V. Brett’s almost unmatched ability for writing a story […]
Is It Better To Be A Blank Slate Or To Have Some Character?
In a recent blog post, Mark Lawrence commented on the trade offs of creating a blank slate character versus a more defined, idiosyncratic character. In the post (and I highly recommend reading the entire thing), Mark writes that for a number of fantasy readers, plot is of primary importance. For such readers, a vanilla protagonist […]
Worldbuilding: Food For The People
We all need food to live. Even in fiction, food plays a part in most stories, whether it is a simple supper at a boarding house or a grand wedding or coronation feast. In fantasy settings, most of the time it doesn’t matter where the food comes from or how it was prepared. What does […]
Combating Cynicism
I was watching the most recent Karate Kid film, the one with Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith – I got to the scene with the chopsticks where Chan is eating and Smith comes to ask about the hot water. Smith watches Chan as he tracks a fly with his chopsticks, the tension builds for a […]
