Cabaret of Monsters by Tansy Rayner Roberts
I read this novella after trying out Kickstarter for the first time to back Tansy Rayner Roberts’ Creature Court bundle. I’m a sucker for an original setting, so when the world of the Creature Court was described as a Romanesque, Roaring 20s style city where shapeshifters engage in a nightly battle with the sky, I […]
Magic Triumphs by Ilona Andrews
Spoiler Warning: This review contains spoilers from the previews books. Read with caution if you have yet to finish the series. Here we are, at the culmination of more than a decade of Kate and Curran’s Magic. This urban fantasy series has become one of my absolute favorites. Despite a bit of a rough start, […]
Steve McHugh Interview – A Thunder of War
Last time we spoke with author Steve McHugh, he had just released the fifth book in his urban fantasy series the Hellequin Chronicles. Three years, and many publications later, he has returned to catch up with us and let us know what the future holds for him and his writing. When did you know you […]
The Queen’s Poisoner by Jeff Wheeler
Game of Thrones meets Charlotte’s Web. Despite Jeff Wheeler’s Muirwood and Kingsfountain books dominating the top of Amazon’s fantasy lists for the last couple of years, it was a total accident that I bought The Queen’s Poisoner. Its cover looked so much the Books of the Caledan Trilogy by Meg Cowley (or I should probably […]
Monthly Short Story Winner: Maiden, Mother, Crone
The depiction of women in fantasy is a controversial, fascinating, and ongoing topic. This month we had our entrants write a story about women. Specifically, we wanted a story with at least two main characters/POVs and those two had to be picked from the aspects of the triple goddess: maiden/virgin, mother, and crone. This didn’t […]
Self-Publishing Fantasy Blog-Off #4: The Fall of the First Five
* Disclaimer * Writing and reading are subjective arts. What some folks will absolutely love, others will dislike. It is a bit like Marmite in the UK – normal people dislike it intensely, but some weird folks actually enjoy the taste of warm road surface with fresh roadkill upon their tongue. To each their own, […]
Fantasy Worldbuilding: From the Bottom Up – Guest Blog by Cameron Johnston
Falling down wiki-holes of research in the cause of plausible worldbuilding, and why magic shit is such an important resource. We’ve all seen those hefty articles on building fantasy worlds, the ones that discuss how to draw maps and invent the geography, trade and economies, the details of rulers, peoples and politics, and of course […]
Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett
Robert Jackson Bennett’s Foundryside combines the action scenes and snarky banter of a summer blockbuster with the complex characters and keen-eyed societal critique of an Oscar-winner. What begins as a heist and chase adventure becomes a richer story that asks big questions about power, exploitation, and revolution. Foundryside is a fun, thought-provoking, and wondrous tale. […]
Once Upon A Time: Fairy Tales and Fantasy
Once upon a time… Just about anyone familiar with the Western literary canon knows that phrase. It opens familiar fairy tales we’ve grown up with, like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, along with more obscure ones, like Katie Crackernuts. It appears in modern fiction, too, albeit slightly translated. After all, what else could “A long time […]
Warriors by Erin Hunter – Series Review
When I hear my twelve-year-old weeping, I know one of two things is happening: a) she’s reached the climax of another Warriors book, or b) there’s been another tragic death in a Warriors book. This massive series has been my daughter’s singular book obsession for roughly a quarter of her life. She occasionally takes a […]
Monthly Short Story Winner: Letters
This month we had our entrants try their hand at writing a letter. Sounds boring and not fantasy-ish at all? We hope not! We didn’t want them to just write a random letter. Instead there were four topics to choose from, some funny, some sad, some what they make out of it. First person was […]
Weaving A Narrative
A story is more than its central plot tenants. It is more than the broad strokes of its grand events and dramatic moments. It is a woven tapestry of differing narrative threads and layers that weave together to create a cohesive whole. Yes there will be the macro arc of the greater plot that directs […]
