Browsing all articles tagged with historical fantasy.
Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys
“It’s one thing to say that humanity is ultimately unimportant in the face of the cosmos. It’s another to stand before someone who believes, deep down, that your pain is trivial.” “We’re all monsters, or related to monsters, one way or another.” H. P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth (1936) is one of the writer’s […]
Cover Reveal for Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeannette Ng
Fantasy-Faction is excited to host the cover reveal for Jeannette Ng’s Under the Pendulum Sun! Due out in October 2017 from our friends at Angry Robot, Under the Pendulum Sun is a creepy, dark gothic fantasy in which missionaries visit fairyland to spread the word of the Lord. What they don’t bank on however, is […]
A Gathering of Ravens by Scott Oden
A Gathering of Ravens was my introduction to Scott Oden’s work, and after completing the mytho-historical story, I am now scouring his backlist for another appealing tale. The story is imposing and dark, deftly woven by Oden to mix legend and history, telling of the last Orc and his quest for revenge. If you like […]
Monthly Short Story Winner: Based On A Random Wikipedia Article
I don’t think we ever had a prompt that was so not fantasy related and so open. We were really curious about the stories this prompt would produce and the wide variety of themes: steampunk, portal, grimdark, military, parallel universe – depending on the article you got, anything was possible. Writer’s had to take the […]
Interview with Bernard Cornwell
As a longstanding fan of the writing of Bernard Cornwell, I was delighted when he agreed to answer some interview questions. The profile of his writing has been raised most recently by the television adaptation of The Last Kingdom and its scandalously irreligious hero Uhtred. However, his output of historical fiction is truly prolific, drawing […]
Books & Booze: The Lions of Al-Rassan
Warning: Contains Stage 9 Book Adoration Let’s just get this out of the way, and then maybe we can level with each other. I loved The Lions of Al-Rassan. Now, if you have a problem with that, you can meet me outside in three minutes and I’ll introduce you to my wrath via a broken […]
A Criminal Magic by Lee Kelly
Think 1920s Prohibition, except alcohol is not what is illegal. Magic is. Enough damage was done by past magic users that any and all evidence of magic is shunned and banned. But not all traces of magic are gone. With anything that is prohibited, the lure is just all that more enticing. Shine rooms attract […]
Yseult by Ruth Nestvold – SPFBO Review: And Then There Were Five
The SPFBO team are making steady progress in our search for a finalist. To avoid cruelly stretching things out, we’ll be posting individual reviews for those who don’t make it as we eliminate them rather than waiting till we’ve picked our winner. Please note that we’re not reading (or eliminating) these in any particular order […]
Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal
Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal presents an alternate World War I where a soldier’s duty doesn’t end when the shell falls or the bullet finds a target. Spiritualism is real, and mediums have given the Allies the edge. Although death and betrayal are at the heart of this book, a cast of plucky, charming […]
MJ-12: Inception by Michael J. Martinez
Michael J. Martinez first hit our shelves with the incredible Daedalus series, which dazzled critics and fans alike with 18th Century battleships in space and multi-dimensional plotlines. It was a trilogy (and spin-off novella) that mashed a range of genres into a fresh fantasy adventure that we really hadn’t seen before and I couldn’t help […]
Medusa’s Web by Tim Powers
“The past,” she repeated, “it is always out there, isn’t it? I hate now. I hate that whenever you look at a clock, it shows a different time. What’s the use of knowing what time it is, if it’s always changing? And it’s always later!” Since The Drawing Of The Dark (1979), in which King […]
The Shards of Heaven by Michael Livingston
The Shards of Heaven is the debut novel of professor and Writers of the Future winner Michael Livingston. It’s a historical adventure fantasy that asks how heirs to Julius Caesar—already in possession of tremendous power—would wield the godlike powers of heavenly artifacts, and how those decisions would have affected ancient Roman history. The novel picks […]
