Browsing all articles tagged with Sam Sykes.
Seven Blades in Black by Sam Sykes


Seven Blades in Black is the first book in The Grave of Empires series. The central theme is the contest for power between mages—those with any magical or superhuman ability—and non-mages—regular humans. Before the events of this book, the Empress—a mage from a lineage of powerful mages—gave birth to her first child and heir, who […]
Shy Knives by Sam Sykes


Paizo is killing it these days. A deal with Tor for their Pathfinder Tales series, a new sci-fi campaign setting—Starfinder—in the offing. One video game in the can and another (maybe) on the way. Podcasts. Dedicated cons. And now—Sam Sykes. Good job, Paizo. More and more people are taking notice. Sam Sykes writing a Pathfinder […]
‘I actually started worldbuilding…’ by Sam Sykes
Today we are delighted to welcome one of our favourite authors Sam Sykes (also known as Samus Sykesimus on the Roman Gladiator circuit) to Fantasy-Faction. I don’t really need to tell you too much more about the author and his works, because he’s about to do it for me… enjoy! So, I don’t know if anyone […]
The City Stained Red by Sam Sykes


If you’ve read Tome of the Undergates you will know roughly what to expect when you pick up a book by Sam Sykes. You take a step away from today’s ‘gritty’ fantasy, that type of fantasy that looks to be ‘like real life, but different’ – i.e. low magic, a couple of beasts that aren’t […]
Sam Sykes lands new novel deal…
Fantasy-Faction are big fans of Sam Sykes. His books are like playing video games: non-stop, chaotic and oh so fun. Fantasy is a genre where an author should feel free to let their imagination run wild, disembark from real-life and – from time to time – give the reader something that isn’t simply history re-written. […]
Dear Grimdark… Guest Post by Sam Sykes
As most of you know, Sam Sykes has a new book out this week, The City Stained Red. We’ve been lucky enough to get our hands on a copy and can tell you that it is by far the best thing Sam has written (and that’s saying something). A full review is forthcoming, but we […]
Sam Sykes Finally Gets an Awesome Cover
I’ve been saying for years that Sam Sykes’s books need some awesome covers. Don’t get me wrong, Sam’s covers for his original series weren’t ‘terrible’, but I did feel that his work deserved so much more. For those who have read Sam’s work you will know that there is something very unique about his voice, […]
A Town Called Pandemonium edited by Anne C. Perry and Jared Shurin


A Town Called Pandemonium is the latest short story collection from Anne and Jared at the always excellent geek blog pornokitsch.com. They have even made the introduction to their collection of fantasy influenced western stories available on their site and it is well worth a read before deciding to buy or not. I would not […]
The Craft – Part Five: Criticism
This is the last in a series of articles talking with fantasy authors about the craft. You can read the previous posts here: Part One: Breaking In Part Two: The Business Part Three: Careers Part Four: Revision Criticism is always hard. People can put on stoic faces and even welcome criticism but the first time […]
The Craft – Part Four: Revision
This is the forth in a series of articles talking with fantasy authors about the craft. You can read the previous posts here: Part One: Breaking In Part Two: The Business Part Three: Careers Revision is a part of writing. Writers who can write perfect prose on their first draft are few and far between. […]
The Craft – Part Three: Careers
This is the third in a series of articles talking with fantasy authors about the craft. You can read part one here and part two here. There’s an old saying in publishing that “it’s one thing to be published, it’s an entirely different ball game to stay published.” Writers must walk a tightrope between delivering […]
The Craft – Part Two: The Business
This is the second in a series of articles talking with fantasy authors about the craft. You can see last week’s article, Breaking In, here. Being a published writer these days is about more than just writing books. Writers are working harder than ever to promote and publicise their work. Especially within fantasy, there are […]