Browsing all articles tagged with science fantasy.
Keeping the Fun in Science Fiction – Guest Blog by Joseph Brassey
Islands sit suspended in an endless heaven, drifting amidst clouds and storms, high above a distant abyss below. Cities crouch upon the edges of cliffs, their walls jutting out into the empty air, and enchanted skycraft hurtle through the heavens, their magnificent wings catching the light of sunsets as the blue-white glow of their exhaust […]
Rogue One – Book and Movie Review
Note: This review covers both the film Rogue One and the prequel novel Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel. Small “spoilers” abound but I’ll say without reservation that there is no way this review can really spoil anything. The conclusion was foregone. We already know how the story ends. What I haven’t spoiled are some of […]
Where do you get your ideas from?
Sometimes out of the mouths, well hands, of babes and sucklings it seems… It’s a question many writers dread and I think it’s because it’s so hard to give any sort of concrete answer. Mostly. I mean, they come from anywhere and everywhere. They pop into your head unbidden (inspired by something you’ve seen or […]
The Diversity of Today’s Cutting Edge Sci-Fi
When we talk about science fiction we divide it up. It’s too big for a single shelf, we have to break it into subgenres and swallow it in pieces. There’s hard sci-fi, which typically deals with complicated scientific concepts. I usually call this technical sci-fi, since it’s often predicated on the idea that the science […]
Star Wars: Aftermath – A Discussion
Star Wars: Aftermath is a good book. You should read it. Let’s get that out of the way right now, because in the days since it was released, Aftermath has taken an undeserved beating. Despite what the naysayers would have you think, it is most definitely a Star Wars novel. It is true to the […]
Magician by Raymond E. Feist
Now, I must say that I am approaching this review with a certain amount of trepidation. For one thing, FF has reviewed it once before. For another, Magician by Raymond E. Feist is, without a doubt, one of the core foundational novels of the fantasy genre. In the BBC’s 2003 list of the top 100 […]
The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley
The Mirror Empire is not an easy read. It’s not a fluffy piece of forgettable fiction you casually pick up in the airport before a long flight. It’s a challenging book—not only challenging to fantasy readers, but also a challenge to the genre. Nevertheless, it is a fun, bold, and exciting read. Ultimately, I think […]
The Long Mars by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
This review contains spoilers for the previous books. Read with caution if you have yet to finish The Long Earth and The Long War. The Long Mars is a worthy third installment of the Long Earth series by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. Continuing the tradition of slow building, character driven stories, The Long Mars […]
God’s War by Kameron Hurley
“Nyx sold her womb somewhere between Punjai and Faleen, on the edge of the desert.” As opening lines go, they don’t come much better. It sets the book’s grim tone, establishes the level of desperation within Nyx, the main character (she certainly can’t be called a hero) and shows her absolute ruthlessness in doing what […]
The Dying Earth by Jack Vance
Fantasy authors who want to get away from familiar contemporary or historical surroundings have various broad types of setting to choose from. They can create a fictional prehistory, as both Tolkien and Howard did. They can send their characters through a magic portal, like Lewis. They can set the story on another planet such as […]
Windhaven by George R.R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle
In recent months I have read The Windsingers by Megan Lindholm (an omnibus edition which collected together the first three novels – Harpy’s Flight, The Windsingers and Limbreth Gate – all published between 1983 – 1984) and reread the original Wizard of Earthsea trilogy by Ursula LeGuin (again an omnibus edition which collected together The […]
