13 more hours of Game of Thrones….
Overlord
The countdown has begun… Game of Thrones show creator David Benioff has told the world: “It’s two more seasons we’re talking about From pretty close to the beginning, we talked…
June 2016
Worldbuilding: Don’t Neglect The Landscape
Geoff Matthews
You have your story, your plot, your characters, sub-texts and themes. On a piece, or several, of paper you have sketched out a map, worked out the travel distances and…
The Last of a Kind: Extinction in Fantasy
Nicola Alter
We often hear about extinction in the real world – whether it’s a dodo that’s already died out, a rhinoceros that’s on the brink of extinction, a bluefin tuna that’s…
Roses and Rot by Kat Howard
Jonathan Thornton
Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers. Please read with caution if you’ve yet to finish the book. This is the thing about fairy tales: You have to live through…
2016 Locus Award Winners Announced!
Jennie Ivins
Yesterday the Locus Science Fiction Foundation announced the winners of the 2016 Locus Awards during the Locus Awards Weekend in Seattle, WA. The awards are chosen by a survey of…
Company Town by Madeline Ashby
Charlie Hopkins
There is a lot to like about this ambitious, quick and explosive sci-fi story. Company Town is told through the eyes of the protagonist Hwa and takes place in a…
Graphic Fantasy: Catching up on Comics
Eric Christensen
Step into any forum, whether on Fantasy-Faction or another site, and conversation often turns to recommendations. “I liked X, but not Y. What should I pick up next?” Unless X…
The Language of Dying by Sarah Pinborough
There is a language to dying. It creeps like a shadow alongside the passing years and the taste of it hides in the corners of our mouths. It finds us…
Mash Up edited by Gardner Dozois
Victoria Hooper
Mash Up is a short story anthology edited by Gardner Dozois, in which authors take famous first lines from literature and weave completely new stories from them, all with a…
The Bound Folio by Rob J. Hayes
Richard Bray
In the Five Kingdoms, previously the setting of Rob J. Hayes’ Ties That Bind trilogy and now the setting of his new collection of short stories, The Bound Folio, injustice…
Character Group Dynamics
Aaron Miles
One of the most important tasks of a writer is to get the reader to engage with their characters, but almost as important is how your characters engage with each…
The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski
Lucy Hounsom
When I asked Twitter whether I should buy the first Witcher game, I got a unanimous YES. One gentleman informed me that the games were based on a series of…