Traditional Publishing, Self-Publishing and The Pro Writer
Gail Z. Martin
Once upon a time, not long ago, there was ‘real’ publishing and vanity publishing. ‘Real’ publishing paid the author, and authors paid the vanity publisher. The lines were clear. Few…
Guest Blogs
Dear Grimdark… Guest Post by Sam Sykes
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…
Eliza Crewe on her Crushed protagonist, Meda
Overlord
Regular readers of Fantasy-Faction will remember that following the closure of Strange Chemistry – an event that saw many writers thrust into the unfortunate position where they were unexpectedly out…
The Villain with a Thousand Faces (Part Two): The One-Line Backstory
Stephen Deas
About the author: Her Holiness the Dragon Queen Zafir, Speaker of the Nine Realms, has played both pro- and antagonist roles in her career as a fictional character. She is…
Taking a Dark Turn
Sean Cummings
Regular readers of Fantasy-Faction will remember that following the closure of Strange Chemistry – an event that saw many writers thrust into the unfortunate position where they were unexpectedly out…
Writing In Someone Else’s World
Richard A. Knaak
I began my career writing in someone else’s world, but I gained that opportunity by utilizing my own work. TSR (then the publisher of Dragonlance) was not publishing independent novels,…
A Matter of Perspective by Jeff Salyards
Jeff Salyards
A few months back, I was lucky enough to be sent a review copy of Jeff Salyards’s first novel, . As well as an excellent premise, what really struck me…
Money Makes the World Go Round
Tom Pollock
I missed The Desolation of Smaug movie when it was in cinemas, but my wife and I just watched it on Netflix, and while she was all ‘look at the…
The Changing Face(s) of Fantasy – Guest Blog by Adam Dalton
Adam Dalton
It’s obviously blasphemy to criticise Tolkien, even indirectly, but for me his work is more important in historico-cultural terms than modern literary terms. Before you send me a load of…
Spotlight on Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets – Guest Post by David Thomas Moore
David Thomas Moore
So, hey. I’m David Thomas Moore, commissioning editor at that there Abaddon Books and editor of Abaddon’s first ever anthology, Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets. And your Marc has…
Crossing the Borders – Guest Post by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Adrian Tchaikovsky
When I write a fantasy setting, it stays written. Ten books now, in the Shadows of the Apt series, and I’m still trading on the world-building that took place before…
Alternative History’s Distorted Mirror
Aidan Harte
If the discussion panel on Alternative History (AH) at this year’s Octocon was an exercise in navel gazing, I can only say that the view proved illuminating. Like every other…