David Gemmell Legend Awards: Short List
Overlord
It’s that time of year again… The shortlists for 2016’s Gemmell Awards have been announced and voting will open at midday (GMT) today (Friday 8th July). Great to see so…
Another Point (of View) – Part Two: Third Person
Geoff Matthews
Last time, as you recall, or maybe you don’t, we looked at narration in the first-person. It has, as a writing style, many good points and some pitfalls. Well, third-person…
The Circle by Mats Strandberg and Sara Bergmark Elfgren
Jo Niederhoff
The majority of the books I read, whether fantasy or another genre, were written in English and published in either America or Britain. It is, therefore, a wonderful surprise when…
Scourge of the Betrayer by Jeff Salyards
Laura M. Hughes
Scourge of the Betrayer is a book that’s been lurking amidst the dusty, long-forgotten recesses of my Amazon wish list for over three years. Now that I’ve finally gotten around…
Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
Richard Bray
If you read the Harry Potter series and thought, “This is a pleasant little story and all, but I just wish everyone at Hogwarts was a blood-thirsty sociopath and the…
Writing Fantasy Battles – A Look At Strategy
Aaron Miles
You’ve seen the blood spray through the air, you’ve felt the crash judder through your arm as the enemy hits your lines, but have you ever thought about the big…
13 more hours of Game of Thrones….
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…
Worldbuilding: Don’t Neglect The Landscape
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…