Fantasy Influences: Ancient Greek Mythology – Part One
Victoria Hooper
When we think of typical fantasy, we tend to imagine a setting influenced by western medieval ideas, complete with knights, horses, longswords and dragons. However, there are much deeper, older…
MTV’s Shannara Characters Revealed
Overlord
MTV have released cast photos of their upcoming “The Shannara Chronicles” series that will be based primarily on Terry Brooks’s The Elfstones of Shannara (book 2 in the Shannara series…
The Price of Faith by Rob J. Hayes
Richard Bray
With The Price of Faith, the third and final book in Rob J. Hayes’ The Ties that Bind series, Hayes once again returns to the central plot established in the…
New Joe Abercrombie book announced!
So, Joe Abercrombie’s Young Adult trilogy has now finished. Although 5 years ago we’d never have entertained the idea that Joe would go down the YA route we were so…
2015 Hugo Awards: No Dogs Allowed?
Eric Christensen
On Saturday night, the winners of the 2015 Hugo Awards (and the not-a-Hugo John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer) were announced as part of the 73rd World Science…
Hugo 2015 Award Winners
Jennie Ivins
Tonight the winners of the 2015 Hugo Awards were announced, along with the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Congratulations to all the winners! And if you are…
The Clockwork Crown by Beth Cato
Jo Niederhoff
The Clockwork Dagger amazed me with the rich world Beth Cato created of Caskentia, devoted to the worship of a woman turned into a mystical tree, and Tamarania, more reverential…
Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner
Jonathan Thornton
What songs do you sing to them in Elfland? There, where all songs are true, and all stories history… I have seen lovers walking in those glades, with gentle hands…
Does Size Matter In Epic Fantasy?
Dan Hanks
This year I decided to do something crazy—compete in an online writing contest called Pitch Wars. Run by the wonderful Brenda Drake, this is where unpublished writers query a selection…
Killing Pretty by Richard Kadrey
Zachary A. Matzo
Seven books in, Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim series continues to have its hooks in me. Killing Pretty—the latest entry—was released at the end of July and I plowed through it…
When The Dust Settles
Aaron Miles
While attending this year’s Nine Worlds convention I went to a session titled “How To Win The 21st Century,” which talked about games as a dominant cultural medium. This and…
Writing Fight Scenes – What an Editor Wants to See
Hierath
As an editor, something I’ve discovered when I’m editing books for other people is I’m making the same comments over and over again in relation to action scenes. I thought…