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…
Art Imitates Life, Life Imitates Art: Where will SFF Go Next?
Nicole Singer
Genre has a strong history of leading to invention in the real world. From Star Trek’s influence in a whole myriad of ways, to Iron Man’s suit (Yes, this is…
Self-Published Fantasy and Me
Zachary A. Matzo
When it comes to music, my collection of indie and underground albums equals or surpasses that of my major label collection. I own literally thousands of creator-owned, independently published comics.…
Lev Grossman vs Mainstream Television
Overlord
Sometimes, writing for Fantasy-Faction, I forget the extent to which the mainstream media looks down their nose at Fantasy fiction. Although George R.R. Martin’s recent success has opened a number…
The Liar’s Key – early US/UK cover preview
Mark Lawrence’s The Broken Empire trilogy won awards not only for its poetic prose and boundary-pushing story, but also for its exceptional cover art. Mark has always offered up his…
The One Tree by Stephen Donaldson
John Cowell
Any of you read The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant? Fantasy royalty? Seminal work? They are an unusual series of books. In a good way. A saga, really, nearly forty years…
Interview with V.E. Schwab
This week I was lucky enough to interview an author that will inevitably be challenging for one of the top spots on 2014’s ‘best SFF book of the year’ lists…
Perfect Beginnings
There is no doubt that the first sentence of a novel is important; it’s the hook that draws the reader in. And, when it comes to fantasy and science fiction,…
Fantasy & Ebooks: Big in China!
When you think of China it’s likely that images of dragons, spirits, magic, combat, swords and alternative states of consciousness come to mind; all the ingredients of a successful fantasy…
The Rain Wilds Chronicles by Robin Hobb (Spoiler Free Review)
Lew Kelly
Spoilers follow for Hobb’s first, second and third trilogies. No spoilers for the Rain Wilds Chronicles. After the impressive Tawny Man trilogy, Robin Hobb once again switches the action back…
The Providence of Fire by Brian Staveley: ARC Review
Charlie Hopkins
The first book of the ‘Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne’ trilogy was one of the reasons I started reviewing books. It resonated with me in a such big way and…
Black Butler: Book of Circus
Rebekah Loper
The Black Butler anime adaptations are based off the original manga by Yana Toboso. The first season was likely going to be the only season, based on the storyline. Then…