Keeping Characters Realistic In A Fantasy Setting
Aaron Miles
The fantasy genre is about the imagination, so it might seem strange to talk about realism in your work, but hear me out. Your characters are what sell your story,…
David Gemmell Legend Awards Shortlist & Lunchtime Thoughts
Overlord
It’s my lunch break and I’m sat here looking over the David Gemmell Legend Award shortlist. It’s truly great to see that in just a few years of the Gemmell’s…
Brandon Sanderson’s ‘Firefight’ Cover, Blurb & Release Date Revealed!
Fantasy-Faction really enjoyed Brandon Sanderson’s super-villain epic, Steelheart. In addition to Sanderson’s fantastic worldbuilding and cinematic writing, the story of average citizens rising up and administering justice as they see…
Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen
A. E. Marling
If you want a fantasy where two teens in an arranged marriage struggle to love each other, then read Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen. First Cecile is kidnapped. Then…
Creating Shanghai Sparrow: Guest Post by Gaie Sebold
Gaie Sebold
The germination of a novel is a peculiar process. It seemed particularly so, for me, in the case of Shanghai Sparrow. When I first considered the possibility of a steampunk…
Hugo Award Nominees Announced.
For those that missed it, yesterday the finalists for the 2014 Hugo Awards and finalists for the 1939 Retrospective Hugo Awards were announced live from EasterCon in Glasgow. As expected,…
Midnight Tides by Steven Erikson
Karl Wolfenden
This review contains some spoilers. Read with caution if you have yet to finish the book. Midnight Tides, book five of the Malazan Book of the Fallen, provides robust proof…
The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski
Joie
I try not to get my hopes up too high when I check out new author/book recommendations from friends or even other book reviewers I respect. What touches one person…
Hugo Award Finalists To Be Announced Saturday 19 April
Loncon 3, the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention (“Worldcon”), has announced that the finalists for this year’s Hugo Awards and John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and for…
Neil Gaiman lecture: Reading and obligation
For those that missed it late last year, here is a lecture which Neil Gaiman gave focusing on the future of reading and libraries focusing particularly on children and young…
Reading Agency survey finds 63% of men rarely read
In a saddening, disappointing report, The Reading Agency has found that as many as 63% of men have given up reading books almost altogether in favour of television and movies.…
Children’s Fantasy: Eight of the Best – Part One
Lucy Hounsom
I do not write for children, but entirely for myself. Yet I do write for some children, and have done so from the beginning. This wonderful, contradictory statement comes from…