Kraken: An Anatomy by China Miéville
Chloe Smith
They say there are no new stories, just tropes, myths and archetypes that appear over and over again in different guises. This is, perhaps, especially the case in genres such…
The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan
Alister Davison
Now that I’ve got my breath back, I’ll begin. I’ve read a couple of Richard Morgan’s science fiction novels, so I was looking forward to The Steel Remains, his first…
Purple and Black by K. J. Parker
Khaldun
Subterranean Press recently announced a new novella from K. J. Parker, the enigmatic author of The Company and The Engineer Trilogy. As with all Subterranean Press Novella’s these were limited,…
Coyote Trilogy by Allen Steele
Jo Warne
Coyote: A Novel of Interstellar Exploration (Book 1) Synopsis: Coyote is an astonishing discovery, a habitable moon in a solar system 40-odd light years from Earth. A despotic post-US government…
Sci-Fri
Max Edwards
Sci-Fri is a new series of Friday articles on science fiction, primarily by myself, Max Edwards, with other contributors occasionally. What has science fiction got to do with fantasy? Well…
The Great Con – An Author’s First Fantasy Convention
Ashley Barnard
This weekend marked a memorable occasion. Not only was it my first book signing, it was also my first sci-fi/fantasy convention – ever. I’ve always wanted to go, and often…
Story Structure – Part 1: Beginnings
Amy Rose Davis
Now that I’ve spent several weeks discussing protagonists, heroes, antagonists, and villains, let’s start putting those great characters to use. But first, there’s all that worldbuilding to be done—creatures to…
Surfing the Network – Part One
Sandra Norval
Bring to mind any fantasy journey and consider what made it successful. Many a traveller sets off believing that he will do it alone with no need to call upon…
The Rise of Urban Fantasy
In 2003, I walked into an obscure little shop, away from the main drag in Parramatta (just west of Sydney). I was attracted to the Buffy display in the window.…
Mark Lawrence Interview – Prince of Thorns
Overlord
Disturbing, beautiful, chaotic, poetic, haunting, exhilarating… Believe it or not these are all words I would use to describe a single book: Prince of Thorns. Prince of Thorns is the…
Cutting the Flab: Eliminate Extraneous Words
As a marketing writer and freelance copywriter, I spent several years trimming sentences and blurbs to fit in newspaper ads and on postcards, brochures, and other marketing collateral. Then I…
Night of Knives by Ian C. Esslemont
Before I start, I need to make a confession. I picked up Steven Erikson’s Gardens of the Moon a while back, got around 100 pages in and gave up. To…