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
Jo Warne
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
Alister Davison
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…
Introducing Sean Walsh: A Moment of Magic
Once in a while magic happens in the real world. If you blink you will miss it, but sometimes you are lucky enough to actually see it happen. Now I’m…
Game of Thrones – The King’s Road
Jamie Provencher
After the stellar first episode of Game of Thrones, Sunday has officially become the new geek night. As we gathered again for episode 2, I found myself both nervous and…
Subgenre Bingo – Modern Fantasy
Liz Fellshot Ambrose
When I put forth the urban fantasy installment of the varying subgenres of fantasy, I’m sure some of you thought, “But so-and-so doesn’t fit into this list! Fellshot, you malodorous…
Going Old School: Re-Re-Defining Urban Fantasy
Chloe Smith
I have a confession: I have not always maintained my current, high-intensity level of fantasy fandom. There was a period (which coincided with several years of full-time school), during which…
The Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey
Jennie Ivins
Rosalind Hawkins was born in the wrong era. Before women were allowed to vote, even before electricity had reached all areas of the country, Rose was working towards acquiring her…
The “Villain” Spectrum: Creating a Layered Antagonist
I’m sure everyone remembers the scene in the first Shrek movie where Shrek tells Donkey that “ogres are like onions” because they have layers. Donkey wants to know why they…