Worldbuilding Through Characterization
Aaron Miles
When somebody mentions worldbuilding the first thing you’ll think of is probably a lavishly detailed map, something filled with interesting geography, the locations of important cities, and maybe a dragon…
One Way by S. J. Morden
Jessica Juby
Frank Kittridge is a middle-aged convict, doing time for killing his son’s drug supplier. His wife has divorced him and moved away with their son; he hasn’t heard from either…
#SPFBO 5 Cover Contest
Overlord
Last year’s cover contest was splendid. Each of the ten bloggers nominated the top three covers from their batch before voting for their favorites from the final pool of thirty.…
SFF and Queerness – We Need To Do Better
Leo Elijah Cristea
We’ve just said goodbye to June, month of queer visibility and pride (and gender-nonconforming visibility and pride, too—which many people (but not all) feel belongs under the umbrella of “queer”,…
5th Annual Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off: An Introduction
David Zampa
Hello, to all the followers of the SPFBO (Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off) the competition that began with an idle thought in the shadowed recesses of Mark Lawrence’s mind and is now…
One Word Kill by Mark Lawrence
Toby Frost
In January 1986, 15-year-old Nick is told that he has cancer. He begins chemotherapy and struggles to maintain as much of a normal life as he can. But a girl…
What If… – Guest Blog by Tom Lloyd
Tom Lloyd
Writing—It’s all basically the same whatever genre, right? No, of course I don’t believe that! If I did, I’d be trying to make my fortune in romance or something. There…
Unicorn Mirror: A Compendium of Unicorn Lore
S. H. Paulus
Introduction: The Ethereal Glimpsing of a Unicorn “The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone. She was very old, though she did not know it, and…
Quill by A. C. Cobble
Kartik Narayanan
Quill is the first book in a new series, The Cartographer, by A. C. Cobble (author of the Benjamin Ashwood series). It is a fantasy wrapped in steampunk, inside a…
Seven Blades in Black by Sam Sykes
L. A. Young
Seven Blades in Black is the first book in The Grave of Empires series. The central theme is the contest for power between mages—those with any magical or superhuman ability—and…
Chronicles of Ancient Darkness by Michelle Paver – Series Review
Pippa
Chronicles of Ancient Darkness is a six book historical fantasy series by British author, Michelle Paver. The series consists of Wolf Brother, Spirit Walker, Soul Eater, Outcast, Oath Breaker and…
A Fantasy Geek’s Guide to YouTube: Vampires
Richard Marpole
Vampires. They’re better than zombies. I’ve demonstrated this conclusively in a previous article. From True Blood to Let the Right One In to V Wars, vampires are all over literature,…