Babylon Steel by Gaie Sebold
Overlord
When you’ve been reading within the fantasy genre for a while, you tend to familiarise yourself with the tropes and even find yourself looking for them as you read through…
fantasy
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by H.P. Lovecraft
Nyki Blatchley
We all know what to expect from a story by H. P. Lovecraft. It’ll be a tale of cosmic horror, in the which the Old Ones, such as Cthulhu and…
How to Use Mental Illness in Your Writing
Laura Graham
Mental illness is always a tricky topic to discuss, especially in the politically correct society of the present. I can tell you though, I work in a psychiatric hospital, and…
The Lily or the Tiger by Kiri Callaghan
Kit
God, I wanted to fall in love. Amidst the flurry of the romantic revolution–that’s when the rumors started. We heard about them at school: whispers of people reconnecting with their…
Elves In Mythology and Fantasy
Leo Elijah Cristea
When most people think classic fantasy, they might think Tolkien, and then they might think elves. And with good reason: elves have been in fantasy for a very long time,…
Quiz: First Lines of Fantasy Subgenres
Marsha A. Moore
After an exhaustive survey of fantasy subgenres in my past articles, I wanted to make one other comparison of the categories, arranged as a type of quiz. This fun activity…
Fantasy Book Club – April 2012: Babylon Steel by Gaie Sebold
This month we will be trying a book that I’ve already read and confirm is just fantastic. It is a book that takes the genres of fantasy and science fiction,…
The Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb
Elloise Hopkins
In preparation for the release of the next book in the Rain Wild Chronicles this year, I decided to revisit the Cursed Shores and remind myself of the series so…
The Mythical Hamburger: Food and Flavor in Fantasy
Food in fantasy is not always something we think about as we’re reading, though, in my opinion, we should be. Food can be an important plot device, an interesting way…
Magician by Raymond E. Feist
Alister Davison
This one takes me way back. It’s quarter of a century since my teenage self first picked up this book, and it mesmerised me. Even now, I can still remember…
Setting the Scene: Weather
Tegan Beechey
This article is part of a continuing series on setting the scene in fiction. Through this series, I will explore elements critical to creating a compelling setting, including landscape, plants,…
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser by Fritz Leiber
It’s generally accepted that, though there were precursors, the sword and sorcery genre was created in the 1920s and 1930s by Robert E. Howard, with his stories of Conan and…