A Fantasy Geek’s Guide to YouTube: Mythology
Richard Marpole
YouTube is an app, a website and a cultural phenomenon. It’s also a vast and only partially explored wilderness full of content that ranges from dynamic to dire. Whatever your…
mythology
Trees in Fantasy – Part One: Trees as Symbols
Steff Humm
Magic in fantasy, myth and legend usually occurs as a natural phenomenon, with its own place in the world of the story outside of what is created by mankind and…
Monthly Short Story Winner: Through the Beast’s Eye
Xiagan
Writing often means putting yourself in somebody else’s shoes and writing from their perspective. The barmaid, the warrior, the shady detective, the witch, or the orphan boy. You do this…
Worlds Within Worlds – Part Four: Old Grey Beards
Christopher Mahon
If you ask someone on the street to name the first three wizards that come to mind, you’ll probably hear the names Gandalf, Merlin, and Dumbledore (or Rincewind, if they’re…
Paternus by Dyrk Ashton – Cover Reveal
Dyrk Ashton
Hello everyone! Some of you may be familiar with my novel, Paternus, from last year’s SPFBO competition hosted by Mark Lawrence (Archsaint of self-published authors). Paternus was Fantasy-Faction’s pick for…
A Gathering of Ravens by Scott Oden
Joshua Robertson
A Gathering of Ravens was my introduction to Scott Oden’s work, and after completing the mytho-historical story, I am now scouring his backlist for another appealing tale. The story is…
Wading in the Cultural Shallows: How Irish Mythology Became A Commodity for Fantasy
Brian O'Sullivan
One night at a party I was introduced to a woman who proudly informed told me she’d named her baby daughter ‘Banshee’ in celebration of her Irish heritage. Even at…
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
Eric Christensen
Mythology is meant to be told and retold, down through the generations. Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman, is the latest telling. As Gaiman recently described it in an interview with…
Why Aliens Look Like Octopuses
Nicola Alter
Have you ever noticed that extra-terrestrials in most “aliens-make-contact” science fiction usually resemble octopuses, squids, or other cephalopods? At least, when they don’t just look like humans in Halloween masks…
Monthly Short Story Winner: Mighty Beasts
You know they’re out there. Lurking. Just out of your sight. Maybe immortal. Or so close that it doesn’t make a difference. Having survived for longer than human history exists.…
Paternus by Dyrk Ashton – SPFBO Review: And Then There Was One!
Geoff Matthews
The SPFBO team have completed their search for a finalist! Today, only one book remains, and that is Paternus by Dyrk Ashton! Congratulations Dyrk! You are moving on to round…
Vampires: Origins, Evolution, and Role in Fantasy Fiction
Leo Elijah Cristea
The vampire: a figure whose folklore origins date back as far as the cradle of civilisation, is one of the major mythic figures bequeathed to us by the English Romantics.…