One of the reasons I’m so in awe of Gene Wolfe is the amount of very scholarly debate inspired by his work. Now, I’m not in his league when it comes to utterly, intricately baffling (1) writing, but hola, what’s this? Following the review at Eve’s Alexandria (an extended version of the earlier SFX magazine […]
There were just plain punks, of course. Still are, probably, if they can sufficiently distance themselves from Vivian in the Young Ones. The iconic hair and attitude are memes that has survived the actual subculture’s descent into the voracious jaws of commercialism (1). Especially the attitude, and the curious legacy it left in the nomeclature […]
Because that’s the point, after all. Stormtroopers with faces would be creepy. You might have to think a bit before you mowed them down in swathes.
Because you’ve got to have orcs, right? Or insert your alternative - urgles(1) or cultists or zombies, demons, in short - minions. Dread legions of mindless (and most often useless) minions, […]
Just a brief post. I promise a full scale rant in the near future, probably as a much-threatened sequel to this post (1)
However, whilst out trawling the net (2) I came across this very informative little piece by James Long of Speculative Horizons. Fantasy authors who don’t read fantasy. What is one to think?
Now, as I hope […]
Off indeed. My monster has now torn itself free from its bindings and, energised by the electricity of publication, is rampaging across the countryside, wholly beyond my control. Let us see what devastation it enacts.
I’d like to thank (1) everyone who turned up at the booksigning in Reading. I hear we shifted a goodly number of […]
Well, the moment fast approaches to see whether this beastie can survive in the wild, so…
To celebrate the publication of his debut novel, Empire in Black and Gold
ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY
will be signing copies of the book at Waterstone’s,
United Reform Building, 89a Broad Street, Reading RG1 2AP
SATURDAY 5th JULY, 3-5pm
For those wishing to attend, it may be wise […]
Welcome to the Official (tm) website of the series Shadows of the Apt
First things first: who the hell am I, that I have the right to comment? Am I, for example, award-winning author Neil Gaiman, internationally celebrated fantasist, whose excellent book, American Gods, has already been the subject of a blog about the post-writing process? No, […]
There are reasons why many fantasy stories take place in an ersatz Merrie Englande composed of equal parts Robin Hood, King Arthur, Prtince Valiant and cheese. Of course, one reason is imaginative bankruptcy, but there’s more to it than that. The more you sing a tune the audience has heard before, the more they can […]
“From childhood’s hour I have not been / As others were; I have not seen / As others saw; I could not bring /
My passions from a common spring…”
wrote Edgar Allan Poe (1), although very few fantasists haven’t felt like that on occasion. It’s a genre that traditionally appeals to the odd and the […]
When I was a young lad the fantasy writing landscape was different to today’s. Certainly, my fickle memory suggests there were fewer authors about, or certainly that were widely-enough published in this country to leap to the general attention. Terry Pratchett was a new development, for example, and aside from the obvious Mr T (1) […]
