George R R Martin’s now famous analogy of the architect and the gardener distilled the craft of novel-writing into two distinct creative approaches. I would suggest this is a particularly useful analogy when thinking specifically about worldbuilding – the manner in which writers go about creating a fictional universe for their story to live within. … Continue reading On worldbuilding: The Nihilistic Architect and the Negligent Gardener
Articles
The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro – Review
British writer Kazuo Ishiguro is widely celebrated for his literary fiction, including the Man Booker Prize-winning Remains of the Day (1989), and more recently his sci-fi sampling Never Let Me Go (2005), which saw a film adaptation by Mark Romanek in 2010. Ten years after his last novel, The Buried Giant (2015) saw Ishiguro once … Continue reading The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro – Review
What Photography Teaches Us About Writing
Before a photographer takes a photo, a lot of considerations run through her mind: composition, white balance, light sensitivity, aperture size, and more – all the variables that will help her achieve the most accurate exposure of the scene before her. She’ll also look for ways to impart her own impression of the image – … Continue reading What Photography Teaches Us About Writing
BFS FantasyCon by-the-sea 2016 – Report
This year’s annual British Fantasy Society FantasyCon took place over the last weekend of September, featuring three packed days of panel discussions, guests of honour, masterclasses, book launches, and awards ceremonies. Attendees of all stripes – from forty-year veterans to wide-eyed debutants – converged on Scarborough, North Yorkshire, for a long weekend dedicated to celebrating … Continue reading BFS FantasyCon by-the-sea 2016 – Report
Kelly Link’s Magic for Beginners – Review
Kelly Link’s award-winning short story collection, Magic for Beginners, whisks the reader along a meandering trail through several unique and inventive twists on the fantastical. Strands of myth, sci-fi and fable commingle with characters who yearn, mock, steal and bicker throughout these nine stories. That might not seem like many but, once read, they leave … Continue reading Kelly Link’s Magic for Beginners – Review
Enduring War: The Continuing Allure of Warhammer
Warhammer – you’ll probably know it for its long list of computer games, its plethora of licensed novels, or the venerable tabletop battle game itself. Almost certainly you’ll have seen some of the finely-detailed miniatures the company is renowned for. You may even have stepped into one of the iconic Games Workshop stores that cater … Continue reading Enduring War: The Continuing Allure of Warhammer
Diary of a NaNoWriMo Virgin
NaNoWriMo, ah yes. To some, it is just a baffling not-quite-word that clogs up the Twitter trends every November. To others, it is a golden chalice; to partake from its wine is to enter a nirvana of creative solitude. For a month, the belly of the whale is home to you, your laptop, and your … Continue reading Diary of a NaNoWriMo Virgin
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell – Review
If you’ve come into contact with any of David Mitchell’s work before, you’ll be well-acquainted with the sort of genre-switching, time-slipping, scene-shifting fiction that the author is best known for. A film adaptation by the Wachowski siblings in 2012 brought his lauded tapestry of souls, Cloud Atlas (2004), to a wider audience. 2014 heralds the … Continue reading The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell – Review
The Drowned World by J G Ballard – Review
Long before the issue of climate change had really impacted on popular consciousness, there was J G Ballard’s The Drowned World. Ballard’s 1962 debut novel (or rather his second – his first novel, The Wind from Nowhere, he went on to disown) was a product of its time, yet speaks to us today with perhaps … Continue reading The Drowned World by J G Ballard – Review
Opera di Cera by Kelley Swain – Review
Threaded through the twisted physiology of Opera di Cera is a fairy tale of the most fluid sort. It’s as if all the latent symbolism of the venerable story type has been set in a pot and put on a long simmer. The reduction is the concise yet flavoursome verse form of Kelley Swain's unique … Continue reading Opera di Cera by Kelley Swain – Review
Monsters in Eden 