Join FanFiAddict’s Adrian M. Gibson and author Alex Jennings for a chat about his new novel The Ballad of Perilous Graves, his long journey towards publication, participating in Clarion West, meeting his literary idols, New Orleans and jazz culture, the magic of music and much more.
Author Chat: Robert Jackson Bennett
Join FanFiAddict’s Adrian M. Gibson and award-winning author Robert for a chat about The Divine Cities and The Founders Trilogy, how he got into writing, infusing history, politics and religion into his fictional worlds, creating interesting magic systems, cyberpunk-as-fantasy, wrapping up another and much more.
Author Chat: Samit Basu
Join FanFiAddict’s Adrian M. Gibson and author Samit Basu for a chat about his new novel The City Inside, how he got into writing, screenwriting and filmmaking, comic books and superheroes, surveillance and technology, the current state of South Asian fantasy and science fiction, representing India and New Delhi in his work and much more.
Review: The City Inside by Samit Basu
The City Inside is a tricky novel to review. On one hand, I enjoyed it a lot—its characters, world, technology and atmosphere. On the other, the narrative structure is strange, and the real story takes a while to coalesce and impress. That said, it’s also a short book, and author Samit Basu manages to pack in a ton of great ideas, character development and worldbuilding. It’s also a book that contains a heaping pile of heart, humor and positivity, offering up some much-needed levity in these strange times we are in.
SFF Addicts Ep. 21: Video Games & SFF (with Nicholas Eames, J. S. Dewes, Austin Grossman, Ciel Pierlot & Ron Walters)
Join host Adrian M. Gibson and authors Nicholas Eames, J. S. Dewes, Austin Grossman, Ciel Pierlot and Ron Walters as they take a deep dive into the virtual worlds of video games. During the panel they discuss the intersection between video games and SFF, the creative feedback loop between gaming and writing, incorporating games into book narratives, book-to-game adaptations and vice versa, developing and writing for video games and much more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 20: Traditional, Indie & Self-Publishing (with Anthony Ryan, Krystle Matar, Michael R. Fletcher, Ben Galley & Jessica Moon)
Join host Adrian M. Gibson and authors Anthony Ryan, Krystle Matar, Michael R. Fletcher, Jessica Moon and Ben Galley as they compare and contrast traditional, indie and self-publishing. During the panel they discuss the viability of each publishing avenue, misconceptions about them, finding an agent, cover art and design, the editing process, distribution and marketing and much more. DISCLAIMER: This discussion is specifically about fantasy and sci-fi publishing.
Review: Eyes of the Void (The Final Architecture #2) by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Many sci-fi fans speak of the Golden Age of Science Fiction as something that has long since passed. Whether it’s the 1930’s, ‘40s or ‘50s, the days of Asimovs, Heinleins, “Doc” Smiths, Bradburys and more are a forlorn memory… right? From my perspective, the answer is “Hell no!” The last decade or two has seen a stunning resurgence of sci-fi and space opera that recaptures the magic of far-flung galaxies, grand ideas, scientific marvels, strange aliens and more, but at the same time delivering fast-paced, engaging narratives and characters who are actually relatable. One author who stands at the forefront of this modern movement is Adrian Tchaikovsky.
Tchaikovsky showed his natural talent for the genre with the 2015 novel Children of Time. Since then, he has honed his craft with every release (and he releases a lot of books with unbelievable frequency), and his new series The Final Architecture, starting with last year’s Shards of Earth, is space opera at its very best.
Author Chat: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Join FanFiAddict’s Adrian M. Gibson and author Adrian Tchaikovsky for a chat about his long writing journey, the galactic worldbuilding, politics and characters of The Final Architecture series, his personal history with biology and zoology, creating strange alien races and writing empathetic aliens, the contrast between writing fantasy and science fiction, how he approaches research and much more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 19: Martial Arts in SFF (with Fonda Lee, K. S. Villoso, Alexander Darwin & Sam Hawke)
Join host Adrian M. Gibson and authors Fonda Lee, K. S. Villoso, Alexander Darwin and Sam Hawke as they grapple with the topic of martial arts in sci-fi and fantasy. During the panel they discuss incorporating martial arts into fictional stories, what it can add to pacing, characters and worldbuilding, the spiritual and holistic sides of combat sports, the growing mainstream popularity of martial arts and much more.
Review: One Foot in the Fade (The Fetch Phillips Archives #3) by Luke Arnold
Detective and noir fiction is one of those sweet spots for me as a reader. Those times when I’m not reading fantasy or science fiction, I love basking in the mystery and dark explorations of books by Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and the like. There’s something raw about those works, their characters and their worlds, that pulls me in every time.
That’s why my discovery of the urban fantasy detective genre five or six years ago quite literally blew my mind (it’s a mash-up made in heaven!). I have since devoured countless great genre-blending gems, and Luke Arnold’s The Fetch Phillips Archives stands high among them. Now, three books in with One Foot in the Fade, I can safely say this is a series that has cemented itself as some of the best urban fantasy detective literature out there.
Author Chat: Luke Arnold
Join FanFiAddict’s Adrian M. Gibson and author/actor Luke Arnold for a chat about his new book One Foot in the Fade, worldbuilding, characters and more in The Fetch Phillips Archives, Raymond Chandler and other noir influences, morally grey characters (and worlds), balancing acting and writing and much more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 18: Our Favorite Fantasy Books & Series (and Why We Love Them)
Join host Adrian M. Gibson and FanFiAddict book bloggers Tori Gross, Benny, Naty and Sean for a new FanFiAddict family panel, where they share their favorite fantasy books and series. During the panel they each share two of their top picks for fantasy books or series (for a total of ten), as well as reflecting on what the fantasy genre means to them, the current state of the genre and what their hopes are for its future.