The Airship Wars

A lot of tributes are going to be coming out today, to which I cannot hope to be as eloquent, nor as thoughtful. I started referring to Ursula Le Guin as St. Ursula a few years ago, perhaps as a nod to her gentle humor and subtle surrealism – a surrealism which wasn’t ‘strange’ or ‘abstracting’ but, in her own words: “Fantasy is not antirational, but pararational; not realistic but surrealistic,…

Another week, and we have another victim Indy Author arriving at the hallowed steps of the Guild to talk on the subject of covers; the ever thought-provoking, danger-writing, industrial-music-making Sever Bronny, author of The Arinthian Line and Fury of a Rising Dragon. nb. Navigate to the Categories menu for previous interviews! ~ ~ ~ Sever Bronny, Legend (The Arinthian Line, book 5) Latest…

WordPress Spambots?

Just out of interest… Is anyone else out there in the WordPress blogosphere seeing a sudden rise in the amount of spam-email accounts starting to follow them (strings of letters and an email account)? *Grrr*

Let’s face it, the villains of our books and media often get short shrift. Quite rightly so, perhaps, when we consider what they do for a living. But while reading and researching for my own stories I started to notice a glaring lack – to my mind at least – on the other side of the dramatic coin: the role of the bad guy. There are lots of writing guides and manuals out there devoted to the…

Welcome back, Gentle Readers. I trust that the New Year saw you all drowning in books, and to that TBR pile I would love to add the latest addition to the Guild; the erudite and truly-nice-chap, Richard Billing, author of The General. nb. Every week, here at the erstwhile home of the Guild (not really a home as such, more of a drinking spot for the itinerent adventurers that indy writers so often…

Okay, gentle peeps – you know the drill. This blog is fortunate enough to be able to host a series of interviews with indy fantasy authors, covering various aspects of their work and the self-publishing process. Last week we talked to Richard M. Ankers, and today we will be chatting with the delightfully mischievous Alice Gristle, author of the alternative-history, dark fantasy work The Blood Cup…

One of the key features of the Airship Wars‘ vessels, is that most are fantasy airships rather than say, diesel punk or ‘balloon-punk’ (I think I just coined that phrase…). Although I still love balloons, and we we have a few of those appearing as well… However, here are some great ideas of how airships can be constructed from Felonius Monk (not that one) and Neill Richards, which have been…