5 Awesome Fantasy and Science Fiction Audiobooks

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 8 Comments
Photo by Jeff Golden (CC BY-SA 2.0)

I’m a big fan of audiobooks. I’ve previously told the story of how I fell in love with them on this blog. I still read hard copy books, but I like the flexibility audiobooks allow me to do other things while “reading” and how the story really comes to life when narrated by a great voice actor. I have an Audible subscription and I listen to between 1 and 2 audiobooks a  month, which may not sound like a lot, but when each one can last for between 8 and 30 hours (most being around the 10-18hr mark) it equates to a lot of time spent listening.

Amidst all of this listening, I find particular books stand out. Continue reading →

Books That Made Me Cry: Fantasy, Sci-fi and Dystopian Tearjerkers

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 12 Comments
Katniss Everdeen – The Hunger Games

Last week I mentioned some reasons why movies are usually bigger tearjerkers than books for me. However, there are still several books that have prickled my eyes or had me in tears, so today I thought I’d pay tribute these emotional tales.

Before I begin: this list will include SPOILERS. Discussing the sad moments in books necessarily involves mentioning character deaths and tragedies, and while I’ll try to keep it vague, I can’t promise I won’t give away too much. So if you haven’t read one of these books and don’t want a key plot point revealed, I suggest skipping the second paragraph of each section. Continue reading →

Are Movies Bigger Tearjerkers Than Books?

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 14 Comments
Photo from This Isn’t Happiness Blog

When it comes to books and movies, I would dub myself a moderate-to-heavy crier. There are highly sensitive people who cry at the drop of a hat, and there are steely never-criers who could count on one hand the things that moistened their eyes. I’d say I’m somewhere in the middle, leaning toward the quick-to-cry end of the scale.

So the other day on Facebook group when someone asked the question “which books made you cry? ” it got me thinking. Continue reading →

Amazing Books vs Good Books: What Makes a Fantasy or Sci-fi Novel Great?

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 10 Comments
Photo by Courtney Carmody via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0

Most of us could probably list a few fantasy or science fiction books we’d dub amazing, or add to our all-time favourites list. These are books that hook us, keep us drawn tight with suspense or fascination or wonder, tear us through to their endings, then leave us either in a state of catatonic awe, overflowing with enthusiasm or simply scrambling to get our hands on the next one in the series. If we’re lucky, these books come along often, and remind us how wonderful the experience of reading can be.

By the same token, we have probably all read a few good books too: Continue reading →

Are They Really Dead? 5 Kinds of False Deaths in Fantasy

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 7 Comments
Photo by Alan Weir via Flickr CC BY 2.0

When a favourite character dies in a fantasy novel, movie or TV show, our sense of sadness or shock is often tempered by that niggling question that immediately presents itself… are they really dead?

And we can’t be blamed for asking it. Continue reading →

Writing for Fantasy Faction

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 4 Comments
Fantasy Faction website logo

I just wanted to do a short post this week to mention that I recently became a staff writer for Fantasy Faction, so in addition to keeping up this weekly Thoughts on Fantasy blog (or at least, I usually manage to keep it weekly!) I’ll be writing one or two articles a month for Fantasy Faction.  Continue reading →

Discontinued Sci-fi and Fantasy TV Shows: What’s Your Pick From the Graveyard?

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 28 Comments
Image: Spaceship from V (2009 TV Series)
Spaceship from V (2009 TV Series)

Have you ever watched a TV show that got cancelled before reaching its final season, or even after its first season? If you enjoyed a show like this you might look back on it with frustration, disappointment or just a vague sense of something left unfinished.

For me, there are four discontinued shows that stick out in my memory. Continue reading →

Great Books About Writing

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 18 Comments
Photo by Nic McPhee via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0

About four or so years ago, I read a large number of “how to” books about creative writing. I read them because I was a new writer wanting to hone my craft, but also because I was writing my master’s thesis at the time. It involved analysing existing writing advice about world-building… in short, seeing what other writers had to say about inventing and describing fictional settings. Some of the books I read were very useful, others not so much.

Continue reading →

My Favourite Fantasy and Science Fiction Books in 2015

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 11 Comments

It’s 2016!! And to celebrate in proper fantasy-nerd style, I’m doing my annual round up of the best fantasy and science fiction books I read last year.  These are not books published in 2015, just books I happened to read last year, thus you’ll notice some are ones I took a bit longer to discover than other people might have. Continue reading →

Judging a Book by Its Cover: 17 Typical Features of Fantasy Covers

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 18 Comments
Chart showing trends in fantasy cover in 2008 and 2009, created by Orbit Books, source: The Chart of Fantasy Art Part One 

If you’re wandering through a store or scanning a website, it’s generally easy to recognise a fantasy novel. Most covers have features and styles that make them unmistakable. In fact, fantasy and science fiction novels have a history of standing out… and not always in a positive way.  They are famous for their gaudy, bizarre and sometimes downright ugly cover art – there’s even a website dedicated to collecting the worst sci-fi and fantasy book covers. Continue reading →