John Seery-Lester's Safari Paintings

Cover Painting for Legends of the Hunt

Jim Cornelius had a new post this evening over at Frontier Partisans.  It featured a link to the safari art of John Seery-Lester.  These are paintings of classic safaris, many of them based on actual safaris.  Teddy Roosevelt is prominently featured in some of them.  The paintings brought back my boyhood dreams of going on safari.  If this is something that might be of interest to you, check it out.  If you really like his work, there's a link to order a collection of John's paintings.

Battlepug to be Collected by Dark Horse

For just over a year now, Mike Norton has been writing a weekly webcomic, Battlepug.  With Allen Passalaqua and Crank assisting on the artwork, it's a unique blend of a Conan-like barbarian and giant animals.  I just discovered it today.  I'm still trying to decide if it works for me, but I like the visuals and the framing story.  With weekly installments, it took a while for the story to really get going, but it seems to be picking up steam.  Norton is beginning to flesh out the background and add supporting characters.  Dark Horse recently announced it would collect the first year, to be published in July.  Anyway, I thought I'd mention it in case some of you who aren't aware of it might be interested.

New Links to Reviews of Small Press and Indie Books

It seems I'm running perpetually behind these days.  I've been intending to put links to all the reviews I've done of indie and small press books in the sidebar.  Tonight I finally got around to it.  You'll find it just above all the other links to posts on various topics.  I've included links to some essays (rants?) as well.  The links are grouped by broad category, either fantasy/adventure or science fiction.  One of the reviews I did for a different site.  I thought about creating a separate list for YA books, but for now I'm going to group them in with whichever category they best fit. 

I've got a number of indie published books in the queue to review, if I can ever get to them.  That perpetually behind thing again.  Right now I'm reading Mark Finn's revised biography of Robert E. Howard.  Or at least trying to; daily life things keep getting in the way.  I hope to have the review done by the time I go to ConDFW next weekend.  Anyway, I intend to review a great many more indie published work over the course of the year.  Some of the most exciting work seems to be published by indie writers these days, and I intend to share as much of it as I can with you.

Now, back to trying to get some reading done.

Watchmen Humor

A new Dork Tower strip went up a few minutes ago spoofing DC's Watchmen prequels.  Check it out here.  And for what it's worth, I rather fancy this rendition of Silk Spectre.

Watchmen Prequels - You've Got to be Kidding

I wasn't exactly thrilled with the announcement the other day that DC Comics is going to be publishing prequels focusing on the characters in the Watchmen, the legendary and ground breaking series from the 1980s written by Alan Moore and drawn by Dave Gibbons.  I was a huge fan of the series, buying them as they came out.  A sophomore in college who for the first time lived near a direct sales comics outlet, the complexity of storytelling really rocked my world.

I don't see an need for prequels, especially not if Alan Moore isn't going to be involved.  And given the history between him and DC, I expected pigs to fly before that happens.

Other than the occasional graphic novel or collections, I haven't followed comics closely in a number of years, mostly due to time, money, and space concerns, but lately I've considered picking the habit back up, at least in electronic format.  I'm only familiar with a few of the people working on the various projects in the Watchmen prequels.  I do respect the ones I'm familiar with, but none of them will be enough to entice me to buy these comics.

There are other issues at play here, though, besides should a self-contained story be added to.  Depending on who you listen to, Alan Moore was cheated out of the rights to his creation.  Or not.  Over at Black Gate, Matthew David Surridge has summarized the situation, using extensive quotes as well as his own opinions.  If you're a comics fan and haven't seen it already, it's worth a read.

Dunsany's Heir

The New Death and Others
James Hutchings
0.99, various ebook formats (Kindle)(Smashwords-various formats)

About one hundred years ago or so, give or take a decade, there was a fantasy writer named Lord Dunsany.  Some of you may have heard of him.  He wrote a couple of novels, but most of his reputation was built on short stories, many of them about a chap named Jorkens who had all sorts of fantastical adventures.  Other stories, though, the ones that weren't about Mr. Jorkens, ah, those were a delight.  They were often brief, what would be referred to today short-shorts.  Dunsany was known for his irony and wit.  And while writers who wrote witty, ironic tales, often about chaps who have fantastical adventures, have continued to this day, none have mastered the short-short the way Dunsany did, certainly none with his bite.

Until now.  James Hutchings has taken up that mantle, and he wears it well.  The New Death and Others contains 44 short stories and 19 poems.  And to quote from the promotional copy, there are no sparkly vampires.

RIP, Ardath Mayhar

Ardath Mayhar, not afraid to use computer or gun

Martha Wells posted a notice on her blog a few minutes ago that Joe Lansdale is reporting Ardath Mayhar has passed away.  Mayhar was an SF/F author and SFWA Author Emeritus.  She was probably best known for her novel Golden Dream:  A Fuzzy Odyssey, one of several sequels to H. Beam Piper's Fuzzy series. 

I don't have any details other than what I've written above.  When more details become available, I'll post them here.

I met Ardath a few times over the years at different Texas conventions.  I don't recall all of them; the ones in the 90s are a little vague.  The first clear memory is when she attended the first Fencon in 2004, although I know I had met her previously.   She may have been at one or two other Fencons.  I hope there will be a memorial for her at this year's event.

Ardath was a short, stocky lady who wore her hair in a tight bun, looking every bit like someone's sweet grandmother.  She often had knitting in her hands, I suspect in part because the needles could be used as weapons.  For a while she allegedly carried a gun in her purse.  I don't know if she ever actually did, but it would be consistent with her personality and makes a good story, true or not.  Ardath was the embodiment of feisty.  Until she was physically unable to do so, she would go for walks in the snake infested woods near where she lived in East Texas. 

Ardath was a blast to talk to.  The last time I saw Ardath was at the 2007 Nebula Awards in Austin, Texas, where she was awarded the title of Author Emeritus.  I sat in the lobby with several others and visited with her, mostly just listening.  I knew it was a rare opportunity I was unlikely to ever have again.  Someone else later voiced the same thought. 

Aradath Mayhar was the type of character we don't have enough of these days.  She was also an accomplished writer.  I have several of her fantasy novels I've never gotten around to reading, in addition to the things I have read.  I may discuss one of them here later this year.