Your Correspondent Nerds Out

Cool Things of Recent Times:

So, guys, it's official: the Muse Calliope, lover of Ares, mother of heroes, and inspiring force behind Epic Poetry WILL NOT LEAVE ME ALONE, even when I'm supposed to be studying or sleeping; she delights in forcing me to chronicle the sad, sad stories of (among other things) supernaturally interrupted marriages, benevolent crow-demons, disintegrating kingdoms, families with fifty-odd offspring, all of whom are more interested in power than in each other's well-being and development, disowned gods, the politics of immortals, nuclear weapons, amoral soul-snatching bands of hunters, Stolkholm Syndrome, and psychic three-year-olds obliged to battle the forces of darkness with only the aid of a pack of ghostly mastiffs. 

It's not that I want to engage in egregious worldbuilding (though sometimes I do find it fun).  I'd much rather write a short, pointed little piece of literary fiction set during the French Revolution that illustrates the ultimate meaninglessness of life.  That'd be much less time-consuming.  Unfortunately, the Rule of Awesome still holds sway.

With respect, then, to this, a few Cool Things related to aspirations of being a great novelist some day:

Writing Blogs: Tricky to find good and relatively current ones, but I keep looking.  Milk Fever hosts some really impressive Bad Poetry.  Ink Stained offers a helpful series of posts on differentiating the various speculative fiction genres (after all, what exactly distinguishes Epic, Mythic, and High Fantasy?) 

These are Robert A. Heinlein's rules for succeeding as a writer.  They make me quiver and cringe, considering I still have to master rule #1, much less rules 4 and 5.  But they are somehow encouraging; they are simple and demanding, like most things that I've found give results.  They're also things that pretty much anyone can do.  So even if I do suck, there's hope, yes?

Finally: I like to dream about being present when the 30th Anniversary Edition of my blockbuster instant-classic saga is being issued; specifically, I like to plan the lavish binding, the gorgeously understated typeface, and who I will pick to do the full-color and line-drawn illustrations.  Because old people get to do fun stuff like that.  In terms, then, of fantasy illustrators working today, specifically those specializing in illustrating Tolkien:

Alan Lee: Probably the most well-known, since he was one of the minds behind the look of the LotR films.  I like his devotion to hinting rather than revealing everything; he leaves misty spaces and shadowy areas and is fond of thorns.  Therefore, we are fond of him, yes precious. 

Ted Nasmith: Also rather famous, for treating the Silmarilion with the attention it so richly deserves.  While I enjoy his sense of dramatic lighting and attention to detail, sometimes it all seems a bit too much: too posed, too mannerist, too brightly lit and staged.  Almost more akin to the sci-fi book covers of the 80s.  Still, he does both Valinor and Luthien very, very well; something that I find rare.

John Howe: Oh, John Howe.  Combining Lee's soft, artistic sensibilities with Nasmith's flair and attention to detail; when he's at top game, he's my favorite.  For example: of all the many depictions of Balrogs, his version (in which a certain blond warrior who might or might not end up saving Frodo from Ringwraiths a few millenia down the line battles one of the nasty beasts) is my favorite.  He also does Ungoliant (the Spider of Doom) very well.  Also note the presence of Morgoth, and his devil-may-care stance, illustrating that he is indeed the sexy Lord-of-Darkness all us eeevilll fangirls know him to be.

However, he commits howlers.  In illustrating the Duel before the Gates he clearly shows Fingolfin with blond hair, something that is explicitly NOT the case.  Furthermore, I am a huge fan of his dragons... except where Glaurung is concerned; the phrase "fat grey iguana" has been too justly applied by cleverer wits than mine to this picture, which is a real shame.  Glaurung is not a fat grey iguana!  So why does Howe paint him so?  We know he's capable of better!

So ultimately none of these famous people will be let at my 30th Anniversary Edition of "Insert Title Here;" who, then, gets my vote?

I am sorry to say I know her only as Ivanneth.  I hope and pray this lady (?) is fabulously wealthy and in high demand, as she deserves to be, because oh.  My.  Sweet Deep-Fried Snickers Bar.  She's done the House of Feanor to the letter: this picture of Maedhros and Fingon makes me want to cry and tell the subjects that everything will be all right (which is a blatant lie, but still); this one of Celegorm makes me want to smack him and then accept his invitation to dinner and listen to him talk about birds (so he's blond; so it's not canon.  IT SHOULD BE!).  The ultimate test, though, is Feanor himself: ideally, a portrait of Feanor should be utterly terrifying, tragic as all-get-out, and hauntingly beautiful.  Does (s)he succeed here?

Oh yes.

Brr. I have seen the face of madness and the face looked very unnervingly calm.

There; that should be your pretty pictures quota for the day.  And should give us all a better idea of how to do art for a literary world without being stupid, silly, or contradictory.

Thank you, and keep trucking.