Art

Clarkesworld Reader Poll

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

Our readers have spoken, and the results are in the current issue of Clarkesworld. Yes, I have already mentioned this. Why am I doing a separate post? Well, at this time of year everyone is looking for potential Hugo nominees. (Those of you attending BASFA tonight will be discussing that very topic.) And people always complain that the field is so vast that they don’t know where to start looking. Well, Clarkesworld is a Hugo and World Fantasy nominated magazine publishing some of the finest writers in the field. The stories that come out on top in our Readers Poll are therefore going to be quite special. And they are all free to read online. Here are the top four stories (three of them by women, two by people of color).

Go take a look. It’s good stuff.

And let’s not forget the artists, OK? The artist category is one that sees almost no movement from year to year. There are more than half a dozen professional artists out there, people. I am in awe of the magnificent job Neil does in finding fabulous cover art. I’m also delighted with our winner. You may remember me getting rather excited about that cover when #38 first came out. Kazuhiko Nakamura produces some fabulous art. He has several more wonderful images on his web site, Mechanical Mirage. And here’s the original of “Brain Tower” without all of our logos and stuff on it.

Brain Tower

I’d love to see him get a few nominations.

Australian Artist Candidates

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

For those of you looking for Australians to nominate it the Hugos, here are a couple of artists. Nick Stathopoulos has been a favorite of mine for some time. And today Marc Gascoigne reminded me that Greg Bridges is also Australian. Unfortunately I have no idea what either of them have done in 2009. I wish people would update the wiki.

And to save you clicking through to Angry Robot, here’s what Marco was so excited about.

City of Dreams - Greg Bridges

Coulthart on Dean

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

John Coulthart has a long and impassioned post up about Roger Dean. Here are a couple of tasters:

There’s a certain kind of critic, usually male and British, who finds the exercise of a Romantic imagination to be a suspect and unwholesome activity. That suspicion often sees a single “story” being told in art history which skips from Impressionism to Cubism and ignores the Symbolists and Decadents; it dismisses Dalí’s work after the 1930s and won’t even look at the paintings of HR Giger, Ernst Fuchs or Mati Klarwein; it’s a suspicion which marginalised Mervyn Peake almost to the year of his death in 1968, which scowls at genre fiction and ignored JG Ballard (always a proud science fiction writer) until his Booker Prize nomination in 1984. Minimalism and restraint is favoured over exuberant invention, and a blokey cynicism is favoured over any kind of visionary impulse which is seen as tasteless or kitsch, with “kitsch” in this context almost always meaning “whatever I dislike”. For every Marina Warner, Michael Moorcock, Clive Barker or China Miéville who assert and promote the value of the imagination, you’ll find a vocal crowd who find the whole thing to be unpalatable and juvenile.

and…

The writings of JG Ballard and Philip K Dick gained widespread popularity when the world began to more closely resemble their fiction. In Roger Dean’s case, technology is now better able to bring his imagination to life. Over the past decade we’ve seen the creation of buildings which resemble his organic designs while his holistic approach to architecture and the environment is more widely accepted than it was when Views first appeared.

FWIW, my college room poster was Dalí, not Dean. I have albums by Pink Floyd and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and I have lots by King Crimson, but I could never get used to Jon Anderson’s voice.

Card Coolness

~ Cheryl ~ 2 Comments

Various people have been posting or emailing holiday cards. My prize for the best picture goes to Leah Moore and John Reppion for this. Click on the picture to see a larger image.

However, the best holiday email I have had so far came from Hannu Rajaniemi who found a site that would write my name in the stars. It will do the same for you too. Go here to see.

Some Brief Linkage

~ Cheryl ~ 2 Comments

Two interesting posts appeared overnight.

John Picacio asks whether Locus might get more readers if they devoted more space to artists and illustrators. Note that he’s not demanding that they should do so, he’s asking Locus readers, and potential readers, whether this is something they would welcome.

On the SFWA blog Mary Robinette Kowal talks about what writers can get out of conventions and how to ensure that they make the best of the experience. (Even writers, it turns out, have to be reminded to bathe.)

The Art of Maurizio Manzieri

~ Cheryl

I don’t get many free books these days (and indeed I turn down most of those I am offered), but here’s one I did get sent. It is an art book by an Italian called Maurizio Manzieri. Who? I hear you ask. Well you may not know his name, but if you check out his portfolio you’ll probably recognize several covers from places like F&SF and Interzone. Art does not need translation, so someone like Maurizio (or, for that matter, Stephan Martiniere, who is French) can sell easily into English-language markets.

The book is published in France and has text in French, Italian, English and Spanish. Amazon US doesn’t appear to have it yet, but you can order it from the publisher. At the very least i hope this will remind people that there are many more fine, prolific artists out there than the usual suspects who appear on the Hugo ballot each year. Maurizio was up for a Chesley this year, so clearly his fellow artists approve of what he does. Now you folks know his name.

Link Salad for Second Breakfast

~ Cheryl

Kevin and I are both very tired this morning. We have no idea why. However, breakfast and caffeine should fix that. In the meantime, in the great hobbit tradition of Second Breakfast, I offer up a big plate of link salad.

Boilerplate

~ Cheryl

Back in April I blogged about a book called Boilerplate: History’s Mechanical Marvel. I noted at the time that it would not be in the shops until October, but that time is now passed and I have my own copy. It is just as wonderful as Jeff VanderMeer promised.

The book is a “mockumentary” which purports to tell the story of a mechanical man invented in 1893 as a replacement for human soldiers. Our heroic robot (or automaton as he would have been called in those pre-Capek days) has all sorts of adventures, including joining Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, saving the life of Pancho Villa, helping put down the Boxer Rebellion and so on. The history (and I have had Kevin check this for me) is excellent, as is the digital work that allows Boilerplate to appear in so many period photos.

If you don’t want to believe me, here’s Richard Bruton telling you what a fabulous book Boilerplate is. He has a bunch of pictures too, but not the one I really want to be able to show you: the fabulous mock Alex Toth sketches for a proposed tribute cartoon series featuring Boilerplate, geek girl “Tina Tuneup”, and “Spigot” the mechanical hound (who look rather like Velma and Scooby).

I’m definitely nominating this book for a Hugo. Given that it is mainly fact and art, I think it fits best in the Best Related Work category — or at least that’s where we can nominate it without too many people getting upset.

Further information is available at the official Boilerplate web site, and in this video.

Those Church Murals

~ Cheryl

Further to my trip to Bristol yesterday, I was asked if I had any more information about the church murals that I discovered. Well, the church in question is St. John the Baptist at the end of Broad Street. There’s a fair amount of information about it here, but nothing about the murals. Wikipedia says that the passageway walls are covered in graffiti, but I suspect that’s out of date because this web page (dating from a year ago) mentions commissioning some community murals to cover up the graffiti. I haven’t been able to find any pictures of the murals online, so you’ll have to be content with mine.

Famous Bristolians

~ Cheryl ~ 3 Comments

My pal Simon Gurr has been awarded a commission to create a new artwork of people who have helped make the city of Bristol famous. This is serious civic pride stuff with a price tag of £10,000. Joe Gordon reports here.

I was surprised and delighted to discover that Sir WG Grace was on the list. With him and Brunel, Bristol is a definite candidate for steampunk stories. I wonder if I could work in Wallace & Gromit as well. (Yes, I know they are from Yorkshire, but Aardman Studios is in Bristol.)

Clarkesword Cover is Chesley Nominee

~ Cheryl

Clarkesworld #19 coverIt might seem a little odd for an online magazine to have cover art, but Clarkesworld does, and the art is very good. So good, in fact, that one of our covers has been nominated for a Chesley award, alongside covers from Asimov’s and F&SF. Best of luck to Matts Minnhagen. The Chesley winners will be announced at Worldcon.

While I’m talking about the Chesleys, a few congratulations are in order for my friends. John Picacio has four nominations (I particularly like his cover for L.E. Modesitt Jr.’s Viewpoints Critical). Lou Anders has achieved the magnificent double of nominations as both Best Editor (Long Form) in the Hugos and Best Art Director in the Chesleys. And Maurizio Manzieri is another of the nominees in Best Magazine Cover (go Italy!).

Attention Scandinavia – Otto Frello Exhibit

~ Cheryl ~ 2 Comments

If you happen to be anywhere near Copenhagen or Varde this summer there’s an art exhibition you may want to see. It celebrates the 85th birthday of Otto Frello (site in Danish) whose art I discovered when I was at Eurocon last year because Klaus Mogensen had a print of this on his wall.

Otto Frello art

The picture is a bit small to see all of the wonderful fine detail, but click through for a bigger version. You may find some familiar figures. I spent a long time just exploring the picture. An entire Frello exhibition would probably take me all day to get through. The exhibit will be at Helligaandshuset in Copenhagen until June 1, then it moves to the Museum in Varde from June 13 until September 27. Full details (in Danish) here.

Many thanks to Jannie Shea of ASFA for telling me about this.

Martiniere Speaks: Part II

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

The second part of Maurizio Manzieri’s interview with Stephan Martiniere has just gone online. As part of it Martiniere talks about winning a Hugo, and reveals that he declined nomination this year. It is pretty clear that he doesn’t have much idea how the Hugos actually work, or indeed what changes have been made over the past few years, but I’m glad he won anyway because he does great work.

By the way, it occurs to me that Martiniere may be the first Frenchman ever to win a Hugo. I don’t have time to check the lists. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

Clarkesworld #32 Online

~ Cheryl

The latest issue of Clarkesworld Magazine is now online. It includes fiction by Nnedi Okorafor and Alex Dally MacFarlane, an interview with Robert V. S. Redick (author of The Redwolf Conspiracy) and an article by Brian Dow explaining how he created the cover art for Tobias Buckell’s new short fiction collection, Tides From The New Worlds.

Brian’s article actually came via Neil, not via me. I’m rather surprised at how few non-fiction submissions we get, given that we pay well. It is, however, an article I would have been delighted to have been offered. Brian takes us through the various steps involved in creating the cover for Toby’s book, which include beachcombing, model-building and freezing balloons full of water. Go take a look. It is amazing what artists put themselves through in order to get just the right look for a commission.