In the mailbox

With the order for Carlos Ruiz Zafón's "The Angel's Game" already placed and waiting for it to be delivered, here are my latest arrivals in the mailbox:

- "Zoe's Tale" by John Scalzi (through the courtesy of TOR UK);

How do you tell your part in the biggest tale in history?
I ask because it's what I have to do. I'm Zoe Boutin Perry: A colonist stranded on a deadly pioneer world. Holy icon to a race of aliens. A player (and a pawn) in a interstellar chess match to save humanity, or to see it fall. Witness to history. Friend. Daughter. Human. Seventeen years old.
Everyone on Earth knows the tale I am part of. But you don't know my tale: How I did what I did — how I did what I had to do — not just to stay alive but to keep you alive, too. All of you. I'm going to tell it to you now, the only way I know how: not straight but true, the whole thing, to try make you feel what I felt: the joy and terror and uncertainty, panic and wonder, despair and hope. Everything that happened, bringing us to Earth, and Earth out of its captivity. All through my eyes.
It's a story you know. But you don't know it all.

- "The Highwayman" by R.A. Salvatore (through the courtesy of TOR UK);

Long ago, in a distant land, a lonely young man struggles to discover who he is and where he belongs. He carries the blood and magic of two peoples, a sword of unimaginable power, and a staggering potential for great good . . . or greater evil.
In the land of Corona, the roads are unsafe to travel, as goblins and bloodthirsty Powries seek out human prey; and, in this savage world, princes feast while peasants starve, and two religions battle for control.
A monk, Bran Dynard, returns from his mission in a far-off land with two prizes: a book of mystical knowledge and a new wife, the beautiful and mystical Sen Wi. But the world he left behind has changed, and Bran must now decide who he can trust, and where he should place his faith . . .

- "Winterstrike" by Liz Williams (through the courtesy of TOR UK);

Winterstrike spy Hestia Mar has been sent to Caud to recover details of an ancient weapon. During her stay in the Martian city, she encounters the ghost of a warrior, who turns out to be the encoded representation of the city’s bombed library. Hestia Mar manages to access the library’s data, but realizes too late what she has done: by downloading the information, she has virtually guaranteed the use of the weapon against Caud by her own government. Desperate to rescue the situation she makes her way back home across the dangers of the Crater Plain.
Meanwhile, in Winterstrike itself, the festival of Ombre has been taking place upon the eve of war. Hestia's cousin Shorn –imprisoned by her family for accidentally consorting with a male – manages to escape. Her sister Essegui, pursuing her to the dangerous mountains of Mars, discovers a plot by creatures who hold the secrets of the Martian past, and its future. While Essegui battles forces back in Winterstrike, Hestia travels to Earth in an attempt to save her city . . .

- "Blood Water" by Dean Vincent Carter (through the courtesy of Corgi Childrens);

They’re all dead now. I am the last one.

Dr Morrow can’t identify the ‘thing’ he found living in the lake but he knows it’s dangerous . . . then it goes missing . . .

Caught in the flood that is devastating the town, brothers Sean and James stumble across Morrow and the carnage left at his lab. The missing specimen is some kind of deadly parasite that moves from person to person, destroying its hosts in disgusting, gory ways.

The death toll will rise along with the waters unless the brothers can track down the homicidal specimen and find a way to destroy it.

- "Maximum Offence" by David Gunn (through the courtesy of Transworld Books).

The Aux have been dropped on a far-flung planet called Hekati, only it's in Uplift space and not really a planet at all. As for their mission, it's so damn secret that General Jaxx hasn't even told Lieutenant Sven Tveskoeg what it's about. It appears a citizen of the United Free, an empire not only more vast than Octo V’s but far more technologically advanced, has gone missing on this artificial world and it's up to Sven and the Aux to find the poor soul. But Hekati is a realm where nothing is quite as it seems and no one can be trusted. Smelling a rat, Sven is so not happy - and when he's not happy is when bad things start to happen - and the body count starts to rise...

The devil-may-care not-quite 100% human mercenary soldier-cum-killing machine Tveskoeg and the Death's Head squad are back: cue more extreme violence, a mega death toll, dirty sex, fiendish plot twists and explosive, non-stop action!

Thank you all very much!

Dark Wolf went social

For a while now I have three new accounts on the wide world of Internet, on Goodreads, Twitter and Facebook. I experimented a bit through them and I discovered a lot of interesting things to do. The most important thing is that I am keeping track with my friends and acquaintances easier, but the unfortunate part is that my time is shrinking even more. I’ll admit that I’ll not be able to cover them all, on Twitter my presence is rather scarce, and priority will have the older habits, but if you would like to keep track with me on these sites I am glad to see you there as well :)

Fantasy Art - Jesse van Dijk

© The artwork presented on this post is used with the permission of its author. All the artwork is copyrighted. Please do not use the images without the permission of the artist or owner.

Jesse van Dijk is a Dutch artist born in 1977. He graduated in 2003 the Delft University of Technology with a Masters Degree in Industrial Design. He worked for three years at Playlogic Gamefactory as a concept artist and from 2006 is working at W!Games. In January 2008 his piece “Sea Creature” won the Gnomon Image Challenge. Jesse works as freelance illustrator as well and he produced lately a few book cover artworks.

Interview - Jesse van Dijk

Dark Wolf: Jesse, thank you very much for the opportunity of this interview.

What attracted you towards art? What is your first recollection of art?

Jesse van Dijk: My parents kick started my interest in art. My mom used to be an illustrator, and my father's a musician, so I was influenced by it from a young age.

Dark Wolf: What influences has your art? Who are your favorite artists?

Jesse van Dijk: I'm mostly inspired by real-world places. For example, last month I went to Bruges in Belgium, which I had never been to, to take reference pics of the old city. Trips like that really fuel me for weeks on end.

Dark Wolf: You have a Masters degree in Industrial design. Does your experience in industrial design help you in your freelance works? Does this experience make the work on some art pieces easier?

Jesse van Dijk: The background in Industrial Design helps me in my process mostly. Especially at my fulltime job at W!Games, process management is important.

DW: What made you decide for a freelancing career and not following a career in industrial design?

JvD: I guess I've always longer for something more spectacular than everyday products. I think I'm a bit too romantic for designing coffee machines and such :)

DW: Your art seems to be focused on Science Fiction and Fantasy genres. Is your interest in these genres professional or is it personal as well?

JvD: It's mostly personal, but at the end of the day I really don't mind what genre I work in. As long as the final product is of sufficient quality, I'm happy.

DW: What inspirations do you have when it comes to SF and Fantasy artworks? Do you like to create your own worlds too?
JvD: Yea, I consider world creating to be the most fundamental part of what I do. For me, it should never be about pretty pictures, but always about ideas.

DW: What sources of inspiration are behind such created worlds? Do you picture the final image in your mind before starting to draw it in this case?

JvD: Sometimes I do, but on other occasions I completely switch the image around halfway. It's something I've really learned at my work at W!Games, to never be afraid to kill my darlings and improve on something I thought to be finished at an earlier moment.

DW: Such a world is depicted in your Project Indigo. Can you explain this project a little, please? Would you like to develop this project further on and maybe gather it in an art book someday?

JvD: The whole concept of a vertical city is something that just fuels the imagination, and I had long planned to visualise some ideas about it at some point. It's one of those cases where you're designing a place you would really want to live. Well, I do anyway :)

I've had a crazy amount of visitors on my website because of Project Indigo (over 350.000 unique visits in three months or so) so undoubtedly I'll continue it at some point in the future.

DW: One of my favorite pieces from your portfolio, “The Labyrinth of Tsan-Kamal”, has also a short fiction story. Do you like to create such stories for some of your art pieces? What happens to come first to mind, the story or the image?

JvD: Both are being created simultaneously for me really. The image helps me create a story and vice versa. I usually do this for all my pictures, but in this case I liked it enough to put it up there with the image.

DW: Speaking of association between words and art I’ve seen that some of your artwork was used for the covers of different novels. Do you enjoy this kind of work? What satisfaction brings the illustration of a book cover?

JvD: Yea, I love book covers, because they're so different from concept art. A book cover is just a single image based on a story, whereas doing concept images usually means being a lot more explicit about a lot of things. Also, doing concept art for large productions means you have to keep track of many things that aren't even in the image you're creating (design consistency, contrast on a macro scale, and such).

DW: Is there a particular novel for which would you like to make the cover?

JvD: Heh, yea, I would love to do the cover for John Wyndham's "The Day of the Triffids", a book I've read quite a few times.

DW: You won a Gnomon Image Challenge in 2008. How did you felt when you won this challenge? Would you like to win a particular award in your artist career?

JvD: Participating in the Gnomon Challenge was never about winning any awards, although I was happy to have won it. Entering competitions allows me to worry about less aspects of a painting: you're handed some form of context (a story or theme), which I find very comfortable.

DW: What is your most rewarding moment of your career so far? Which one do you consider to be your best piece?

JvD: I don't really have a best piece, only ones that are less awful than others :)

DW: What immediate and future plans do you have?

JvD: There will be some changes in the projects I'll be working on in the coming months starting from July 2008. Unfortunately I can't say too much about them yet, so check out my website at http://www.jessevandijk.net/ to stay tuned.

Thank you very much for your time and answers. It has been a pleasure.

For other information about Jesse van Dijk and for a more comprehensive portfolio please visit his website, jessevandijk.net.

© The artwork presented on this post is used with the permission of its author. All the artwork is copyrighted. Please do not use the images without the permission of the artist or owner.

The Asgard Saga

My greatest passion is reading and my favorite genre is fantasy, but that’s something I already said and it doesn’t need to be repeated. However, among other little (or bigger) pleasures I have is music. Well, I am not listening music as often as reading books, watching a movie, a football game or searching for beautiful fantasy art, but I enjoy spending moments with the music I like. And here I tend to go with the musicians I already know, from my high-school and college days, and more often I listen to their older or newer albums. One of such band is Manowar (oh, fond memories :)).

The other day I discovered a new project of Manowar, one which comes as a very pleasant surprise. It is a collaboration between Manowar and the German fantasy author, Wolfgang Hohlbein for a project entitled The Asgrad Saga and which will try to create the biggest and most spectacular fantasy adventure. The Asgard Saga is based on the Norse mythology and features the gods Odin and Thor and besides books written by Wolfgang Hohlbein and music composed by Manowar will span in other medias as well, video games, comics, movies and internet communities. The fans are a living part of this project having the possibilities to contribute with their fiction or stories, but with art, photos or songs too.

Things are already moving, Wolfgang Hohlbein is writing the first book of The Asgard Saga and Manowar is recording new songs which will be performed in premiere at the upcoming Magic Circle Festival III (18th of July in Loreley, Germany), and with the launch of The Asgard Saga website, site where you can find news, videos and a building community. I have to say that this project sounds really interesting and captured my imagination almost at once. I’ll certainly watch the future development of The Asgard Saga, because fantasy and Manowar appeal greatly to me :)

ABOUT THE AUTHORS (quoted from The Asgard Saga website):
WOLFGANG HOHLBEIN is Germany´s most successful contemporary author. He had his major breakthrough with the internationally acclaimed children´s fantasy book „MAGIC MOON“ („MÄRCHENMOND“). Regarded as the trailblazer for fantasy and the new genre „Phantastik“ in Germany, he has published over 200 books to date, available in numerous languages all over the world. He has sold more than 35 million copies and can frequently be found on the best-selling book lists. A master in different genres, from thriller to sci-fi, from children´s books to his favorite genres of fantasy and history, Wolfgang Hohlbein has been a passionate fan of Norse mythology for decades.

MANOWAR - In contemporary music history, the band MANOWAR is an icon in the genre of heavy metal. The Kings of Metal, as their fans have named them, have created 13 albums, have been awarded 6 gold records and have sold over 8 million records. They have produced DVDs that are a must for any MANOWAR fan’s collection. Their outstanding live performances are not only loud (even though they hold the world record as “the loudest band in the world”) but testament of Eric Adams as one of the best vocal artists in metal history. The band’s allegiance to their fans has earned them a loyal following all over the world.

"The Magic Thief" by Sarah Prineas

"The Magic Thief"

by Sarah Prineas

Format: Hardcover, 400 pages

Publisher: Quercus Books

Connwaer is a thief of the Twilight, a desolate part of the city of Wellmet, teeming with pickpockets. On the run from the city’s Underlord, Conn steals a banished wizard’s power stone.

Becoming the wizard’s servant and then his apprentice, Conn becomes embroiled in his master’s plan to save the city, whose magic is slowly dying. First he must find his own ‘locus magicalicus’ or power stone, which pulls him closer and closer to the duchess’s palace.Meanwhile, the Wizard, Nevery, is secretly beginning to question Conn’s past: Why did the thief survive in the Twilight for so long and why is he seemingly immune to illness and injury? But Conn is hiding a deeper secret – his connection to the sinister Underlord, Crowe...

Walking the aisles of libraries I like to stop from time to time and look at the children and young adult section. One of the titles that with certainty would have caught my eye if I had seen it there is Sarah Prineas’ “The Magic Thief”.

The story follows a young boy, Connwaer, who in his attempt to steal a wizard’s locus magicalicus (a power stone) ends up as the wizard’s apprentice. With all the honesty I say that I liked Conn, the boy’s short name, and I am certain that if I had read the book when I was a young boy I would have dreamed being like Conn or having an adventure like his. Conn reminded me of Charles Dickens’ orphan heroes and became a likeable character almost at once. Looking beyond his thieving abilities, you can discover a curious, intelligent and brave young man, qualities which many dream having as adults not only as children.

The action of the story and the end are a bit predictable, but that may be because I have a few reading experiences such as this behind. For a young reader it might prove to be a surprise. Still I enjoyed following Conn’s adventures and I found a lot of fun in his relationship with Nevery, the wizard, with Benet, kind of a bodyguard of Nevery, and other characters of the novel. And knowing that Conn will continue to live some adventures in other books I am waiting to follow those as well.

The setting of Sarah Prineas’ novel is very catchy too. Wellmet is an interesting place, a city which runs based on magic and cannot survive without it. The magic will be behind the conflict of the story, but made another of my enjoyments in the reading of “The Magic Thief”. One of the spells that are funny to discover is the Embero spell, one that turns a person in an animal matching his character. At the end of the novel the reader can find a list of runes, this one being the base of the magic spells, and I could find out that the journal pages of Nevery contains some phrases written in these runes and that I could discover using the end list.

In the end I would also like to add that at the pleasure of my reading contributed the drawings of Antonio Javier Caparo which brought me closer to the characters of the novel and the world they inhabit. I believe that an adult can enjoy Sarah Prineas’ “The Magic Thief” while reading it to a child, as much as the child, but I enjoyed reading it for me without any problem.

Cover art - "The Alchemy of Stone" by Ekaterina Sedia

To my shame and without a proper excuse I can’t find an explanation for not reading Ekaterina Sedia’s novel, “The Alchemy of Stone”. I mean I loved her novel “The Secret History of Moscow” and the synopsis of “The Alchemy of Stone” has really picked my interest, but I didn’t read the novel yet. Well, with the promise that my next future read will be Ekaterina Sedia’s “The Alchemy of Stone” I’ll post the cover art for the future re-print of the novel, one that will be published by Prime Books in November this year. I discovered this cover last week, first on Bibliophile Stalker and second on OF Blog of the Fallen and I really liked it. I am not certain who the artist is, but in one of the captivating SF Signal’s Book Cover Smackdown is featured the cover for “The Alchemy of Stone” and there the named artist is Andrä Martyna. I’ll be honest with you, I like more the cover of the previous edition made by David Defigueredo, but this new cover is not far behind and I enjoyed it quite a lot too.

Today's release - "The Angel's Game" by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

The best novel I read in years is by far Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s “The Shadow of the Wind” (which I reviewed here). One of the titles I am eagerly waiting to read this year is the next novel of Carlos Ruiz Zafón, who easily becomes one of my favorite writers, “The Angel’s Game”. My waiting is over because Orion Books releases today “The Angel’s Game”. One thing I regret though, that I will not be able to meet Carlos Ruiz Zafón since he will be signing books between 1st and 3rd of June in London. Well, maybe with the next chance.

'The whole of Barcelona stretched out at my feet and I wanted to believe that, when I opened those windows, its streets would whisper stories to me, secrets I could capture on paper and narrate to whoever cared to listen.'
In an abandoned mansion at the heart of Barcelona, a young man, David Martín, makes his living by writing sensationalist novels under a pseudonym. The survivor of a troubled childhood, he has taken refuge in the world of books, and spends his nights spinning baroque tales about the city's underworld. But perhaps his dark imaginings are not as strange as they seem, for in a locked room deep within the house lie photographs and letters hinting at the mysterious death of the previous owner.
Like a slow poison, the history of the place seeps into his bones as he struggles with an impossible love. Close to despair, David receives a letter from a reclusive French editor, Andreas Corelli, who makes him the offer of a lifetime. He is to write a book unlike anything that has existed - a book with the power to change hearts and minds. In return, he will receive a fortune, perhaps more. But as David begins the work, he realises that there is a connection between this haunting book and the shadows that surround his home.
Set in the turbulent 1920s, THE ANGEL'S GAME takes us back to the gothic universe of the Cemetery of the Forgotten Books, the Sempere & Son bookshop, and the winding streets of Barcelona's old quarter, in a masterful tale about the magic of books and the darkest corners of the human soul.

I am off to order my book :)