300: Rise of Fantasy

Return to Tar'Tron
science fiction cover

Last May I blogged about reaching 200 posts to this blog. Now, one year later, this is the 300th blog post. Last June I began developing my ideas about the writing career of a character named Thomas in my science fiction novel Exode. Within the Ekcolir Reality, Thomas went to New York City to launch his writing career, but he became a carrier of a swarm of alien nanites. During the past year I've developed an understanding of how Thomas found his way into our Reality and the role that he played in making sure that I would be the one to "inherit" both his nanites and those brought to Earth by Izhiun. Here, in this blog post, I want to explore the influence that Thomas has had, and continues to have, on the rise of fantasy in this blog.

For the past few weeks I've been thinking a lot about Thomas Iwedon's fantasy novel Daveed the Luk'ie. I'd previously mentioned another novel, Return to Tar'Tron, also written by Tomas Iwedon. I guess I have always previously thought of Return to Tar'Tron as a science fiction story, but now I'm wondering if Thomas might have entered into his "fantasy period" as a writer as soon as he had his mental breakdown. I like the idea that Thomas only found it possible to write fantasy after being institutionalized for mental instability.

Thomas' secret ring

Thomas' end game

What if Return to Tar'Tron is also a fantasy novel? I've previously outlined how the writing of Thomas was influenced by his odd genetics and his environmental exposure to nanites. How might removal of those nanites and his loss of contact with Trysta and the Sedronic Domain shape his imagining of Return to Tar'Tron as a fantasy story?

Transformation

Fantasy cover - version 1

Previously, in classical science fiction style, I imagined Obsidia as an alien from the distant planet Tar'tron. In order to transform my thinking about the book cover, I'm trying to picture Obsidia as a mythical creature such as an elf rather than think about her as an alien.

I've been trying to imagine the "Hierion Domain" as an adequately ambiguous name that could be interpreted as a magical domain for fantasy stories. So, if Obsidia originates in the Hierion Domain then how should she be magically summoned to Earth?

In this first draft of a fantasy-style cover (to the right) I tried to depict Obsidia in both our world and within the Hierion Domain. See below for a description of where I obtained the photographic elements that went into this composite image.

I tried to give Obsidia an elfish fantasy appearance within the Hierion Domain (inside the crystal ball).

What I'd really like is to have an animated version of the cover that shows a version of Obsidia with non-human features emerging from the Hierion Domain and transforming into human form.

The animated gif (to the left) is my first draft for such an animation.

The individual elements used for this cover are shown below.

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Image Credits. I used two images from Robert Elsmore at deviantART.

I wonder who this model is?

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For the top part of the background I used an photograph of St. John's Chapel Tower of London from deviantART. This photo and the next three, all with huge pixel counts, were very useful.

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The bottom-right part of the background is an image from Wikimedia Commons.

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A second image from Wikimedia Commons has a few buildings from a "hidden" village, hidden there in the image, in the background inside the crystal ball.

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The crystal ball is from vanhookc at Flickr.

To make the elfish appearance of Obsidia within the Hierion Domain, I used Elven Archer by atistatplay at deviantART.

Contact

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Hierion Tubes

My most recent draft of a fantasy book cover.
See below for information about the images
from diviantART that I used in this composite.

As described in my previous blog post, I've been trying to devise some cover art for Thomas Iwedon's fantasy novel, Daveed the Luk'ie. To the right on this page is my latest incarnation of the book cover.

That's Daveed down there in the lower right corner. He has been carefully crafted to have a human appearance, but he is a Luk'ie, a being with the special ability to communicate with the Sedronic Domain.

The 3 Domains of the Universe
The Luk'ie normally inhabit the Hierion Domain, and in this image that's where Daveed is, but he's just about to cross over into the Domain of we Earthlings. There, just on the other side of the Hierion Tube, is a pek, ready to pull Daveed through the Tube to where she is waiting, on Earth.

Don't be disoriented by the mismatch between the gravitational field of Earth and that being experienced by Daveed. The Hierion Domain is like a bridge that connects the Hadronic Domain of our daily existence to the Sedronic Domain. The Hierion Domain exists outside of the usual flow of time as we experience it here on Earth.

Image Credits

the magical pek

Kayla Davion

As described in my previous blog post, I went searching through the "stock" images at deviantART to find the elements for this new cover image. I modified the image of Kayla Davion to make the magical pek for this cover image.

I modified the eyes, ears and nose to create a non-human elf-like appearance.

The pek are artificial life forms and able to take on any desired shape and form. However, in my attempt to create the feel of a fantasy book cover, I tried to use a well-known fantasy element. I fear that the pointy elf ear is not easy to notice among the decorative leaves on her head. Also, the pointy nose does not show up well unless you zoom in.

stock background image #46 by user lifeblue at deviantART

For the background, I found a stock image by user lifeblue at deviantART. I wanted to use this particular image because it looks like a magical portal between Earth and the artificial Hierion Domain.

There are several other images (including #61 and #70) in lifeblue's background gallery that struck me as possible representations of a portal between our world and the Hierion Domain, but #46 was my favorite.

The large swinging door is what prompted me to tilt the portal by 90 degrees, allowing everything to fit more gracefully onto a vertically-oriented book cover.

jason aaron baca dec3068free vas

To represent the fictional character Daveed, I found a suitable image of Jason Aaron Baca in a photograph by Portia Shao. Jason has a gallery of images that he freely shares for use in non-commercial settings and he also sells his high quality photos for use in commercial book cover art. I needed to find a model who was in a pose that was complementary to that of Kayla.

The vase became a way to magically link the two characters at the interface between the two Domains.

I fear that my instincts are still largely based on science fiction themes, but hopefully my lighting effects are able to pass as magical rather than disrupting the fantasy theme with the feel of SciFi laser beams.

Science and Magic by Thomas

I found an inspirational painting by Thomas at deviantART that helps me think about the difference between cover art themes that are appropriate for either science fiction or fantasy stories.

brooch detail

Does the "Nuclear powered Super heroine Atomic Blonde" use cold fusion? I love the brooch that holds her scarf in place (see image detail to the right, click image to enlarge).

Be sure to take a look at the high resolution version of this drawing that is available for download.

belt detail (source)

Also, take a look at the original "Nucular Lass". I like the belt decoration (see detail to the left). 

 How is this for a super power: "give everyone cancer by talking to them".
Wait...I've known some people like that...

fake magazine cover

I could not resist making a fake pulp magazine cover for the Atomic Blonde. This "Atomic Science Stories" cover (shown to the right) is inspired by a classic pulp science fiction cover created by Lawrence Sterne Stevens for the Super Science Stories April 1949 issue.

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Why did Thomas Iwedon write A science fiction story called "Atomic Blonde" and how did the drawing "Science and Magic" get used for the cover art of a magazine in in 1957?  I'm imagining that Atomic Science Stories was published in the Ekcolir Reality. Maybe Trysta liked to view the deviantART website in our Reality from within the Ekcolir Reality and she showed "Science and Magic" to Stevens.

Next: another fantasy book cover by Thomas Iwedon's Return to Tar'tron.

More imaginary book covers

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Deviant Me

"May Queen" by Marcus Ranum
(click image to enlarge)
Is this Sarah Ellis?

I finally decided to look into the deviantART online community. The "straw" that finally broke this camel's back was a Google image search that I did for elements that I could use for a fantasy genre book cover (to pick up the trail of that search, see this blog post). My image search kept turning up interesting images that led me to the deviantART website. I was intrigued by mention of dA "stock" images that photographers have made available for other people to use.

I've long been impressed by people who, while trying to make a living with photography or other artistic skills, post some of their work on the internet and invite other creative folks to use their photographs or art work. Some people engage in this practice as a form of advertising: "use my works as you like, but just make a link back to me". In the case of Marcus J. Ranum, it sounds like he set out to have some fun at the deviantART community.

deviation by Ana Fagarazzi

Here is what Marcus wrote on his website: "Recently I've been amusing myself by producing stock images for other artists to play with. For that purpose, I have opened up a stock account on deviantArt. It's great fun: I post stuff and other artists make composites from what I posted. Some of the results are absolutely amazing!"

In the past seven years his photographs on the deviantART website have been viewed about 7,000,000 times and variations (deviations) of the original "stock" photographs can now be found all over the internet. For example "signs of spring" was made by Ana Fararazzi starting from the "May Queen - S - 7" photograph.

"Blackbird 10" by Janna Prosvirina

In the cover art for the fantasy novel Daveed the Luk'ie, I want to depict a pek in the act of performing some magic (specifically, conjuring Daveed into the Hadronic Domain). My first problem is that the pek are a type of artificial life that can take on any convenient shape. However, since Daveed is a guy, I want the pek to be using a female form, as the pek tend to do when visiting primitive planets like Earth. I would not mind giving the pek character in the book cover image a slightly non-human morphology. My other concern is that I want the pek to be doing something interesting and have a natural pose. In "signs of spring", I think Ana did a great job constructing a scene that matched the particular pose that Marcus had photographed.

Janna's DA fantasy stock photography

"Blackbird 10" shows the kind of magical pose I'm looking for. Janna Prosvirina's deviantART stock photography gallery contains many photographs that strike me as examples of realistic or naturalistic poses. I love the black cloth with the white stones, but for my purposes, I was thinking about this figure being on or near water. However, this photograph has me imagining all sorts of alternatives....sadly most are more suited for science fiction than fantasy.

This "Goddess of Earth" is Kayla Jane
Photographer: Heiko Warnke

In addition to the gorgeous pose, "Goddess of Earth" is even a great name for the pek character that I am trying to depict. Every goddess of Earth should carry a big stick.

I can picture Daveed taking her hand and being pulled from the Hierion Domain into a new existence on Earth. Also see "Goddess of Wind".

Kayla's deviantART journal has a thank you message to other folks for "the amazing art you create from my stock images".

For how I used this image of Kayla in cover art for the imaginary book Daveed the Luk'ie, see my next blog post.

Goddess Deviations
Here are some deviations for "Goddess of Earth".

"A gift for my friend"

"A gift for my friend" by Mark Frost. Is that a dragon egg?

"An Offering" by Keith Mathis. Great horny skulls!

"An Offering"

"Maga" by Ricardo Esparza. I like the luminous helix zapping around the stick.

"Maga"

Photographer and Model Preferences

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One of the interesting aspects of deviantART is that the users sometimes post rather long and detailed accounts of the conditions under which their photographs and images can be reused. For example, Kayla Davion wrote these instructions: "Feel free to use my Stocks for creating Art BUT ... 3) do not mutilate them/me in any degrading or perverted way".

When I'm making whimsical book and magazine covers, I like to "mutilate" human figures by substituting alien features for the human features of the people in the photos, people who are usually celebrities or models. For The Sedron Monopoly, I tried to depict two alien-looking passengers in a spaceship by removing the human heads and Photoshop splicing alien heads into the image.

Leymaygn and Vozgrow (source)

Maybe some models would be offended by having their image altered so as to make them look "alien". For my Exode character Vozgrow, I needed to create an image of an old and partially alien human who is slowly taking on Fru'wu physical characteristics.

This depiction of Vozgrow (image to the right on this page) might well annoy the model whose image was altered to create an alien-like feel for the imaginary Vozgrow character.

As stated here: If I'm using one of your images without attribution, please let me know, I'd love to give you credit. If my use of your work is offensive (or, in your view falls outside of the "fair use" domain), let me know, I'll remove your image from my blog.

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 Deviant Dozen
Follow these links to some of my blog posts with more "Deviations":
Robots and Hybrids
Imaginary Book Covers
baseball in 1941
illustrating Trysta and Ekcolir
illustrating Foundations of Eternity
To Live for Anney
rise of fantasy
other futures
The Phasian Elf
Lieserl Einstein
The Urak Intervention
Searching Earth
Time Travel Television
Replicoid Secrets
Marta
Nereids
Nicotinic Anney
Image Attribution Project

Visit the Gallery of Book and Magazine Covers.

Enlightenment

I've been struggling to construct a space in my brain for fantasy. As part of that struggle to expand my writing beyond the confines of science fiction, I recently blogged about belief in supernatural non-material consciousness as a natural component of fantasy stories. Here, I want to explore enlightenment as a supernatural element of fantasy and relate it to both the Exode Trilogy and my imaginary fantasy novel, Daveed the Luk'ie.

The human brain constantly synthesizes and integrates a lifetime of experience, quickly providing us with an answer to the endless question: what should I do next? Brains are good at white-washing gaps in our knowledge and understanding. A brain is constantly making estimates that are good enough to get us through life, just good enough so that we need not be distracted by our own ignorance.

In the Exode Trilogy, I imagine that the pek have designed the human brain so that it is a trivial matter to regulate human ingenuity and the pace of technological advancement. The pek use nanites to regulate human brain activity, switching off human creativity whenever the pace of technological change on Earth becomes too rapid.

A fantasy story can adopt a supernatural perspective on human enlightenment. Here, I'm using "enlightenment" in the sense related here: "many fantasy novels are simply loaded with existential and/or spiritual enlightenment".

My logical perspective tells me that there is a formula for enlightenment: question everything. Or, as Carl Sagan put it: just combine Skepticism and Wonder.

If stories in the fantasy genre interest readers because "excitement and wonder can be found in imagining impossible things" then does that mean that fans of fantasy prefer to skip skepticism and simply accept anything that a fantasy author sticks in a story, no matter how nonsensical?

Grean the Traitor
In the fantasy novel Daveed the Luk'ie by Thomas Iwedon, Daveed is an analog of Grean, the Kac'hin who puts and end to the Time War that has raged between the Huaoshy and R. Gohrlay. Since R. Gohrlay's positronic robots are programmed to defend Humanity, by siding with the aliens isn't Grean a traitor to the human cause?

Daveed, and indeed, all the Kac'hin, are brought into existence by the pek. Daveed is simply the individual who is selected to be the one Kac'hin who negotiates with Trysta over how to end the Time War. In the fanciful cover illustration to the left on this page (above), Thomas shows Daveed being magically brought into time from out of the Hierion Domain.

Since Grean (re-named "Daveed" in Thomas' version of the story) makes use of the Bimanoid Interface to "channel" the Huaoshy into the Hadronic Domain, how can a reader of the Exode Trilogy know whether or not Grean is just a puppet, forced to to the bidding of the aliens? Teasing the reader with such doubts is about as close as I can come to making Exode a horror story.

dimensional
engineering

If there is a deep literary point to Exode, it is getting readers to question whether we are puppets, whether we Earthlings are unable to conquer our addiction to fossil fuels and prevent global warming and a coming ecological disaster. The Huaoshy follow an ethical code that aims to protect "Garden Worlds" like Earth from ignorant technology-wielding primates. If so, then why do the Huaoshy hand we Earthlings an opportunity to develop a technological civilization on Earth, particularly when they know very well the mess we are likely to make of things here on this fragile little planet?

Part of the answer to that question is that while dealing with primitive primates in the Exode Trilogy, the Huaoshy undergo their own enlightenment. They realize that the discovery of time travel by the positronic robots of Earth is a blessing in disguise. After fighting a long Time Travel War with R. Gohrlay, the Huaoshy finally realize that they can put an end to time travel by altering the dimensional structure of the universe. In so doing, they inactivate the capacity of the "Eternity Device" on the Moon to function as a time travel machine, but it will remain forever as a generator of sedronic matter.

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Image Credits. My image search for "enlightenment" turned up Brad Warner's book (see the pulpish book cover to the right).

by Roman Snytsar

The new version of a cover concept for Daveed the Luk'ie (above, on this page) makes use of a photo by Roman Snytsar. 

The pek are composed of zeptites that confer seemingly magical powers. In this latest conceptual sketch of a fantasy book cover for Daveed the Luk'ie, I try to depict a pek walking on water.

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For the pool I used an image from this blog.

The guy (Daveed) was made using an image from the Serene Dreams website.

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The next round in my attempt to craft he fantasy cover for Daveed the Luk'ie.

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