It’s kind of a sad commentary on book reviewing culture that in The New York Times they’re reviewing a book and they have to compare the ending of the books they’re complaining about to TV shows, that they couldn’t come up with any actual book endings to compare it to.
Yeah, I guess. I mean, I guess it shows more respect for TV? And I welcome literature being brought into the mainstream culture and not kind of ghettoized as this hopelessly arty art form that we can only compare with other classics of literature. You know, I think it’s nice that people can think across different media and see things they have in common. But I admit, having a book compared to the last season of Lost is not maybe my favorite thing that’s ever happened to me.
Yeah, that was a low blow. I mean, come on.
[laughs] Yeah, I try not to—I mean, I’m not one of those writers who refuses to read his reviews or anything, but I’m also not a writer who obsesses over it, and I’m not much of a self-Googler. You’re always going to get stung. You can always find someone who’s hating on you for some reason. And, I don’t know, life’s too short.
You recently wrote an introduction for Chris Van Allsburg’s new book, The Chronicles of Harris Burdick. How’d you get involved with that project?
It’s kind of an embarrassing story, but when I was young I saw The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, which is—I guess I should explain for those who are unfamiliar—is a children’s book by Chris Van Allsburg in which he says, “These are some illustrations that a mysterious man brought. They’re just full-page illustrations with a caption, and there’s a matching story, but the man never reappeared, and so we don’t know what the stories are.” So they’re just these very striking images and strange captions, and you’re forced to kind of invent the story in your head.
And I saw it when I was a child, and I never forgot it, but I also never saw it again, and I never really examined my memory of it—the way you do when you were a child. And so when the Lemony Snicket series was starting, I was talking to the publisher about how important mysteries are, and I said, “When I was a child I saw this book that was nothing but illustrations, and the stories were missing, and it was so intriguing. And, you know, I always wondered what happened to that author.”
And he said, “That’s Chris Van Allsburg. He’s one of the most famous children’s authors working today, and that is a book that’s meant to fool 8-year-olds, and you’re almost 30. Get a grip on yourself.” But I always thought it was a testament to the power of that book, that even though I hadn’t really thought about it concretely for a long time, that the mystery had lurked in my mind.
So a couple years ago, Chris Van Allsburg’s publisher had the idea of asking a bunch of writers to write the stories that might go with these images, and they contacted me. And I said I wasn’t interested in writing a story that went with one of the images, but I would be interested in writing a new introduction, because it was the introduction of the original book, all about this mysterious author, that intrigued me so much when I was young. So then I got to write a new introduction explaining the existence of all these other stories, which was fun to do.
One piece of advice you give to new writers is to get a job where you can steal paper, except now that everything’s going digital is there something else that new writers should be stealing instead?
[laughs] I guess if I started encouraging people to steal their computers from work, that seems quite irresponsible. I don’t know. I mean, I’m still a paper person. I print all my work out when I’m reading it, and I recommend that writers do that, so I still think you should steal stuff from work. But I think when you’re a writer, the important thing is to find the time to write, because you probably need to write one book and throw it away—if only one book. You need to get a lot of bad writing out of the way before you can get the good writing done. And so you just need a job where there’s time to do that.
So my best job that I had before I was published was when I was an executive assistant to a man that was dying in the hospital. So I had absolutely nothing to do but sit in an office, and occasionally the phone would ring from increasingly distant business acquaintances, and I would have to explain to them in muted tones that he was sick and not likely to come back to the office at all. But the rest of the time I worked on my novel. And I actually think the kind of aura of doom that hung over it was very helpful to me as a beginning novelist as well. So I guess I could suggest: Try to work for someone who’s dying. You get a lot of time.
Are there any other new or upcoming projects you’d like to mention?
Well, now it’s just this book. I’m on tour for this book now, so I’m excited about Who Could That Be at This Hour? And I’m going around and asking children mysterious questions, and hopefully not leaving them burned.
The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction/fantasy talk show podcast. It is hosted by:
John Joseph Adams, in addition to serving as publisher and editor of Lightspeed, is the bestselling editor of many anthologies, such as Epic, Other Worlds Than These, Armored, Under the Moons of Mars, Brave New Worlds, Wastelands, The Living Dead, The Living Dead 2, By Blood We Live, Federations, The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and The Way of the Wizard. He is a four-time finalist for the Hugo Award and the World Fantasy Award. Forthcoming anthologies include The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination (2013, Tor), Oz Reimagined (2013, 47North), Wastelands 2 (2013, Night Shade Books), and Robot Uprisings (2014, Doubleday). He is also the co-host of Wired.com’s The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast. Find him on Twitter @johnjosephadams.
David Barr Kirtley has published fiction in magazines such as Realms of Fantasy, Weird Tales, Lightspeed, Intergalactic Medicine Show, On Spec, and Cicada, and in anthologies such as New Voices in Science Fiction, Fantasy: The Best of the Year, and The Dragon Done It. Recently he’s contributed stories to several of John Joseph Adams’s anthologies, including The Living Dead, The Living Dead 2, and The Way of the Wizard. He’s attended numerous writing workshops, including Clarion, Odyssey, Viable Paradise, James Gunn’s Center for the Study of Science Fiction, and Orson Scott Card’s Writers Bootcamp, and he holds an MFA in screenwriting and fiction from the University of Southern California. He also teaches regularly at Alpha, a Pittsburgh-area science fiction workshop for young writers. He lives in New York.
Artist Gallery: Alexandra Knickel
Artist Spotlight: Alexandra Knickel
Galen Dara
Alexandra Knickel is a freelance illustrator and miniature-artist based in Germany.
Could you give us a little background into how your own interest in art began and your decision to pursue a career in the arts?
Like most artists and illustrators, I’ve had an affinity for painting and drawing since early childhood days, I doodled a lot with my crayons, not to mention my teachers were always annoyed at me for drawing little critters instead of actually listening to what they were saying. But hey, it was so much more interesting than math and other stuff. ;)
I always wanted to do something with painting, or at least something creative. Unfortunately, in the process of growing up, with all the struggles life brings, painting or being creative had moved very, very far into the background, to the degree where I stopped for years.
It was around 2000 when I slowly got into painting again. I was very into sewing clothes by that time and I might have stayed within that creative field. But due to a pure accident I found out that there was something called “a graphics tablet.” I remember I was like, “Oh my god! I can paint on my PC,” and there it went. ;)
So from that day on, I tried to learn from tutorials and books to improve as an artist. I had some years in between where I did not have enough time to paint as I liked, but nonetheless, slowly and steadily I worked my way up.
Unfortunately, there was no clear path to becoming a freelancer in that field. I always loved the idea of being my own boss, so in 2010 I decided to dare to take the step and become a ful
ltime illustrator.
You are a sculptor as well as a digital painter (sorry folks, these are only for sale in Germany). Did one come before the other?
I think I am—at this point—more a digital painter than a sculptor. I found sculpting a fantastic and relaxing hobby due to all the stress of painting. Yes, I know, that might sound totally crazy for a lot people. But painting on a business level can be quite exhausting and sometimes you lose the special feeling for it. It’s all about deadlines, trying to be quick, even quicker, technique, calculations, etc. So doing miniatures is a relief. It’s not important how good they are or if anyone else besides me likes them. I just sculpt, paying attention to nothing else but pure enjoyment. ;)
Some of your sculptures are whimsical fairy creatures and others are delightfully realistic food miniatures. How much do these sculptures relate to your illustrations, and how much are they some other creative outlet entirely? Is there a balancing act between them for you?
Hmm, that’s a very good question. I’m not quite sure, to be honest. Thinking of the realistic food miniatures, I was just fascinated on the first sight. How can something so tiny look so realistic? I found it challenging to find the right chalk color to enhance the realism. I spend days on getting the right colors for my “brezels” or figuring out how small I can make things. The food miniatures or dollhouse miniatures per se have a strange fascination to them and they always draw me in.
For the other miniatures, like my fairies in a bottle, it might be the wish to do something cute. That’s something that you can find in my paintings as well. On one side, I like to do all the regular fantasy stuff, portraits and also from time to time something creepy, but then again I feel that urgent need to paint something cute. I really like if I make people smile because of a cute character.
These tiny fairies are maybe another step in that direction because you can have them with you, wherever you go. I had a commission for a fairy once that was heart-warming. It was for a woman who lost her mother and she wanted to have a fairy as a reminder of her mom watching from heaven. These are the moments you feel you can really touch people with your art.
So about the balance between painting and sculpting, at the moment it works quite well. But maybe I’ll start to do miniatures professionally and just paint as a hobby. Who knows. ;)
What is your relationship to digital vs. traditional art mediums? For your sculptures you use polymer clay and for your illustrations you work digitally using Photoshop and Painter on a Wacom Cintiq. Was your initial training in digital mediums? Have you ever played around with any 3d digital software? Likewise, do you ever break out traditional paints to experiment with?
Oh, I love traditional media! Sadly, I am not that good at it. I do watercolor paintings from time to time and I dabble in oils when I find the time; it’s so intuitive and I love the haptics of it. I think traditional media has some special sort of spirit.
Don’t get me wrong, I love painting digitally. It’s great because it’s faster, it doesn’t smell, its clean, it has the undo function. But then again, at the end you have something sterile (might not be the right word for it), which even if you print it out on the best possible museum quality canvas, it’s just … it lacks haptics, smell, and it’s most of all not really one of a kind. I must admit it’s not easy to explain in English. I’m “Oh, two hearts in my chest” concerning this topic.
There are a lot of advantages to working digitally and I wouldn’t want to stop, but I still think that there will always be something missing. As an example, when working with traditional media I can use my hands to create nice effects, I can have the color run down or make parts thicker by using pastouse color. Working digitally, I of course can simulate this with custom brushes or with the help of Painter’s relatively realistic brush engine but it will never have the same feeling to it.
Nonetheless I think one can do both to get the best of every side. =)
Yes, I started directly with digital painting, mostly because besides being a painter I’m a geek sitting at my PC. ;) It came quite naturally. Oh my, yes, I tried 3D programs like ZBrush or Poser back in day, but really I’m an idiot when it comes to 3D. I do not even understand Google Sketchup—and I have been told this is the easiest program to start with. I leave 3D to all the people who are really awesome at it.
You have some amazing game art and character designs. Are you a gamer yourself? What are you playing these days? Do you find illustrating for a game different than doing cover work?
Thanks for that compliment! As already mentioned, I’m a geek. Totally. I started as a 8-year-old child on a C64. Since that day, I have played everything that was fantasy-related. I always had a special love for RPGs. Later on, I played MMORPGs, starting with the first game that came out in 1998 called Meridian 59. Nowadays, I don’t have much time for it, but I recently fell in love with Guild Wars 2. It also has some of the best concept art I have ever seen. (Along with the awesome art of The Witcher and classical pieces like Keith Parkinson’s art for Everquest.) Offline I still like to play Dragon Age I.
I think game or concept art differs from doing regular illustrations, and most of the time I find it more difficult as well. But that might be because I’m fairly new to concept and game art; I still have a lot to learn.
At the moment I work mostly for browser games doing either character illustrations or icon graphics. I’d say game art is a bit more about designing than illustrating. You need to think in a practical way as well. You also need to keep in mind that the whole design is consistent through the gameworld. Illustrating, I would say, is more about “storytelling.”
What does a typical “work” day for you look like? What are some things you do if you find yourself stuck on a project? Where do you find your inspiration and motivations?
A typical day doesn’t start too early. ;) I have my first two cups of coffee within thirty minutes of waking. Usually I’m reading my emails, visiting my social media pages like Facebook or deviantART, writing estimates of costs and checking for possible clients in search of an illustrator. If so, I’m applying for that job. After those things, I start working. At the end of the workday, (which is usually not before 10 p.m.,) I enjoy watching a TV series or a good Blu-ray movie.
I figured out that for me, the easiest way to avoid getting too stuck on a project is to work in parallel on at least two different pieces. You always suffer from “blind eyes” once you’ve worked on a piece longer than two hours. The best for me is to then take a break from one piece and switch to working on another one. So usually I’m jumping between paintings three or four times a day.
A lot of inspiration I find through my clients’ stories and ideas. I see myself more as a sort of “converter,” trying to give a face to what their mind created, to grab that feeling, trying to dive as much as possible in the story or the character. I’m working a lot for self-publishing authors and small publishers and usually I try to read their manuscripts to a certain degree to get to this point. Sometimes I even come up with a dozen extra ideas.
When doing private pieces, I do not really look for inspiration, to be honest. I just start to paint and see what happens.
Which artists influenced you most heavily when you were learning your craft? Did any particular picture or artist lead you to change your practice?
Puhh … well … I started digital painting doing anime-style work. ;) So back in those days, I would say the ladies from Studio CLAMP influenced me a lot.
Other than that, I wouldn’t say that I had one specific artist that influenced me. There are so many amazing artists out there doing inspirational art, with their own unique styles, I could never decide. I utterly love the works of Brian Froud. But also the works of John Howe, Alan Lee, Keith Parkinson, Todd Lockwood, and Linda Bergkvist, of course. I’m also a fan of “nowadays” concept artists like Kekai Kotaki or Daarken, just to name a few.
For the sculptures I would say Angie Scarr and Sue Heaser when it comes to miniatures, as well as t
he awesome Shiflett Brothers, most known for their fantasy sculptures.
What changes have you seen in your work in the time since you graduated?
Hmmm … I must admit I dunno. I think besides basic improvements, my work hasn’t changed that much through the years. Well … ok besides the fact that I’m not doing anime style anymore. ;)
What are you working on these days?
Lets see, what’s on the workbench … I have a nice private character commission here, which is soon to be finished. Also I’m working for a medieval-styled Facebook social game, which will be released next year. Other than that, I am preparing for a local Christmas market creating some new miniatures. And last but not least, I am working on several new homepage and logo designs.
Galen Dara likes to sit in the dark with her sketchbook, but sometimes she emerges to illustrate for books and magazines, dabble in comics, and hatch wild collaborations with friends and associates. Galen has done art for Edge Publishing, Dagan Books, Apex, Scapezine, Tales to Terrify, Peculiar Pages, Sunstone, and the LovecraftZine. She is on the staff of BookLifeNow, blogs for the Inkpunks, and writes the Art Nerd column at the Functional Nerds. When Galen is not online you can find her on the edge of the Sonoran Desert, climbing mountains or hanging out with a loving assortment of human and animal companions. Follow her on Twitter @galendara.
The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairy Tale of Economics
Daniel Abraham
For as many years as anyone in the city could remember, Olaf Neddelsohn had been the cambist of the Magdalen Gate postal authority. Every morning, he could be seen making the trek from his rooms in the boarding house on State Street, down past the street vendors with their apples and cheese, and into the bowels of the underground railway, only to emerge at the station across the wide boulevard from Magdalen Gate. Some mornings he would pause at the tobacconist’s or the newsstand before entering the hallowed hall of the postal authority, but seven o’clock found him without fail at the ticker tape, checking for the most recent exchange rates. At half past, he was invariably updating the slate board with a bit of chalk. And with the last chime of eight o’clock, he would nod his respect to his small portrait of His Majesty, King Walther IV, pull open the shutters, and greet whatever traveler had need of him.
Lightspeed Magazine Issue 32 Page 13
