Alphonse Mucha's Slav Epic

From Making Light, co-workers Patrick & Teresa Nielsen Hayden's blog, I was directed to Mucha's Slav Epic.

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a deep, deep love of Mucha's ouvre. His figure work, his linework, and his sense of space are only surpassed by his skill as a master draughtsman. Throughout the years, Mucha has informed my personal artwork –in one way or another, and in varying degrees of intensity– more than any other artist, hands-down.

I wasn't aware that this body of work existed- much less that Mucha himself considered it his masterpiece. The above link has a great historical background on the series, as well as detailed analysis of each painting. While a far cry from the stylistic mannerisms of his poster work, this series of paintings are beautiful in and of themselves. I hope to be able to see them one day, if I ever make it to the former Czech Republic.

Heads up! Cannonball Press in the house!

Cannonball Press is home to some of the most badass woodcut and letterpress work I've ever seen. Martin Mazorra and Mike Houston's work is pure rock and roll. So I was very excited to find this invite in my Inbox today. I'm gonna be there. You should be too.

CANNONBALL PRESS
Treasure of the Black and White Brigand
A Tale of Lost Loot Spanning the Centuries, told in woodcuts

January 16th – February 10th, 2007

OPENING RECEPTION:
THURSDAY, January 18th, 6-8pm

David Krut Projects
526 West 26th Street, #816
New York, NY 10001
212.255.3094
www.davidkrut.com

Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades

I've just finished reading Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades, by John Scalzi (one of Tor's authors, and the man behind The Whatever). What a ride! These books rock. Scalzi rocks. Period.

The premise of the Old Man's War Universe is simple: In the future, humanity has taken to the stars, and discovered that the neighborhood is rough. Human colonists must compete for interstellar real estate with many other alien races, who seem to like to compete with ordinance, as opposed to basketballs. War is expensive, and uses up warm bodies -even in the future- so earthlings are encouraged to enlist to protect the colonies, but only after their 75th birthday. Yes, that's right, seventy-cinco. Because in the future, they've got the body-swap/conciousness transfer thing down to a science.

Scalzi's world-building is on point; he's got his shit all worked out, but he knows just when to give it to you. His pacing is nice and tight, moving you along the plot all while giving you your expository stuff in nice manageable dollops. Fans of Robert Heinlein will totally dig these books. Old Man's War feels like a one-shot novel, because while the foundations for the larger story were there, it has a very satisfying ending. Considering it was Scalzi's first novel, that makes sense. The Ghost Brigades, on the other hand, while still being a self-contained story, really drops a hell of a cliffhanger on ya towards the end.
It's a good thing we just got the first shipment of The Last Colony, the third -and I believe, final, but I could be wrong- installment in the series into the office.

The covers for all three books are illustrated by John Harris. His spacescapes are awe-inspiring, they reflect the grandeur implicit in the themes that Scalzi works with in these books. To quote Irene Gallo, Harris' illustrations "resonate a sense of awe and scope, a kind of 'big picture' science fiction." Indeed. His loose, gestural style also gives off a kineticisim which echoes the fast-paced action in these books. A great pairing of illustrator with author, in my opinion.