Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis (Space Trilogy, Book 1)

Augray, a sorn

Why did it take me so long to get around to reading C. S. Lewis's Space Trilogy? It has the beautiful imagery I fell in love with in the Chronicles of Narnia, and the keen wit typical of Lewis... but it's a lovely balance between the dense, intellectual writing of his nonfiction and the light, aimed-towards-children writing of Narnia.

Cobra Slave by Timothy Zahn (Cobra Rebellion Trilogy, Book 1)

I actually read this last month. Started and finished in two days flat, then picked up another book just a day or two later. Hence when I first sat down to sketch something from this... my mind was blank. I went too fast for any particular picture to stick in my mind. Oops. Normally I'd count it a loss at this point, but the book has been sitting in my studio for weeks now, waiting for me to open it back up and find something to draw. I did give it a try a while ago, attempting to design the Troft, but... it wasn't a sketch worth seeing the light of day.

Instead, I leave you with one simple sketch of a scene I found amusing...

Lorne jumps into an arrowcrest tree to avoid being dragged off by the Dominion Marines

We Few by David Weber & John Ringo (Empire of Man Series, Book 4)

   Not so much a full scene here, just... pieces of a scene.

See, putting Mr. Chung (a.k.a. Roger a.k.a. the one-legged dude in this sketch) into a strong, dynamic pose proved to be a bit... difficult.

Ah well, try, try, and try again, eh?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On another note... I don't usually get emotionally stirred up by novels. The exception being, I will occasionally laugh out loud while reading, and yes, a good book when finished will often leave me giddily happy. But besides that, any effect on my emotions is pretty minor. 

Ha. I did not expect this book to be an exception. But it is. There's this one scene... I don't want to give too much away, but for those who've read it: it's when Roger finds his mother. And for whatever reason, that almost choked me up a little. (Maybe the fact that I was up reeeal late reading had something to do with that.) (No, for those of you who *haven't* read it... it wasn't a warm fuzzy moment. It's heartbreaking, and anger-inducing.) The tension up to that point is real high, and I guess it just got to me.

March to the Stars by David Weber & John Ringo (Empire of Man Series, Book 3)

Civan and their Mardukan riders.

I confess: Fun as creature design may be, it does take time to come up with something decent. So when it comes to sketching for this blog, I tend to avoid the harder-to-imagine creatures/aliens... Or go with a fairly basic design, say, based on examples on the cover, if any.

But the civan, at least, seem to be pretty straightforward. They're often compared to velociraptors (though obviously much, much bigger. More like utahraptors.) Nasty critters.

Now imagine a cavalry of several hundred civan, ridden by 3-meter-tall, four-armed Mardukans armed to the teeth with lances... shields... massive swords... black powder pistols. Colorful, billowing banners bearing the emblems of their once great, now fallen, cities. Charging full-tilt  (like the one in the lower right corner in the sketch above.) Ohhh yes. That's a picture begging to be painted.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Ah, freedom!" ... "You have an unusual concept of freedom, Roger."

March to the Sea by David Weber & John Ringo (Empire of Man Series, Book 2)

   The purely Mardukan variant of poker, which would have made the professionals of New Vegas choke if they ever saw it, said that any player could call a check of all the cards once per game. The rule also required that all the Mardukans at the table throw all of their cards on the table and raise their hands above their heads. ...

Card check!

   ...Roger kicked back and laughed silently while he watched. The locals had the oddest approach to cheating he'd ever heard of. If you weren't cheating, they considered you stupid. But if you got caught, they considered you a gross incompetent. As soon as they'd figured out the ways they could cheat at cards, they'd leapt in with abandon. Spades and the other whist derivative games were the only ones where they couldn't hide cards, but even then they bottom-dealt, cross-dealt, and stacked decks so cold they froze. And yet they still played for money. 

~~~~~ 

<---  The last of the barbarian horde, trapped on the Great Bridge, pressed on one side by 'demons' and the other by a terrible killbox full of smoke and fire. They are broken. Even those who survive will clearly never be the same. Their chieftain clutches his ancient, ceremonial battleax, and steps up onto the wall.

He will not be taken alive. He will not allow the great ax to fall into enemy hands...

March Upcountry by David Weber & John Ringo (Empire of Man Series, Book 1)

     You hear the phrase time and again... "Don't judge a book by its cover."

For years I've seen these books scattered around the house, with gradually migrating bookmarks in 'em... obviously much enjoyed by various family members... yet, I was never interested in picking up the first book and reading it. Why? The covers! I wasn't willing to take the actual story seriously because of the covers. I was turned off before reading a single word. I know, I know: how silly of me... but it's true. The only reason I decided to finally read this book is because I'm planning to go to a convention which David Weber and John Ringo will both be attending. So, hey, might as well read SOMEthing by them before going, right?

Heh. I'm glad I finally gave it a chance. I enjoyed it, in spite of the high level of language and violence (what do you expect... it's a story about a company of Marines fighting their way across a planet full of barbarian hordes and all sorts of nasty creatures.)

Sgt. Julian has a close encounter with some yaden (a.k.a. giant vampire moths)

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Prince Roger & Cord fighting back-to-back on the walls of Voitan

  His magazine clicked suddenly empty, and he tossed the rifle into "his" bunker and waded in with the katana as he had before. This battle was a complete madhouse, with dozens of screaming barbarians clambering over the parapets, their false-hands holding the ladders and both true-hands filled with weapons. Trading parries with a scummy who was better than usual, Roger found himself back-to-back with Cord and realized they were practically alone. ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Prince Roger dueling Kranolta barbarians

Cobra Gamble by Timothy Zahn (Cobra War Trilogy, Book 3)

Secret Djinn base

Cobra Smitty climbing a snake trail

Merrick destroying the jormungand (a giant armored snake)

Cuckoo's Egg by C.J. Cherryh

Presenting the stones -- Hatani test

     Often, I am content to make a few simple little sketches after reading a book. Sure, I'd love to make complete illustrations, but to at least do SOMETHING is okay... it's enough.
But then there's some books for which I can hardly stand to make even those few simple sketches -- not because the book is uninteresting or hard to visualize, but because it's a story that is particularly engaging to me, and it bothers me not to be able to represent it with a genuinely GREAT picture.

Cuckoo's Egg is one of those books.

  I wish I could give you a beautiful, fully rendered painting (or two, or three). Then you could really see, could *feel*, this story. But alas, I have neither the skills nor the time to make anything beyond a couple rough sketches

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 One narrator knows nothing; the other knows everything but reveals very, very little. Something huge is going on. Something desperate. Chaos descends over a world, and we have only a few speed-blurred glimpses of it, barely understood through Thorn [the protagonist]'s eyes:
...A shuttle, poised against the smoke-stained sky. On the horizon, a red sun burst, and swelled, and faded...
   

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thorn -- Hatani solution

 Cuckoo's Egg has a good, satisfying ending, and yet... it's left so wide open. It's like the story's only getting started! But... copyright 1985, and no sequel in sight. Oh well.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cobra Guardian by Timothy Zahn (Cobra War Trilogy, Book 2)

Lorne leaps over the streets of occupied Capitalia

Lorne launching Nissa up to the Tlossie ship

Freylan protecting Jody from the tree wolves

  

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu

What an odd (yet amusing) little book. So many "Wha...? Okaaay, whatever" moments, but what do you expect, when the protagonist is a time machine repairman? Time travel does weird things to a person, y'know.

  When it happens, this is what happens: I shoot myself.
  Not, you know, my self self. I shoot my future self. He steps out of a time machine, introduces himself as Charles Yu. 
  What else am I supposed to do? I kill him. I kill my own future.





To give you another picture of the quirky meta thing that is this book, I leave you with this conversation:

Hello, whoever you are?

Still here.

You're retcon, right? This is the retcon shuttle.

You got it.

Can you pick up Ed for me?

Sure. Who's Ed?

My dog.

I don't have any record of a dog.

Technically, he didn't exist.

You have a retconned dog for a pet?

Yeah.

Eulalia! by Brian Jacques

Ah, Rangval. I think I can safely say he's my favorite character in this book.

Teasing about delicious food is a very bad idea when you're stuck at the top of a mountain with a tribe of hungry shrews and not enough food to go around. It only took one sling-stone to the ear to teach Rangval the Rogue that lesson...

  I grew up reading (and loving) the Redwall series. I missed the last few books, though, so when I saw this one in audio book form at the library I wanted to check it out. Admittedly, the Redwall stories tend to blend together once you've read a lot of them (they do share a lot of similarities), but even so, I've enjoyed every Redwall book I've ever read. Eulalia! is no exception. Delicious food, dramatic battle scenes, and charming accents aplenty.

Boxing hare champ Mad Maudie takes on a gang of sand lizards

Cobra Alliance by Timothy Zahn (Cobra War Trilogy, Book 1)

Haha, you can't cuff a Cobra.

   

Merrik firing at Trofts

  When I set my mind to picturing one of the many Cobra fight scenes in this book, I was momentarily stymied by the antiarmor laser. It's implanted in the leg. Talk about an awkward weapon to fire! I'd love to see an animated sequence of a Cobra in action.

  The narrative doesn't really help me picture this. It tends to say something along the lines of "he lifted his leg and aimed at the ship..." Well, okay then. That's all there is to it, hm? I get that the Cobras are a force to behold, yes, but with visuals, I think that idea would have way more, shall I say... punch

 

Daulo & Fadil with Qasaman soldiers fighting back against the Troft invaders

Merrik gets most of the cool action shots in this book. Thus the scene I end up doodling that shows Jin using Cobra abilities... is of her closing a bulkhead door in the Qasaman underground. Exciting, huh?

Airman by Eoin Colfer

The mysterious Airman

   Oh, Eoin Colfer... I appreciate your sense of humor so much.
 *coughcough* I don't have much to say today, so why don't I just give you the sketches:
 


 

Fighting in a diving bell? Not a great idea.

"Monsieur, I can be either angel or devil... but to you, I am a devil."

Cobra Bargain by Timothy Zahn (Cobra Trilogy, Book 3)

Wrapping up the first Cobra trilogy.

Daulo Sammon

Jin & Akim with an unconscious Daulo, dropping into the Troft side of the Mangus compound

Cobra Strike by Timothy Zahn (Cobra Trilogy, Book 2)

     Inspired by the background of the original cover... here's a  sketch of a random Qasaman guard with his mojo (the bird).

Frankly, I didn't do the mojo justice. Those things are supposed to be the quintessential birds-of-prey. They're the Qasamans' bodyguards. Don't even think about shooting a weapon in their presence. The result can be absolutely horrific. Just look at what happened to York:

 York shifted his aim to the mojo on the dying man's shoulder and a second dart found its target . . . but as he brought the palm-mate to bear on Moff's mojo all hell broke loose.
  They were smart all right, those birds. The dead Qasaman hadn't even fallen to the floor before the remaining five mojos were in the air, sweeping toward him like silver-blue Furies. He got off two more shots, but neither connected--and then they were on him, talons digging into his face and gun arm and slamming him hard into the seat.  . . .

It was like a scene out of a nightmare -- York under attack by mojos.

Cobra by Timothy Zahn (Cobra Trilogy, Book 1)

   A sudden rustle of cloth brought Jonny's attention back to the priest. The service was drawing to a close, he saw, and the crowd was kneeling for the final prayer. Hastily, Jonny dropped to his knees, glancing around as he did so. Challinor's Cobras were still on their feet, whatever feelings of respect they might have overridden by the tactical necessity of keeping close watch on the crowd. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Almo hesitate and then, with a glance in Jonny's direction, kneel with the rest of the people around him. Between the coffin stands Father Vitkauskas had himself knelt . . . and as he began the requiescat, Jonny's eyes sought Chrys, saw her hand slip under the hem of her long skirt to the device strapped to her leg . . . .
   And MacDonald sat up in his coffin.

MacDonald sits up in his coffin . . . and subsequently unleashes a wild spray of laser beams into the unsuspecting Cobra rebels. YESSS.

Future Imperfect by L.A. Graf (The Janus Gate Trilogy, Book 2)

The Drake rides the bow wave of an explosion over Tesseract Fortress.
(Hm, this is a scene worth revisiting later, with more detail and accuracy.)

So there's this scene with altChekov and Sulu...

As quickly as they had moved, it still hadn't been quick enough. They landed in the midst of a circle of weapons, and behind each gleaming metallic barrel was a lean, angular face taking aim with unemotional efficiency. Sulu felt a disorienting wave of disbelief--it was like facing an execution squad of multiple Spocks--but he drew himself up and made his expression as austere as he could, to match theirs. After one swift glance around to make sure there weren't any Gorn or Klingon supervisors in sight, Chekov did the same.

 ...And that picture--of a solemn-faced Sulu standing up against a crowd of well-armed Romulans--interested me. But as I was trying to figure out the positions of the Romulans, it dawned on me: I stink at crowd scenes. Cringe. Didn't even bother trying out different poses/angles/etc for this one.











   Sulu & altChekov flying a Gorn shuttle with another shuttle's warp core on board. Okay, this may be one of those that reeeally needs context to make sense.

Ensign Chekov (Walter Koenig)
 

Future Imperfect on Amazon

Present Tense by L.A. Graf (The Janus Gate Trilogy, Book 1)

"What's the deal?" the geologist asked, glancing back and forth between them as if their silence had alarmed him. "What the heck did you guys see?" 

   "A human shape," Uhura said, trying to keep her voice calm and unshaken. "The lights were outlining it, as if it was just starting to appear." McCoy was already scrambling down the rubble pile, and she snapped her own helmet alight, then levered herself out from between her boulders to follow him. "The problem is, it's appearing right in the middle of that rock column."

Dr. McCoy, Lt. Uhura, and geologist Zap Sanner return to the healing chamber to look for Lt. Sulu. Sketched in pencil, tone & color added digitally.

      Bonus sketch of two Lt. Sulus (George Takei, John Cho). Funny thing is, I couldn't make up my mind while reading this trilogy whether to picture Sulu as George Takei or as John Cho. All the others I easily pictured as the original cast. I think I eventually decided Captain Sulu would look more like George Takei, and Lt. Sulu more like John Cho.







"Virtual Cave" = a handy reference for this trilogy
Present Tense on Amazon