Weeaboos of the Renaissance
Weeaboos? Weeaboos? If you don’t know what a weeaboo is, you probably aren’t one. If you’d rather be quite sure, visit this link and play weeaboo bingo with yourself! The checklist to the right is […]
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Interview: Milivoj Ćeran, Fantasy Illustrator
“Hello, My name is Milivoj Ćeran, I live in Zagreb, Croatia. I’m a professional illustrator specialized in fanastic art.” Q: What made you want to be a fantasy illustrator? A: “That idea was in my […]
The Artful Collector: Handling Difficult People Part 2: The Collector (or) Why I Can’t Sell Art to You
Do you think artists have a monopoly on “crazy”? Heh. You ain’t seen nothin, till you’ve had to handle the people who buy SF/F art. Not for nothin’ do corporations send employees for special training […]
Superhero Portraits, Making Sense of Senseless Destruction and Becca’s Bombshells
So it’s now summer where I am and it’s hot as… well, it’s hot. In conjunction with the sudden heat after two weeks of rain and thunderstorms I find that I cannot string two thoughts […]
IAAA Gallery: Mark A. Garlick – Cataclysmically Variable
Cataclysmic Binary stars (cataclysmic variables) are star systems in which a white dwarf star and a companion star are locked in a dance of death; matter drawn from the companion can eventually cause the white […]
The Artful Collector: Handling Difficult People Part 1: The Artist (or) Why I Couldn’t Be Your Agent
Let’s say, for the sake of this posting, that our corner of the collecting world consists of two groups: The Creators and The Collectors. Which group, do you think, has the monopoly on “crazy”? I’ll […]
What Dreams May Come…
Richard Matheson passed away on Sunday. By this time many have given their thoughts and feelings on Matheson’s body of work so I am inevitably going to re-hash what has been stated elsewhere by writers […]
Hits and Misses
Before the unthinkable happens and I miss my deadline for this blog post, why not do a meditation on – deadlines. There is art for every occasion. There truly is. Obviously, I am not the […]
The Artful Collector: Vulgaris Triumphus? on Judging (SFWA) Magazines by Their Cover
Judge books by their cover? Everyone does it. That’s why – and despite the mis-marketing, agenting “horror stories” (both artist and author) and egregious lack of talent (cover-wise) – books and yes, magazines, still get […]
CROM THE BARBARIAN: THE FIRST TRUE S&S COMIC
Comic strips were the only game in town in the 1930s but these strips were eventually collected into omnibuses that lead to the standard comic book. Heroic Fantasy was slow to appear in the “four-color […]
IAAA Gallery: Pat Rawlings – Wide Open for Space
“Creativity exists well within structure. I thrive by having limitations to work within.” Pat Rawlings concluded his TEDxNASA presentation with those words. It is hard to imagine a better definition of the process of creating […]
The Artful Collector: On Sensitivity to Negative Reviews
How many times have we read negative reviews by (mainly) newspaper- employed critics about books or films in the science fiction/fantasy genre that either were completely off base, once we read the book, or which […]
Mechanical Men and Women
It’s one of Science Fiction’s classic tropes and has been responsible for some of the most beloved characters in the genre — robots. Robots are almost pure design personified. The whole concept of a robot […]
World Underground
Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I recently signed myself up for a Horticulture Certificate with the Open Polytech, and have been assiduously studying the physical and chemical properties of soils […]
The Artful Collector: Collecting Ahead of the Curve
When we started framing F/SF calendar pages to hang on our walls in the 1960s (the days before commercial prints or posters were available) original Victorian “fairy paintings” by the likes of Fitzgerald, Cruikshank, Doyle […]
Sexism and the SFWA
So there’s a brouhaha brewing around the Science Fiction Writers of America and accusations of blatant sexism within that organization. (Actually it’s more like a raging storm in some corners). The controversy surrounds the 200th issue of […]
The Artful Collector: Should You Worry About Forgery in SF Art?
How important is Fraud in the SF/F art market? I could write lengthy blogs on how forgers break down and then reconstitute the same clay to fashion Mid- and South American artifacts, using original (thousand-year-old) […]
The Mucha Influence on SF & Fantasy Art
You probably don’t know his name. You may not even know that there is a name behind the distinctive design, but you have very likely seen his work or a derivative of it. You will […]
Dan Durda of the IAAA
Dan Durda is a Renaissance Man. Saying that invokes visions of the man as artist – painting, sculpture, close studies of perspective and perhaps human anatomy, but those visions fall far short of the reality […]
The Artful Collector: Is it All in the Image?
At the heart of this debate is a real difference between how some creators of commercial art (i.e, art produced for the purpose of persuasion/marketing) view the kind of art they are commissioned to create, […]
Jodorowsky’s Dune
Recently a documentary had its debut at the Cannes Film Festival called Jodorowsky’s Dune. The documentary by filmmaker Frank Pavich, examines a very early attempt to make a movie based on Frank Herbert’s iconic science […]
The Artful Collector: Are Conventions Good Places to Find Art? (Part 3)
Throughout the 1990s, while weekend antiques and craft fairs, and even Ren Faires, were drawing tens of thousands of attendees each weekend, SF cons were still deliberating the good of “one day memberships” and advertising […]
Another Look at SF/Fantasy Record Album Art
Two weeks ago I wrote about science fiction album art and I focused on two bands; Klaatu and Hawkwind. This week I’m going to continue with the theme of album art but I’m going to […]
Ray Harryhausen: Concept Artist
“Without Ray Harryhausen, there would likely have been no STAR WARS” George Lucas. “What we do now digitally with computers, Ray did digitally long before but without computers. Only with his digits.” Terry Gilliam. It […]
ASM Blog Horde Interview with Zachary Clemente
Welcome to the Amazing Stories BLOG HORDE INTERVIEWS! The ASM Blog Horde is a diverse and wonderful species. I have the privilege of talking with all of them, and I get to share those chats with […]
The Artful Collector: Are Conventions a Good Place to Buy Art? (Part 1)
Well . . . .Once upon a time, and by that, I mean Art Collecting BDE (before the digital era) local, regional and “world” SF/F conventions were not just good places to find great SF/F […]
Vinyl Albums, KLAATU and the Warrior at the Edge of Time
Let’s travel back in time, you and I. Let’s go back to a time before music was delivered in packets of data. Let’s travel back to a time of bell bottoms, long hair and muscle […]
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