Here’s another great SF and Fantasy artist, Jan Ditlev. He’s got a great eye for both scene and story, and is very stylish, too.
Check out the rest of his work.
art & photography
Post-Apocalyptic Dioramas
By Lori Nix. Because post-civilisation miniature models are just cool, okay? Check out the rest of the gallery.
The Artwork of Jesse van Dijk
This guy’s fantasy artwork is incredible and inspirational; not just the quality, but he has the eye for a genuinely breathtaking scene. Take a look at his website for the rest of his gallery.
Voodoo Art
A slideshow by Mike Thomson from BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, who went to Haiti to meet a voodoo artist who uses the bones of earthquake victims in his work. (Not the most obvious method of reincarnation.)
Rebonjour
Rebonjour by Roland Topor (via PictureBox)
City Of Ruin – US Cover Art
Well, it seems to have slipped out across the internet, as picked up by Pat.
Apologies for the size of the image, but this is the only one out there at the moment. And I don’t think it’s all that final – this was based on a draft I saw a while ago, and if you look carefully, the Miéville blurb (which you can see to the right) is weirdly rearranged for this cover, which I flagged to the guys at Random House and so it should be fixed soon. I’ll see if I can get an updated image soon.
Still, what’s interesting about this is that it’s a riff on the original UK artwork, though updated for the American market, and comes with HUGE letters – at no extra cost.
The View From Christmas Morning
I hope you’re enjoying yours.
Four Well-Travelled Tales
A cartographic representation of how the stories Pygmalion, Oedipus, Faust and Leviathan have travelled the world. Click to enlarge.
Curiously, the four stories chosen for this map all follow a roughly similar trajectory – originating on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, gaining artistic traction in Europe in literature, painting, music and dance, crossing over to America, and cinematography.
Via Big Think.
Letters of Note
I occasionally lament not writing many letters, but seldom do anything about it. My girlfriend found this splendid blog, called Letters of Note. It’s full of wonderful old correspondence throughout history, and many of the letters are fascinating. Here’s an example of one – it’s a 9th century Chinese form letter, found in a sealed cave, for apologising to one’s dinner party hosts for getting too drunk (read the transcription below the image):
It says:
Yesterday, having drunk too much, I was intoxicated as to pass all bounds; but none of the rude and coarse language I used was uttered in a conscious state. The next morning, after hearing others speak on the subject, I realised what had happened, whereupon I was overwhelmed with confusion and ready to sink into the earth with shame.
Sometimes the past can be reassuring. Visit the site for more.