So Few

"The world is full of people and so few of them are right for us."
—Paul Park, No Traveller Returns

One Rat Short

Alex Weil, One Rat Short, 2007

Long Live the King!

Today would have been Jack Kirby's ninety-second birthday. To honor the day, my brother and I asked comic book creators from the Mid-Ohio-Con family and beyond to answer the question "Why is Kirby king?" Our second annual Kirby tribute appears today at midohiocon.com.

Earth A.D.

The Air I Breathe

"I am an armored bear; war is the sea I swim in and the air I breathe. The men of this town gave me spirits and let me drink till I was asleep, and then they took my armor away from me. If I knew where they keep it, I would tear down the town to get it back. If you want my service, the price is this: get me back my armor. Do that, and I shall serve you in your campaign, either until I am dead or until you have a victory. The price is my armor. I want it back, and then I shall never need spirits again."
—Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass

Iorek and Lyra

Everyone Knows How the World Ends

"Charlton Heston and a savagely coiffed vixen, wrapped in animal skins, riding horseback along a desolate seashore, confronted by the spike-crowned ruin of the Statue of Liberty half buried in the sand: everyone knows how the world ends."
—Michael Chabon

You Maniacs!

The Demon of Noontide

"In southern countries objects tend to coincide with their shadows at noontide, and this may provoke in us an awareness of the objective nature of reality which is inaccessible to us when things and their shadows intermingle."
—F. R. Ankersmit

Ornithopter

Ron Cobb, ornithopter, 1975. Concept art for Alejandro Jodorowsky's
unrealized Dune. Courtesy roncobbdesigns.com.

Sean Murphy's Favorite Quote

"In order to write good fiction, or even bad fiction, you have to be rigidly doctrinaire with yourself: every time you have creative thoughts, you have to squelch them; they are elements of counter-revolution posing as revolution, remnants of the old bourgeoisie. Making fiction is hard work, and requires discipline, loyalty, obedience, and above all teamwork."
—Paul Park

Leto's Car

Chris Foss, Leto's Car, c. 1975. Concept art for Alejandro Jodorowsky's unrealized Dune. From the Chris Foss Tribute Page.