V is for Vallejo

That’s Boris Vallejo, illustrator extraordinaire, in case there was any doubt. He’s done other work — at least one Star Trek tie-in novel cover, and National Lampoon’s European Vacation poster, for example — but one of his illustrations of a scantily clad (or unclad) woman or man, muscles clearly defined, often with the background vanishing into clouds, is instantly recognizable. It’s hard to choose a favorite, but two of mine would be Icarus and Golden Wings.

I was fortunate to see him as the artist guest of honor last year at Renovation SF (though I missed the opportunity to see him at Philcon!). Definitely a highlight!

How about you? Do you like his work? Have a favorite painting? Or find some other style more appealing?

(Yes, there are other artists I like as well. But I needed a V post, and my husband suggested this one.)

---

This is a post for the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. My theme is epic fantasy, and blog posts will cover authors, books, tropes, themes, or anything else I can think of to fill the alphabet. Check out some of the other bloggers participating or follow my blog by e-mail if you like what you’ve read.

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.

I’d Rather Write about Interesting Times

This is a guest post from Karina Fabian, author of the recently released Live and Let Fly. (See previous post for my review.) She’s appearing here as part of her blog tour; you can see the whole calendar for the tour on her Website.

---

Karina Fabian

You know the old (supposedly) Arabic curse: may you live in interesting times? I’m one of those blessed people who had never lived in a really “interesting time.” I grew up in a stable and loving home, enjoyed college, had an exciting few years as an Air Force Officer, met the man of my dreams, and have since settled down to raise kids and write books. I’ve had some hard times, but I’ve never been shot at, tortured, driven insane, been under an evil spell, or lost everything I owned or loved.

Trust me, I am not complaining. I thank God every day. But my life would be boring to write about, which is why my blog seldom gets into my daily life. I’d much rather write about all those awful things happen to my characters. ( Read the rest of this entry � )

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.