Month: May 2024

Thoughts on Witchy Winter

Sans spoilers, because I’m nice that way.

Normally when I receive an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of a book, it’s a few months before the publication date. Witchy Winter by D.J. Butler actually released in 2018, and joined my collection within the last year. One of the prizes for a reading challenge at our local library (they now have multiple challenges each year, including winter and summer) was the option to select a book.

You may be familiar with this problem… you’re presented with a decent selection of books across multiple genres, and you’re only allowed to pick one. How do you pick???

Our library simplified the process with some highlights about the book, helping narrow down the selection before flipping to the back covers to read the marketing blurbs. With highlights sticking out of every book, it reduced the immediate list to two or three books. One thing that jumped out for me, as an Illinois resident, was the mention of Cahokia; we visited the site in 2013 near the end of our big roadtrip.

This book hit so many high points for me: well-developed characters, multi-threaded plotlines tying together, various types of magic, and a neat alternate history that still has Europeans in the Americas while retaining Native American civilizations.

But… it’s the second book in the series. There are enough references to the first book that I could probably get away without reading it, yet enough hits at the past action that I definitely want to backtrack. Having just read Witchy Winter, I can then skip to books three and four.

Given the choice, I’d suggest you start with book one, Witchy Eye.

Find time for creativity

While I’m specifically taking about drawing and painting in this post, I’m really referring to any creative process you want to count, be that crafting, writing, making music… whatever! I’ve found myself needing a creative outlet a couple times recently, the first as I was preparing a bid to co-chair next year’s Capricon with a theme of Let Your Geek Flag Fly. The image below was me thinking through what could fall under that theme and which of those I could represent as meeple. It is certainly not all-inclusive, given how much different material falls under fandom. That said, if you’re not sure which fandom is meant to be represented by a particular meeple, take a moment to read through the ALT text.

Starting at the top left of the image, a Tree of Gondor with a unicorn meeple below it, a Stargate with a meeple bearing a question mark in front as something resembling a Godzilla meeple approaches, a TARDIS with a meeple outside. Arrayed at the front of the image are the following meeples, starting at the 5th(ish) row: Wonder Woman, Transformer, Death, Spider-Man, a furry creature of some sort; the 4th row features an Eevee, a figure wearing a Star Fleet emblem, Aang (the last Airbender), someone in a red & white striped (could be Waldo if Waldo were a meeple), and a little green alien with 3 eyes; the 3rd row has a cylon, an Among Us figure (with a flag that says "sus" pointing to the cylon), and a vampire; the 2nd row has Yoda and a figure wearing a "CHB" shirt; the first row has a goat holding a flag that reads "Geek".
A mini canvas being held by a green figure. The canvas depicts a sketch (black & white) of a unicorn in a clearing facing an open box.

More recently, our local library kicked off a Tiny Art Show, distributing mini canvas (3 by 3 inches) with a matching easel, along with a small paint set and pair of brushes. My initial plan had been to draw a person, a phoenix, and a dragon, based on a book I recently reviewed, but I didn’t really like the practice sketch I made. I didn’t even make it to the phoenix, as people – faces in particular, though hands are a difficult spot too – are not my strong suit when drawing. Then it occurred to me that I could draw something based on one of my stories. My most recently published story, “The Box”, in The Spaces In Between, provided the inspiration for this piece. The little green guy holding the sketch (second draft, I drew one on paper first) is a cell phone holder I picked up at the work conference I attended recently.

A mini canvas on an equally mini easel. The canvas depicts a painting of a pink & purple unicorn in a clearing facing an open box.

Happy with the sketch, I proceeded to attack the canvas with an eraser, reducing the lines to mere outlines to reduce how much pencil might show through in the final image. I then painstakingly painted it over three different sessions one dot at a time. It has been many years since I tried my hand at pointillism, and I’m fairly sure this is the first time I’ve tried it with paints rather than markers.

I deviated by making the unicorn pink with a purple mane and tail; she’s specifically mentioned as white in my story. I thought white would look too much like unfinished canvas.

Overall, I’m happy with both results, acknowledging that they’re very different stylistically. What’s your current creative outlet?

What a whirlwind week!

Last Friday, we attended C2E2 for the first time as volunteers for the Science Fiction Outreach Project, which gives away free books (mostly science fiction and fantasy) to promote literacy. Given limited time and the size of the exhibit hall, we took a focused approach of visiting just the Writers’ Block and Artist Alley (13 rows!), looking for people who may be interested in space in next year’s dealers hall at Capricon. We hit Chicago traffic coming & going, which is always not fun, though ultimately worth it for attending the event.

Chocolate cake with red roses and the phrase "The Cake Is A Lie" in icing.

On Saturday, we drove a different direction, hosting MarindaCon at a forest preserve to celebrate our dearly departed friend. We gathered with assorted friends – including people who drove from Michigan and Wisconsin as day trips, and some who joined via Zoom – for geeky conversations and a delicious cake (as well as other food). It turned out to be a beautiful day, except for the occasional gust of wind that moved some food and drinks around.

And then, before the crack of dawn on Sunday, I drove through a rainstorm to the airport’s remote parking garage and flew to Washington, DC, for a work-related conference. I took the opportunity to meet up with my cousin and his partner for lunch and some wandering along the National Mall in what was at that point the hottest day of the year. (The next day may have been warmer, but I didn’t make it outside until a late dinner time.) The sheer quantity of food trucks selling ice cream was amazing.

Had I realized that my conference days were 10-11 hour days, I might have taken the time for a nap after our wanderings. As it happens, I’ll be spending the next couple of days trying to catch up on sleep.