Art

Upcoming: “Apocalypse Now Now” by Charlie Human (Century)

Civilian Reader Uncategorized , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Feast your eyes on this twisted, visual delight…

Human-ApocalypseNowNow-UK

This is, as I’m sure you can gather, the cover for South African author Charlie Human’s debut novel, Apocalypse Now Now. The cover was first unveiled on the always awesome Pornokitsch (whose post also has an interview with Charlie Joey Hi-Fi – go check it out).

I’ve been hearing about this book a lot recently (from one person in particular…), and he has done a sufficiently excellent job of making me ridiculously excited to get my grubby mitts on a copy.

Baxter Zevcenko is your average sixteen-year-old-boy — if by average you mean kingpin of a schoolyard porn syndicate and possible serial killer who suffers from surreal  nightmares. Which may very well be what counts as average these days. Baxter is the first to admit that he’s not a nice guy. After all, if the guy below you falls, dragging you down into an icy abyss you have to cut him loose — even in high school. That is until his girlfriend, Esmé, is kidnapped and Baxter is forced to confront a disturbing fact about himself — that he has a heart, and the damn thing is forcing him to abandon high-school politics and set out on a quest to find her. The clues point to supernatural forces at work and Baxter is must admit that he can’t do it alone. Enter Jackie Ronin, supernatural bounty hunter, Border War veteran, and all-round lunatic, who takes him on a chaotic tour of Cape Town’s sweaty, occult underbelly.

What do glowing men, transsexual African valkyries, and zombie-creating arachnids have to do with Esmé’s disappearance? That’s what Baxter really, really needs to find out.

The cover at the top, by Joey Hi-Fi, is the UK edition (to be published by Century in August 2013), but Apocalypse Now Now will also be graced with an equally sinister and moody cover (also by Joey Hi-Fi) in the author’s native South Africa:

Human-ApocalypseNowNow-SA

Art: VULKAN LIVES by Nick Kyme (Black Library)

Civilian Reader Uncategorized , , , , , , , , , , ,

Just caught this on Amazon UK: the artwork for Nick Kyme’s next Horus Heresy novel, Vulkan Lives…

Kyme-VulkanLives(HH)

Naturally, as someone who is rather addicted to the Heresy series, I can’t wait to get my mitts on this novel. Here’s the synopsis:

In the wake of the Dropsite Massacre at Isstvan V, the survivors of the Salamanders Legion searched long and hard for their fallen primarch, but to no avail. Little did they know that while Vulkan might have wished himself dead, he lives still. As the war continues without him, all eyes turn to Ultramar and Guilliman’s new empire there, and Vulkan’s sons are drawn into an insidious plot to end the Heresy by the most underhand means imaginable.

As far as I can tell, Vulkan Lives will be published in November or December 2013. Here’s the full artwork for the novel, which is rather eye-catching…

Kyme-VulkanLives(HH)-Art

In related Nick Kyme news, the author has also penned one of two upcoming Heresy audio-dramas, Censure (which is due to be published in October 2013)…

Kyme-Censure(HH)

In the depths of Calth’s arcology network, the Underworld War has raged for years. Aeonid Thiel, previously an honoured sergeant of the Ultramarines, once again finds himself in trouble – pitted against the daemonic forces of the Word Bearers, he has no choice but to venture back to the ravaged surface and brave the deadly solar flares that have scoured all life from this world. With a lowly Imperial Army trooper as his only companion, it falls to him to drive the maniacal Dark Apostle Kurtha Sedd and his warband from the overrun XIII Legion stronghold.

Look at all the Pretties Coming from Orbit…!

Civilian Reader Covers , , , , , , , , , , ,

That’s my rather fanboy-esque way of titling a post featuring a LOT of new artwork. I missed the original post, when it went up in March, but I thought I’d share some of the images on here. Because they’re pretty marvellous:

OrbitReleases-2013

Ones that really stand out for me are Peter Higgins’ Truth And Fear (I assume this will be published by Gollancz in the UK, as Wolfhound Century was):

Higgins-Truth&Fear

Simon Morden’s Arcanum, which I’ve never heard of (but his Sci-Fi has been very well received)…

Morden-Arcanum

And the third book in Francis Knight’s debut trilogy, Last to Rise:

KnightF-LastToRise

Art: “Be My Enemy” by Ian McDonald (Jo Fletcher/Pyr)

Civilian Reader Uncategorized , , , , , , ,

The Everness series is one I will be checking out very soon, I just wanted to share the newly-released artwork for Ian McDonald’s Be My Enemy (published by Jo Fletcher in June 2013):

McDonald-BeMyEnemyUK

And second, the synopsis followed by the US edition (published by Pyr):

Everett Singh has escaped from his enemies with the Infundibulum – the key to all the parallel worlds. But his freedom has come at a price: the loss of his father to one of the billions of parallel universes in the Panopoly.

E1 was the first Earth to create the Heisenberg Gate, the means to jump between worlds, but it was quarantined long ago. No one goes in… and nothing comes out. But E1 has something that Everett needs: the means to find his father.

It’s lucky that he has the support of Captain Anastasia Sixsmyth, her daughter Sen and the unique crew of the airship Everness, because Everett is about to discover the horrifying secret of E1 and, with it, his deadliest enemy.

McDonald-BeMyEnemyUS

Art: FAIREST #14 (Vertigo)

Civilian Reader Comics, Covers , , , , , , , , ,

I just saw this on CBR, as part of an other-wise black-and-white preview for Fairest #14, and really wanted to share it. This excellent, atmospheric piece is Adam Hughes’s cover for the Bill Willingham-penned issue from the very good Fables spin-off series:

Fairest-14-Art

Fairest #14 is billed as a “special issue”, written by Willingham (who created Fairest and Fables) and features internal art by Barry Kitson. Here’s the synopsis:

Dating is hard for everyone in this standalone tale — but it’s especially tricky if you’re a gorgeous tree nymph from Fabletown. Princess Alder tells her tales of woe to Reynard the fox

Fairest #14 will be published April 3rd 2013.

Upcoming: “Red Hood & the Outlaws” #17 (DC)

Civilian Reader Comics , , , , , , , ,

Mico Suayan is an incredible artist… I shared the art for Red Hood & the Outlaws #18 a little while back, but for some reason missed the cover for #17. Abhinav reminded me on Twitter, so here it is, in all its awesome glory:

RedHood&TheOutlaws-17-Art

I really like the play on the Death in the Family artwork, which chronicled Jason Todd’s murder at the hands of the Joker. This issue comes as part of the Death of the Family cross-title story-arc, lead by current Batman-writer Scott Snyder. (Which I have not read, I should mention – so no spoilers in the comments!)

Red Hood & the Outlaws #17 will be published on Feb.20th 2013, and is written by Scott Lobdell, with internal art by Timothy Green II.