#CoolArt: 'Game Of Thrones' Season 8 Episode Fan Art Posters by Fernando Reza

'Game Of Thrones' S8 Episode 1 'Winterfell' and Episode 2 'A Knight Of The Seven Realms' by Fernando Reza.

#CoolArt: 'Arya Stark' by Greg Ruth

'Arya' by Greg Ruth.

Part of his 52 Weeks Project series, 'Songs Of Ice & Fire', original portraits of characters from the HBO series, 'Game Of Thrones'.

All pieces are one of a kind originals executed in graphite on 13" x 19" paper.

Follow the series on his website.

#CoolArt: 'Pixies' Concert AP Edition prints by Ken Taylor through Posters And Toys

New Pixies concert posters by Ken Taylor, available through Posters And Toys.

• 'Memphis, March 22 2019'. 18" x 24" screen print, in a Regular AP edition of 55 for $35, and a Foil Variant AP edition of 29 for $50.

• 'Brooklyn, November 20 2018. 18" x 24" screen print, in a Regular AP edition of 85 for $35, and a Foil Variant AP edition of 24 for $50.

On sale Wednesday April 24 at 2pm CT from the Posters And Toys website.

'Pixies at Memphis, March 22 2019'

'Pixies at Brooklyn, November 20 2018'

'Ant-Man And The Wasp' Original Motion Picture 2 x Vinyl LP Soundtrack through Mondo

'Ant-Man And The Wasp' Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, a new vinyl LP release through Mondo.

Music composed by Christoph Beck, and pressed on 2x 180 gram vinyl, in a split coloured limited edition of 1000, a red and gold solid coloured vinyl edition and a standard black vinyl edition, with album cover and gatefold interior art by Phantom City Creative, and including 14 previously unreleased bonus tracks.

On sale Wednesday April 24 at 12pm CT from the Mondo website for $35.

LP Front Cover Art

LP Gatefold Interior Art

LP Back Cover Art

Split Colour Vinyl Edition Disc 1

Split Colour Vinyl Edition Disc 2

#CoolArt: 'Loss' print by Miles Johnston through Moon Crane Press

'Loss' by Miles Johnston, a TIMED release print through Moon Crane Press.

13" x 19" Archival giclee print on Bamboo Paper, in a signed and numbered timed edition for $100.

On sale for 72 hours only from Thursday April 25 at 1pm ET from the Moon Crane Press website.

Book Review: 'The Bone Season: Book 1 - The Bone Season' by Samantha Shannon

After reading and enjoying 'The Priory Of The Orange Tree' and the prequel novella to this series, 'The Pale Dreamer', I decided to pick up Samantha Shannon's debut book 'The Bone Season', the first of a planned seven book series. And I found it to be an enjoyable and engrossing read. 

Nineteen year old Paige Mahoney, is a clairvoyant working for the Seven Seals, a criminal syndicate in an alternate near future London, where clairvoyance is a crime - referred to as mime-crime - and punishable by death. Her life however changes for ever when she's attacked, kidnapped and drugged whilst on a trip to visit her father. When she awakes, she finds herself in Oxford, a city that has been hidden, thought destroyed, for two centuries and is controlled by the Rephaim, a vampiric otherworldly race that feed off the auras of clairvoyants. As part of her imprisonment, Paige is assigned to Warden, an enigmatic high ranking Rephaim with mysterious motives. Paige must endure her forced indenture, serving her keeper, all the while trying to decipher his secrets and hoping to find a way to escape back to London.

The thing that impressed me about this book was the depth of world building. The alternate London and Oxford of 2059 feels very dense and lived in, with a decent amount of lore that sets up the world. It is a bit of an info-dump in the way it's told when we're introduced to Paige, the secret societies and the paranormal world in which she lives, but there are maps and a chart that lists the seven orders of clairvoyance at the start of the book, with a glossary of the slang used throughout at the back of the book to refer to if it gets confusing when you read through.

Once you get past the introduction though, and into the story itself, whilst it is a bit of slow burn, the further you read, the more it begins to pick up and pull you into the story. With Paige as our analogue, narrating the story, we see the world through her eyes. She is a strong female lead, if a bit too cynical and sarcastic at times, especially in her confrontations with Warden. But she does stand up for herself and does develop overall as a character over the course of the book, as she also realises that her life before her kidnapping wasn't what she thought it was after all. We meet some interesting supporting characters along the way too. The Rephaite, Warden isn't quite who he appears to be at first, burying his secrets well, but as a bond of trust develops between him and Paige, more of his character is teased and revealed. Other characters like Liss, Julian, Michael and Seb are pretty good too, especially impressive considering the short periods of time Paige spends with them. The villains of the piece, the Rephaim, and in particular Nashira, and their Voyant recruits are a brutal and nasty lot, inflicting punishments on the lower caste of prisoners / slaves. Definitely dangerous foes that Paige has to be wary of. 

'The Bone Season' is a good slow burn of read that treads on a few YA dystopian tropes, but it has an interesting concept, deep world building and some good characters to keep you engrossed and entertained with. A credible debut by Samantha Shannon that has recently also been optioned as a TV series.

I would also recommend reading the prequel novella, 'The Pale Dreamer' before starting this book. Published three years after 'The Bone Season', and set three years before, it does a good, if not better, job of introducing us to Paige, the Seven Seals syndicate and the world of spirits, poltergeists and clairvoyants. Some new editions of the paperback edition do include this story too. 

Available from:

#ArtOfTheDay: 'Liliana, Dreadhorde General' by Yoshitaka Amano

'Liliana, Dreadhorde General' by Yoshitaka Amano, Japanese alternative card art for the 'War Of The Spark' expansion set, released May 3 2019 by Magic: The Gathering

#CoolArt: 'Midsummer' print by Djamila Knopf

'Midsummer' by Djamila Knopf.

15.2" x 10.3" giclee print on 16.5" x 11.7" 308 g/m² Hahnemühle Photo Rag (100% cotton-rag) paper with archival pigment-based ink in a signed and numbered TIMED release edition for €60.

On sale until Tuesday April 30 at 10am ET from her website.

#CoolArt: 'Captain Marvel' prints by Jen Bartel for Mondo

'Captain Marvel' by Jen Bartel, a new officially licensed Marvel print release through Mondo.

24" x 36" screen print in a numbered TIMED edition for $60, and a numbered Variant edition of 325 for $80.

On sale Tuesday April 23 at 12pm CT until Sunday April 28 at 11.59pm CT from the Mondo website.

(only available for shipping to United States, its territories and possessions, Canada, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden & United Kingdom)

Regular Edition

Variant Edition

#CoolArt: 'Dave Matthews Band & Tim Reynolds at Charleston, SC' print by James Flames

'Dave Matthews Band & Tim Reynolds at Charleston, SC' by James Flames.

18" x 24" screen print, in a signed and numbered AP edition set of 75

On sale Tuesday April 23 at 2pm ET from James' website.

#CoolArt: 'Kung Fu Panda' print by Tom Whalen through Mad Duck Posters

'Kung Fu Panda' by Tom Whalen, a new officially licensed print release from Mad Duck Posters.

24" x 36" screen print in a numbered limited edition of 100 for $85.

On sale Wednesday April 24 at 12pm ET from the Mad Duck Posters website.

Book Review: 'The Black God's Drums' by P Djèlí Clark

Cover art by Chris McGrath

'The Black God's Drums' by P Djèlí Clark, is a novella set in an alternative post US civil war New Orleans, now a place of neutrality where the Unionists and Confederates mingle with the locals, British, French and Haitians that make up the population. And in and amongst the city streets, Creeper, a young quick witted pickpocket who also happens to have a divine presence inside her, overhears a plot about a kidnapped Haitian scientist and a mysterious weapon, the Black God's Drums, information which could be her ticket off the streets, if she can find the right person to trade with.

I really enjoyed this. The world building of an alternative New Orleans in 1884, complete with skyships, magic and gods, is really deep and enriching. Even more so as the story is narrated through Creeper, complete with a slang dialect that makes the whole world really lived in and immerses you into the centre of the story.

It's a quick read (at only 128 pages), even still, the story introduces some really interesting characters that you fall in love with straight away. There's Creeper aka Jacqueline, Ann-Marie St Augustine - the one legged airship captain and her cohorts, a couple of questionable nuns, a feral orphan that is under the nun's care, and Madame Diouf of the Shá Rouj bordello in Madamesville. Really great characters that, although we're only with them briefly, draw you into the story and make you want to stay after you turn the last page.

Its an unusual, magical and delightful story that is fast paced and doesn't let up once it grips you from the start. I hope we get to revisit this wonderful world and people again. Recommended.

Available from:

#ArtOfTheDay: 'Price Of Betrayal' by Ryan Yee

'Price Of Betrayal' by Ryan Yee, card art for the 'War Of The Spark' expansion set, released May 3 2019 by Magic: The Gathering

#CoolArt: 'Medusa' print by Jenny Frison through Nakatomi Inc

'Medusa' by Jenny Frison, a new print release through Nakatomi Inc.

18" x 24" screen print on 100lb Cougar natural paper in a numbered limited edition of 150.

On sale Tuesday April 23 at 2pm CT from the Nakatomi Inc website.

#CoolArt: 'Game Of Thrones' print by Chrissie Zullo

'Ice And Fire' by Chrissie Zullo, inspired by 'Game Of Thrones'.

11" x 17" print in a signed edition for $20.

On sale now from her website.

#CoolArt: 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' print by Karl Fitzgerald

'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' by Karl Fitzgerald.

24" x 36" screen print in a signed Regular AP edition of 36 for £50

On sale Monday April 22 at 12pm ET from Karl's website.

Book Review: 'The Expanse: Book 8 - Tiamat's Wrath' by James SA Corey

Cover art by Daniel Dociu

'Tiamat's Wrath' by James SA Corey is another great addition to 'The Expanse' series.

It's great to be back in the world of 'The Expanse'. Over the course of the now eight books (plus handful of short fiction novellas), I've grown to love the crew of the Roci - Jim Holden, Naomi Nagata, Amos Burton, Alex Kamal and Bobbie Draper - and the strong familial bond they have that makes them more than just crew to each other. But after the events of the previous book, 'Persepolis Rising', the crew of the Roci have now scattered; Holden is a prisoner of High Consul of the Laconian empire Winston Duarte, Amos hasn't been heard of since going off on a covert mission, and Naomi, Alex and Bobbie are all fighting for the resistance, pushing back at the authoritarian Laconian empire however they can. Things aren't looking too good, but when something unexpected happens to the ring gate, with its effect reverberating throughout the systems, it sparks the resistance into action and the pace of the story starts to really pick up with the resistance striking back big time!

Returning to the series is Dr Elvi Okoye. Last seen in book 4 'Cibola Burn', she's now part of the scientific research team for Duarte's Laconian Empire, as one the foremost authorities on the infamous protomolecule, and she soon uncovers the history of the protomolecule, a genocide of an alien race that happened before humanity existed and of an alien threat that is beginning to stir. I enjoyed her point of view chapters, as we get a glimpse inside of the empire as well as into the protomolecule and the alien technology through her interactions with the sociopathic scientist Cortázar and the higher ups in the Laconian Empire.

Teresa Duarte is a new character introduced in this book, and her pov chapters give us a different peek behind the curtain of a dictator's empire. Her life has been easy up until now, what with being the High Consul's teenage daughter, but that all changes when something strange happens to her father, who has been experimenting on himself with the protomolecule in an effort to become immortal and extend his legacy. At first she came across as brattish, her only real companions being her dog, Muskrat and a friend called Timothy. But as events take a turn, she decides to step out from her father's shadow and take control of her life, becoming a much stronger person by the end and I grew to like her character over the course of the book, especially towards the end. 

As the penultimate book in the series, the stakes are as high as they've ever been, full of tension, action and with a few twists and turns along the way that felt like I'd been gut punched, to come back up for air only to be gut punched again! The perils of becoming emotionally attached to fictional characters in a long running series. 

'Tiamat's Wrath' is definitely a recommended read, and a great addition to one of my favourite book (and now TV) series. With the implications for humanity's fate looking very ominous by the end, colour me intrigued and excited to see how it all unfolds in the final book in the series. Bring it on!

Available from:

#ArtOfTheDay: 'Vivien's Arkbow' by Zack Stella

'Vivien's Arkbow' by Zack Stella, card art for the 'War Of The Spark' expansion set, released May 3 2019 by Magic: The Gathering

#CoolArt: 'Game Of Thrones' TIMED print by Steven Holliday

'The North Remembers' by Steven Holliday, inspired by 'Game Of Thrones'.

12" x 36" 5 colour screen print, including metallic silver ink in a signed and numbered TIMED edition for $40.

8 original character drawings will be randomly inserted into 8 random orders.

On sale for preorder until Sunday April 21 at 11.59pm CT from his website.

#CoolArt: '311 at Denver CO' prints by Miles Tsang

'311 at Denver CO' by Miles Tsang.

18" x 24" screen print in a numbered 'Red Hair Mistress' AP Edition of 50 for $70, a numbered 'Blue Dreamer' AP Edition of 30 for $80, and a Lava Foil 'Amber Energy' AP Edition of 25 for $130.

On sale Sunday April 21 at 12pm ET at his website.

Red Hair Mistress Edition

Blue Dreamer Edition

Amber Energy Edition