New illustrated covers for John le Carre's novels

New illustrated covers by Matt Taylor for John le Carre's novels:









Looks like it's finally time to try Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. (The only le Carre book I've read was The Tailor of Panama, and I wasn't crazy about it.) Some of the books are available at Amazon, and Matt has various prints on sale here. Via.

Modesty Blaise

Modesty Blaise in Sabre-Tooth on sale at eBay. Via.

Procession of the Dead

Procession of the Dead book cover by Catherine Casalino:

Popular YA author Darren Shan's first adult novel is a combination of horror and near-future thriller set in “The City,” which is the center of Capac Raimi's world. Moving into the city to work with his small-time gangster uncle, Capac soon finds himself at the service of the Cardinal, the leader of all the criminal gangs and the ruler of the city. Capac enjoys his new life except for a few small details, including the enigmatic blind and mute monks who have a way of appearing at significant moments in Capac's life, and the fact that he can't really remember any of his life before he came to the City. Then he meets and immediately falls in love with a young woman who is determined to dig out the Cardinal's secrets. Fast-paced and exciting, Procession of the Dead is a gritty, creepy, and completely successful story with an ending that leaves openings for future series entries. Suggest to readers who enjoyed Miéville's The City and the City (2009) for its slightly fantastical setting combined with a thrilling story.

$10 at Amazon.

Cover and illustration from Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Cover and photo-illustration from Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children:

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. And a strange collection of very curious photographs.

It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children who once lived here—one of whom was his own grandfather— were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a desolate island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.

Preorder for $12 at Amazon.

New kid's book by Christoph Niemann

A few delightful pages from Christoph Niemann's new book That's How!, which is 32% off at Amazon. Via.

Book cover for the UK edition of The Magician King

Book cover for the UK version of Lev Grossman's The Magician King.

*Previously: The American cover.

Cover for Lev Grossman's The Magician King

I've probably read two dozen books in the last year, and Lev Grossman's The Magicians was my favorite. (Indeed, the next time I have the opportunity to commission art, I might ask for a drawing of the book's villain.) Here's the cover to the sequel, The Magician King, which is available for preorder at Amazon.

The image is actually a photograph of a model by Didier Massard. You can read an interview with him here.

New book cover for The Eyre Affair: A Thursday Next Novel

Looks like this is going to be Thomas Allen's new cover for The Eyre Affair: A Thursday Next Novel:



Even his WIP photos are great:



*Previously: One of Our Thursdays is Missing cover by Thomas Allen.

Book cover for Haruki Murakami's 1Q84

Chip Kidd designed the book cover for Haruki Murakami's 1Q84:

The plot follows two seemingly unconnected stories that eventually weave together. The first involves a woman named Aomame, who in the opening scene finds herself descending a service staircase off a busy elevated highway in Tokyo to escape a traffic jam. Once she gets to the bottom and out onto ground level, she eventually comes to believe that she has entered an alternate reality, one only slightly different than what she had known. She refers to this new dimension in her mind as 1Q84 (the book takes place in 1984 and in Japanese ‘Q’ sounds just like ‘9′), with the Q standing for “Question Mark. A world that bears a question.” This concept becomes one of the novel’s major themes.

The vellum jacket:



And binding cover:



Combine to complete the cover image:



Available for preorder for %34 off Amazon.

Make a Chewbacca sock puppet

i09 posted a few pages from the Star Wars Craft Book, including these instructions for making a Chewbacca sock puppet. You can preorder the book for $11 at Amazon.

The Meowmorphosis

The Meowmorphosis:

“One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that he had been changed into an adorable kitten.”

The phenomenal success of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies inspired a massively popular literary-remix movement. Now Quirk Classics once again charts bold new territory, turning the monster-mash-up formula inside out to infuse Franz Kafka’s horrific masterpiece, “The Metamorphosis,” with the fuzziest, snuggliest, most adorable creatures possible: kittens!

Gregor Samsa is a humble young man who supports his unemployed parents and teenage sister by working as a traveling fabric salesman. But his life goes strangely wrong in the very first sentence of The Meowmorphosis, when he wakes up late for work and discovers that he has inexplicably become an adorable kitten. His family must admit that, yes, their son is now OMG so cute—but what good is cute when there are bills to pay? How can Gregor be so selfish as to devote his attention to a ball of yarn? And how dare he jump out the bedroom window to wander through Kafka’s literary landscape? Never before has a cat’s tale been so poignant, strange, and horrifyingly funny.

Preorder for 33% off at Amazon.

Brianne Drouhard's Billie the Unicorn

I received a preview copy of Brianne Drouhard's Billie the Unicorn, and my initial impression was that neither I nor my sons were going to like it very much (even though Brianne's worked on two of my boys' favorites - - Avengers and Batman: The Brave and the Bold). The first few pages did nothing to dispel that impression as they're about Billie and her unicorn friends and how much fun they have using their magical horns to grow different types of flowers.

But soon thereafter the story takes a surprising turn as Billie runs afoul of an evil queen and her robotic minions. This particular illustration isn't in the book but gives you a good idea of how the characters look:



My boys were rapt until the end, and I'm sure we'll be enjoying the book many more times in the future. It's a solid 32-pages long and available for preorder for 35% off at Amazon. Brianne also has a few paintings and prints on sale at Gallery Nucleus.

Czech covers for William Gibson novels

Czech covers for William Gibson novels.

"Breathtakingly crude"

So earlier this week I posted photos of this SEAL doll ("1/6 Scale SEAL Team 5 Mountain Ops" by Toys City) and commented that it looked like Eric Bana:




Tom said he thought it looked like Richard Marcinko, and I'm inclined to think he's right:



Marcinko is the author of a successful series of books, and the Publisher's Weekly reviews at Amazon are very entertaining:




Violence of Action:

Riding the wave of controversy over Iraq, and dedicated "To the many heroes of September 11th," this 10th volume in the breathtakingly crude but bestselling Rogue Warrior series again stars hairy-chested author/narrator Capt. Dick Marcinko, ex-navy SEAL and covert-ops antiterrorism expert. Licking his wounds after unjustly serving time in a white-collar federal prison, Capt. Dick is called to Washington when the White House is confronted with the theft of a suitcase-sized nuclear bomb by a band of terrorists. After capturing one of the terrorists, Dick's team tortures him into revealing the group's plan to nuke Portland, Ore., as the first step in establishing ethnic purity in the world. Marcinko may have jettisoned his longtime co-writer John Weisman (whose name no longer appears on the title page), but little else has changed. As in previous volumes, Dick is boorishly self-aggrandizing (he boasts of bedroom swordsmanship with a 10-inch saber), and the first-person narration is punctuated with personal confidences that detract from the authentic descriptions of cutting-edge high-tech military weapons and vivid action-packed scenes of engagement. Bordering on comic book satire and saturated with gruesome, gratuitous violence, the novel should fly off the shelves into the eager hands of the rabid legions of blood and guts fantasy-fulfillment RW readers.

Detachment Bravo:

Unabashedly testosterone-addled, the ninth installment in the Rogue Warrior series cuts another swath through posturing bureaucrats and waffling military brass. Capt. Dick Marcinko, a Navy SEAL black ops specialist, teams with British SAS special ops Brig. Mick Owen and a select few men to stop a London bombing by an IRA splinter group. Too many screwups endanger the mission, cause a big PR snafu and land Mick and Dick in hot water with their bosses. Then they're assigned to track another splinter group, the Green Hand Defenders, who are brewing a plot to kill huge numbers of U.S. and British citizens in one hit. Snubbing the higherups, Mick and Dick follow a lead to Argentina, where Dick abuses an old nemesis who's now a CIA station chief when the man rejects Dick's warning of an attack on the American Embassy. After word gets out, the boys find themselves persona non grata in their own agencies, but remain committed to finishing their jobs any way they can. The ensuing roughshod romp over land and sea is a military vigilante's fantasy. The authors' habit of addressing the reader adds to the tongue-in-cheek downplay of the superhero action, but make no mistake these irreverent characters skewer the establishment and trumpet opinions on what's wrong with the world today (e.g., political correctness, environmentalism) while upholding their pledge to defend it from terrorists. (May)Forecast: Copious vulgarity and violence, with an emphasis on male bonding and military lore, define the Rogue Warrior franchise when WWF fans read, chances are Marcinko is one of their picks. Expect brawny sales.

Rogue Warrior:

Seize the Day: Marcinko and DeFelice keep up a withering fusillade of wisecracks as Marcinko's fictional alter ego, Dick Marcinko, tangles with an aging Fidel Castro in the loosely plotted 13th outing for the former Navy SEAL (after Rogue Warrior: Dictator's Ransom). Dick (aka the Rogue Warrior) and his Red Cell International cohorts must prevent a deadly attack on the U.S. to be triggered by the demise of the Cuban dictator. The action hinges on the central joke that Dick, with some age-related makeup, actually looks so much like Fidel that he can imitate the leader well enough to trick the authorities and general citizenry of Cuba into doing what Dick and the CIA want done to free the island from the yoke of tyranny. Series fans will cheer as Dick and company run all over Cuba, killing people and causing trouble.

"Breathtakingly crude"

So earlier this week I posted photos of this SEAL doll ("1/6 Scale SEAL Team 5 Mountain Ops" by Toys City) and commented that it looked like Eric Bana:




Tom said he thought it looked like Richard Marcinko, and I'm inclined to think he's right:



Marcinko is the author of a successful series of books, and the Publisher's Weekly reviews at Amazon are very entertaining:




Violence of Action:

Riding the wave of controversy over Iraq, and dedicated "To the many heroes of September 11th," this 10th volume in the breathtakingly crude but bestselling Rogue Warrior series again stars hairy-chested author/narrator Capt. Dick Marcinko, ex-navy SEAL and covert-ops antiterrorism expert. Licking his wounds after unjustly serving time in a white-collar federal prison, Capt. Dick is called to Washington when the White House is confronted with the theft of a suitcase-sized nuclear bomb by a band of terrorists. After capturing one of the terrorists, Dick's team tortures him into revealing the group's plan to nuke Portland, Ore., as the first step in establishing ethnic purity in the world. Marcinko may have jettisoned his longtime co-writer John Weisman (whose name no longer appears on the title page), but little else has changed. As in previous volumes, Dick is boorishly self-aggrandizing (he boasts of bedroom swordsmanship with a 10-inch saber), and the first-person narration is punctuated with personal confidences that detract from the authentic descriptions of cutting-edge high-tech military weapons and vivid action-packed scenes of engagement. Bordering on comic book satire and saturated with gruesome, gratuitous violence, the novel should fly off the shelves into the eager hands of the rabid legions of blood and guts fantasy-fulfillment RW readers.

Detachment Bravo:

Unabashedly testosterone-addled, the ninth installment in the Rogue Warrior series cuts another swath through posturing bureaucrats and waffling military brass. Capt. Dick Marcinko, a Navy SEAL black ops specialist, teams with British SAS special ops Brig. Mick Owen and a select few men to stop a London bombing by an IRA splinter group. Too many screwups endanger the mission, cause a big PR snafu and land Mick and Dick in hot water with their bosses. Then they're assigned to track another splinter group, the Green Hand Defenders, who are brewing a plot to kill huge numbers of U.S. and British citizens in one hit. Snubbing the higherups, Mick and Dick follow a lead to Argentina, where Dick abuses an old nemesis who's now a CIA station chief when the man rejects Dick's warning of an attack on the American Embassy. After word gets out, the boys find themselves persona non grata in their own agencies, but remain committed to finishing their jobs any way they can. The ensuing roughshod romp over land and sea is a military vigilante's fantasy. The authors' habit of addressing the reader adds to the tongue-in-cheek downplay of the superhero action, but make no mistake these irreverent characters skewer the establishment and trumpet opinions on what's wrong with the world today (e.g., political correctness, environmentalism) while upholding their pledge to defend it from terrorists. (May)Forecast: Copious vulgarity and violence, with an emphasis on male bonding and military lore, define the Rogue Warrior franchise when WWF fans read, chances are Marcinko is one of their picks. Expect brawny sales.

Rogue Warrior:

Seize the Day: Marcinko and DeFelice keep up a withering fusillade of wisecracks as Marcinko's fictional alter ego, Dick Marcinko, tangles with an aging Fidel Castro in the loosely plotted 13th outing for the former Navy SEAL (after Rogue Warrior: Dictator's Ransom). Dick (aka the Rogue Warrior) and his Red Cell International cohorts must prevent a deadly attack on the U.S. to be triggered by the demise of the Cuban dictator. The action hinges on the central joke that Dick, with some age-related makeup, actually looks so much like Fidel that he can imitate the leader well enough to trick the authorities and general citizenry of Cuba into doing what Dick and the CIA want done to free the island from the yoke of tyranny. Series fans will cheer as Dick and company run all over Cuba, killing people and causing trouble.

Fuzz and Fur: Japan's Costumed Characters

Fuzz and Fur: Japan's Costumed Characters:

While adoration for mythical creatures and popular anime characters is nothing new in Japan, this pastime has spurred a new marketing took utilized by local government institutions: yuru-kyara. Roughly translated as "amateur characters" these costumes are based on local attractions and points of interest that help define any given area. The municipalities take advantage of their citizens' willingness to create these characters in a strange amalgam of hometown pride and cost-saving measures on the part of the city councils. These civic mascots brought to life in floppy, fury, fuzzy and homemade costumes. Citizens convene conventions of their very own, demonstrating how yuru-kyara devotees represent another enigmatic, yet utterly captivating, aspect of contemporary Japanese visual culture.

$11 at Amazon. Via.