Lions and Aardvarks and Kobolds and Woody – oh my!

Super Happy Find a Logo Fun Hour

It’s been my extraordinarily good fortune to work with some extraordinarily talented folks from time to time.

Example:

Last year, I was asked by Robin D. Laws to submit a contribution to The Lion and the Aardvark, a delightful little book from Stone Skin Press, collecting contemporary Aesopian fables.

Working with Robin is always a joy, but good lord, once I took a gander at the whole ridiculous list of contributors, I was overwhelmed at the company I suddenly fond myself in.

Don’t get me wrong: I think my silly little story, “The Muskrat and the Deadline,” is just fine. It’s light and (as noted) silly, and I’m happy with how it turned out.

Once my contributor copies of the book arrived, however, I was gobsmacked at the quality and quantity of the other contributions and contributors. Greg Stafford’s opening tale, for example, was a pure punch to the gut – a few hundred words of near-perfect storytelling.

I’ve not finished The Lion and the Aardvark, yet – its stories are treats, and I don’t want to devour them all in one sitting, though I really could. Some things need to be saved, and a great many of the stories here need to be savored.

Equally delightful is the graphic design and physical quality of this lovely little hardcover. Jim Zub’s cover is great, and the interior illustrations by Rachel Kahn are terrific, well-used throughout the book. I can’t imagine I’m the only person who’d appreciate a set of nice prints made from them. This is one of those books you just enjoy picking up and holding, dang it! Or at least, I do.

Look, this is no “review” of The Lion and the Aardvark, as obviously I have a certain amount of bias, here. But I am so damned happy to have a teeny little contribution to this super, immensely readable and thought-provoking little book. It’s a gem, and I’d seek it out, if I were you.

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NEW KOBOLDS ATE MY BABY ART?

Why yes. Yes, please!

(Click on the image to see the full-size version!)

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Today’s early-morning warm-up sketch: WOODY!

HOLY CATS, this was as fun to draw as I thought it might be.

If I can find the time, I may take this one to ink…

(Click here or on the image for a larger version of it.)

— John

 

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