By Jason Zapata
There’s no going quietly into the night.
No surrendering to inevitabilities of time
Or taking shelter in memory and old age.
Not when there’s still something to prove.
There’s no going quietly into the night.
Dignity be damned. I’ll do what must be done.
I’ll fight the tireless enemy that approaches
To give a dying dream another chance.
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There are few artists with the raw talent of Dan Dos Santos. And that statement is far from hyperbole. One look at his work on “The Fires of Heaven” makes this abundantly clear. Dan’s work is all done with traditional oil paints and his subjects see to spring out from the canvas they’re painted on. Being a fan of “The Wheel of Time” – his depiction of Moiraine Damodred is exactly as I imagined her.
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Felix J. Palma’s “The Map of Time” is written with spell bounding craft. His novel stars H.G. Wells and a colorful cast of characters linked together by Well’s novel, “The Time Machine”. Readers are immersed in Victorian London as interlocking plots play out and the possibility of time travel is examined.
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Ryan Valle is a freelance illustrator based out of Overland Park, Kansas. His creations are inspired by fantasy, science fiction, and comic book themes. Valle’s work has been featured in ImagineFX magazine and deviantArt.
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The Land of Oz still fascinates us. Its magical inhabitants and unique landscapes continue to draw us down yellow-bricked roads of adventure. “Oz: The Great and Powerful” is the latest movie to take place in the world made famous by Lyman Frank Baum. This new movie will reveal how Oscar Diggs, a small time circus magician, becomes the great Wizard of Oz. But why are Oz and all its characters still so relevant to us?
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Marc Siwak is an entrepreneur trying to raise money to buy or lease abandoned property in Detroit. His plan is to create a zombie apocalypse style theme park. Much of Detroit is filled with depopulated and abandoned neighborhoods due to economic collapse. On the surface, this is a unique way to utilize vacant property and create jobs. However, there is some controversy surrounding this proposal.
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The villain. The fulcrum on which a great fantasy story rests. This statement’s validity is apparent to those who’ve enjoyed the recent film adaptations of famous fantasy stories. Rarely is the protagonist more interesting than the villain. The hero provides us with the perspective in which to view the story. However, it’s a good villain who creates conflict and determines how the hero’s world is shaped.
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Fantasy fans return to Middle Earth this winter when Peter Jackson’s, “The Hobbit” hits the big screen. The two-part movie based on J. R. R. Tolkien’s book will tell the story of Bilbo Baggins. Along with Thorin Oakenshield and twelve other dwarfs, Bilbo will attempt to liberate The Lonely Mountains of a fearsome dragon named Smaug. Given these films highly anticipated release, what should be the next big thing for fantasy?
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A few weekends ago I attended The Arts On Fire Festival at the Scranton Iron Furnaces. This year the festival featured blacksmithing, glassblowing, and chainsaw woodcarving. But what really impressed me were the wares the artists had for sale. High quality metallic figurines, wooden totems, and clay sculptures were available for art enthusiasts to purchase.
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Adam Vehige is a talented freelance artist hailing from Washington, Missouri. He studied at the Kansas City Art Institute. He uses a Wacom tablet and Photoshop applications to create many of his stunning pieces of art. (more…)