Previous parts of this series: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V When it came to the color green, Medieval artists and crafters had a rough time. Unlike the warm colors – reds, oranges, yellows – long-lasting green pigments were not so easily available from nature. Mostly, these artists resorted to …
Category: Fantasy
Passing Obsessions 7-24
Scandal strikes the SFF world again. Writer Neil Gaiman accused of, but denies, sexually assaulting two women, one of whom was the nanny of his child. The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, an animated film by Warner Brothers based on Tolkien’s work, releases some preview artwork. (It’s anime style.) In related …
Worldbuilding Wednesday 7/10/24: Narniaworld, Part 2 (Narnia LV)
What makes a theme park? RIDES! So far my musings have carried me to a basic outline of Narniaworld. It’s quite large, located by the inlet or bay of a coastal area, and surrounded by forest through which a river runs. There’s a campground for guests. The location is likely a temperate one, but like …
A Not So Wonderful Tea with Tumnus
There was a nice brown egg, lightly boiled, for each of them, and then sardines on toast, and then buttered toast, and then toast with honey, and then a sugar-topped cake. — from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Let’s see how well AI can recreate this iconic scene. I specified “Cute whimsical faun …
Worldbuilding Wednesday 7/3/24: Narniaworld, Part 1 (Narnia LIV)
What if The Chronicles of Narnia inspired a theme park similar to Disneyworld in Florida? Of course, it’s not likely to happen anytime soon. Or ever perhaps. But think of the possibilities. That’s the theme I’m going to riff on for this July’s Worldbuilding Wednesday posts. What rides, events, eating places, and attractions would it …
Narnian Triptych
Three highly stylized scenes from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, done in a style that, to my mind, imitates the Ballets Russes sketches of designer Leon Bakst. (I’ll be going more into the Russian influence on depictions of Narnia later in the Summer.) The first seems to show Lucy in the woods with …
The Silver Chair, Macmillan HC 1988
One of the things I love about these Summers of Narnia is that I’m always discovering something new. Take this illustration on the cover of the 1988 Macmillan hardback edition of The Silver Chair, depicting the climactic moment when the Green Witch snakeifies herself and wraps around Prince Rilian. There’s a distinct aesthetic about it …







