u/Mintimperial69
Some of Steve Crisp's work fro Corgi and Colin Smythe in the Eighties
Posted these in another place, so adding here as well - fairs fair.
Acrylic with airbrush then brushes and in some cases a little oil went to make up some wonderfully optically realistic, if otherwise improbable book covers.
More of Steve's work can be seen here:
Steve Crisp - Art for Hugh Cooks Chronicles of an Age of Darkness
Some of the artwork produced by Steve Crisp as part of his work as an illustrator. Some of these required a fair bit of work by Steve to repair them later on(Crab, Blue Chariot and the two man fighting in the river).
Before digital art acrylic, oils(just at the end to add a little depth - took a while to dry - never mix or add the oil first) and airbrushes provided some of the fastest turn rounds for realistic depictions of fantasy settings, and Steve and his peers were mainstays of SFF publishing.
More of Steve's work can be viewed here:
The Hugh Cook Subreddit
If you're bored, with nothing to do and you like Fantasy, Science-Fiction, books in general or literature you should come to r/hughcook .
Its a subreddit created for an 80s/90s Author who passed away, and some people from this sub purchased the rights to some of his books to publish them, and eventually did so. The books have been lauded by the likes of China Miéville and Adrian Tchaikovsky who are both known for writing a little, and it's a good chance to kick the tires, talk to some people and whatnot.
If you like long audiobooks... well it's a really good time to check it out as the first audiobook in the series is available as an advance listener copy here, for free:
https://www.reddit.com/r/hughcook/s/sV3WcMg8Pk
We kind of like it, but then... we would say that wouldn't we?
The Wizards and The Warriors - Upcoming Audiobook!
Hello fellow adventurers!
This post is to make you all aware that the first audiobook for Chronicles of an Age of Darkness is almost upon us!
How do you know?
My name is Morgan Scott, and I am very lucky to be the narrator for this amazing book, and I am very excited to see it finally come to fruition!
A few years back(during lockdown), I was looking for an audiobook version of Hugh's work and much to my dismay, no such audiobook existed. In my naivete I thought "Well how hard can it be?".
It turns out, quite hard actually.
I created YouTube channel aptly named Rovac Reading, with the goal of publishing recordings of short stories, and working my way up to Hugh's novels. Alas, that channel has since been taken down due to copyright concerns (It's all due to certain readings about a certain prince created by Michael Moorcock which were republished shortly after my own versions), but before that happened, I found this subreddit and posted a reading of The Invasion Of The Chickens, one of Hugh's short stories.
I am by no means a professional audiobook narrator, this started purely as a fan trying to create something for other fans. As luck should have it, the folks at Zenphos Press are also big fans, who have aspirations of doing the exact same thing. They contacted me and expressed interest in getting me onboard once they had secured the rights. Talk about being in the right place at the right time!
Over the past few years I have been working with them and preparing for the monumental task of reading these books for you.
Book one The Wizards and The Warriors is now complete, and ready to go in for the final Quality Assurance by the various platforms that will be hosting it for us.
When can we expect the book?
The aforementioned QA by the platforms can take a couple of weeks, but it's ready to go and provided there aren't any issues with it, we can expect it to be published as soon as that is done! Watch this space for the confirmed date.
What platforms will it be available on?
Initially it will be available through Amazon (Audible) And Google Play Books. It will be later expanded to include Apple and Kobo, and then B&N, Everand, smasheords, Tolino, Vivilo, Bookshop.org, Fable, Overdrive, cloudLibrary, BorrowBox, Hoopla,Gardners and Vivilo libraries.
What can we expect?
This is a full unabridged reading of The Wizards and The Warriors. The publishers have been very supportive and eager that this remain a fan production. As such, we are open to feedback on all upcoming books, with the goal of improving with each one. We truly thank everyone who has been supportive of the releases so far, and can't wait to share further works for you to enjoy!
So is it any good?
Well you get to be the judge, especially if you get an early listening copy, and if so please feel free to link a review. I am but a humble apprentice who knows not alliteration from euphony. Please note: As these copies are due to go through the relevant platform checks, they are subject to slight changes with the final release.
To gain access to a copy, please leave a comment below, and a link will be DM'ed to you for download. We are limiting this to the first 50 commenters, so get it while you can!
Finally
A huge thank you to all of the folks at Zenphos. Never would I thought as a young teen, picking up a fantasy novel at a car-boot sale that had a cool cover, that I would one day be the one creating the audiobook version of that novel. I'm sure a Mod will be ducking their heads in here to confirm everything I have said as soon as they can.
That night, Morgan dreamt that he slept in safety in Wales with his cat at his side; he woke to the light of dawn, and found, to his relief, that the dream was true.
Black company
I got it today! Looking to see what everyone is talking about!
Did you read it? Without spoilers what did you think?
Cover art by Don Maitz for The Hero's Return, by Hugh Cook (1988).
Google image results turn up the wrong name for this painting and sent me on a wild goose chase looking for books that don't exist. 60% of the time it works every time.