Poe, Eichenberg, and Arisia

        Here is a magnificent wood engraving by Fritz Eichenberg, illustrating assorted tales of Edgar Allan Poe.  It looks like this is mostly inspired by “Ms. Found in a Bottle”, “A Descent into the Maelstrom”, and “Mellonta Tauta”, and you can see in it just a fraction of the amazing range of speculative themes that Poe explored.  Setting aside Poe’s work, however, the illustration is a wonderful blend of fantasy and sci-fi favorites, from the monster to the airship.  I especially love the sea serpent’s plethora of eyes, which elevate it from your everyday run-of-the-mill sea monster.

        You don’t get anything of more depth and insight today, because I’m off to the sci-fi/fantasy/fandom convention Arisia, where, as usual, I’ll have a big display in the art show, I’ll be offering mini print-making workshops, I’ll be part of an author reading (with the theme of fantasy with a historical bent), and I’ll be on a few panels.  The panels are the other point of this post (beside sharing Eichenberg’s awesome wood engraving).  If you are here from Arisia, I would like to direct your attention to the Labels in the sidebar.  There you will note a few of my panels as topics: Designing the Impossible, Shakespeare and Fantasy, and So You Want to Show Your Art.  Click on any of them to see various past posts that give more information and further thoughts relevant to the panel.  (I’ve also left up a few of the labels from last year’s panels that I think may still be of interest.)

[Picture: Part II section heading, wood engraving by Fritz Eichenberg from Tales of Edgar Allan Poe, 1944 edition (Image from Full Table).]