Desktop Images: Female Characters in Fantasy

There never seem to be a shortage of roles to play for females when in comes to the fantasy genre. I suppose that the story pertaining to be a conflict driven fiction, one of the most unlikely sources to build up drama and suspense comes by giving a God-damn super power to an unlikely young feminine protagonist.

Who am I kidding?
Female authors use ladies because it’s something they can relate to while male authors use ladies because they think always only of sex.

Try it. Pick up any male-authored fantasy genre book in the local Popular Books store Borders and I promise you by chapter 3-5, you’ll find a girl in heat and she’s not afraid to get a man wet.

Haha, innuendos aside, it doesn’t matter whether I use both male or female characters in imaginary realm I weave. Both of them hold unique ends of perspective when it comes to handling a crisis.

If you’ve been following the Clinton vs. Obama campaign in US-of-A (you must have been stranded on an island with a volleyball if you hadn’t heard of them), check out the slings and arrows of outrageous stupidity written by the political media and compare notes. One out of four articles will definitely discuss their democratic issues based on gender standpoints.

Bah! Enough blabbing. Back to fantasy. This week, I’ve collected the artwork of which includes the theme of female characters in various situations. It fascinates me on how so diverse their variety are.

Menfolk art, although just as diverse, seemed to be restricted to mostly recurring images based toward medieval/futuristic soldiers in all so many kinds of brooding battle poses that it’s getting really monotonous.

I’ll keeping looking though. It’s not as if Google’s a small search engine... *hehehe!*

Oh Goddess! by Alon

Alas! Art by Alon from CGSociety.com

The story goes that a servant was trying to pour a glass of wine for the king, but the mischievous goddess from the wall painting crack a joke on him by rising his hand and pour the wine onto the king's head. The servant was terrified and didn't know why this happened and what to do, the others terrified too and hurried to get out of the way, because they knew -- he is dead for sure....

Touché.


New Order by Sunhee Lee

The artist, Sunhee Lee, didn’t have a website to commemorate a profolio nor does she even has a story to go along with this magnificent piece created using Painter and Photoshop. So I’m going to write my story for the art.

She’s a battle-weary regent appointed amongst a magickin folk for liberty against an oppressive unseen enemy. The clan had just finished a stalemate battle and things weren’t going any better. Her armour had been shed, wounds were being tended. You can see her wings were slowly healing. She was strategizing a new woodland-based tactical maneuver when a message arrived.

The great tree-home had been besieged. Both her children had been kidnapped. If she wants them back, she must sign the declaration of surrender...


Alienation by Michelle Chuang

She’s definitely one of my favourite portraiture artist, as opposed to landscape artists. I already have her other work, the commissioned Legend of the Vampire, as a tableau to one of my characters for my project assignment (which really needed a blog update; working on that!). She drew this from an inspiration while visiting the newly opened Taipei 101 tower.

For myself, I too have a story formed in my head the longer I look at it, a sequel to my project. It’ll be a much darker continuation and who knows if the original characters will survive what I’m throwing at them?

Or, maybe I can just grab someone’s hand that’s holding a goblet of wine and...


Kaguya Hime by Kagaya

Kljs of kennyljs.comonce posted a small image called ‘Madonna Blue’ by this artist as well. I knew immediately that the picture was an older rendition by the artist; the sky was all wrong.

This is another artwork by the same artist, his very latest masterpiece. Kagaya is a Japanese who uses Greek mythology as inspirations. Check out his Zodiac series on his website.

Or if you walk along Tesco hypermarket, you can find really bad quality of his art in the jigsaw puzzle shelves. I don’t know who pirated them, but trust me, it’s better that you check the website.

The picture here is a rare step to an old Japanese mythology/faerie tale called the Bamboo Princess.

...She tells the old foster-parents who found her in a bamboo thicket and have brought her up with lots of love;
"I am not a common human being in this world. I am a Moonian.
I came down from the Moon as I was destined to. And now it's time for me to return home.
My compatriots are coming for me on the night of next Full Moon. I must go with them.
I've been in sorrow since last spring to think that you will grieve over my leaving." ...

PS: Oh, one more thing. I've changed the picture for April's Ascension (see sidebar). The ole one just wasn't dramatic enough forthe story I had in mind. Check the end of April for the complete tale but I definately prefer you hurl suggestions on what the month's image means to you. *hahaha!*

Three Fantasy Fiction I Wish For

Originally this was supposed to be five books but I need to be realistic here. I’m going to take a week off from blogging (again!) to finish up all the loose ends of schoolwork that the lecturers had generously given me extra time to do.

I can be very creative with my excuses.

That still doesn’t stop me from getting this metaphorical, - equally heavy and crushing - lump in my chest.

But as Julie Andrews had taught us in Sound of Music, one must think of happier things in the face of self-induced absurdity. Stress is bad for work after all, even if stress was caused from the work.

The top on my head is that I’m going to be home-sitting my home for two weeks as my parental units are both talking a globe-trotting adventure across the Middle-East. Ayah just wants to take all his Arabic classes for a real-world test-drive and Mak follows so she can watch him trying to impress her.

Even after years of marriage, Ayah is still trying to impress Mak. Sheesh, you would think old people just shroom things for granted by now.

But I’m going to command the house starting this Friday!

Hahaha, it’s not like I’m going to plan a major party or anything. Good God, I’m busy with stuff to complete as it is! But house-sitting equals cash money and they always give more than what they think is sufficient. Generally, I make sure the car gets petrols and the cats get fed but myself can live off Maggi Mee and Ramlee burgers, no biggie.

Evil, evil meeeeeee...

I’m planning to use the extra cash to buy either one of these books, possibly two, if I can scrimp somemore.

The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black

Hahahaha, hype, hype, hype! I’m trying to find something to replace the void left open since the end of the Harry Potter series. I’ve checked the synopsis on the series and it seemed like a pretty okay read, simplistic language notwithstanding. After all, it was mostly aimed for children.

Synopsis from Wikipedia:

The story takes place in New England, United States. Nine-year-old twins Jared and Simon and thirteen-year-old Mallory have moved to the decrepit Spiderwick Estate with their mother, Helen.

At first Jared hears strange noises in the walls but thinks it's a squirrel. While in bed later that night he hears it again. Mallory comes and tells them to go with her to find out what the noise is. So Jared, Simon, and Mallory go downstairs to the kitchen and begin to investigate. ...

He climbs up to a room at the very top of the house and finds a chest. In a secret compartment; inside it, there is a package. Jared unwraps it to find a book called "Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You". It is full of information on faeries.


Black Jade by David Zindell

I had been a fan of the Ea Cycle since it’s first book, the Lightstone, came out in 2001. I loved the fantastical story, the Arthurian-themed characters and the magical environment blended in to a build an epic almost as good as Tolkien.

I’m not a big fan of the plot though. At times it feels like the author is throwing too much peril at the protagonist’s way simply because the protagonist has to have perils.

But it’s a grab for me, indefinitely. I’m just having trouble finding the book. I found the super-sized paperback in MPH 1 Utama (which I can’t afford) and it’s be a very long while since the book was published and in any takes, it doesn’t seem to be quite popular to be regularly stocked (waaaaaaah!).

Synopsis from Amazon:

Once more the Lord of Lies has the sacred gem in his possession and its power is invincible. Val burns with shame. Treachery surrounds him. His only hope is the Black Jade that lies buried in the heart of a cursed and blighted forest, forgotten since the War of the Stone.

But Val must risk everything, even his soul. The stakes are too high for anything less. Val is the Guardian of the Lightstone until a new master is made known, that person who will rightfully wield its power. Should Val find the sacred gem and take it for himself, he will become a new Red Dragon, only mightier and more terrible than the Lord of Lies.


Small Favor by Jim Butcher

Hehehehe, I’ve blogged about this upcoming latest novel in the series so often, Jim Butcher the Author ought to pay me for advertising. His new book, the 10th of his planned 23-book series, will be coming up in more or less 2 weeks.

However, the chances of it coming to Malaysia so soon after published date needs a margin of between another 2 weeks to a whole month.

So what the heck am I blogging of dreaming to sniff its new hardcover smell when it’ll be long after my senior citizen got back from their desert tour, and thus, have the right to take back whatever balance left?

The first 4 chapters of his new book had just came up on the author’s website, that’s why. If you’ll excuse me, I’m too impatient to not forgo such snippets!

Synopsis from Jim-Butcher.com:

Jim says, "Small Favor. Because, y'know, Harry still owes two."

No one's tried to kill Harry Dresden for almost an entire year, and his life finally seems to be calming down. For once, the future looks fairly bright. But the past casts one hell of a long shadow.

An old bargain has placed Harry in debt to Mab, monarch of the Winter Court of the Sidhe, the Queen of Air and Darkness-and she's calling in her marker. It's a small favor he can't refuse...one that will trap Harry Dresden between a nightmarish foe and an equally deadly ally, and one that will strain his skills-and loyalties-to their very limits.

It figures. Everything was going too well to last...

You’ll Never See These In Any Bookstore

I’m supposed to be having my semester break starting last Monday. I’m using the term ‘supposed to’ in purely rhetorical terms because come hell or high water, I’m still going to battle NKVE morning traffic to secure my place in the PC workstation for the internet.

Cyber café? Naaaah...
I’m saving money to buy a new book. Witness my totally serious stance to literature.

I know what you’re thinking. Damn, my thighs are huge...*sigh*

I’ve read every book you see here at least once and it’s still not as much as I would like. I haven’t read enough books to declare which one would make an interesting review. I’m practically starved for fiction at the moment and my Nuffnang pay doesn’t come up this month. Checking around for second hand books though.

Granted, the book I planned to buy is something I’ve already sneak-read in The Curve’s Borders bookstore (if anybody found a RM$1 bookmark - that's literally is one ringgit - please, please return to this absent-minded beggar *boo-hoo*).

And the real book I would love to buy is still in hardcover and really, reeeeeeeeally wanted book... is no longer in publication (see my Wishlist). Most of the books I’m targeting are either in the romance or fantasy or mystery section. Preferably something with a third of each.

But you know what I really like to see? Not necessarily to read but something definitely interesting to browse through. Bookstores stocked with these titles. I swear you’ll never see books like these unless probably in a shady cult store.

*****

Santa Claus’s Travel Guide: Includes nice places, not-so-nice places, nice-to-be-naughty places and regions hostile to unidentified flying sleds.

War and Peace; written in SMS language.

Pop-out Children’s Book: Teach them the Birds and the Bees Caution: illustrations in the pop-outs may or may not have been exaggerated.

Oxymoronic Dictionary: Where everything means the opposite of what it is.

Do-It-Yourself Acupuncture: A step-by-step instructional guide from ‘pincushion’ to ‘pufferfish’ to ‘Stick It Like How Julius Caesar Popped’.

Guide to Profanities and Obscene Hand Gestures: Get ready to spit the ***king crap out of your grandmother and her favourite lesbian stripper.

Must Watch Movies as divided into New Rating Scheme:
G-ratings (nobody gets the girl)
PG-ratings (good guy gets the girl)
R-ratings (bad guy gets the girl)
X-ratings (everybody gets the girl!)
XXX-ratings (everybody gets the girl, her mother-in-law and their Chihuahua)

Chicken Overkill Recipes: The best ways to prepare ayam kampung (free-range chicken) after you’ve ran it over with your car. Try the ‘Chicken Die Standing’.

Complete Illustrated Works of Karma Sutra: *no really, where the hell can you find a thorough and explicit comprehension anywhere nowadays?*

Fun Ways to Nearly Kill Yourself While Travelling: North Korean Edition (note: 1100 pages thick).

Malaysian Judicial System: Step One; cellphone etiquette. Step two; pretend ignorance of any video. Step three; escape to remote locations in Southern Hemisphere...

1001 Excuses You Can Use for Not Doing Your Homework: “...I’m currently going through déjà vu and amnesia at the same time. I think I’ve forgotten this before.”

PS: On a more useful tip, I recommend Sams Teach Yourself Programming with Java by Rogers Cadenhead if you want to advance on Java programming. Either the author was high on a caffeine-beer mixture when he wrote this, or he really did have a candy-apple red thong underwear with embroidered text “My dog can beat up Paris Hilton’s dog.”