Tag: artists

Supporting High School Art Programs with my NEW YA Fantasy in 2024

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Before I get into my post, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year! I am about to embark on a Christmas vacation, my first in years, as my wife and I are off to Quebec, Canada, for a long overdue holiday. I will be absent from my social media and other online postings during my vacation, save for the occasional holiday selfie with Santa Claus. Now, on to other things . . .

Example of interior chapter art for Gwen Iver and Pendragon’s Puzzle, designed by art students from Phillipsburg High School, Phillipsburg, NJ.

I had an idea that came to a beautiful fruition. In high school, I was an art student. I wanted to be a graphic artist, maybe the next Jack Kirby, but I could never get it perfect. I pursue other avenues, hence being a writer instead of an artist. However, I wanted to give back to my alma mater and the future artists currently studying there. That’s when it struck me like a lightning bolt.

I have a new book coming out in 2024, my first Young Adult (YA) fantasy, Gwen Iver and Pendragon’s Puzzle. I wrote this book because I have great nieces and nephews who are becoming avid readers, and I want to write something they can read without question of parental content (hence, no spicy content). So, after writing the book, I thought what better way to kick off my first YA series is by having more young adults create the art for the book.

During my visit to my alma mater, Phillipsburg High School in Phillipsburg, NJ, for their annual comic-con, I saw some exceptional talent on display. After speaking with the teachers, we devised a plan to have the students draw the interior chapter art for my new book. I recently visited the school, got to speak to the book club and English classes, and saw firsthand the fruits of their labors.

You can see a selection of some of the finished art above. These young men and women are incredibly talented, and I am proud to support them by publishing them. They will spend the next few months finishing up the rest of the art in preparation for an early summer release for Gwen Iver and Pendragon’s Puzzle. Once I get parental permission, I will update this post with more images, photos, and all the students’ names.

Gwen Iver and Pendragon’s Puzzle takes you to the town of Camelot Cove, a quiet village on the shores of Lake Superior in Upper Michigan. Most people know Camelot Cove as a fishing town, but this sleepy little community has a secret. Camelot Cove is the home of the Fae—magical beings from myth and legend. They were brought together in this out-of-the-way place by Merlin and the Lady of the Lake under the protection of the Pendragon. The power of the Pendragon has passed from generation to generation as the guardian of the Fae for centuries. That power now waits to be passed to the next descendant of King Arthur. She is Gwen Iver, a fifteen-year-old girl starting her first day of high school. Surrounded by friends and facing off against her rivals, Gwen was about to begin a journey into a magical world of infinite possibilities.

I wanted to give back to my hometown, my high school, and the students whose imagination and talent will carry on into the future. You should return the blessings to the community that raised you and molded you into who you are today. This is my way of passing the torch to the next generation of artists and dreamers.

Mark Piggott is an award-winning independent author of several fantasy/steampunk novels and short stories. A 23-year U.S. Navy veteran, his stories will take you from the shores of eternal Avalon to a dystopian steampunk future and other fantastic worlds as he weaves through a myriad of flights of fancy in his tales.

The Forever Avalon fantasy book series—including Forever Avalon, The Dark Tides, and The Outlander War—are available online at Amazon and other booksellers. His fantasy steampunk novel, The Last Magus: A Clockwork Heart, is available through Lulu and other booksellers.

Cross over The River of Souls in a fantasy novella and the steampunk historical fiction, Corsair and the Sky Pirates from Curious Corvid Publishing. The Last Magus: Dragonfire and Steel and The Prometheus Engine: Book Four of the Forever Avalon Series, are coming soon from Curious Corvid, along with his first YA fantasy, Gwen Iver and Pendragon’s Puzzle. Stay tuned for new fantastic stories from the imagination of Mark Piggott.

Ocean Renaissance 2023 brings the “Seafarer’s Carnival” to Ocean City, MD this weekend

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You’re in for a treat this weekend at the Seafarer’s Carnival! Head to the beach in Ocean City, MD, for pirates, mermaids, gears and goggles. Ocean Renaissance 2023 is the annual oceanfront festival bringing steampunk, sea life, and fantasy under one roof. This year’s festival is being held at The Carousel Oceanfront Hotel and Condos. Daily passes are available at the door or special weekend passes can be purchased online at www.oceanrenaissancefoundation.org.

The Circus of the Seas brings musicians, magicians, jugglers, stilt walkers, aerialists, fire artists and other performance artists to dazzle you both indoor and out!

The Circus Siren Pod is a group of professional water artists that offer far more than your average mermaid show. Based out of Mid-Atlantic region, Circus Siren Pod members have performed across the country and even internationally. From the beaches of Hawaii, to the Aquariums of New York, to the resorts of Jamaica, they bring a magical show to audiences of all ages.

Swashbucklers and Scallywags of East Coast Pirate Entertainment will be there to plunder and perform on stage and wandering throughout the event.

Over 70 artisans and makers collected from all over the country during our many travels will converge to provide some of the most beautiful and unique handmade goods, clothing, accessories, art, and much more! Of course, you’ll find me there with all my steampunk and fantasy books for sale. You can pick up a signed copy of any of during the long weekend.

Mark Piggott is an award-winning independent author of several fantasy/steampunk novels and short stories. A 23-year U.S. Navy veteran, his stories will take you from the shores of eternal Avalon to a dystopian steampunk future and other worlds.

The Forever Avalon fantasy book series—including Forever Avalon, The Dark Tides, and The Outlander War—is available online at Amazon and other booksellers. His fantasy steampunk novel, The Last Magus: A Clockwork Heart, is available through Lulu and other booksellers.

Cross over The River of Souls in a fantasy novella and the steampunk historical fiction, Corsair and the Sky Pirates from Curious Corvid Publishing. The Last Magus: Dragonfire and Steel and The Prometheus Engine: Book Four of the Forever Avalon Series, are coming soon. Stay tuned for more new fantastic stories from the imagination of Mark Piggott.

Fantasy Maps help expand “world building” for a writer to take the reader on a journey

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High resolution map of Middle Earth - Album on Imgur
Map of Middle Earth from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

“Writing has nothing to do with meaning. It has to do with land surveying and cartography, including the mapping of countries yet to come.”

― Gilles Deleuze

World Building is a skill every writer needs, especially in the fantasy and sci-fi genre. Luckily, as a former D&D DungeonMaster, I have some background in this area before I became an author. Creating the world to take my friends on their many adventures was a part of my life, whether it was Dungeons and Dragons, Space Opera, Rift or any other RPG, I had to create the world in which we were roleplaying.

I used to try and create my own maps using PowerPoint or Adobe InDesign to help me imagine these brave new worlds, but they were poor substitutes and not marketable. Thank God for the independent author and artist community online. They have the resources needed to help bring my imaginary world into a reality.

World building is defined as “the process of constructing an imaginary world, sometimes associated with a whole fictional universe. Developing an imaginary setting with coherent qualities such as a history, geography, and ecology is a key task for many science fiction or fantasy writers.” You don’t know how true that is! As writers, we have to imagine everything from landscapes to cityscapes and everything in between. That means political structure, currency, races, religion, etc. It all has to be accounted for, but the biggest factor is the landscape.

In writing, you need to talk about the cities, forests, roads, and everything else when describing your story. If my protagonist is heading east along the Vanir Road, following the Blackbriar Forest on his way to the Gilded Halls of the Dwarves, I have to know where those places are in relation to his current location. In a sense, you could be writing about going one way and then mention somewhere you protagonist has been, and you say east instead of west so then your world becomes confusing.

Think of it this way… Would you have understood the journey Frodo went on in Lord of the Rings without the map of Middle Earth? Maybe, but the map helped me (as the reader) understand the journey they went on through that map. I like to think about that when I look at world maps from the 1600’s, seeing how they thought of the Earth 400 years ago and how different it is today. Even maps from the 1960’s and 70’s are different from what they are today.

The Island of Avalon
Map of Avalon from the Forever Avalon series, designed by Amy Kruzan.

Mapping is essential which is why, as a writer, I am happy to employ mapmakers in helping me create my worlds. The first one I used was Amy Kruzan, known in Instagram as fantasygraphicsbya. She took my description of Avalon and mapped the enchanted island, as told in the Forever Avalon fantasy book series, into a working map. Now, she helping me with a new layout of Avalon following the aftermath of The Outlander War (I won’t spoil it, so please read it to understand why). Imagining it was one thing but seeing it is something completely new. The layout reflects the ideas I had more than 20 years ago when I started writing the first book in the series.

I found many map artists on Twitter and Instagram. They are quite prolific in creating these myriad of worlds for dreamers like me. The ability to take the words and descriptions to design the forests, mountains, lakes, seas, rivers and cities is designed down to the ridges on the cliffs to the pine trees swaying in the wind. It makes it difficult to formulate things like trade routes, ship ports, rivers and canals, roads, etc. These are all essential for a vibrant or lackluster economy, which makes your fantasy world believable. I mean, how can you take care of an entire island without farmland, shipyards, and all the necessities to feed the populace, export commerce, and transport goods from one place to the other.

“You can’t map a sense of humor. Anyway, what is a fantasy map but a space beyond which There Be Dragons? On the Discworld we know that There Be Dragons Everywhere. They might not all have scales and forked tongues, but they Be Here all right, grinning and jostling and trying to sell you souvenirs.”

― Terry Pratchett, The Color of Magic

So, besides the regular social media crowd, there are artist websites like Art Station, Deviant Art and others allow artists to showcase their work so it makes for a great place to research styles, designs and artists. Although many maps, especially fantasy maps, look similar in many respects, but its the fine details that make the map into something special and unique for your story. You can find the artist you’re looking for to take your story into the world you’re creating.

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Mark Piggott is the author of the Forever Avalon fantasy book series. Forever Avalon is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook at Amazon. The Dark Tides: Book 2 of the Forever Avalon Series is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook from iUniverse Publishing and at Amazon, and other booksellers. The Outlander War, Book Three of the Forever Avalon series is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook from Austin Macauley Publishing, and at Amazon and other booksellers.