This is an old relic of a Darkover piece that I did as an extra for a published book cover. DAW Books, M.Z. Bradley's publisher, hired me for four covers along with a black and white ink drawing as a frontispiece. (I've continued that for the six Stasheff covers I've done.) The second Darkover cover I did was for "Sword of Chaos," which was an anthology of short stories written by Marion's fans and one by the author herself. This drawing illustrates one of the stories but not the cover story. In the tale, a young "Free Amazon" and a hardened older male Ranger must work together on a mission though they mutually distrust each other. Darkover's "Amazons" were not Wonder Women nor online merchants, they were groups of women who organized themselves outside conventional society to make their way without the constraints of marriage. At one point the "Free Amazons" were on their way to becoming a real-world group of social experimentalist women but with the passing of Marion the groups disappeared, to my disappointment.
Black ink on illustration board, 7" x 11", September 1981.
1 comment:
I had so many of those Darkover books--I think I read them all--but missed the fan anthologies. As for where they are now, they are with my Larry Nivens and Arthur C. Clarkes...out there, somewhere, I hope in the possession of someone who will read them and not moldering in a dump.
Post a Comment