Enchanted World: The Art of Anne Sudworth

by John Grant

Haunting landscapes, mythical creatures, and a style that stirred the “new gothic” that is the enchanted world of Anne Sudworth. Finally, here is a comprehensive collection of her marvelous works, along with a selection of studies and roughs, an appendix featuring an illustrated treatment of her techniques, and incisive commentary by both award-winning writer John Grant and the artist herself.

Genres: Art, Fantasy

112 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2000

About the author

John Grant is author of over eighty books, of which about twenty-five are fiction, including novels like The World, The Hundredfold Problem, The Far-Enough Window and most recently The Dragons of Manhattan and Leaving Fortusa. His “book-length fiction” Dragonhenge, illustrated by Bob Eggleton, was shortlisted for a Hugo Award in 2003; its successor was The Stardragons. His first story collection, Take No Prisoners, appeared in 2004. He is editor of the anthology New Writings in the Fantastic, which was shortlisted for a British Fantasy Award. His novellas The City in These Pages and The Lonely Hunter have appeared from PS Publishing.

His latest fiction book is Tell No Lies , his second story collection; it's published by Alchemy Press. His most recent nonfiction is A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Film Noir . Earlier, he coedited with John Clute The Encyclopedia of Fantasy and wrote in their entirety all three editions of The Encyclopedia of Walt Disney’s Animated Characters; both encyclopedias are standard reference works in their field. Among other recent nonfictions have been Discarded Science, Corrupted Science (a USA Today Book of the Year), Bogus Science and Denying Science.

As John Grant he has to date received two Hugo Awards, the World Fantasy Award, the Locus Award, and a number of other international literary awards. He has written books under other names, even including his real one: as Paul Barnett, he has written a few books (like the space operas Strider’s Galaxy and Strider’s Universe) and for a number of years ran the world-famous fantasy-artbook imprint Paper Tiger, for this work earning a Chesley Award and a nomination for the World Fantasy Award.

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now where do I start with this book - yes it was the final book from my recent Paper Tiger haul and to be honest it held such a surprise. Like all the other Paper Tiger titles I roughly knew what I was letting myself in for as I had researched them all in the pursuit of hunting them down.

However I was not expecting the quality of the work within - now first of allI want to question the reason why the author is John Grant when clearly (and its in the title) its the world of Anne Sudworth I do not know - all I can assume is that Mr Grant was part of the project or the commentator or something as truly the talent goes to Ms Sudworth.

Now the book itself like all the other Paper Tiger titles is about art and this is from a fantasy artist. BUT it is so much more there are scene after scene often of countryside. But if that is the case why such high praise - well first of all I grew up in a village. I would often go walking and exploring over the hills and many of the scenes in this book involve such a feeling of nostalgia its almost haunting.

Secondly there is the way they have been presented - many of them are of night scenes where trees have been illuminated by seemingly internal light, now for me rather then something overtly fantastic or magical what you have here is a tree or a vale or stone seemingly being illuminated from something within and for me I think my imagination (filling in the blanks) makes more magic than any creature or being ever could.

This book is a real find and I think the odd snippet (even the cover) just does not do it justice - it is books like this that remind me why I am collecting the astonishing books from Paper Tiger.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is part re-read and part replacement (I stumbled across a near perfect copy of the book since all Paper Tiger books are now out of print).

This book presents me with a quandary - the reason being is that a large proportion of the pieces are not really true fantasy or Science fiction - more landscapes (be them woodland, mountains or ruins) however they style in which they have been painted gives an eery, ethereal - almost mystical quality to them. For example, one image of a wooded lane is lit in such a manner as to give an "other worldly" appearance, however in retrospect I have achieved the same effect while driving down some of the country roads to my parents - however it does not diminish only increases the impact of the piece to me.

So, this is a book of amazing artwork - is it enchanted in style - I am not so sure however I think the style is such that it leaves that question open to the viewer and that I think is some subtle magic not everyone is capable of.

[T.L. Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Her artwork is beautiful and ethereal. She uses a special painting technique that looks like sunlight or moonlight is shining down upon the world she has created… it is simply magical. I never grow tired of looking through her book. It is a great book for any fantasy art lover to add to their collection.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can one do to show how much they appreciate the fine work of an artist.

EASY! Read the book while you have some of their gorgeous paintings hanging in front of you.

Highly recommended.

[Theresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

beautiful pictures and connection to stories in the science fiction community