Witches

by Steven Archer (Illustrator), Donna Lynch

Steven Archer and Donna Lynch collaborate once again for a collection of illustrated poems and short stories about witches—some familiar and some secret; some based in history and lore, and some manifested directly from the minds of their creators. This 7″ by 10″, full-color art book includes more than 30 poems and paintings and is the sequel to Daughters of Lilith, their collaborative work released in 2010.

66 pages, Paperback

Published March 31, 2018

About the author

Steven Archer is an artist and musician living in Baltimore, MD. When not recording, DJing, or producing art, he and his wife, author Donna Lynch, tour with their dark electronic rock band Ego Likeness. He has a BFA from the Corcoran School of Art in Washington DC, and has shown his work at galleries and other venues throughout the east coast, and internationally in the form of album art and magazine illustrations. Luna Maris is his first book.

Reviews

[exorcismemily · Rating 4 out of 5]

"But the scars we etched told lovely stories / and the howls of pain became our songs / and all in all, there were far worse ways to spend a lifetime / Some people never got close / enough to become ensnared."

I read Donna Lynch's poem Doll in the HWA Poetry Showcase from last year, and loved it, so I was thrilled to finally have a collection of her poetry to read. Witches is a collaboration of Donna's poetry mixed with illustrations from Steven Archer. First I'll talk about the poetry, then the illustrations, then the two together.

Many of the poems in this book are about witches throughout history. While I knew about some of the people who were mentioned (like Aleister Crowley and Morgan Le Fay), I learned about quite a few new people (like Mayhayley Lancaster and Bridget Bishop). I buddy read this book with my friends Tracy & Toni, and Tracy kindly supplied the background for things we didn't know in the book while we were discussing. This book covers both real and fictional witches, and it was fun to see the variety.

I rated all the poems between 3⭐ and 5⭐, so I liked everything in this collection. It's entertaining as a whole, and I loved that it was mainly focused on women. My top five poems were The Bruja of the Winding Path, Some Like It Extremely Hot, Mother Tundra, The Last Temptation of Hester Prynne, and The Green Queen of Thorns.

The illustrations fit well with the poems. These are full-color paintings, and if was so much fun to look at all of them. I love illustrated books, and I require more of them!

I don't have ratings for the illustrations since I'm sure as hell not an art critic, but my top five illustrations were The Billy Witch in Larval Form, Wrath of the Fox Wife, The Last Temptation of Hester Prynne, Mother Tundra, and Ms. Carrion's Classroom. All five of these were gorgeous and creepy, and I would love to decorate my home with any of them (if that was ever an option).

At times, I struggled with the layout of the book. Since the pages are full-color and use different fonts at times, some of the poems were difficult to read. It worked out in the end, but I felt that the format was a little too overwhelming sometimes. No matter what, it's still a beautiful book, and an illustrated poetry collection is the best thing to have.

Thank you so much to Raw Dog Screaming Press for sending me a copy of Witches to review; I enjoyed it very much, and hope to see more collaborations in the future!

[Strega · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing art and poetry