Fantasy Book Club Series discussion

The covers for this volume are loaded with symbolism.

And at least one funny story:

I was setting up to paint the image of the first British cover:



The idea and the angle of the raven's flight had been fixed in my mind for ages. Aware I wanted to get the feathers right, I began luring crows into the yard with peanuts, got them secure enough, that I could stalk them with a camera.

Well, anybody who's watched crows fly understands they take off, curl up their feet, and fly LOW, swooping over fences and then zipping up into trees, or gaining altitude FAR from any suspicious obstruction (like a person with a camera) - and when they pass overhead, they fly HIGH.

Now way, after a year and probably a hundred pounds of peanut bribes, was I going to get the requisite shot. Trips to natural history diaramas, and quantities of books - no joke - there was NO such angle shown.

I decided I would try the taxidermists, but, scary horrible thought - I could NOT BEAR to have anyone kill a crow to get this 'raven' image in this pose. Crows are (sadly) considered vermin. I understood very clearly that IF I asked for a crow mount, some beautiful living bird would be executed.

So. No way this was gonna happen. I called, and had friends call, many taxidermists asking into the 'price' of such a thing, until, lo, there was a shout in the background, "Hey, Jake, do we still have that old crow in the freezer?"

And there he was...but in OHIO! Well - throw money at it, I sent my sketch, paid to ship. That already dead crow served as my model, and has been loaned, as well, to other artists who paint wildlife. "My" crows, here, are now hopelessly spoiled, to the tune of about 200 pounds of peanuts per year, and countless bags of meat scraps - they still shout for handouts, characters that they are, I could not bear to cut them off.

(walks off grumbling, the extreme lengths gone to acquire accurate research...)

Hehehehehe.

lol

LOL - yeah - those crows eat about 150 lbs of peanuts per year. They sit on my car and pound on it to get attention, or sing and yodel in the car port, which is right next to my study.

That is a great story!

One shiny pack of satisfied crows thinks so, too.