Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Darkover Horse Journey


Most of the time when I post fan or vintage art here, I know when and for what zine it was made and published. But in this case, I haven't a clue. It is just generic, two riders and a pack horse behind them, picking their way through a mountain valley. Well that could happen in any fantasy tale, in fact you pretty much have to have a wilderness journey, just like a thriller movie has to have a car chase. Most of the time, the fan author is not too familiar with horses (except for some lucky ones who are real equestrians) so she passes by the troubles you can get when you're depending on an animal for your transportation. The wonderful (but now wildly and offensively awfully designed) website "TV Tropes" has a whole section about bad horse fantasy writing called "Somewhere, an Equestrian is Crying." Read it and weep - or more likely, laugh. No horses were harmed in the production of this fan fiction. 

....But wait! I found it! From my vague memories I fished out the name of the author of the story, who is a good friend of mine from Darkover time immemorial. From her name I was able to search my art catalogue and find the illustration I did for her story.

Black ink on illustration board, 8" x 10", fall 1983.

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