A Piece of Art I Just Purchased, Featuring, Uh, Me
Posted on October 17, 2019 Posted by John Scalzi 36 Comments
Artist Lee Moyer, along with three other artists, is currently doing an exhibition at the Keep Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. For Lee’s part in the exhibition, he’s done science fiction and fantasy writers as tarot cards, using such luminaries as Neil Gaiman, Madeleine L’Engle, HP Lovecraft and… me, among others. It’s nice company to be in, and also, I like the illustration a whole lot, so I bought the piece of art. It will not go in my office — that seems a little on the nose — but it’ll go somewhere suitable in the house. And who knows. Maybe I’ll use it for my next author photo.
Speaking of which, back to the writing.
Outstanding!
That is awesome!
Excellent! Is that the hammer you use for smiting trolls?
That’s amusing as all heck!!
Did you get your nonprofit to buy it for you? ;)
This is extremely cool!
A cat and a mallet! Perfect :-)
That is a wonderful bit of art.
So, Ace of Wands? Or Knave?
OK, I get the shirt & the cat, but what’s with the croquet mallet?
Mike, that is the legendary ‘Mallet of Loving Correction.’
Is this card titled “The Smiter of Trolls” ?
I love this card very much. Sadly, their website isn’t loading for me though. I was hoping to see more cards.
Definitely use as your next author photo! It’s brilliant.
“…it’ll go somewhere suitable in the house.” With a humidity-resistant frame and glass, the bathroom is a possibility. Intimidate your house guests!
(This comes to mind b/c of the time long ago when Hilde and I were in the home of a well-off, fervent Star Trek fan whose husband wouldn’t let her hang her ST posters beside the Picassos. Excusing myself to use the facilities, I found it’s really hard to take a dump when William Shatner is staring at you.) (“Did you! Remember! To Flush!?”)
I’ve enjoyed Lee’s work for decades. He’s always had a great sense of humor.
Can anyone type in the unreadably small text wrapped around the margin?
I’m sure I ought to recognize it as an excerpt from something.
search – Scalzi “narrative will close” – did not match any documents.
It’s from Redshirts.
Another item curated for the Scalzi Museum.
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!
This would make a stellar author photo.
It looks like concept art for an as-yet-to-be-released card game.
That’s why you’ve got shoulder tendonitis, it’s from malletting trolls!
Everyone should have a trophy wall in the house for pictures like that. My wife decreed mine should be the downstairs toilet.
Are you sure that’s not Wil Wheaton?
Looking at it again, the raised eyebrow makes you look a bit like Wil Wheaton doing an impression of DeForrest Kelly.
Or is it just ‘I’m drinking my first coffee too dam’ early this morning?’
Oh, that is very well done. And that is a seriously large mallet. I promise to behave…
Red shirt: Check!
Mallet: Check!
Cat: Check!
“You messed up with the wrong writer, you asshole” facial expression: Check!
Yup, it’s 100% you. And it’s a very well done work. Totally worthy :)
What does the bordering text say? Is it from the Tarot or does it relate to you or your work? Are you representing an actual piece of the Tarot?
Sorry for not realizing you answered that the text in the border was from _Redshirts_. Based on that it sounds like you are almost representing Fate!
> So, Ace of Wands? Or Knave?
I can’t believe I have to explain this: Scalzi is among the Major Arcana. You’re making a category error.
Heh. I love it.
That is THE.MOST.AWESOME.THING.I.HAVE.SEEN.ALL.WEEK.
That is amazaballs! I’d put that in my house!
I’m not trying to be nasty or snarky in the below, it just shows that there is nuance in most things:
I’m glad to see that you can still count H.P. Lovecraft’s company to be ‘nice’. I wouldn’t mind to be in T.S. Eliot’s, though I’m not sure about Celine’s or Wagner’s.
Heck, I’d have bought it just to see my name in Star Trek font!
Transcribed via zooming and squinting:
On the right:
“Sooner or later, the Narrative will come for each of us. It’ll use us however it wants to use us. And then we’ll die from it. Like Fixx did. Like Margaret did. Unless we stop it.”
On the left:
“There’s no way to hide from this. There’s no way to run from it. There’s no way to avoid Fate. If Narrative exists — and you and I know it does — then in the end, we don’t have free will.”
Hi John,
E-mail me if you want some exercises I found very helpful when my shoulder acted up.