A Piece of Art I Just Purchased, Featuring, Uh, Me

Me, in a red shirt, wielding the Mallet of Loving Correction, with Old Man's War art in the background.

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.

36 Comments on “A Piece of Art I Just Purchased, Featuring, Uh, Me”

  1. Mike, that is the legendary ‘Mallet of Loving Correction.’

    Is this card titled “The Smiter of Trolls” ?

  2. “…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!?”)

  3. 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.

  4. 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?’

  5. Oh, that is very well done. And that is a seriously large mallet. I promise to behave…

  6. 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 :)

  7. 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?

  8. 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!

  9. > 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.

  10. 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.

  11. 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.”

  12. Hi John,

    E-mail me if you want some exercises I found very helpful when my shoulder acted up.

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