New Heart of Darkness book cover by Mike Mignola (and more)

Paul Buckley posted some new book covers he designed, featuring illustrations by some of my favorite illustrators:


Heart of Darkness by Mike Mignola. I think this is the Amazon listing.



The Greek Myths by Ross MacDonald. $16 at Amazon.



The Death of King Arthur by Stuart Kolakovic. $11 at Amazon.

Link roundup

1. I highly recommend The Dala Horse by Michael Swanwick. Imagine a post-apocalyptic Dora the Explorer adventure. (Or A Dora the Explorer episode taking place in Dan Simmons's Ilium world.) It's part of the best of Tor 2011 collection that's a free download at Amazon.

2. This is a very good cat animated gif. Via.

3. Why is the Ace the high card?:

The use of the ace as the highest card in the French deck gained more widespread acceptance as a result of the French Revolution. Examples of the ace being a high card include the game Hearts.

The promotion of the ace symbolised the removal of the nobility (especially King Louis XVI) and the promotion of the common man. In addition to this move, the traditional court card imagery of the nobility had the crowns removed so as to give human personifications to chosen democratic ideals (Liberté, Egalité and Fraternité). Upon the rise of Napoleon to Emperor, royalty became more popular once more and the royal court was re-established on the imagery of the cards. Napoleon commissioned an artist to depict a more historically-correct court, but the move proved unpopular and the medieval court figures were quickly reinstated.

4. "Meet The Convicted Felon Who Defrauded The NFL, Made Reggie Bush Ineligible, And Funded The Saints' Bounty Program."

Win a Copy of The Case of the Missing Moon Rocks

UPDATE: Err won and should be contacted shortly.



New nonfiction from The Atavist:

Joseph Gutheinz is on a mission to save the moon. Decades ago, astronauts brought back 850 pounds of rocks from their lunar journeys; the U.S. gave some away as “goodwill” gifts to the world’s nations. Over time, many of them disappeared, stolen or lost in the aftermath of political turmoil, and offered for millions on the black market. Gutheinz, first as a NASA investigator and then the leader of a ragtag group of students, has dedicated his life to getting them back. Author Joe Kloc tells a wild story of geopolitics, crime, science, and one man’s obsession to keep the moon out of the wrong hands.

The Case of the Missing Moon Rocks is available from The Atavist for Kindle, iPad/iPhone, Nook, and iBooks.

I have one digital copy to give away. For a chance to win, simply comment on this post and include your email so I can contact you if you win. One comment per person, and this contest is open worldwide. I'll pick a winner next week.

Link roundup

1. "Dog in Ellen DeGeneres costume gets booted from L.A. billboard." (I miss the days of Angelyne.)

2. "How I Found the Human Being Behind Horse_ebooks, The Internet's Favorite Spambot."

3. New army reading list.

4. A new free mission involving Harley Quinn has been added to the Arkham City Lockdown iOS game (which I've previously recommended). I'm downloading it now. Via.

The Wind Through the Keyhole will feature illustrations by Jae Lee

The Wind Through the Keyhole will feature illustrations by Jae Lee. You can preorder for 40% off at Amazon. Via these sites.

Illustration roundup

Adam Koford created a monstrous unicorn for BoingBoing.







Augmented reality Valentine's Day cup at Starbucks. Via.






Henri's Walk to Paris is a children's book by Saul Bass reissued for $12 at Amazon.




Comin' at Ya! movie poster by Jay Shaw going on sale Wednesday at Mondo.

*Buy Mondo posters at eBay.

Edward Gorey's Dracula: A Toy Theatre: Die Cut, Scored and Perforated Foldups and Foldouts

Edward Gorey's Dracula: A Toy Theatre: Die Cut, Scored and Perforated Foldups and Foldouts is $16 at Amazon.

Also available is Dracula: The Definitive Edition:

Illustration roundup

Adventure Time game notes.




Relatedly, the Sword and Sworcery album comes with a print by Pen Ward.




Who Could That Be at This Hour? is the first in a new series of books by Lemony Snicket and Seth. You can preorder at Amazon. Via.




The Walking Dead poster by Danny Miller going on sale Sunday night at Twenty-Eyes.

*Buy Adventure Time toys at Amazon.

Illustration roundup

Murder She Writes book cover by John Allison, who has several eBooks on sale here.



Poster by Daniel Danger for The Woman in Black. Via.



Cover by David Drummond for Richard Stark's The Dame, which is $9 at Amazon.

Book review roundup

1. Dune by Frank Herbert: I watched the movie when I was too young and thought it was weird and dumb. But Rob Beschizza's post about Dune without dialog interested me enough that I decided to read the book. It truly deserves its fame. More like Game of Thrones than Star Wars. $10 at Amazon.

2. Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman: Pleasant all-ages novella starring Thor, Loki, Odin, and a seemingly unremarkable boy. I look forward to reading it to my sons. Not crazy about the illustrations, though. Currently $6 at Amazon for the hardcover.

3. I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen: With a $16 cover price, I can't bring myself to recommend this since you can read the whole thing in about two minutes (even if you go slow) and it's basically the same drawing over and over. It really should be a board book at half the price. But. The illustrations are charming, and the book has a very, very funny (and dark) conclusion. I strongly recommend you borrow a copy from the library, or grab the $6 used copy currently at Amazon.

Link roundup

1. Like the Prisoner, but with good intentions:

Its detractors may end up dubbing it "Dementiaville", but Switzerland is brushing aside a debate raging among geriatric-care experts with plans to build a mock-1950s village catering exclusively for elderly sufferers of Alzheimer's and other debilitating mental illnesses.

Via.

2. "What do Army junior officers actually recommend reading?: Their own top 10."

3. A hobbyist piloting a drone spotted a river of blood - - a meatpacking plant in Dallas was simply ejecting blood into the river. Via.

4. Sam Wolfe Connelly has a new shop featuring some illustrations I've featured.

5. Paul Pape's having a sale on his custom made stuck in carbonite sculptures.

Not Tonight Darling, I'm Knitting

Not Tonight Darling, I'm Knitting available at eBay. (Also at Amazon, but with a lackluster cover.) Via.

Tips for BootCamp users!

If you, like me, would rather use Windows on your mac, then I have a good selection of tools for you!

Let's start with Lubbo's Macbook Pro Fan Control! This tool allows you to control the fans on your Macbook Pro (Also compatible with Macbook). Mind you through, these fans are REALLY loud when in maximum speed!

Now, we all know that due to Apple's sleek designs, these macs don't have an HDD LED, so I have the solution for that too! Diskled is an app that will stay on your system tray and will blink accordingly to your hard drive activities!

And last but not least, ever wanted to get more horsepower out of your graphics card? There's an app for that too (Provided that you, like me, have an nVidia Geforce 320m ) and this app is called EVGA Precision it actually lets you overclock your GPU very easilly with absolutelly no hassle! If you want more information about your card, use GPU-Z!