Angel of Vengeance - Episode 2 Now Available

After something of a hiatus, Chaz recently picked up the thread of the 'Angel of Vengeance' graphic fiction series and has just released episode 2 in downloadable e-book format - recent positive comments for episode 1 having been a main inspiration, and thanks to everyone on the Authonomy website who bothered to read the text and share their views.



"Episode 2 of 3 - the dark tale continues. Expelled from heaven for the sin of lechery, onetime angel Aldaraia finds herself alone in modern-day Hamburg, where she makes the acquaintance of an exiled demon named Bosch. Having rescued the bewildered fallen angel from a psychotic would-be rapist, Bosch's first mission is to find his new companion some suitable clothes. To this end they break into Max Overdrive's Leather Store on the Reeperbahn, only to run into the henchmen of Mr. Skinn - a being of diabolical evil, vomited from the foulest depths of Hell - who has his own abominable plans for Aldaraia. And they do not concern trendy motorcycle clothing, either. Can Bosch, against all the odds, hope to rescue his damsel in distress from Skinn's sick clutches? Graphic adult fantasy with a dark and twisted edge. Note: Strictly mature readers only (18+). Illustrated with over a dozen b/w drawings."

Episode 2 can be downloaded here.

Ring-a-Ding-Ding

Chaz may not have posted much here on the FWB blog lately but that doesn't mean he's been slacking. Quite the opposite. Not just being kept busy with ongoing client commissions, he's still been working away in his spare time on his new radical retelling of the epic Ring cycle. A recent rib injury his stifled output in the past week or so but he still managed to pull together some digital colouring over the weekend, using a mouse rather than his usual pen tablet.

So here's a rough colour mock-up of the proposed cover for the first book in the 'Ring' series of graphic fiction. The title is rubbish, as this work doesn't even have a proper title yet, but it gives a great idea of how the finished thing should look. This series will be seeing print as wellm as digital release, as all the interior artwork is in stark black and white only, so ought not to cost too much (even at Lulu.com's prices).

"Boys Don't Cry" by Ostragoth Publishing

Fenriswulf Books are always happy to help any fellow writers, creators and artists in the self-published and independent world of books and graphic novels. Herein Chaz is proud to present an offering from some fellow creators which he felt was deserving of a little extra publicity:



Teenage boys aren't known for sharing their fears and emotions, so if you're the father or sister of one, how do you know how he’s coping with his mum's death?

Fifteen year old Hunter isn't entirely sure himself, and even if he could put any of it into words, he no longer knows who to say it to.

"Boys Don't Cry" is the debut 80-page graphic novel from Ostragoth Publishing: Jacqueline Saville, Mark Pexton, Andrew Woods. Jacqueline is a sensitive writer, and Chaz has long been admirer of Mark Pexton's dark and beautifully detailed artworks on the Deviantart.com website. Andrew Woods is responsible for everything else, including layout and design, and has helped to bring together two fine creative talents in this (and other) projects. "Boys Don't Cry" is a well known song by the English goth/rock band The Cure, and the music of that band would make a fitting soundtrack.

Proof, if ever any was needed now, that 'comics', 'graphic novels' and 'illustrated fiction' are no longer the clearly defined genres that many believe them to be, "Boys Don't Cry" is something of a unique and beautifully emotive experience, laced with Mark's delicate yet incredibly naturalistic pencil lineart, and complimented by an exquisitely-wrought text. This is a low-key and intelligent work of art which is as unrelated to the worlds of vapid superheroes and other traditional comic-book trappings as is possible to find, and Chaz thoroughly recommends it to anyone who appreciates good art and writing. Even people who hate comic books.

"Boys Don't Cry" can be downloaded for free here - available under the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND, where the print version is also available for £6.99. Their latest comic, 'Moon of Endine', can also be purchased from that page.

The free download is also available free from the Ostragoth Wordpress site, right here.

There's also an author's blog post about the book, right here.

'Angel of Vengeance' Descends to the Web

After juggling various client commissions over the past few weeks, Chaz finally made some time to pull together his previously-abandoned angels & demons/urban fantasy comic book project that was started about a year ago.

Knowing he no longer has the strength or the time to draw full-length comics anymore (at least, not within a reasonable timeframe), he's compromising these days and developing 'graphic fiction' - heavily illustrated prose - in this case, featuring cut-up panels from the old comics pages interspersed throughout the text. He's always loved the characters, the dark humour and the backstory to this tale, and felt it a shame it never saw the light of day after some great feedback from friends on the artwork on Deviantart. It also brings together a few of Chaz's favourite subjects - dualist cosmology, Enochian angel mythology, epic storylines and a cast of characters who are painted neither 'good' nor 'bad', but complex beings with deep virtues and flaws.

As such, "Angel of Vengeance - Episode 1: South of Heaven" has finally materialised.

We're still limited only to publishing these works as digital downloads via Lulu.com as Kindle still doesn't like big illustrations. Once that platform is up to speed we'll seek to expand, but in the meantime it's been fulfilling simply to bring this thing all together and come up with something that is interesting and a bit different. A lot of so-called "urban fantasy" these days seems to be aimed at teenagers or feature friendly werewolves or jolly goth vampires. No such kid gloves exist in AoV - this is adult-only material, both in image and word. Darkness and evil abounds, but at the core is a rather human, story, with extraordinary characters torn between opposing poles of love, pain and morality.

But don't take our word for it: Episode 1's out now, right here.


Art from Issue 1. All works (c) C. Wood 2011.

To Illustrate...or Not to Illustrate?

Chaz has a new guest blog article, 'A Problem in Promotion' over at Rainy Dark's writers' and bloggers' page. In it, he addressed the nature of illustrated fiction, and the preconceptions surrounding it, an issue which is very pertinent to Fenriswulf Books at the moment. The Wish & the Will series is being produced both in text-only and fully-illustrated e-book editions, while Maranatha has just seen its second revised edition, without the original illustrations.

The article ought to be of interest to any writer who is considering illustrations for their works, or anyone with a passing interest in the concept of illustrated fiction, as distinct from the more common 'graphic novels'.


Read the full post here.


Left: illustrated page from Episode 1 of The Wish & the Will: Sundancer's Regret