Sunday 23 December 2012

Merry Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas to all my followers and thanks for a great year especially in regard to visitors to this blog.
Next year wont see near as much activity here as  I move away from blogging.
But as a special gift to those who want it, I am giving away the first part of the Jack the Axe trilogy as a free E-book download.
Merry Christmas and have a wonderful new year.
Cheers
Danny

FANTASY MAPS PART ONe

I’ve greatly admired writers and artists who create their own worlds.
Creating new planets/dimensions/environments and those that dwell in them takes great talent, especially if those worlds, societies and characters are within the fantasy genre.

The following are maps taken from some of the best-loved pieces of fantasy ever written and spans more than 150 years worth of literature,

I’ve gathered this collection from all over the interweb and made notes where I had the information handy.
Click on the image for a more detailed view. 
In some cases it is advisable to open the image in a new tab for a better view.
YOU'LL FIND PART 2 HERE

Arrakis, the desert planet from Frank Herbert's DUNE



Like most fantasy's Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea trilogy became something more and expanded into a seven book series.


Alagaesia is the world of Eragon written by Christopher Paolini.
It was also intended to be a trilogy but suffered writers Elephantiasis
And became the four book Inheritance Cycle.


Neverland is the magic Island that Peter Pan steals Wendy and her brothers away to.
In most movies the compass is actually shown as part of the island when viewed in aerial shots.


Raymond E Fiests Riftwar Cycle once again started as a trilogy and went onto become a whole series of tales from both sides of the warring worlds.
Of course there are two maps for the two worlds Midkemia and Kelewan

MIDKEMIA

KELEWAN


The Narnia series by CS Lewis has several maps as the series covers many centuries during the telling of the tale.

These two cover the Lion the Witch and the wardrobe and Voyage of the DawnTreader



Of course, no fantasy map essay would be complete without Middle Earth. BUT!!! As well as the more popular map, below is the world that Middle Earth is ONLY a part of. ARDA.


ARDA



L. Frank Baum’s Oz stories have been interrupted and reinvented several times most notably by Ruth Plumly Thompson and Gregory Maguire
Baum changed his maps from the original story to accommodate new story lines.
Oz is surrounded by deserts to stop “outsiders “ coming in. It wa later expanded to show it surrounded by sea..
Maguire’s map expands on the four districts in more detail.
Original map

Expanded map

Latter expanded map

Maguire version from Wicked


Phillip Pullman’s Northern Lights series tells of a parallel world to Earth and it reflects so in the map. Since the story is placed vaguely in the mid 1800s to early 1900s the names of the countries have their colonial names applied.
Commonly referred to as Lyra's World



Alice in wonderland the times tale by Lewis Carroll has had many maps applied to both it and Through the Looking Glass/
The very popular reworking by Tim Burton added a whole new Dimension to the tale and more maps.

Concept map from Burton's film



The map of Westeros, the continent of the 7 Kingdoms from The tales of George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire
An updated more recent Map of Westeros and Essos
A link to Detailed Map of Character travels from A Song of Ice and Fire
This recent addition is a political relief map, which is quite handy for new comers to the series.
 It comes from gameofthrones.net



Fantasy Maps Part Two

The first post of this topic was so popular that instead of adding to it and making rather long and hard to navigate I thought it would be easier to continue as a new thread.
Open pictures in a NEW TAB to view larger.


New Crobuzon from China Mieville's Perdido Street Station.



 Discworld and it's principal town Anhk- Morpork 





 The Fantasy video game Elder Scrolls has a new map released with every new game.
I have the latest map of Skyrim printed on parchment. It's quite lovely,

Skyrim

This is a map of the world from the Elder Scrolls
The land of Tamaril

For a more concise look at the maps from this series go HERE


If you've wondered how they got so much into such a small town here's your answer The map of Springfield from the Simpsons
 

Detailed Map of Character travels from A Song of Ice and Fire

Detailed Map of Character travels from A Song of Ice and Fire

This seems to be all over the Internet at the moment and if you'll need a good size screen to view it all properly but it's a great resource when reading the books.
I'VE FOUND IF YOU RIGHT CLICK AND OPEN IN A NEW WINDOW YOU GET A BETTER VIEW THAN WHAT BLOGGER OFFERS.

Hello Yellow Submarine

With recent news announcing plans of a 3D remake of the classic Yellow Submarine has been scrapped 


I thought I's take a look at the huge influence this ground breaking film and soundtrack had on popular culture.
Naaah!, not really just a fun look around the internet.
Enjoy.

Tea infuser


tea infuse in action


XMas decoration
Cake
Inflatable chair

Inflatable chair

Early Die cast model

Later Plastic model from McFarlane Toys
Early Die cast model
Cat toy






Ice cube mould
Biscuit cutter


Cake
Cake
Guitars
Key ring


Weird toy/model
Inflatable toy




Hippie poster
Model at Hard Rock Cafe Connecticut USA




Fuck knows?
Bad tattoo

Model made from cans
stamp
Babushka dolls


For more Yellow Submarine related articles go here and/or here
or watch the movie on line here