Previews

Preface to Littlelot and the Rescue of Gwenevere

Following is the preface to Littlelot and the Rescue of Gwenevere, the first story in the Littlelot series of adventure books for children and the grown-ups who read to them.

A young reader himself, Littlelot feeds his imagination on legends, myths, and classic tales. So inspired, he tells the stories of his games and adventures in this children’s series for ages 6 to 10.

Preface

The valiant knight in shining armor rides a resplendent steed on dangerous adventures. He surmounts overwhelming obstacles, rights terrible wrongs, and rescues the damsel in distress.

That’s what I want to be when I grow up!

Alas, I was born centuries too late. As were you, Young Reader, if such might be your own grown-up ambition. Left to us in our times are stories of those chivalric heroes, models that we may yet apply to our modern lives.

The quintessential tale of noble knights is that of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table as told by Sir Thomas Malory in Le Morte d’Arthur. Reputedly a knight himself, Malory compiled his fifteenth-century rendering from various sources, among them, the Vulgate Cycle, the Prose Tristan, and the Stanzaic Morte Arthur. Each of these drew on earlier works, including Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain and a collection of stories by the French troubadour Chrétien de Troyes. In turn, Malory’s work inspired a profusion of novels, narrative poetry, films, and other forms, collectively known as “Arthurian legend.”

The first story of Littlelot recounts the adventure of the most renowned of all the Round Table knights, Lancelot, and his rescue of Gwenevere, drawn from Book VII of Le Morte d’Arthur. My own retelling differs from Malory’s in length as well as in certain details.

Stephen Wendell
December 14, 2016
Paris, France

Littlelot and the Rescue of Gwenevere
Coming Soon to Bookshop

All book sales made through Bookshop directly benefit independent bookstores.

Also available at these retailers.

Littlelot
and the Rescue of Gwenevere
Littlelot Book 1

An Arthurian legend with knights and damsels and other action figures.

In his game of make-believe, a boy must make a choice—break his oath to the king or break the heart of the woman who gave him the most meaningful gift.

Available in paperback and e-book wherever you buy books.

 

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Continue ReadingPreface to Littlelot and the Rescue of Gwenevere

Littlelot celebrates the discovery of the Great Horn

I am thrilled to present the final rendition of the illustration for the cover of Petit Lot et le Grand Cor de la licorne.

Petit Lot fête la découverte du Grand Cor

© 2017 David Jones

Littlelot celebrates the discovery of the Great Horn

11.5” x 15.5”
Watercolor, gouache, colored pencil
David Jones

During our biweekly progress meetings I had occasion to talk with David about his art. He quoted an early twentieth-century painter by whose work he’s inspired:

“I have inherited that strange love for things remote.”
—N. C. Wyeth

“I imagine a more romantic time before the Internet,” David said, “before television and the telephone—even before photographs. Characters in this environment are less distracted. They interact with the world in a more tangible way, and the interaction creates stories that transcend the setting.”

David prefers to illustrate for narrative works, including book cover and interior illustrations, comics, and graphic novels, as well as articles, poems, and book excerpts. He tends to use traditional, old-school media: gouache, watercolor, acrylic, and pen and ink.

In the painting above, as in much of David’s work, there is no digital rendering.

See the illustration at previous developmental stages in the category Couverture on the book’s website. Tomorrow on that site I’ll show the book cover for the electronic edition.

For more of David’s art, browse his website.

David Jones - artist, illustrator

David Jones

Born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, David Jones crossed the country to study art on the West Coast. He graduated from the Academy of Art University in 2016 and makes his home now in San Francisco. David’s art is influenced by John Bauer, N. C. Wyeth, and Arthur Rackham, painters from a more romantic time.

Stephen Wendell is the author of the Littlelot series of books for children and the grown-ups who read to them. The English translation of his latest title, Petit Lot et le Grand Cor de la licorne, will be the next book in the series: Littlelot and the Great Horn of the Unicorn.

Petit Lot
et le Grand Cor de la licorne
Stephen Wendell

Electronic edition, October 27
Paperback edition, November 3

Peregrine Publishing

Continue ReadingLittlelot celebrates the discovery of the Great Horn

The Hammond Sketch

“The hero is a boy magician,” I said. “The object of the quest is a musical instrument that grew from a unicorn horn. And there’s a dragon.”

I recited the legend of the Great Horn of the Unicorn and went on to describe the image I had in mind. I knew exactly what I wanted for the book cover. The difficulty lay in putting the image into another mind—one attached to an artist’s hand.

The target of this latest attempt was the mind of Cris Hammond, who now pulled a graphite point across rough grain paper. As a kind gesture, he agreed to make a sketch I could show to potential illustrators.

Sketchpad on knee, Cris began to draw. He guided the pencil, held between thumb and two fingers, in smooth broad curves and quick strokes. The wrist remained fixed, the elbow supple. The artist directed the work from the shoulder. I listened to the scratching of pencil on paper and resisted the urge to peek.

Twenty minutes later, Cris held up the pad. “What do you think?”

“That’s it. That’s the image in my head!”

The Hammond Sketch

The Hammond Sketch

This sketch by Cris Hammond is being further developed by another artist to become the cover illustration for

Petit Lot
et le Grand Cor de la licorne

November 2017
Peregrine Publishing

Cris also gave me the name of an artist he thought capable of realizing the illustration. In October, we’ll see the finished drawing by David Jones.

Friday, we’ll have a sneak preview of the Prologue (French). Meanwhile, you can read la légende du Grand Cor de la licorne (French).

San Francisco Bay area artist and writer Cris Hammond earned fame as a nationally syndicated cartoonist with “Speed Walker, Private Eye” in the 1980s. After one career in special effects design at Industrial Light and Magic and another as a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, he navigated the rivers and canals in southern France aboard a barge with his wife, Linda, mooring for a few years at the Port de l’Arsenal in Paris. There he painted landscapes of the French countryside and wrote a memoir of the journey, From Here to Paris. Cris is also the author of Short Pours: The Stan Chronicles, a short fiction collection set on the U.S. west coast.

Returned to the homeland last year, Cris and Linda are planning their next adventure from Sausalito, California.

Continue ReadingThe Hammond Sketch

Leap from a high branch

The Kindle edition of The Way to Vict’ry: Haiku Illustrated by Cristina Basile is scheduled for release Friday, July 14. The paperback edition will come out toward the end of the month. Below is a preview from the ebook, the third haiku with its illustration.

Leap from a high branch - ebook preview

The Way to Vict’ry: Haiku Illustrated by Cristina Basile

“The most extraordinary book of three haiku ever published!”

FULLY ILLUSTRATED
by Cristina Basile

ebook and paperback editions

 

Subscribers to A Peregrine’s Path get the electronic edition (PDF, EPUB, and Mobipocket) of this book free on release.

 

A Peregrine’s Path
News of Stephen’s upcoming releases, previews of his books, and exclusive offers from
Peregrine Publishing

Continue ReadingLeap from a high branch

Preface to The First Story of Littlelot

The First Story of Littlelot on AmazonThe First Story of Littlelot is an Arthurian legend with knights and damsels and other action figures.

In his game of make-believe, a boy must make a choice—break his oath to the king or break the heart of the woman who gave him the most meaningful gift.

 

Preface

The valiant knight in shining armor rides a resplendent steed on dangerous adventures. He surmounts overwhelming obstacles, rights terrible wrongs, and rescues the damsel in distress.

That’s what I want to be when I grow up!

Alas, I was born centuries too late. As were you, Young Reader, if such might be your own grown-up ambition. Left to us in our times are stories of those chivalric heroes, models that we may yet apply to our modern lives.

The quintessential tale of noble knights is that of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table as told by Sir Thomas Malory in Le Morte d’Arthur. Reputedly a knight himself, Malory compiled his fifteenth-century rendering from various sources, among them, the Vulgate Cycle, the Prose Tristan, and the Stanzaic Morte Arthur. Each of these drew on earlier works, including Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain and a collection of stories by the French troubadour Chrétien de Troyes. In turn, Malory’s work inspired a profusion of novels, narrative poetry, films, and other forms, collectively known as “Arthurian legend.”

The First Story of Littlelot recounts the adventure of the most renowned of all the Round Table knights, Lancelot, and his rescue of Gwenevere, drawn from Book VII of Le Morte d’Arthur. My own retelling differs from Malory’s in length as well as in certain details.

Stephen Wendell
December 14, 2016
Paris, France

 

The First Story of Littlelot - Full-Color Illustrated Edition
Buy on Bookshop

All book sales made through Bookshop directly benefit independent bookstores.

Also available at these retailers.

The First Story of
Littlelot
Full-Color Illustrated Edition

In his game of make-believe, a boy must make a choice—break his oath to the king or break the heart of the woman who gave him the most meaningful gift.

An Arthurian legend with knights and damsels and other action figures.

The frontispiece and six chapter illustrations by celebrated artists Arthur Rackham, N. C. Wyeth, Thomas Moran, and Herbert James Draper bring Littlelot’s Arthurian adventure to life in this beautiful paperback book.

Available in paperback and e-book.

 

The First Story of Littlelot
Buy on Bookshop

All book sales made through Bookshop directly benefit independent bookstores.

Also available at these retailers.

The First Story of
Littlelot

An Arthurian legend with knights and damsels and other action figures.

In his game of make-believe, a boy must make a choice—break his oath to the king or break the heart of the woman who gave him the most meaningful gift.

Available in paperback and e-book.

Continue ReadingPreface to The First Story of Littlelot

Preface to The Way to Vict’ry

The Way to Vict’ry on AmazonThe Way to Vict’ry is an ebook of three haiku inspired by Sun Tzu, Matthieu Ricard, and a magpie flight instructor.

 

Preface

In Sun Tzu’s Art of War, the fifth-century BC Taoist author likens the successful battle plan to a watercourse: it follows the path of least resistance to its objective.

Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard devotes a chapter of his book Happiness (Atlantic Books, 2012) to the ego. He suggests the ego, imposed as a shield, becomes a target, which attracts suffering.

These works inspired the first two haiku in this book.

And the magpie flight instructor? It’s one of a mated pair that makes its nest in the bay tree behind the house. The springtime garden is a cacophony of young magpies on flight training day.

In haiku form, the lessons are easier to retain. These three have become personal mantras.

Stephen Wendell
November 9, 2016
Paris, France

Continue ReadingPreface to The Way to Vict’ry