Finally....Le Guin

As well as discovering and falling in love with the work of Charles Saunders last year, I also finally dove into the work of Ursula K. Le Guin....and fell in love with her work the same way I fell for Saunders' work. 

In 2019 I read 7 of her novels, a short story collection and a small book of interviews and essays. The Earthsea books really blew me away and the Lathe Of Heaven was equally astonishing. Even when I didn't like her work (Orsinian Tales) I at least appreciated her ideas and her always interesting approach to telling a story. Le Guin's worst is better than most people's best. 

So starting on the 27th of January, there will be two weeks worth of creatures inspired by the works of Le Guin. While you may think the dragons of Earthsea would be at the top of my list, I was much more taken with the alien fauna of The Eye Of the Heron (I've also never really cared much for dragons...too much expectation. Plus I've already done one). The animals that have earthbound names only because they vaguely resembled the creatures from colonists home world. A heron, isn't really a heron....it's just the word that first comes to mind when you see this spindly otherworldy creature. 

I would also highly recommend the documentary The Worlds Of Ursula K. Le Guin (directed by former Maximum Rock N Roll editor/coordinator Arwen Curry). Given Le Guin's lush imagination and personal politics, it's honestly about time I got around to drawing some creeps based on her work.