Bestiary
The Fantastic Art of CrystalWizard
Return of the Sword
Return of the Sword is a brand new anthology of blood-pounding, spine-tingling stories by some of fantasy's most critically acclaimed Sword and Sorcery authors.
Wizardís Bane is the first book of The Sojourn Chronicles, six books that recount the adventures of Dale, a member of a large space fleet, who is marooned on a world similar to 18th-century Earth. He discovers very quickly that being stranded is the least of his problems; the world he is on is about to be destroyed and he's the only one that can save it. Without any clear direction, or the tools to do so, he sets out to try, encountering magic, mayhem and chaos at every turn.
Strange Worlds of Lunacy is a compilation of the funniest fantasy and sci-fi humor in the galaxy, the known universe, and all the nine-million planes of existence! (Okay, well, maybe the surrounding five blocks.) More than 30 short stories, limericks and poems by break out authors and seasoned veterans will have you laughing so hard you wet your...
"...squeaky-clean bathroom buddy."—Colin P. Davies
Crystalwizard is both an author and a graphic artist, though her three cats would tell you a different story. They're of the opinion that her only reason for existence is to feed them, pet them and let them in or out of the house! She prefers to write mixed genre sci-fi/fantasy but has been known to dabble in poetry and delights in telling bad puns. These days, she spends most of her time editing stories for Flashing Swords magazine and making sure any free-range chocolate bars that get too close don't get away.
See more of Crystalwizard’s art at her website.
The Roman poet Ovid on Centaurs:
"In the high woods there was none comelier of all the centaur-girls, and she alone by love and love’s sweet words and winning ways held Cyllarus, yes, and the care she took to look her best (so far as that may be with limbs like that). She combed her glossy hair, and twined her curls in turn with rosemary or violets or roses, and sometimes she wore a pure white lily. Twice a day she bathed her face in the clear brook that fell from Pagasae’s high forest, twice she plunged her body in its flow, nor would she wear on her left side and shoulder any skin but what became her from best-chosen beasts.”
Wyverns are paradoxical creatures. In medieval times they symbolized envy, war, pestilence, and viciousness. Later they became a common character in heraldry, adorning flags, crests and shields of noble houses. In this aspect, they are a sign of strength to those who bear the symbol. They also symbolise power and endurance.
Dragons were no less popular in Ovid’s time than they are today.
Deep in the dreary den, conceal'd from day,
Sacred to Mars, a mighty dragon lay,
Bloated with poison to a monstrous size;
Fire broke in flashes when he glanc'd his eyes:
His tow'ring crest was glorious to behold,
His shoulders and his sides were scal'd with gold;
Three tongues he brandish'd when he charg'd his foes;
His teeth stood jaggy in three dreadful rowes.
The Tyrians in the den for water sought,
And with their urns explor'd the hollow vault:
From side to side their empty urns rebound,
And rowse the sleeping serpent with the sound.
Strait he bestirs him, and is seen to rise;
And now with dreadful hissings fills the skies,
And darts his forky tongues, and rowles his glaring eyes.
Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book III