Brinken Wood

Wet walking today.

Seven to Eternity, Vol. 1 The God of Whispers

Image are really on a roll at the moment, publishing one fantastic title after another. One of their latest is 'Seven to Eternity Vol.1, The God of Whispers' written by Rick Remender (whose current projects I'm absolutely loving), who has created another world, grim and gritty, rich with strange and complex characters and set against a backdrop of magic, paranoia and fear. A world where through granting desires a brutal god king has eyes and ears in every home. A world where not to listen to this god king's offers or accept them will lead to destruction and death. The choices are limited for dying Adam Osidis, head of an outcast family, though that could all change, everything could change. Magic, mysticism and honour run through what could become an epic tale. Rick Remender's writing is stellar, fantastic plot and sub-plots, engaging dialogue and it travels at a good pace too. Jerome Opeña's artwork is just bloody lovely! Detailed, expressive, emotive, really nice lines, man. And, the colouring by Matt Hollingsworth  brings it all to vivid life, he's used his pallet to great effect. All round Seven to Eternity Vol.1, The God of Whispers is outstanding in every aspect.

Springs aproach

Spring swiftly approaches and today we were afforded a glimpse of what hopefully is to come.  The leaf litter covering the floor of Burley Old was crisp and dry as I sank into it. I love taking the opportunity to lay out in nature, breath deeply and relax. Gazing up through the Spartan canopy as it gently swayed you knew spring was near, you could feel spring in the air, hear it in the growing tree top chorus, even smell a hint of it.  I know it's only fleeting, but it wont be too long, and knowing that fills your sails and raises a smile.

Red Cup

 

The small Scarlet Elf Cup, or Cap, (Sarcoscypha coccinea).

The Bunny

Even with the warm sun breaking through, the Bunny feels dank and weird, there's a strange energy to the place, a sense foreboding, something not quiet right. No matter when, the Bunny always feels peculiar. It's not just the Bunny, mind, it's all the woodland and common in these parts, they all feel weird. I walk all over the place, though the common (Chewton Common) is the only place where I feel compelled to look behind me, and I'm not the only one mention it. I wonder why that is.

The Chase

The Chase was wonderful this afternoon, you could feel your senses waking along with nature. Although the chill winds were testament to the land still being held in winters embrace, you could feel everything champing at the bit, ready to burst into life. All the signs are there. The wheel has turned and change is afoot.  Whist passing through the Iron Age enclosure in Mistleberry Wood (marked on maps as a hillfort, though I don't think it is), beneath the still bare canopy of a veteran tree, we saw three Hares gathered in conference, as we approached they broke in three equidistant directions and made off. You don't get a more potent symbol of Spring than that. Walking on, the woodland of Stonedown Wood, still naked, is alive with bird song and hidden movement, preparations for what's come are under way. Following old paths and winding tracks we come out of cover on the windswept ridge of the chalk downs. The views from the top of the chalk downs are spectacular in which ever direction you choose to look, as you walk along the distant vistas change and closer by secluded valleys are revealed, only to disappear a short walk further. There's magic in this landscape, you can feel it. We're lucky to have such beautiful and magical landscapes on our doorstep.

Heralds of Spring

Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) are the heralds of Spring, emerging first in one and twos, then to carpet the woods and banks. Lovely!

Black Science Vol.2 Welcome Nowhere

I was given the first volume of Black Science 'How to fall forever' by a friend and was first struck by Matteo Scalera's artwork it has an old skool 2000AD feel to it and is beautifully coloured by Dean White who uses a vibrant pallet to bring Scalera's expressive art to vivid life. The Story written by Rick Remender is a sort of 'Quantum leap' style affair, with a group, The Anarchist League of Scientists, set adrift in a multiverse of parallel worlds by a damaged 'Pillar' (the machine which transports them), unable to control where they end up, though hoping for home. Each world is weirdly alien and yet structurally understandable, and they only have so long before they jump to the next. Volume one set the scene and some of the background (I really should have written a review of it, it's very complicated and moved fast, and without it anything I write now about the story beyond the bones would mean nothing to you). Now volume two 'Welcome, Nowhere' runs with it. The remains of the team find themselves in world which seeks the 'key' to the 'Pillar' to enable it's use, different versions of some of the protagonists appear each following their own agendas and purpose, as the bigger picture comes into focus and maybe the 'Pillar's' jumps are not as random as they appeared. Remender creates a rich and weird story, which Scalera populates with the weirdest of creatures and with White's colours the whole things a bit of a visual trip and a touch disorientating at times as you look and think 'urgh?'. It's all cool, mind, it makes sense. The dialogue moves the story on well and at a pace, and the art ensures you feel it. What a cracking read. I shall be seeking out volume three, for sure!  

Illustrated Tree

The Illustrated tree still retains the title 'gnarliest tree I know'. You can spend an age exploring its myriad textures and shapes. Trees such as this are the secret gems of the forest, only found if you venture from the paths and search them out, and even then they'll often try and hide from you. It really is the grooviest of trees, though.

The Naked Man

The remains of that venerable ancient Oak tree 'The Naked Man' have finally fallen. Some say it was vandalism, but I don't see it. It looks like a combination of age, weather and pony activity to me. I think the Naked man stump fell in bad weather with age, taking its rotten frame with it, and the outer fence, also rotten, was pushed over by ponies resting against it. Or some such. The fences have been visibly rotten and feeling weak and loose for some years now. Although a popular site and one associated with ritual activity for many years and continuing today (wiccans, pagans and alike), the sites origins are quiet macabre. The Naked Man or as it was previously know 'The Wilverley Oak' stood on what was a prominent road crossing the forest and was once a gibbet tree where smugglers (common in the forest) and highway men were hung. This origin is probably the origin of the naked man name, weathered bodies left hanging. There's been a companion tree growing on the site for some years, and people are talking about a stone or something as a record.  Something would be nice. 

Nowhere

The forest is sometimes like this.

Clay Hill Bottom

At the moment over night damp and frost are battling for dominance and when the sun rises you see the victor. It's like a civil war within the element of water between the liquids and the solids. This morning the solids (with the help of Jack Frost) won, the liquids captivated by Jack's crystal embrace. 

Stag Break Reeds

Since the instigation of the bog woodland restoration program, affected areas of the forest have become wetter, one of the purposes of the program was to hold water in the forest to encourage species diversity and now some areas remain waterlogged all year round. Phragmites Reed communities are beginning to colonize pools in the wetland hollows of the heath. I wonder how widespread this species was prior to the draining of the forest for forestry.  It's easy to forget that the forest we see today is in no way natural, and is all the result of human interventions over 5000 years. The forest must have been a wild place once and must have looked very different.

Spawn

Saw my first frog spawn of the year today, though I think the frogs have been a bit previous with hard frosts coming and going. The missed the water by a few feet too.

Renato Jones, The One%, season 1 by Kaare Kyle Andrews

Kaare Kyle Andrews has created a masterpiece, it's just perfect. Beautifully illustrated with stylish line work which is expressive and so compliments the writing, which hits its target square on.  A sidewinder up the tailpipe of the establishment, the One%. Our 'hero' Renato Jones, when a young child, is plucked from one cesspool of corruption and placed duplicitously into another, though quite different cesspool. He learns quickly that everything costs, everything has a price, and he already has a large tab. The One% of the story are that 'One%', you know the ones. They're shown in a less than flattering light, though one that I imagine, in some cases at least, is justified and probably not too far off the truth. We are not human to them. The topics in Kaare's work are pertinent and reflect the growing dissonances in society, inequality is becoming ingrained and the few live like gods, beyond all laws, untouchable. Something needs to be done and Renato Jones has a plan.  I can't say any more for fear of saying too much, read it!  Renato Jones, The One%, is a cracking read, fantastically written and illustrated, a real page turner. I can't wait for season 2.

Holman's Bottom

Holman's Bottom

Imbolc

The wheel turns and with it the season changes, you can feel it. Nature is waking from her sleep and the energy to transform is slowly forming. Imbolc blessings y'all.