The Magical Work of Bryan Golden

Back in April I reviewed a fantasy entitled The Legend of Damiano's Disk.

Carl Russ, III wrote a great book, and it put my imagination into overdrive. I imagined myself with awesome spellcasting skills, bravely fighting against the evil beasties that took over the realm of Aria.

Today, though, I want to talk about another important person that made Aria come to life for me:

Bryan Golden.

You're asking, "Who in the heck is that?"

...right?

Well, Bryan Golden is the artist who designed the spectacular cover. As you can see, his artistic interests veer toward manga and comics... and he's been drawing them for over ten years!

I'd say it shows.

His cover art worked with the Tales of Aria in such a way that it transformed my very image of myself as my imagination transformed my body and curves into something that would fit within the pages of my favorite manga.

As I lifted my arms to produce a brilliant orb of light, the very air that surrounded me seemed to transform and flow into a new and surreal environment. My eyes twinkled and my hair shimmered with power, lengthening until it wrapped my body within its ethereal tresses of grandeur.

Yeah. I was totally hot.

Blue Moon, copyright Bryan Golden, 2014

Well, ok. Maybe not that hot... but you get the point. His art made me dream. Mixing Golden's talent with Russ's story produced vivid imagery within my own mind.

The effect was, in a word, magical.

And he does more than just book covers. He's a digital artist that also focuses on comics and website mascot design. In fact, in 2011, Little Bite: Vampire Detective was published by Zeta comics, and was both written and drawn by Golden.

Little Bite: Vampire Detective

Is Little Bite any good? Honestly, I don't know. I haven't read it.

But what I do know is that when I viewed it on the Zeta comics page, I loved the style, and the layout was smooth. It's something that I most definitely want to check out.

Why did I choose to focus on Bryan Golden as the first cover designer to spotlight? Well, after reviewing Damiano's Disk, a friend of mine mentioned that the art on the cover was the style that he was looking for with a project of his. He then pointed out that he didn't see a link to the designer.

There was a link...

But it was within the image's caption, which means it was very small and easy to overlook. Clearly, this needed to be remedied.

Spotlighting Bryan Golden as my first cover designer choice was a great way to do it.

Besides...

I have a special place in my heart for the Ever After High series, Shannon Hale being one of my favorite non-indie authors (her free short, Ashlynn Ella's Story, is fantastic!) and Golden appears to share this love. His whimsical pieces inspired by Ever After High on his deviantART gallery page placed a smile on my face that seemed to brighten the entire room.

Ashlynn Ella, copyright KagomesArrow77

After going through his art, I have to admit to becoming a fan. He has a special talent for energizing me. His work sets the imagination aflame, bringing magic to life in a way that can't truly be put into words.

Be sure to check out his DeviantART page, as well as his latest cover design work on the Tales of Aria, in Carl Russ, III's second installment: The Awakening.

Let Golden's magical artwork inspire you, just as they did with me.

Discovering the Legend of Damiano's Disk

My latest hunt was long and harsh.

After partially reading several different ebooks, and preliminarily reviewing a work not yet published (I'll tell you about that one as soon as the author publishes), I finally found the next great work for review.

This latest discovery was Tales of Aria: The Legend of Damiano's Disk, a fantasy written by Carl Russ, III.

Let's begin with the exceptional cover art.

Cover art by Bryan Golden, whose gallery
I spent way too much time perusing!

What made this cover so spectacular was that I was able to glean not only the general world and focus of the novel, but also a few additional points, due to the chosen art style:

• This ebook would not stand alone. If the manga styled cover was any indication of what we'd find inside, this work would end with a clear lead into the next installment.
• The world would break the standard rules of environment, producing a vivid image in the reader's mind that differs from the norm.

I wasn't disappointed. Both of these theories were proven correct.

So what's it about?

The land of Aria was overrun with vicious creatures. It was a sudden occurrence, and no one could explain where these beasts came from, or even how they came to be. Homesteads were overrun, and entire families were destroyed. The King's knights were losing the battle to protect the people from these monstrosities.

But then, seemingly from out of nowhere, the "Knowms" showed up, offering their protection to the cities of Aria... and they succeeded where the knights failed. Most people flocked to the cities, where they'd be safe behind guarded walls, but some stayed behind, where life was grueling and dangerous.

Lucas was one of them. This life became normal for him, and he had no wish to leave his rural home... but then he came upon a dying man, whose last wish was that Lucas deliver an object for him. Lucas accepted, and soon discovered that fulfilling this dying man's wish would change his life forever.

Sounds great, right?

It was.

The story flowed beautifully, and the scenery was vivid. I even had a few Ah ha! moments as I put pieces together, making sense of the various mysteries within.

And true to my cover art theory, Carl Russ III gave me something different. 

Russ created a realm between the living world and whatever it is that waits for us in the beyond. It was called, quite simply, the In Between. It's a realm lacking in color, though not lacking in beauty, and reminded me of something that could be found in some of the more visually appealing anime films. Color could enter the In Between, but nothing of the In Between held anything beyond what you'd see in a penciled sketch. The sharp contrast between the In Between and the world of Aria was striking. 

My imagination soared.

In this fantasy novel, magic follows specific rules having to do with a person's elemental center. A person is born with an affinity for some degree of fire, ice, light, or shadow, and can receive benefits in accordance with that affinity. There are also levels of mastery involved. This makes it quite easy for readers to imagine themselves in this world, giving themselves their favored form of magic.

Yeah... I kinda did that...

You can certainly see why I'm reviewing this one. It sent my imagination free, and gave me a full world to play with.

So why isn't it a Treasured Tome, then?

Well, the characters were fleshed out very well, and it was obvious that a great deal of time and attention was spent on them. I really liked every single one of them.

But I didn't love them. 

I enjoyed traveling Aria with the characters, and I was very eager to find out what would happen to them, but I didn't laugh, I didn't cry, and I didn't become enraged if someone distracted me while on this adventure.

I thought long and hard about that, because it seemed like I should have felt this way. This ebook was brilliantly crafted. After banging my head against the wall a few times, hoping to rattle my brain enough to shake a reason free, I finally found one:

I think it came down to the dialogue. 

Some words spoken by the cast of characters felt clunky and forced, which caused the story to lose some of its emotional impact.

But the novel was still a great one, and status as a Treasured Tome was really only a hair's breadth away. Russ is writing a sequel, and I'm looking forward to it.

Tales of Aria: The Legend of Damiano's Disk is definitely worth reading. 

Unfortunately, it's not available at the Nook store, but you can download it at Smashwords and Kindle! Read it! It really is a fun ebook.

And besides, who doesn't want to imagine themselves flinging magical orbs at nasty beasties?