#Metal From Heaven

[aroaessidhe]

metal from heaven fans i have character design sketches for most of the cast I would love if anyone has Thoughts Ideas or Suggestions (gay sketches as a reward if you read to the bottom)

i did..... not quite every on page character, but pretty much everyone who's there more than once and at least vaguely described (or like. I'd do gwyar if it wouldn't be a spoiler)

all the character descriptions I have recorded are here by the way !!

some of the characters are described a lot but most are like.....their face/hair but nothing about their clothes, or the other way around, so for a lot of them I just winged it - part of the reason I wanted to do so many characters roughly was so get a sense of the overall styles and vibes? august said they were thinking about john galliano for fashion so I took a lot of inspo from that and also a heavy dose of western vibes.....fashion is not my strong point though. truly just stuck it all in a blender and slapped it on.

and also for most of these it's sort of first-or-second-pass designs - basically just getting an initial feel rather than really solidly Designed. so likely to change. I could definitely push a lot of them further!!!

fingerbluffs/choir etc!

sisphe is described with having sunlight trapped in her hair and then also a dark curtain of hair and it's PROBABLY dark but I did imagine her blonde initially because of that. going with blonde hair as a kid that got darker to compromise...

her disguise outfit isn't really described other than gloves but I kinda matched it to marney disguise (below)

harlow took me so long to figure out getting her face like I imagined and also like how I described....I'm not sure still. i love her sm

amon is accidentally giving victor arcane. the character archetype + colour palette I guess. I specifically made it blue/black with pink highlights because of the tullian gender colours though..

tbh I still haven't figured out how their bandit hoods work. I think they pull over from the back of the head but I can't figure out how to draw that in a way that works so they're bandanas for now

not pictured but what are we imagining the lurchers like. just fun punky sff motorbikes?

aristrocrats !!

i am pretty happy with my marney and goss (though goss could be shorter...)

wanna do more vikare outfits

yann i. chauncey supposed to be quite boring and nondescript but also. sure does like Like A Random Dude in this lineup huh

basically all of the bottom row are only lightly described so I just went with the initial vague mental image I had tbh!

could I put more effort into giving them more cultural distinctions / make the areas they're from more visually distinct? yes probably. it's hard to get a sense of some of that when some of the places are within ignavia and some are like.. separate continents - and there's no map to sort it out in my head. (you may notice i wrote where they're from in blue by the names though)

description: 'detailed traditional tullian/drustish/etc embroidery' me: here's some vague scribbles

could deffo get some more body diversity in here

anyway genuinely very interested if anyone is like 'I imagined x to be completely different in y way' or fancasts or anything else! i am so open to and interested in making changes if other people have thoughts (and like if you're not an artist so can't draw it yourself) (or even if you are an artist but don't have the time and want to make me draw it instead. i know the feeling)

----

thanks for reading here's sketches:

I promise I will post these properly on my art blog sometime. also if anyone has ideas for little sketches like these, of any particular interactions or whatever....

[layaart]

I walked through the dark to the edge of the cliff, the big basalt-column fingers that held us up from the hungry crashing water. I sat down. [...] I felt my heart seize and I mashed it back inside my body. [...] The near moon and the far moon were both out. Full and gibbous. In the water they overlapped and made a sort of milky blurry hourglass shape. "May I sit with you?"

a scene near the end of Metal From Heaven, by august clarke

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

Review: Metal From Heaven by August Clarke Rating: 5/5

I received an ARC of this title through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Marney Honeycutt works in the Yann I Chauncey Ichorite Factory but when their sister leads a workers' strike that turns into a massacre, they are suddenly all alone. Touched in the head by the metal they worked from birth, Marney has to get out of the city. They fall in with a gang of thieves who whisk them away to a mansion high in the hills by the sea. But Marney will come back. Because they are going to kill Chauncey and they're going to marry his daughter to do it.

August Clarke has done it again. I was captivated from the very first page by Clarke's signature dizzying, dazzling prose. I was utterly immersed in this rich world that blends fantasy and science fiction absolutely perfectly. I loved the different cultures, I especially loved the way Clarke emulated butch/femme lesbian culture, I loved that trans-ness was just part of the world and Marney never had to fight to be who they were.

The queerness really was my favourite part. It was so nice to finally read a book about a trans stone butch that feels like the trans stone butches I know. Marney felt and talked and behaved like so many of my friends do and that representation is so sorely needed. I have a list of friends a mile long to recommend this book because I know they ache to see themselves and their lives represented in media. I'm very grateful that August Clarke is able to do that with their books.

And the prose! Clarke has such a specific way of writing that just latches into your brain and doesn't let go. It flows so beautifully but has a staccato edge that I can't get enough of. I especially enjoyed how Clarke intermittently used second person to elevate how Marney was telling the story and the reason why they were doing that became so satisfying as the story went on. It was utterly brilliant.

If you are looking for a truly unique speculative fiction story that centres queerness and working class people in a story of revenge, I implore you to pick up Metal From Heaven and allow yourself to be swept away in this enthralling book. It's an absolute masterpiece.

Metal From Heaven releases October 22nd, 2024!

[derpcakes]

The Best Books I Read in 2024

It’s the most magical time of the year—when I look back at my favourite works of fiction! I got a lot of reading in in 2024, in part due to a cunning scheme in which I made sure to always have an ebook on my phone, slowly yet successfully training myself to dip into a novel instead of tripping down into a Twitter hole (not that I’m on Twitter anymore; and not that it’s even called Twitter…) every time I had the urge to Scroll and look at Content. As always, I’ve enjoyed an eclectic mix of vibes and genres: on this list we’ve got a range from whimsical to harrowing, we’ve got high fantasy, contemporary rom-coms, modern gothic, and some fun hybrids including horror-romance and fantasy-mystery. More adult/general fiction than YA, you’ll notice, as I continue to explore the world outside my thesis niche—but I’ve always got room for a couple. 

Without further ado and without making this post any longer than it already is, let’s begin! Let me know if you also read any of these, and what you thought, and of course feel free to tell me all about your own favourite reads of 2024!

Keep reading...

[metalrabbitcosmos]

Marney and Vikare 💜

Not entirely sure who I ship Marney with but her relationship with Vik was exciting!

[have-you-seen-this-butch]

Marney Honeycutt- Metal From Heaven, by August Clarke

Fanart by @layaart with permission

[fyrix]

“…Do you remember when we were small?”

Oh my god, do yourself a favor and stick it through the slow beginning. This book shattered me in the best way possible. I have not read a more morbidly beautiful book this entire year, and the way it’s written is so different and interesting. No part of the book is hard to read per se, but for those who don’t like a slow start, this is the one to give a chance, you won’t regret it.

5/5 💫

And of course, thank you August Clarke!

[left-hand-of-dorkness]

i just finished metal from heaven by august clarke and i feel like all you locked tomb perverts need to get on this book immediately

hallucinogenic explicit anticapitalist lesbian revenge industrial fantasy

[libraryleopard]

sincerity, sexily: what would you like to do, daddy?

marney honeycutt, owner of a one-track, revenge-seeking mind: i want to kill yann industry chauncey

[sunderedstar]

okay but Metal from Heaven FUCKS.

[blood-starved-beast]

Still thinking about Metal from Heaven by August Clarke and just. I really love how ambiguous it is if Goss actually recognized Marney pre-kaiju scene and a part of the reason why is Marney herself is so set on the idea that Goss must've been playing Yann this whole time from the start and not like, actually his kid who would miss him were he gone. It's a fascinating conflict of perspective and all. Also leads to tragedy.

I do think, imho, that Goss never actually figured it out that Loveday was actually Marney. I think the party and the events afterwards would be a lot different were that the case. Like the baby Capitalist who wants everything and all things would've zero-ed in on her childhood friend whom she thought died in the "riot" (the way Goss handled her trauma here and the amnesia around it is fascinating and a topic for another post). Heck she was still wearing the ring-turned earring Marney made her even after the betrayal.

Idk I think the tragedy of this setup is fascinating and well sad. Industry deserved that destruction imho.

[aroaessidhe]

metal from heaven out today! here’s a few author tweets from recent months to perhaps convince you of it

[layaart]

watch us rise as the sun comes up over the beauty. the future stains the bleakness so pink.

I read an arc of metal from heaven by august clarke and it is very good.

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

my copy of Metal From Heaven has been shipped 😱🎉

[bookcub]

Book Thoughts: Metal From Heaven by H. A. Clarke

Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't finish Metal from Heaven. I read through chapter 5, stopping at page 116. As a huge fan of The Scapegracers, I had high expectations for Clarke's latest work and it didn't land for me. I see the appeal but I felt really lost and disconnected from the characters in the story. I really respected the choices Clarke made and saw the emerging anti capitalist message, but due to not feeling grounded in the story, and not being able to follow who was who and the politics, I felt myself drifting through the story, which made it hard to return to it. With fantasy books, I give about 100 pages to see if I can be hooked into the world the author creates, and I hit that mark with this book.

I might revisit the book in the future when the series is finished but for now, I am ending my journey with the book.

Unfortunately, this didn't work for me, but I would recommend this book to those who like speculative fiction but want a book that challenges the status quo and provides a unique setting.

[metalrabbitcosmos]

Marney!!

I forgot how to color so when I figure that out I’ll post more..