#rebecca magar

[wailingwizardart]

In composing 'Haunter', I wanted to embrace dynamism and tension, so I pushed the pegasus boldly into the foreground, breaking the frame's boundaries and symbolizing its escape from the confines of its form. I exaggerated the length of the front legs and neck to purposefully warp the perspective and create tension in the pose. Behind the subject, the silhouette of a gothic city stretches beneath a luminous moon which was loosely inspired by Eugène Delacroix's 1827 lithograph, Mephistopheles Aloft, (a demon flies over a dark city). In this cityscape, I was hoping to create a secondary focal point - the place where I imagined this beast was flying from - as if she had awoken like some living gargoyle under a full moon and taken flight. The choice of a stark monochromatic palette in black and white chalk pastels was deliberate, I don't think this piece needs color.

'Haunter' initially came to life not just as a piece of art, but as part of a creative venture for a band's show flyer. I originally started drawing it for Book of Wyrms (and at the time envisioned it in full color). However, as creative journeys often do, that project took a different turn, leaving 'Haunter' in a state of suspended animation. This drawing, though initially set aside, was never forgotten. I loved it too much to let it go. It was years later when I revisited it, driven by a deep connection to the artwork, and finally brought it to completion.

This return to 'Haunter' wasn't just a revisiting of an old project, but a rekindling of a lifelong love. My affinity for horses, rooted in my childhood experiences growing up with these majestic creatures, has always been a part of me. Their anatomy feels familiar, almost second nature, and the pegasus, though spectral and otherworldly, carries with it a realism born from a lifetime of observation and connection. This artwork, at its core, is a manifestation of my enduring love for the equine form, a tribute to the grace and beauty of the horses that have been a part of my life. In the lines and shadows of 'Haunter', my personal history with these animals intertwines with my artistic expression, creating a piece that is as much a part of me as it is a work of art meant to be appreciated by others. Will it succeed in being appreciated? It's hard to say, but it certainly succeeded in snapping me back into my art and helping me find purpose and inspiration to continue creating.

[ex0skeletal-undead]

Haunter by Rebecca Magar

[thaoworra]

With November we have all of the winners finally in for the major Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association awards. This was a big year for all as the association marked its 45th year. Congratulations to all of this year’s winners and nominees, and a big round of applause to all of the chairs who worked tirelessly to ensure a smooth process:

Elgin Awards Now in its tenth year, the first place Elgin Award winner for Book of the Year is Some Disassembly Required by David C. Kopaska-Merkel (Diminuendo Press, 2022). Second place went to The Saint of Witches by Avra Margariti (Weasel Press, 2022), while third place was a tie between  Elegies of Rotted Stars by Tiffany Morris (Nictitating Books, 2022) and Not a Princess, But (Yes) There Was a Pea & Other Tales to Foment Revolution by Rebecca Buchanan (Jackanapes Press, 2022),  The Elgin Award winner for Chapbook of the Year is The Last Robot and Other Science Fiction Poems by Jane Yolen (Shoreline of Infinity, 2021). The second place chapbook was Spacers Snarled in the Hair of Comets by Bruce Boston (Mind’s Eye Publishing, 2022).  The third place went to Cajuns in Space by Denise Dumars (self-published, 2022).

Morgan L Ventura served as the 2023 Chair of the Elgin Awards. 78 members voted on the selections. 58 books had been nominated and 18 chapbooks had been nominated.

Rhysling Awards For the Rhysling awards, in the Long Poem category, Colleen Anderson’s “Machine (r)Evolution” from Radon Journal 2 received first place. In the Short Poem category there was a tie between Jennifer Crow’s “Harold and the Blood-Red Crayon” from Star*Line 45.1 and Terese Mason Pierre’s “In Stock Images of the Future, Everything is White” from Uncanny 46.  The second place award in the Long Poem category went to Rebecca Buchanan’s “The Bone Tree” from Not A Princess, but (Yes) There was a Pea, and Other Fairy Tales to Foment Revolution (Jackanapes Press) and the second place in the Short Poem category went to Sarah Grey’s “Bitch Moon” from Nightmare Magazine 118. The 2023 third place Long Poem was  Akua Lezli Hope’s “Igbo Landing II” which first appeared in Black Fire—This Time, ed. Kim McMillon (Aquarius Press). The third place award for Short Poem was a tie between Amelia Gorman’s “The Gargoyle Watches the Rains End” from The Gargoylicon: Imaginings and Images of the Gargoyle in Literature and Art ed. Frank Coffman (Mind’s Eye Publications) and Lisa Timpf’s “First Contact” from Eye to the Telescope 44. Rhysling honorable mentions in the Short Poem category included “Field Notes from the Anthropocene” by Priya Chand Nightmare Magazine 116,  “Near the end, your mother tells you she’s been seeing someone” by Shannon Connor Winward, from the SFPA Poetry Contest, and “Dinner Plans with Baba Yaga” by Stephanie M. Wytovich from Into the Forest: Tales of the Baba Yaga. In the Long Poem category, honorable mentions were given to “Herbaceous Citadel” by Avra Margariti in The Fairy Tale Magazine January 4,  “Living in Rubble” by Gerri Leen from Eccentric Orbits 3, and “The Thing About Stars” by Avra Magariti from The Saint of Witches (Weasel Press).

Maxwell I. Gold was this year’s Rhysling chair. 102 short poems were nominated, and 70 long poems were nominated from across 94 publications and collections. 114 members voted.

Dwarf Stars The 2023 Dwarf Stars were tied for first place with “Believe the Graves” by Rasha Abdulhadi from The Deadlands 16 and “In Perpetuity” by Bruce Boston in Analog, July/August 2022. The second place award went to “Excerpt from a Proposal for the New City” by Alyssa Lo from Strange Horizons, 11/14. The third place was tied between “As Slow as Starlight” by Kim Whysall-Hammond in Frozen Wavelets 7, “Surviving” by Sumiko Saulson in The Rat King: A Book of Dark Poetry (Dooky Zines), and  “Trichotillomania” by Warsan Shire in Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head (Random House). This year’s chairs were David C. Kopaska Merkel and Miguel O. Mitchell, PhD. This year 120 members reviewed 105 poems across 54 venues.

SFPA Poetry Contest Judge Michael Arnzen selected the winners of this year’s SFPA Poetry Contest. Prizes were offered in three divisions: Dwarf (≤10 lines), Short, and Long (50+ lines). Contest chair R. Thursday received 439 entries (114 dwarf-length, 253 short, and 72 long poems) from around the world.

Dwarf Form: First place “Calcination” by Colleen Anderson Second place “What Ghosts Didn’t Do” by Mary Soon Lee Third Place [open window] by Michael Nickels-Wisdom

Dwarf Form Honorable Mentions: “All Sales Final!” by Alan Vincent Michaels “Starstruck” by S. Iya Iya “My Mother’s Eyes” by Chad Stanke “Poisoned Gold Sprinkles” by Greer Woodward “Black Sea” by Anna Cates

Short Form: First place “Abraham Lincoln Addresses the Nation Before He is Executed by Interstellar Invaders” by Kate Boyes Second place “Embryo Warehouse” by Amber Winter and Joshua St. Claire Third Place “A Jar of Cherries” by Jay Caselberg

Short Form Honorable Mentions: “Hovering Free” by Hamant Sing “In Which I Tell You Speculative Fiction is the Trans Body” by West Ambrose “Charming” by Anna Cates “Considering Fuseli’s ‘The Nightmare'” by Frank Coffman “Enceladus Elegy” by Bradley Earle Hoge

Long Form: First place “Metamorfish” by Randall Andrews Second place “Nightmare in Blue” by Kurt Newton Third Place “Wake Unto Death” by Lori R. Lopez

Long Form Honorable Mentions: “This Body Isn’t Mine” by Christina Connerton “The Odd Couple” by Anna Cates “The Origin of ‘The Steamster'” by Jerri Hardesty “Panopticon” by F.J. Bergmann “An Eschaton of Ice” by John Bell

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association was established in 1978 by Suzette Haden-Elgin and has an international membership representing over 19 nations and cultures including United States, Italy, Canada, Brazil, United Kingdom, Ireland, Romania, Poland, Denmark, Germany, France, Spain, Israel, South Africa, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, the Hmong, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association publishes two journals: Star*Line and Eye to the Telescope. It oversees three major literary awards for poetry: The Rhyslings, the Dwarf Stars, and the Elgin Awards. They also conduct an annual science fiction poetry contest and other special events and gatherings. Further, they also provide resources for emerging and established poets seeking professional publication and networking opportunities.

[elisabetadracula]

[forbidden-sorcery]

Two of Wands by Rebecca Magar

[reality-breaker]

Rebecca Magar

[milenaolesinska]

Exposition Art Blog   Rebecca Magar

Rebecca Magar is a fine artist, illustrator & designer from York, PA. She has worked on a variety of illustration projects including album artwork, book covers and privately commissioned paintings. Rebecca began her art career at the age of 11 when she took a few years of art lessons with a local teacher. She has been painting for nearly 20 years, but has only fully developed her style and focus as a fantasy artist within the last 8 years. Rebecca prefers to work with Acrylics, Pen & Ink, Charcoal and Pencil, but she originally learned to work with oils and pastels. She is inspired by the works of Frank Frazetta, Arthur Packham, Paolo Girardi and Zdzisław Beksiński.

www.exposition.com.pl

[3y3]

Rebecca Magar

[riffrelevant]

CULTIC Debut Album 'High Command' Set For April; Official Video

CULTIC Debut Album ‘High Command’ Set For April; Official Video

Article By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker, Senior Writer/Journalist ‡ Edited By: Leanne Ridgeway, Owner/Chief Editor

York, Pennsylvania’s weaponized wielders of wanton, heavy sonic-based death, doom, and destruction, CULTIC, are suiting up to unleash their début album next month. (more…)

[bard-owl]

Blue Wizard - Rebecca Magar

[doomedandstoned]

Cultic Sound The Drums of War in ‘High Command’

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

I spent the weekend on a deep dive into the heavy music of the '90s, revisiting the music of my youth -- from "grunge" of the Pacific Northwest to New York's "post-grunge" scene, and deeper still into the advent of death metal and all those strange experimental hybrids that followed. Doom was a thing, too, though it found its most welcome expression in the emerging death-doom and sludge genres, then stoner-doom by decade's end.

We're seeing the advent of a new generation of bands who, like me, grew up in this strange, irradiated soil and are pronouncing those stylistic influences, finding more resonant connection to Slayer, Immortal, and Tool than to Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, or Judas Priest (though these will likely always find perennial expression in the heavy underground).

CULTIC is one gritty golem of an example, rising up two years ago from the brick and mortar of south-central Pennsylvania and counting among their formatives influences Celtic Frost, Hellhammer, Winter from out of New York City, Japanese blasphemers Coffins, the grim Chicago outfit Cianide, and Philly's tragically undiscovered gem Dridge. It's a gravelly grind of soupy mud, broken asphalt ahead, and burning coal.

Next month, Cultic unveils their debut, 'High Command' (2019), in which Brian Magar (guitar, vox), Rebecca Magar (drums), and Reese Harlacker (bass) take us on a tranced-out death march toward the dragon's lair. Their solemn, sodden sound was like a trip into a blurry event horizon of Morbid Tales, Apocalyptic Raids, and The Dying Truth, and Cursed-era Morgoth for me, blended with the cursed cries of the fried and the cackles of reveling beasts.

Perhaps I'm getting sucked away in the lavishness of my own descriptions. The band puts it all in simple, direct terms: "Black-Death Battle Punk from York, PA." Hell, yeah. That I can get behind. We really see the vibe come alive in Cultic's recent music video, "Forest of Knives," a tale of betrayal during wartime.

The lo-fi haziness of the recording adds a surreal feeling of Wilde Jagd, too, as we encounter ghastly vision of the ghostly Wuotis Heer thundering through the skies, while mortals down below take on horrors of flesh and bone. This is more than another self-indulgent sword 'n' sandals metal fantasy, though. Frontman Brian Magar explains: "Cultic songs are, for the most part, allegorical in nature...set in a world rife with conflict, unchained power, and deceit." The execution of the record, stylistically and conceptually, is extraordinarily effective at every juncture.

Today, Doomed & Stoned presents the third cut to emerge from High Command (out April 5th on Eleventh Key -- pre-order here). "Enchained" reminds us battles are fought not in the archetypal realm of myth, but in the complex challenges of present day. "At face value, the song is about an army enslaving people and sending them into exile," says the band, revealing a more immediate reference: "Our song ‘Enchained’ is about our government separating immigrant children from their parents and locking them in cages on our southern border." This emphatic closer to High Commands left me wondering whether this generation will rise to face the dragons of its own age.

Give ear...

High Command by Cultic

Some Buzz

York, PA’s purveyors of swords & sorcery CULTIC was started in 2016 by husband and wife – Brian and Rebecca Magar (both also play in the dark ambient/tribal band The Owls A.N.W.T.S) – whose initial creative vision was to expand upon the sounds and aesthetics of Winter, Hellhammer, and Celtic Frost.

Through the process of producing their debut album ‘High Command,’ Cultic forged their own brand of fantasy-based, battle-death/doom/punk-metal crossover. "High Command" is a conceptual album telling an archetypal story of rival powers – strength, will and dominance are recurring themes throughout.

Cultic blazes a path through the battlefield by combining ideas and aesthetics of early death/doom, first wave black metal, and punk. Down tuned guitars and war drums deliver a mid-placed battery propelled by sardonic wrath and ungoverned fury. High Command is the auditory equivalent of a war hammer. It’s straightforward, lumbering, and crude. This is music for modern barbarians, urban wizards and street metal warriors. Ride to war!

Recorded at The Golden Castle in 2018. The outlandish cover art painted by the drummer Rebecca Magar (Wailing Wizard Art). Every song on the album is represented in the album art. 'High Command' will be out on April 5th digitally and on CD through Eleventh Key. A split single 7-inch and cassette with Funeral Bastard will be unleashed at some point in 2019.

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[wailingwizardart]

Seasons of Sacrifice - An Inspired Illustrative Project in Its Infancy

Seasons of Sacrifice - An Inspired Illustrative Project in Its Infancy #art #illustration #artist

Fall is a season of change. It could be seen as a time of death. The leaves curl inward and wither away, the air becomes cold and quiet, frost nips at the petals of wilting flowers, and forgotten pumpkins wilt into empty, despondent faces on our doorsteps. This time of year is the beginning of an end, and in many ways I feel like I am one of those dying leaves curling inward in retrospect and…

[ex0skeletal-undead]

by Rebecca Magar

This artist on Facebook // Instagram

[in-my-thinking]

“the dark poet”

his soul is an arid desert which hope has deserted no future there grows and the only rivers that flow are fed by the tears of his worst living fears

his heart is a barren land where nothing stands as he cowers in the waste of actions in haste while everyone berates his many past mistakes

his mind is a maelstrom so far from the norm a raging torment of a life abhorrent thoughts running wild like some evil child

and all these come together in the middle of whenever spewing out silent screams from nightmares not dreams emotions on the brink simply dripping out in ink

………………. Art work “Scribe” by Rebecca Magar

[forbidden-sorcery]

Altar to the Stars by Rebecca Magar

[reality-breaker]

Rebecca Magar