I recently re-read The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, a horrific fantasy series by Stephen R. Donaldson. Covenant visits the fortress city of Revelstone several times, in anguish and in retribution, and it's majesty inspired me to start a scene based on this fortress. This is just a WIP, looking for suggestions, directions? Bryce 5 and HEAVY postwork (filtering) in Photoshop...

And here is the original, stock Bryce render of the same scene. I'm using a volumetric for the bushes, took many moons just to get that right... THe fortress itself needs some scaling and, well, I'll be honest, it needs to be as much as ten times this complex before I'm satisfied that Stevie D won't mock my imagery! (his words are devastating, he's a master storyteller of the highest caliber) Any ideas, suggestions? Flaws? Problems!?!?!

Well.. It's of course your interpretation. Mine was that the keep was much more vertically oriented and more as a whole with the mountains. Somehow I imagined it to have a very "organic" look. But I think that would be hard to make.

The scene on itself is cool though

I haven't read the stories so I can't comment on the rights and wrongs of the components. As it is it looks very good and I only have one nitpik to make...........the corner tower looks like it is resting on top of the rocks rather than having foundations that go into the rock. Unless it's a floating tower. Now that shouldn't be hard to fix........8) Catlin

Hmm, now you have inspired me to get out that series and read them again. This is looking cool.

Yeah, Shadow, I'm a big fan of Stephan R. Donaldson's work too. I loved the "Chronicles", and the "Mordant's Need" series. I will have to go back and re-read Chronicles. I agree with Catlin that the corner tower looks just a little "floaty".

You read the series? AGAIN?!?!?! I was so depressed by the first reading...although I admit I couldn't put them down....that I have never ventured near them since.

Ok, I now feel I'm missing out on something too exciting to miss. So.........what is The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever about, and should I go read them? 8) Catlin

I still have all six volumes somewhere, but I never got past v2. No time. Donaldson's work is staggering, a sort of intelectual's LORT. Catlin: Thomas Covenant is a modern-day leper who can't beleive how badly the real world has turned against him. Either by accident or design, he finds himself in an alternate universe inhabited by facinating people and creatures. This land is doomed in much the same way as Middle Earth in LORT. Covenant however, wears a wedding band made of White Gold; a staggeringly powerful weapon in this strange land. He has the power to save all, but he simply does not BELIEVE that where he seems to be is real and truly wants to be no part of it.....

looks pretty accurate!

Thanks for your comments, everyone! And I agree, it does need to be more vertical and placed/scaled a bit... Catlin, only read Covenant, or ANY Stephen Donaldson, if the words, "rape", "horrific desecration", "apotheosis", and "soul-wrenching" don't make you cringe at all. He's most vicious at pointing out YOUR flaws through his imagery and characters. Through most of his series, until the ends really, you are left feeling like Mr. Donaldson's only purpose in writing was to damage your beliefs/morals, but really he's trying to prove hope as a reality, not just a form of faith... Claymor! You are dead on, I recently was dealing with some past-emotional-subdrama, and realized that what I fear the most is NOT being abandoned by my lovers at all, but what I fear the MOST is re-reading Thomas Covenant! Masochistic? Certainly, but this time through it meant more and was quite healing and nurturing for me. More WIP's as I go...

That's ok Shadow I've been reading scarey things since I was 11 years old and have stumbled across lots of disturbing writings. I think I'll have a look in the library and try it out. You never know I may like it. 8) Catlin

Lynn Abby posted a thing in Uncle Timmy's email weekly "the Revenge of Hump Day" about Donaldson. He was arrested for protesting the bombing of Cambodia and gang raped in prison. Steven died of AIDs he contracted during that episode. His writing reflected his real life experiences there and working with lepers. He could never quite believe that people were really as bad as they are.

Electro: What a terrible end to an amazing talent...I'll read his works with more respect next time.....

That is so sad, I've really got to read his work me thinks.

I am very saddened to think that his clear and powerful literary voice is stilled forever. Of course we've got the fantastic works he left us, but I really regret that we won't get more. I too will re-read his work with new perspective, and respect.

Attached Link: http://archive.aclu.org/library/donnyobt.html

It's sad but it's not sad. I know a lot of people who would end up a basket case with half of what happened to Donaldson. I see the great ball player from highschool sweeping up at the market every week. My wife's friend never married after a bad relationship. Another one is still divorced and blaming her husband for her problems though he moved out of state 15 years ago. People have a little dream that doesn't come true and they just stop and keep eating and breathing for the next 20-50 years until they die. Very few figure out you just go get another dream. Stephen did. He got the warden fired from the DC Jail. He was head of a foundation that fought for prison reform. He filed a friend of the court (amicus)brief in the Farmer v. Brennan case before the supreme court. He became a counselor at St Vincents Hospital. He also wrote Thomas Covenant and other works. Other "firsts" include being the first native-born American ordained in the orthodox (Theravada) Buddhist Order on American Soil , and the first ethnically non-Indian American to be initiated into the Veerashaiva sect of Shaivite Hinduism in Bangalore, India in 1988. As Donny the Punk, he was also a respected writer and personality in the punk rock and anti- racist skinhead movements. Life is what happens to you while you're making other plans. A man that has no fear is a fool. A man that acts in spite of his fear is a hero. Climbing off my soap box now. You can read most of this and more at the ACLU website I linked to.

Electroglyph, thank you dearly for this information and for you interest in Stevie D's works and world. I did not know about his death, and I spent last night sad after reading your first post here. But hope isn't easy, and it's MY world to make... There will be no shelter here, the frontline is everywhere...

After doing a little research I was able to establish that Stephen Donaldson the gay activist and writer(R.I.P. thur. July 18, 1996) and Stephen R. Donaldson the Science Fiction novelist are two different people. Stephen Donaldson was born Robert A. Martin, Jr., in Norfolk, Virginia, he started using the name Stephen Donaldson in the late 1960's. Stephen R. was born in 1947 in Cleveland, Ohio. Stephen Donaldson earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Columbia University. Stephen R.graduated from the College of Wooster, Ohio, in 1968, and served two years as a conscientious objector doing hospital work in Akron before attending Kent University, where he received an M.A in English.

Stephen Donaldson became the first U.S. Navy veteran to have a homosexual discharge upgraded to fully Honorable Discharge under President Jimmy Carter. I can understand the confusion because of the similar names and the fact that Stephen R. is reclusive and little is known about him. Last point of evidence is that Stephen R. did a live Netshow appearance on September 26, 1997 at 8:00 pm Pacific, when he did a Q & A session with fans. this would have been very difficult if he had been dead for over a year! I just thought you guys might like to know. Sorry this is rambling, but the hour is late. :-) Dan

Not rambling at all, Danamo! Thank you for this bit of info, I'd been tearing my heart out the last few nights wondering what the fuck could drive a man so obviously tormented to create works of literature which ar so vastly powerful... Although, all things considered, I'm certain that the Activist Stephen and the Writer Stephen are both equally tormented... THe Chronicles of Thomas Covenant and the Gap Cycle are two of the most prolific and devastating works on paper, and it would have made sense if the Activist was the author as well. I'm glad to hear he is alive, and hope he writes more! On a different note, I found my hardback "Atlas of the Land" by Karen Winn Fonstad, and it contains the authorized maps and sketches of Revelstone. I will be redoing this picture almost entirely in light of my new source... (the Author)

I really look forward to seeing your new interpretation of Revelstone.