The Queen of Summer's Twilight

by Charles Vess

When teenager Janet Ravenscroft is rescued from the night-time streets of downtown Inverness by a mysterious man on a black motorbike, little does she imagine what lies in store.

How could she know that this man holds the key to the mysteries that have plagued her life: her mixed heritage, her father’s casual cruelty, her mother’s absence, her sense that she’s never belonged? How could she know that her search for answers would lead her from the familiar environs of contemporary Scotland to the realm of faerie and that her life, her very soul, would be in jeopardy?

World renowned artist Charles Vess has worked with some of the greatest writers in fantastical fiction, including Neil Gaiman, Ursula Le Guin, and Charles de Lint, co-creating iconic works for which he has won numerous awards. He now unveils his remarkable debut novel. Born of a vision of two people racing across a field on a motorbike with a trail of burning grass in their wake, and inspired by the Ballad of Tam Lyn, Vess has produced a book of true wonder.

Genres: Fantasy

262 pages, Paperback

Published September 20, 2022

About the author

Charles was born in 1951 in Lynchburg, Virginia and has been drawing since he could hold a crayon. He drew his first full-length comic when he was 10 and called it "Atomic Man." Minimalist in nature, it required no drawing of hands, feet or heads ("they just glowed"). Since then, he has painstakingly drawn thousands of hands, feet, and heads in great detail. Charles graduated with a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University, and worked in commercial animation for Candy Apple Productions in Richmond, Va., before moving to New York City in 1976. It was there that he became a freelance illustrator, working for many publications including Heavy Metal, Klutz Press, and National Lampoon. His award-winning work has graced the pages of numerous comic book, publishers such as Marvel, DC, Darkhorse and Epic. He has been featured in several gallery and museum exhibitions across the nation, including the first major exhibition of Science Fiction and Fantasy Art (New Britain Museum of American Art, 1980) and "Dreamweavers" (William King Regional Arts Center, 1994-95). In 1991, Charles shared the prestigious World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story with Neil Gaiman for their collaboration on Sandman #19 (DC Comics) --- the first and only time a comic book has held this honor. In the summer of 1997, Charles won the Will Eisner Comic Industry Award for Best Penciler/Inker for his work on The Book of Ballads and Sagas (which he self-publishes through his own Green Man Press) as well as Sandman #75. Soon after Charles finished the last of 175 paintings for Stardust, a novel written by Neil Gaiman, for which he was given the 1999 World Fantasy Award as Best Artist.

In 2002 Charles won a second Will Eisner award, this time as Best Painter for his work on Rose, a 130-page epic fantasy saga written by Cartoon Books' Jeff Smith. The year continued to be busy for Charles with the publication of Seven Wild Sisters (Subterranean Press) and The Green Man, Tales from the Mythic Forest (Viking), both utilizing cover art and interior b/w illustrations by the artist, and both making the 2003 American Library Association's list for Best Books for Young Adults! By the end of the year he had completed 28 paintings for his first children's picture book, A Circle of Cats, done in collaboration with writer Charles de Lint (Viking). This cover art won the Gold Award for Best Book Art in the 10th annual "Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art" even before it was officially published. A new edition of Peter Pan (Tor/Starscape) featuringa cover as well as over 30 b/w interior illustrations by Vess was released this past Fall. Another collaboration with de Lint, Medicine Road (Subterranean Press) and the YA anthology,The Faery Reel (Viking ) will be arriving this Spring and he is currently hard at work producing drawings for several new books, including, A Storm of Swords (MeishaMerlin), the 25th anniversary edition of Moonheart (Subterranean Press) and a graphic novel collection of his ballads material for Tor.

Reviews

[Tatyana Naumova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ну а что, и недурно

[Alison C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rebellious teenager Janet is rescued from harm by a man riding a Vincent Black Lightning motorcycle, and then it turns out that her knight in shining armor is actually a knight in the Otherworld, at the court of the Faerie Queen. Alas for him, the Queen has gone mad, and it is the knight’s quest to find her and heal her, with the help of the mortal Janet and her family…. Charles Vess is well-known to fantasy readers as one of the premier artists of that genre, gracing the works of modern masters with his amazing art; this is his first foray into writing in the field. The story is a modern retelling of the folk tale Tam Lin, with a few sly nods to that story’s history (I particularly liked his hommage to Richard Thompson, who as a member of Fairport Convention recorded a version of “Tam Lin” and who in his solo career had a lovely song about a motorcycle called “Vincent Black Lightning” - I was proud of catching that reference until I saw that Mr. Vess mentioned it specifically in his acknowledgements). There is some repetition in the book, particularly with respect to Janet’s poor vocabulary and her relationship to her father, but those are minor quibbles in a generally enchanting book. I look forward to reading more of Mr. Vess’s work in the future, although I would hope that he would also illustrate his own writing (not done in the e-book version here); recommended!

[J.M. Landels · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely tale. I nearly couldn't get into it, because the young boys in the first chapter didn't grab me. But when we met the heroine Janet in chapter 2 I was all in, and Janet alone makes the book worthwhile. The other characters from myth and faerie tale add delightful flavour. The only dissapointment for me was that I was expecting more illustration (it being a Charles Vess book) than just the chapter headers. However, Vess tells the story so well, and I'm so familiar with his art, that my mind drew scenes for me, illustrated in the inimitable Charles Vess style.

This really is a 4.5 star review. If the first and second chapters were switched, it would be 5 stars.

[Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Call it 3.5. The art is radiant and perfect. The writing is decent, and I can never resist a riff on Tam Lin/Thomas the Rhymer, or a story that makes it clear that the denizens of Faerie are beautiful and terrible. Plus, our Janet is a POC, and while she faces some racism from other humans, the fae don't care at all. However, Janet's one-note temper and tendency to yell got old real fast, and there were parts where the story didn't gel--it was a lot of fae myth and legend all jammed in anywhere it would fit.

[katayoun Masoodi · Rating 2 out of 5]

It started not bad, but i just couldn't go on after chapter eighteen and i really should have stopped sooner but thought it was a novella and it's going to end soon. I didn't like anyone in the story, the story that i like, and didn't much like the style of writing either. Would not really recommned it

[Susan]

9/3/2022 received my pre-order, HC numbered/signed 46/250