Finally, a compilation of Howe's fantasy, and 144 pages, at that! I admit that this review is premature, but I am totally excited to snag this new arrival...

John Howe and Alan Lee are the indisputed masters of "Lord of the Rings" artwork. And this fantastic compilation of Howe's artwork, of all kinds, is a wonderful collection of artwork by an immensely talented artist. (And a cute part at the end has photographs of Howe in armor)

A great deal of the book is devoted to Middle-Earth and J.R.R. Tolkien's works. There are the creepily reptilian dragons, spiders chasing hobbits, the majestic Elves, several different incarnations of the Balrog and its battle with Gandalf, the black-armored and evil Morgoth, the dwarves dining in Bilbo Baggins' hole, a misty Treebeard, Smaug asleep on his glowing gold, the Dark Tower of Mordor with a hissing Fell Beast in front of it... all sorts of goodies. The pictures come from book covers, book illustrations, game boxes, and so forth.

But Howe's artwork is not just for "Rings" and Middle-Earth. Oh no. There are sketches (uncolored) and previously unpublished artwork. There are illustrations from picture books like "Jack and the Beanstalk," "Rip Van Winkle," Howe's fascination with armor and Arthuriana, which includes lots of solid horses, armor, and sword-wielding knights; his illustrations for books by Anne McCaffrey, Robin Hobb, Charles de Lint, Guy Gavriel Kay, Jan Siegel, Margaret Weis, a compilation of Merlin-related stories, and much more.

Howe's artwork has a lot of variety, and many of them look almost like photographs. While you can tell that they're paintings, they're frozen in one second, often in the middle of an action scene. So you almost expect them to start moving. He uses light and shadow expertly, such as in the pic where we see Smaug on his gold -- under his wings, the golden reflection of his treasure is lighting up his face and scales. Or when he is shown attacking Laketown, where everything is dark and shadowy except the fire.

When the "Lord of the Rings" movie trilogy was given the go-ahead, Howe (along with Alan Lee, ) was hired by filmmaker Peter Jackson to help with the sets and landscaping and other designs. Now Jackson has written a foreword to this book, in which he talks about what a fan he is of Howe's artwork (and was, even before the movies!), and how his artwork served as a guide of sorts to how certain things should look. (Such as Ian McKellen's "Gandalf" look, which was based on Howe's famed picture of the wise old wiz) And the afterword was by fellow artist and friend Alan Lee, who describes how they met in New Zealand in 1998, starting work on the movies, and praises Howe for his energy and skill.

This is a fantastic read for fans of J.R.R. Tolkien's works, not to mention people who enjoy good artwork and fantasy/SF pictures. A lush, fantastical book of dragons, halflings, Elves and suits of armor. Marvelous.

I shall just get right to the point: if you are fascinated by the world of Tolkien or just like to read books with some extraordinary fantastic art, this is the book for you.

This book shows you a collection of the art of John Howe, a well-known artist of fantasy art, and someone who designed a lot of visual aspects in the Lord of the rings movies. It contains lots of artwork that has to do with the work of J.R.R. Tolkien, but also some of Howes other work with various subjects.

I can really recommend this almost everybody,because it's just fun to have this for the pretty pictures. The impressive things are not only the detail, the design and the colorscheme, but also the fact that the work really seem to show a certain greatness and movement. They make you believe that those moments were keymoments in the history of some other world.

This a MUST-HAVE.

This frank verbal self-portrait reveals the forming of the epitaphal poet. His early years are seen against the backdrop of his midwestern roots, his law training, and emergent writing. Particularly of interest are his anecdotes of life in the Chicago of Clarence Darrow, the White City, and his romantic ventures. The text gives insight into what formed the voices of Spoon River Anthology. It's haunting, wistful and funny. Tender nostalgia, particularly for Illinoisans.

Best known for his 1915 bestseller "Spoon River Anthology", Masters writes in a style simple and intimate; something that almost anyone can read.

This personal portrait paints a picture of the attorney/author's life, loves, pinnacles, and misfortunes, and gives us a clear view of life as it was at the turn of the century.

Born in Garnett, Kansas, and raised in the Petersburg, Illinois region, Masters tells the story of the famous and not-so-famous people who touched his life and left their marks on this celebrated author.

Must read all by this author: wish to contact author directly at elfinno@aol.com (Finnegan)

demand and supply

Dellum is a humanist and intellectual, who has lived through extremely unjust treatment while leading African Americans to political equality. All intellectuals, and every conscientous person in general, have a lot to learn from his dignified and persistent struggle, through his witty and humorous story-telling.

This is indispensible book for any studying self pychology and related fields - object relations

Edward Lee and Ron Chepesiuk collaborate to compile Confederate experiences recorded in letters and diaries in their superbly history, South Carolina In The Civil War. Seventeen accounts provide us insights into the lives of a Confederate spy, a German immigrant, the voices of ordinary women, and common men whose love for their state led them to risk their lives and liberties in its defense during the harrowing years of the American civil war. Highly recommended for academic collections and Civil War buffs, the informative, engaging text is enhanced with photographs of many of the contributors, along with maps placing events in context.

Quite a broad spectrum of work here. I'm particularly attracted to the more Surrealist efforts of Wilson. I enjoyed the group poems, too, the way all those voices melded together into a single effort.

Thomas Sullivan provides a clear, consise, and easy to use reference guide for anyone to use. This book not only contains actual text of some major environmental laws, but it also sites case studies and court decisions, all in an easy to read format. This book is a must for anyone dealing in environmental matters, and is a good source of reference for anyone concerned with the environment and public policy.

As a Captain in the Washington State Civil War Association I portray the Company "A" 1st Confederate Engineers commanding officer. We try to make our re-enacments as authentic as possible but information on the Confederate Engineers is very difficult to find as most records were lost when Richmond was evacuated. I have found Mr. Jackson's book to be of immense help in studying the history of the 1st C.E. The information he gives is obviously well researched and is presented in an interesting way so it is enjoyable to read. The use of letters from the participants gives the book a personal touch that I found drew me into the action as though I were actually there in the works at Petersburg while the seige was going on. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the War Between the States.