a thousand words would be a bargain

David Cornish, author of the awesome Monster Blood Tattoo, is also an amazing illustrator. I was fortunate to have some pieces drawn by him for my kids' novel, The Changeling, when it was with another publisher (it's coming out from HarperCollins Australia early next year). The pieces won't appear in the final version, but they are so evocative and beautiful that I asked David permission to post them here. Perfect gent that he is, he said yes, so in the coming days I'll post them one at a time, with an accompanying excerpt from the book.

The first is the only in colour, and it's a beauty.



"Kuller's hair was grey and frizzled around a face deeply etched with red veins. He had tattoos shaped like eyes on the back of each hand. He wore a broad-brimmed black hat and robe, the latter belted around his waist with silky grey rope. As he stalked about the property, picking up stones and looking under them, taking down measurements in a small leather notebook, he hummed a tune that never ended. Round and round it went, sticking in Ros's ears like wax."

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