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‘Island Of The Lizard King’ and ‘Scorpion Swamp’

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It’s been a while since I showcased (and critiqued) any artwork from the Fighting Fantasy book series, so let’s now check out entries seven and eight: – ‘Island of the Lizard King’ and ‘Scorpion Swamp,’ which were both released way back in 1984.

For me personally, I remember when I was twelve years old and feeling that these classics were beginning to drop away a little at this point, having peaked with earlier stories such as ‘City of Thieves’ and ‘Deathtrap Dungeon’. In fact, to this day I consider ‘Island of the Lizard King’ to be the last title in a brilliant sequence of fantasy adventures (not counting ‘Starship Traveller’) from books one through to seven.

Anyway, let’s get on with giving each story a quick overview before diving into the artwork that played such an important role in enhancing these iconic and imaginative tales.

‘Island of the Lizard King’ by Ian Livingstone is set in the same fantasy universe as ‘City of Thieves’ and ‘Deathtrap Dungeon’ – with the events of the story taking place not far from Port Blacksand and Fang – two locations that are well-known to fans of the series.

As the story goes, Lizard Men have been raiding towns and villages, kidnapping young men to be put to work as slaves in the brutal mines of Fire Island – which is under the merciless rule of The Lizard King. Of course, it falls to you – the great adventurer – to set sail and sort this slave-driving bastard out once and for all!

The cover art for this book is by Iain McCaig, who provided the artwork for the previous two entries into the series – the highly regarded and aforementioned ‘City of Thieves’ and ‘Deathtrap Dungeon.’ The illustrations within the pages of ‘Island of the Lizard King’ are from Alan Langford, and we shall now focus on some of his amazing drawings.

From these opening two pictures alone, one must conclude that Langford is an artist of immense talent – in fact, his work does bear resemblance to Iain McCaig’s contributions from those earlier books.

And respect to the guy for treating teenage fan-boys with some hot chicks!

That being said, Langford’s drawings of monsters are not too shabby either.

I remember ‘Island of the Lizard King’ as being a difficult adventure to defeat, with countless foes – both man and beast – trying to kill you from all angles. Not only that but success depended too highly upon pivotal moments in the story, such as deciding to take a chained monkey with you or not: – the one seen in the picture below.

Overall, Alan Langford’s artwork is right up there among the best in the Fighting Fantasy series. From what I have seen so far, only Russ Nicholson and Iain McCaig have done it better.

We now move onto ‘Scorpion Swamp’ from Steve Jackson, which to be honest was a book that I couldn’t really get into back in the day. Taking a look at it again all these years later, I think my lack of enthusiasm could have had something to do with the illustrations.

Before I continue – and to be fair to the artist Duncan Smith – my scanned copy was not of the highest resolution, but even with this concession the artwork in this book is nowhere near the quality seen in the previous title. Not only that, but if you want to engage with a predominantly male reading group, I would keep the wimpy stuff out: – note the following examples.

What the heck was going on at Scorpion Swamp?

It wasn’t only these illustrations that were seriously undermining whatever menace and excitement may have been in the story – I mean, check out the following efforts…

This could be a sketch drawn by a member of The Dog Lover’s Society.

And why do I feel like singing the theme song from ‘Cheers!’ when I look at this picture?

And these two blokes look like English cricket selectors.

But all jokes aside, there were a few standout pieces from Duncan Smith, and I would prefer to finish on a high note – so here they are.

Overall, the seventh and eighth entries into the Fighting Fantasy series – ‘Island of the Lizard King’ and ‘Scorpion Swamp’ – are two books that in terms of visual quality could not be any further apart.

While every illustration in ‘Lizard King’ oozed danger and captured perfectly the chaotic elements of the story, the more light-hearted offerings from ‘Swamp’ might have you believing that the adventure was one big picnic – with a couple of bad guys thrown in here and there. But let me finish by saying that Duncan Smith is a top artist – not as good as Alan Langford in my view – but perhaps his style was not as well-suited to blood and guts fantasy books.

Anyway, that’s a wrap for these two titles and next on the list are ‘Caverns of the Snow Witch’ and ‘House of Hell’ – both released in 1984.

Artwork courtesy of Fighting Fantasy, Alan Langford and Duncan Smith.

‘The Blind Date Ball’ has arrived

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It’s that time of year again – when I offer yet another entry into the world of literature.

‘The Blind Date Ball’ is technically my tenth book, but I don’t really count ‘Lockdown Driver Wanted’ in that list – so I consider this to be publication number nine.

It is available for free on KDP Select, otherwise the kindle edition costs around the price of a cup of coffee. The story itself is a direct sequel to 2022’s ‘Nine Mile Beach‘, but can be read as a standalone novel.

I must say that if you are easily offended – such as being triggered by Trump hats and so forth – then this book might not be for you, as there are numerous slurs, derogatory terms and misogynistic themes contained within. In fact, the title was going to have ‘A Misogynist’s Tale’ added to it, so that might give you a better idea of what to expect. Personally, I don’t think it’s that bad, but I have to put the warnings out just to be sure.

‘The Blind Date Ball’ is currently available at the Kindle Store – see link below.

The Blind Date Ball

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My latest offering should be available on Kindle Unlimited in June.

This will be my ninth book – tenth if you count ‘Lockdown Driver Wanted’ – and is the first direct sequel that I have written, as it follows on from the events of ‘Nine Mile Beach’.

The story revolves around two young men – who have been friends since childhood – and the vastly different turns their lives take after becoming involved in a match-making social event.

Of course, there is a lot more to it than that, but I can’t give too much away. What I can say is that the title was almost going to be ‘The Blind Date Ball: A Misogynist’s Tale’ – so that might suggest something about one of the main characters in the book. I’m still 50/50 on whether or not I should still use that additional line.

Currently I am in the final stages of editing, having completed the previous draft back in October last year, and in all honesty it’s looking pretty good at this stage.

‘City of Thieves’ and ‘Deathtrap Dungeon’.

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Having already covered the illustrations from the previous four books in the ‘Fighting Fantasy’ series, it is now time to appreciate the artwork from the next two classic adventures.

For me personally, I felt that these two titles marked the peak of the franchise – with ‘Deathtrap Dungeon’ in particular elevating the popularity of the collection to new heights.

The covers and inside artwork for both books were created by the same person: – American artist Iain McCaig, who is perhaps best known for his work at Lucasfilm with the ‘Star Wars’ prequels. According to what I have read across numerous sites, McCaig played a major role in designing the characters Darth Maul and Queen Amidala.

McCaig is a brilliant artist, and you will note throughout the following drawings that he often has the subjects ‘stepping outside the frame’, so to speak. It’s a fantastic effect and made the artwork for these books stand out and added both weight and atmosphere to the exceptional writing and storytelling.

Let’s start with ‘The City of Thieves’ – where the story is set in a dirty, crime-riddled and violent town called Port Blacksand. Within the city walls are countless foes and villains wanting to kill you, and McCaig’s illustrations reflected these perils perfectly.

Is it just me, or does the person in the last drawing look like Barry Manilow?

All jokes aside, we now continue with ‘Deathtrap Dungeon’, where I have selected more of McCaig’s exceptional work to be admired. As with the previous book, it is difficult to filter out the illustrations into a ‘greatest hits collection’, but I will do my best.

For more information about Iain McCaig, please follow the link below to his IMDB profile.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0564572/

McCaig’s only other contributions to the ‘Fighting Fantasy’ series were designing the covers for ‘The Forest of Doom’ – which I covered in the previous review – and ‘Island of the Lizard King’, which I will focus on next time.

Covers and illustrations courtesy of Fighting Fantasy, Iain McCaig and Ian Livingstone.

Artwork from the ‘Fighting Fantasy’ book series.

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‘Fighting Fantasy’ is a series of books that was first released in the early 1980’s and were written (mostly) by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. I loved reading these (or playing them) back when I was in school, and can recall just how awesome the opening ten to twelve books were – so much so that I can still remember the plots and characters.

The illustrations scattered throughout the pages would bring to life many scenes within the adventures, and were drawn in a style that created a both a sense of dread and wonder. Although the artwork for every book in this series was first class, I always felt that the pictures in the first two publications – ‘The Warlock of Firetop Mountain’ and ‘Citadel of Chaos’ – created by Russ Nicholson had a little something extra about them.

I will post a follow-up article about the other artists involved in the series at a later date and showcase their excellent work, but for now the focus shall be on Nicholson’s illustrations.

These are from ‘The Warlock of Firetop Mountain’.

And the pictures below are from ‘The Citadel of Chaos’.

Fighting Fantasy books can be purchased online, with sellers such as Amazon offering a brand-new boxed set of the first dozen books. Of course, there are many second-hand titles available through eBay, but the books are now forty years old and probably played through many times – and are therefore a little worse for wear.

Russ Nicholson sadly passed away in 2023, and will be remembered for his legendary fantasy art that can be appreciated across many projects including ‘White Dwarf’ and ‘Warhammer’.

All images courtesy of Fighting Fantasy, Puffin Books and Russ Nicholson.