May I present you Maxan - former thief, city guard, “Shadow of Crosswall,” and the hero of my novel “The Animal in Man.” 

I tend to think of the creatures in Herbridia as having almost entirely animalistic features - fanned ears, fangs and claws, bushy tails, triple-jointed hindlegs, things like that - while the proportions of their bodies are almost entirely human - shoulders, waists, arms and legs, walking upright, the capacity for speech. There’s a reason this book isn’t 100% “Watership Down.” (Richard Adams, RIP.) There’s a reason that although the world and all its inhabitants appear as your typical ‘Fantasy’ expectations, the book is listed on inkshares as Science Fiction.

There’s always more than what there appears to be.

This brilliant work of concept art (the first entry in a series of visual aids I plan to flash in front of your eyes this year) was created by Paco Guidice. I’m so absolutely lucky to have stumbled across Paco’s work when I was searching for just the right artistic style to capture the vision I had in mind when I wrote The Animal in Man. I came across his portfolio site HERE. Fellow inkshares authors, you’d do yourself a favor to seek Paco out if you ever thought to commission art for your own project(s).

More art on the way, including everyone’s favorite Wolf Sorcerer Feyn (featured prominently in chapter one), and Hawk Knight Sarovek (also featured in chapter one, where she gets skewered on the serrated teeth of the hyena’s wicked sword).

Until next time, Animals.