Latest News:June 20, 2021: Website updated and revised.   
|
 This map lays out Aztlantis, a secondary world, the setting for a dark fantasy trilogy, Death Gods Of Aztlantis. Heavily influenced by Mesoamerican cosmology with a liberal splash of Classical myth to keep things spicy, I wrote the first book in six months. You may recall previous drawings of characters from the novel. Wish me luck getting the novel published.
My biker crime story, Bring Me The Dead Of Jerry Garcia, is now out in Retreats From Oblivion, the Journal of NoirCon. This is the third published story about Kurt Malaparte, the Hippie Hunter. The story’s available for FREE, so why not learn about what happens when the Owl’s Eye Anus Eaters, Canada’s roughest biker gang, encounter the Hippie Hunter:
https://retreatsfromoblivion.com/2022/06/16/fiction-bring-me-the-dead-of-jerry-garcia-by-mark-mellon/
 Another character portrait from my novel in progress, The Infernal Twins. Nanos-Alux the court dwarf is the most able member of King Ah’itzotl’s retinue, skilled in science, magic, administration, and the military arts. Seated on a low dais, in the presence of his Divine King, he ingests a potent mixture of opium, toad venom, and psilocybin, to demonstrate the potion’s safety. Note the stylishly matched jade earflare and navel ring. To cool the cat while he blows his mind, I provided a World Tree for shade, a highly stylized ceiba, similar to the Norse Yggdrasil Tree, an ash in that myth.
 Is staring at you all the live long day. This is dedicated to the memory of my dear friend, the late Tom Moody, a son of Texas and a finer artist than I’ll ever be. Adios, Tom.
This is based on a detail from a stele excavated at Tikal, site of some of the most magnificent Mayan ruins. A mask from the belt of a King of Tikal, Siyaj Chan K’awiil, it combines features of the Sun, Fire, and Wind Gods. Mayan art has always fascinated me.
This is based on a devotional object found in a Mithraeum, an underground temple to Mithras, located near Hadrian’s Wall in Great Britain, circa 100-200 CE, one of many interesting features. Mithras is depicted as hatched full grown from an egg. More traditional portrayals have him emerge from a shattered rock. The Zodiac figures in the frieze surrounding the sun god are also unusual. I added the World Snake devouring its own tail for extra symbolism and also completed the body, still mostly roughed out in the original. I used my yellow oil marker for the eggshell and the gold one for the border and I’m fairly pleased with the results. His hair looks like Bettie Page’s though.
Here’s the original for comparison:
This is a portrait of Um-Kastor, a protagonist in my new novel The Infernal Twins. He’s the angry, ill tempered twin while his brother Poll-Ha is jovial and like to kid around. They both like playing the ball game better than anything else except for hunting and warfare (as opposed to fishing and golf). Any resemblance to Castor and Pollux is deliberate. Please note the jade butterfly nose plug.
 I started out trying to draw Cthulhu, but this is what I ended up with.
French title: Les Betes De La Mer Ont Faim.
|
