Ciruelo’s “Dragon Caller” Provides Magical Cover for Writers of the Future Vol 34

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We are very excited to announce that world-renowned artist Ciruelo has provided the cover art for L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 34 releasing April 2018. And we hope you like it too! Known for his fantasy paintings, Ciruelo is perhaps best known as the illustrator of The Official Eragon Coloring Book.

“Dragon Caller” depicts a high magician standing on a platform carved with symbols which amplify the power of his summoning a dragon. Ciruelo stated, “The scene depicts some kind of collaborative relationship between dragons and humans, which is the kind of situations I prefer to paint instead of battle scenes among them.”

Last year and for the first time, we successfully paired the skills of two masters when we gave Larry Elmore’s cover art to Todd McCaffrey and asked him to write a short story based on the painting. And so Larry Elmore’s “Crimson Dawn” inspired Todd McCaffrey to write “The Dragon Killer’s Daughter” published in L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 33.

Based on its success, we are once again pairing two accomplished professionals. Ciruelo’s “Dragon Caller” was given to Jody Lynn Nye from which she has written her story called “Illusion.” By the way, for those of you who don’t know, Jody was co-author with Anne McCaffrey on many projects including The Dragonlover’s Guide to Pern. About working with Ciruelo, Jody stated, “I love having something to inspire me when I write. I was delighted to have the opportunity to write a story based on the splendid piece of artwork that forms the cover of this anthology, a fantasy painting by Ciruelo. It so happened that the subject matter dovetailed neatly with another fantasy series I have been working on. Instead of treating with the main character of that series, this story hearkens back decades to her employer, a great wizard—or so he seems.”

After being introduced to the Illustrators of the Future contest by fellow contest judge Larry Elmore (Dungeons & Dragons cover art), Ciruelo became a judge in 2017. “I feel honored to have been invited to be part of this prestigious contest which I considered to be an invaluable opportunity for writers and artists to start a professional career. And I’m personally thankful because the Fantasy / Science Fiction genre benefits from this generous event created by Mr. Hubbard.”

Now that you have seen the cover for Writers of the Future Volume 34, what do you think?