This instalment of the Dalek Game is, of course, for George R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones. I had planned to draw a Game of Thrones Dalek for a while now, and had planned a chess image. Then a few weeks ago I read Georgette Heyer’s Cousin Kate, in which the heroine learns to play Fox and Geese (not a key plot point). The name reminded me of the recording of J.R.R. Tolkien singing Sam Gamgee’s song about the trolls to the tune of “Fox went out on a chilly night”, but I am always willing to be reminded of that. I had, however, forgotten the game altogether.

It is, I grant you, not the most memorable of games (especially if you prefer parlour games to board games anyway, as I do), but it is one which appears to lend itself well to many varieties of handicraft, and therefore features frequently in craft books, woodworking books, self-sufficiency handbooks and so forth (a brief summary of my childhood there). I remember my mother made us a set in orange and white polymer clays.

In other news: You may notice the April blog header, which is a snippet of the cover of To Spin a Darker Stair, the new book now available from Fablecroft Press. It features 2 stories, one by Catherynne M. Valente and the other by Faith Mudge, with illustrations by me. I’ll post more detail of the art soon.