rainy, with occasional sunshine

A slightly redrawn and edited version of the Dream Library stack (version 3 if you’re counting).

Since I first drew this, my first wish has come true with the final Book of Dust novel having come out (not what I expected, but I liked it)! Which would you most want if you could pick one?

(Currently part of a half price print sale on my shop!)

I am fairly certain that this letter was never published (alas!) but if you are ever able to make your way to @thewadecenter in the American Midwest, you can see the originals!

I can’t photograph or scan the pages without getting in trouble with copyright and security and stuff, but herewith my meticulously accurate (if rearranged) sketches (real size to a 9x11 sheet of paper):

Layla Khani (Iranian/British, born 1972)

"Poppy Fields", 2025.

Did the Inca have exquisite building techniques, efficient messengers, and quality waterworks? Yes. They were also an expansionist empire built on violent conquest and the splitting up and relocating of conquered peoples.

Did the Aztecs have a gorgeous capital city built at the heart of a lake, with floating farms and towering temples honoring their fascinating pantheon? Yes. Guess what tho. They were also a violent expansionist empire who practiced ritual sacrifice of prisoners of war.

The Iroquois confederacy had one of the most unique representative political systems I’ve ever heard of, with women taking a forefront in most local government matters too. But their internal peace allowed them to redirect violence to their neighbors, as so often happens with tribal confederations, and they eventually violently conquered the Ohio valley and destroyed or displaced dozens of other indigenous groups.

Even my beloved Cahokia has the graves of sacrifice victims amidst its ruins.