#charder

Hunters Unlucky

Hunters Unlucky by Abigail Hilton, follows the story of Storm, a ferryshaft, as he navigates a post-war world of secrets and defies the expectations of his herd by surviving against odds again and again (and we love him for it).

The book was recommended by @ibenkrutt, who painted the beautiful covers, and I decided to give Hunters Unlucky a shot, going in blind.

I certainly don’t regret doing so! I think the book should be a must-read to any fan of xenofiction (stories from the point of view of animals or non-humanoid characters), but I believe any enjoyer of speculative biology and ethology, like me, would enjoy giving the book a chance too.

Hilton’s writing is very pleasing to read; the words flow easily and are chosen with care, depicting scenes and actions with welcome precision. The dialogues are quite exquisite (I’m envious!).

Plot points get foreshadowed, and every single scene builds upon the other in meaningful ways, making active reading a very rewarding experience. Truly, I couldn’t have chosen a better story to make my first live-blogging commentary on! You can check it (beware of spoilers) in the following blog @chainsawing-time-wha where each post is accompanied by fanart by me :)

Depiction of animal death below.

Based on the following comic strip lul

Hunters Unlucky Illustrations

🖛 Lullaby 

🖛 The Secret Heart

🖛 Arcove’s Bright side

All of my cover illustrations for Abigail Hilton ( @alhilton ) for her upcoming novels and novellas set in the Hunters Unlucky universe. Highly recommend this series for any animal epic or xenofiction fan.

Inspired to post this after seeing @karvolf‘s recent fanart. This is how I first pictured ferryshafts from Hunters Unlucky. A quick portrait of Charder, the herd leader in the original novel.

Ferryshaft are omnivores with hooves, so I initially gave them a more ambiguous mammalian face. After talking with the author, I have since changed it to something more canine, and I now draw them like a cross between a coyote and a lithe horse.

The Ailing Ferryshaft

Fanart of a character from Abigail Hilton’s Hunters Unlucky universe. This scene is from a short story (currently unpublished) set many years after the events in the main novel, so not super spoilery. It depicts a secondary character at the very end of his life, emaciated and riddled with cancer, but content and at peace.