Back to the Future:

Lee's Leanta Books brings classic sci-fi to a new generation

Thursday, January 25, 2007

By Kate Betton ~ Contributing Writer

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Leanta Books is undertaking independent publishing in an industry run by big business. Leanta, coming from the Gaelic word for "well read," is a team of three: Kathleen (Kate) Wiggins edits, her son Kylen Wiggins does the layouts, and David Burton illustrates.

Leanta's first publication, released in May of 2006, was a reprint of 1912's A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, featuring close to 30 original illustrations done by Burton.

"I've been illustrating for over 20 years, done covers and portraits, and I was working with a publisher who did A Princess of Mars in serial format," Burton says of Leanta's inception. "I wasn't really happy with the reproductions in that work, and one day I was venting to Kate, and a couple hours of later, it was like, 'we could do this ourselves, we can publish this ourselves.' And I've had a lot of response from the Edgar Rice Burroughs fan community."

Kathleen, Kylen and Burton started in December 2005 to formulate their plans.

"We spent a couple months just getting everything together that we needed to know," says Kylen.

"Doing all the research," adds Kathleen, "and coming up with our concept. Yes, we had Princess we wanted to do, but then, what else? What it is, is we want to take these classic novels and bring them back to life for a new generation. Bring them back to the kids that don't know about these stories, because they were written so long ago. And most are out of print. And then we wanted to make them more interesting by showcasing some new artwork, and make use of the artists' community that we have around.

"I have a large language background," says Kathleen. "I love to read, and editing just comes natural for me, it's easy for me. So I was like (to Burton), 'I can do that. And you can do the art.' And then there was this whole section we needed to figure out how to do, which was putting it all together."

"That's my job," Kylen adds.

Says Burton of Kylen's work, "He has an incredible eye, and sense for design and balance. So when I hand my work over to him, especially in this, a more intimate setting ... usually it's like, 'okay, in this day and age, scan your painting in, send it and cross my fingers.' But with this ..."

" ... we get to work directly together," Kylen finishes.

For each book Leanta Books publishes, the group begins by selecting a title to work on. Next comes research, locating sources and the beginning of the editing process. Burton reads each book many times, analyzing descriptions and character progress. He then does a series of thumbnail drawings, called a storyboard, to follow the story of the selected text.

The group decides on the number of drawings to be used and chooses them so as to balance the text and image ratio.

Kylen then scans the images, and combines them with the edited text to perfect the book's layout. The file is then sent to a publisher in Maryland. The publisher will print and distribute on demand, although the Leanta team keeps a stock of books for conventions.

Leanta chooses to publish in a large format to preserve the integrity of the artwork.

So how does one edit what is technically previously edited work? The material, Kylen says, "was published in pulp magazines, and their editors were kind of iffy sometimes."

"I go onto the internet," adds Kathleen, "and find sources for it ... I've had some where it was like, 'okay, this sentence to this sentence? Something's missing,' you know, so then I compare it to a published version of the book, an actual hard copy."

The art is integral to Leanta's editions. Burton teaches art from Leanta's home office in Lee to adults and children, in a small group of artists of all abilities. Another of Burton's students, Shawn Myers, illustrated Leanta's second book, H.P. Lovecraft's The Book: Volume One.

"We wanted to get Sean involved, he's an amazing artist," Kylen says, "he draws this incredibly creepy stuff, he just does it, almost unconsciously."
 

"You just read (these) books and your imagination takes off," Burton says. "A Princess of Mars was one of the first Sci-Fi books ever published. You just can't find that sort of thing in a bookstore these days. And there's fans out there that want to read it. Next we come out with Tarzan of the Apes. The only thing to counter that are the people familiar with only the Disney version, which is more popular right now ... the story isn't exactly the same."

"'Not exactly the same' is kind of an understatement," Kylen laughs. "It's entirely different."

"I made (the animals in Tarzan) something I always wanted to make them," Burton says. "They're not quite gorillas, or chimpanzees, they are something in between because they have a language. So I had to change the structure of their face so that would work. Because ... the jaw has to be different, for them to speak. The mouth has to be different. So I had to create a sort of cross between a Neanderthal and a gorilla.

"There's other sections I thought, 'this is really important,' and it's never been illustrated. So I tried to make it more real, give more humanity, more sensitivity to the animals. In A Princess of Mars I tried to give (the green men of Mars) a different look, and different expressions, because they're individuals. I did the same with the apes in Tarzan, I tried to give everyone a different look, so that they were individuals."

Burton recalls his mentor, Gary Gianni — the illustrator, of the "Prince Valiant" comics — told him, "Forget whatever you've seen. Read the book, and create your own."

"A Princess of Mars is a science fiction story, but it's also a romance, it's also an adventure story," says Burton.

"Tarzan comes out Jan. 15, then we have H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, which is going to be illustrated by Shawn, coming out in April. Then Gods of Mars comes out in July," says Burton.

Of the 26 Tarzan books, Kylen says they'd like to publish "as many as we can."
 
 

Bob Zeuschner, biographer of Tarzan author Edgar Rice Burroughs, says of the Leanta editions: "Burton's appreciation for and respect for the words of Edgar Rice Burroughs puts him into a very special class of artists who have provided artwork for Burroughs' greatest novels. We are lucky to have him profusely illustrating these classic romances."

Says Burton, "It's been fun, we're getting more and more recognition as we go along ... I was amazed when I held this (A Princess of Mars) in my hands for the first time. I had chills. To this day I still look at it and think, wow, this is real."

Leanta Books will hold a book signing with artists David Burton and Shawn Myers on March 31 from 1 to 4 p.m. at Barnes and Noble in Newington. For more information or to order books, call Leanta Books at 292-5622 or visit www.leanta.com.