Author Keith Backhaus:
My primary focus with Kazak: 100 Blades was to create a narrative that functions as a painting or tableaux, a process by which the eye moves to uncover, linger, and scrutinize the contradictions between motion and stasis. Every volume is really about a single moment, a fulcrum for past and future. The 'motion' then becomes the swirl of possibilities and the concept of 'fate' as it applies to the desert wastes in the world of my novels. In this way I get to explore some of the breadth I do in my usual work, but with more 'pop,' both in terms of excitement but also the sensibilities of 'pop fantasy.' Painting with blades, as it were.
Keith Backhaus is author of several novels (available through Empty City Press) blending fantasy genre work and anarchopunk aesthetics.
Illustrator Letao Sun:
I believe art is not simply representation, but a deeply-rooted universal language, capable of connecting across time and distance no matter what the differences between artist and viewer. As a more introverted person, I use drawing as both a means of communication and a 'space' for that communication to happen. Expression is messy and it is complex, and much of what happens 'in' a piece of art is not nearly as important as what is happening 'around' it. Whenever I approach a new piece, the excitement that I feel in exploring really bubbles to the surface; I find myself pawing through colors and mediums, impulsively wanting to do everything all at once and collecting huge piles of materials (even though I may not need them).
Letao Sun is an international student majoring in Illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Her black and white illustrations grace the covers of the volumes in Kazak: 100 Blades. Her current and ongoing work can be found at www.instagram.com/letaoart
Composer/Performer Thuy Nguyen
Music has always had a large influence in my life. Being first generation in America, I always struggled with my identity. Music can be described in a rather dull way as a series of vibrations and sound waves; I am interested in the indescribable resonance within us, what happens when music moves through and into us. We become a part of the music we hear. Music can make us laugh and cry; it can make us feel ill, or it can heal us. Music is about what we feel even though we cannot express that feeling through words. Through music, I found my true self – the ugly, mean, beautiful, kind sides, I found them all.
Thuy Nguyen is a graduate from the Hartt School of Music Dance and Theater. She performs with seven music groups, all of different musical styles, and is a violin instructor. She hopes that she can inspire and heal people through music, just as it has done for her.
Composer/Performer Richie Devon
It’s odd to think of a time in my life where music wasn’t at the very core of everything I do. In fact, I’d say, in the spirit of being overly romantic, my life didn’t begin until I discovered that very thing. I did not come from a family of musicians nor was I formally trained when I started playing guitar. My pursuit in this art form was just that; my pursuit and no else's. That meant no one was able to guide me but that also meant no one could stop me. Since then I have made all my friends through music, whether it be playing in bands and projects together, meeting them at shows, or being in the same genre aisle at a record store. The most profound personal growth I’ve experienced can be tied to or the result of my growth as a musician. Music is a key. It’s the key to the doors of friendship, experience, love, self-realization, and many others. It is a key not given but earned, a key not selfishly guarded, but uniquely shared.
Richie is a current student at the Boyer School of Music at Temple. Richie performs as the guitarist for the hardcore and extreme music bands No Gods, Lastima, and Half/Cross. Lastima is his most recent and most personal project. He also plays guitar in a collective music group called the Table for 26. Richie is a self-employed audio engineer and producer, having apprenticed under Grammy nominated producer Will Yip at Studio 4.