Donato Giancola used the completion of his “Agincourt” painting to host a great party over the weekend. The painting started off two years ago as the cover for Tor’s Crippled Angel. Right away, Donato wanted to create a larger work for himself and so he painted the right hand side for us and kept the other half unfinished -- waiting for some free time. Eventually a collector contacted Donato and the piece became a triptych. The party was a who’s who of illustrators from the tri-state area. I had a great time talking and eating way too much food -- and I learned that the correct pronunciation of Gouda is “houda” so now I can be a real cheese snob. I was excited to see that Donato had the cover painting for The Golden Rose, sequel to The Serpent and the Rose, up on his easel...and looking great! And, for which he kept dead fish under hot lights in order to study the color and gills for the mermen.