Douglas Beekman’s Brak the Barbarian appeared in sixteen illustrations for Dell’s The Fortunes of Brak (1980) by John Jakes. This volume followed the Pocket Books quartet that ended in 1978. No Brak collection is complete without this last entry. Despite Beekman’s ability to paint as well as draw, the cover for Fortunes was painted by George Bush.
Douglas Beekman (1952-) was one of a crop of Fantasy painters to come out of the 1970s along with Clyde Caldwell, Stephen Hickman, Ezra Tucker, Marcus Boas, Don Maitz, Wayne Barlowe and James Gurney. The Sword & Sorcery covers of ACE, Dell, Tower and Zebra Books bore their artwork.
Beekman trained in Ohio then New York. He painted covers for SF books but moved into Fantasy as his specialty. He has done Fantasy covers for Richard L. Tierney and Dave C. Smith, Piers Anthony, Leonard Carpenter, Janet Morris, Barbara Hambly, Terry Goodkind, Matthew Woodring Stover, David Gemmel and Jody Lynn Nye. He has appeared on the cover of magazines like Analog as well as done award-winning work for Marvel Comics.
The Fortunes of Brak collected the last five Brak stories not included in the previous books. Most of these appeared in Fantastic in the 1960s or Lin Carter’s Flashing Swords in the 1970s.
The Devils in the Walls
Ghoul’s Garden
The Girl in the Gem
Brak in Chains
The Mirror of Wizardry
Conclusion
While some of these scenes were illustrated in the old magazines and book covers, it is a pleasure to see some new versions done for Brak’s adventures. Douglas Beekman has added a dozen and a half images to the tales of Brak alongside artists like Frank Frazetta, Vernon Kramer, Virgil Finlay, Jack Gaughan and Emsh.
