In Catalina Esatrada’s world, happy, smiling animals bounce around swirling vines which wrap themselves hypnotically around stray pilons. This was an illustration that she created for the Zune player.

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To commemorate the release of the The Lost Ones, a graphic novel written by Steve Niles, we have a special edition 80gb Zune player to give away with the graphic novel to a Lost At E Minor subscriber. So if you’re not one already, sign up and leave a comment under this post! To be in with a chance of winning this Zune player, be a Lost At E Minor subscriber and tell why you really, really need this. Cause we know you do!

So, more about the graphic novel:

Zune Arts, a creative collective curated by Zune, Microsoft Corp.’s integrated digital entertainment brand, today released “The Lost Ones,” a graphic novel written by celebrated writer Steve Niles. For the Zune-commissioned novel, Niles was paired up with visual artists Dr. Revolt, Gary Panter, Kime Buzzelli and Morning Breath to take the reader on an epic journey through time and space. Each artist illustrated a different chapter of the novel, resulting in a blend of artistic styles that is emblematic of the unique creative collaborations for which Zune Arts has become widely known.

A preview of the novel is currently available at http://zune-arts.net/lost. Two digital formats of the novel (PDF and RAR) are available free for download today, and visitors can watch the graphic novel trailer and previously released behind-the-scenes podcasts documenting the artists in action. In early July, 42,000 paperback editions of the novel will be available free at select comic book and retail boutiques nationwide. In addition, 1,250 signed limited-edition collector’s copies with silk-screened covers packaged with artwork from the novel will be produced for select distribution.

“Working with these four talented artists on this project was a delight,” Niles said. “Zune Arts was the gateway that allowed us to show what’s possible when artists of different backgrounds and unique styles collaborate to create something larger than the sum of its parts.”

“The Lost Ones” chronicles the adventures of four friends — Duncan, Roxy, Rasheed and Cynthia — whose seemingly harmless day of extreme planet jumping turns into a mind-blowing, white-knuckle race for their lives to get back home. They find that home is no longer where they left it and the alien race, hell-bent on destroying them, isn’t getting any friendlier.

The graphic novel merges five distinct creative points of view to bring the story to life:

· Dr. Revolt, an original member of the historic New York City graffiti crew the Rolling Thunder Writers
· Gary Panter, an illustrator known for his surreal and raw style
· Kime Buzzelli, an emerging painter and fashion designer
· Morning Breath, a Brooklyn-based art and design duo blending a graffiti style reminiscent of early ’80s street art
· Steve Niles, celebrated author of “30 Days of Night”

“We are excited to bring together a collective of like-minded individuals who are innovators in the artistic community and come from a diverse set of backgrounds,” said Robert Schaltenbrand, brand manager for Zune at Microsoft. “The unique result of this collaboration is a genre-bending concept that transcends traditional graphic novels and delivers something new and exciting to readers and fans.”

Continuing its tradition of connecting artists and their fans, Zune Arts will also be hosting several book signings throughout the United States during the summer. Tour dates and featured artists are outlined below.

From a program that started more than a year and a half ago with a simple animated sketch of a man and a bunny, Zune Arts (http://www.zune-arts.net/) has grown to spearhead dozens of collaborations with world-renowned and emerging artists such as M. Ward, Lily Allen, Bitstate, PandaPanther and FriendsWithYou to blur the lines between art, technology, commerce, marketing and entertainment. On two separate occasions, films from the program have been inducted into the permanent film collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, which speaks to the talented artists and high-quality work being curated for the program.

In addition, Zune Arts offers weekly podcast feeds through Zune Marketplace, providing customers with access to some of today’s most cutting-edge cultural artists expressing themselves through film, music, design, illustration and everything in between. The podcasts are available for free download, and fans can subscribe to automated feeds so the series is synced with their Zune devices.

Sign up as a subscriber to Lost At E Minor over the next week and you could win a brand spanking new Zune 8GB Mp3 player. We have a Zune MP3 player to give away to a randomly selected new Lost At E Minor subscriber over the next two weeks. So, if you sign up to receive the weekly Lost At E Minor newsletter, which is jam packed with cultural goodness (hey, we should know, we put it together), over the next two weeks, the stylish musical sweatbox that is the Zune could be yours. So sign up now. We’ll love ya for it.