This photo makes me smile. Check it out. This is the marquee of The Shed, the barbecue joint where Traci and I ate this past weekend in Mississippi with Mark Van Name and Jennie Faries, who were two personal highlights this past weekend at Biloxi’s Coastcon 32. The Shed is out in the middle of nowhere and when you roll up to experience some of the best barbecue of your life (no joke), you see this sign that translates to “Yes, you’ve arrived in Meat Heaven.” Not only is this the kind of legendary barbecue joint that attracts a blues god like Buddy Guy, but I love, love, love that they’ve got Trent Lott’s name flipped over like a voodoo curse against all things bigoted and backward. Epic.

On to Coastcon — madly catching up here in studio now that I’m home. I was Coastcon’s Artist GoH this year and it was a memorable weekend with friends new and old. It was my first trip to Mississippi and I didn’t know what to expect post-Katrina, since the town is still recovering from the brunt of one of Mother Nature’s toughest punches three-plus years ago. Biloxi’s on its way back though, and Coastcon’s doing the same, which is doubly admirable in a soul-crushing recession. The con committee really busted its tail to create a successful con under tough circumstances, and I thought they largely succeeded. Highlights:

Enjoyed every moment hanging out with Michael and Linda Moorcock, two of my favorite people on the planet. Mike and I presented a slideshow called THE ART OF ELRIC and it was a real pleasure to look back at the history of Elric art with him. We did a few signings together as well. It was gratifying to meet Elric fans new and old, and hear that my Elric artwork fires them up.

As always, I had a blast with my pal Chris Roberson. Drank and traded laughs poolside with he, Diana Rowland, and the aforementioned Mark Van Name, and Jennie Faries. Ate great seafood. Ate my first Waffle House meal. Walked the beach with Traci and threw some frisbee shoreside. Had a great time meeting diehard Southern sf/fantasy fans of all varieties, costumed and uncostumed, who are the warmest people imaginable. On the way home, Traci and I spent a few hours in the airport with Virginia Hey of FARSCAPE fame who was also a featured Coastcon guest. She’s terrific and I wish we would’ve crossed paths sooner at the con.

Shoutouts to a few concom folks who outdid themselves: Ray Boudreau (who may have cloned himself being in so many places at once. Thanks for everything — take a bow, Ray!); Leanne Allen (who never stopped having fun even when juggling twelve things at once); Jason Fisher (who did a terrific job with tech — thanks, man!!); Alexis Tucker (who took good care of me and my work in the Art Show); Michael “Scotty” Scot (who gave me and Traci timely car rides with tourguide excellence); Frank and Claire in hospitality who gave me timely internet access when I needed it (thanks to Scotty too for that); and Randolph Allen (who managed the toughest job of all, which is programming). More good folks, much appreciated: Lindsey Hooten, Cheri Slaughter, Rob Cerio, Ken Grimes, Wayne Trovinger, Wayne Hergenroder, Mike & Tiffany Brown, Pauline & John Grigsby, Amanda & Jeremy Lepoma, Matt Duprel, Don Fallo, Stephen Gill, the art auctioneer (his name escapes me at this moment), and of course, the Chairwoman behind it all, Rebecca Smith. Thanks to all, and to any I’ve regrettably forgotten, thanks to you too for a memorable Coastcon weekend.

I’m proud, thrilled and honored to be a Hugo Award Finalist for Best Professional Artist! I’m at Coastcon 32 in Biloxi, MS at the moment. Normal routine returns Sunday night. In the meantime, I’m really happy. Congrats to all nominees in all of the categories. I’m especially proud to be in the company of Bob, Donato, Dan, and Shaun. And special shoutout to Lou Anders for his Best Editor nom, and the two noms for FAST FORWARD 2, of which I illustrated the cover. Gonna be a great weekend. 🙂

Here’s my final cover illustration for the forthcoming Pyr edition of Mark Chadbourn‘s AGE OF MISRULE: BOOK 2 / DARKEST HOUR, the second book in his forthcoming US debut. I’m happy to see this one much improved from the initial catalog version (which you can see at Amazon before it’s replaced by the final below). ‘Good to see that first version receive so much praise, but while I knew the concept was solid, I wasn’t happy with my execution. Now I am.

Here’s the way the book will look when it hits US shelves in June. The first AGE OF MISRULE book will release in May. Onward to finish the cover of AGE OF MISRULE: BOOK 3 / ALWAYS FOREVER — I’ll soon have the final version of that art to share with you.

Nice surprise this morning. Noticed that my cover illustration for George Zebrowski’s MACROLIFE is one of today’s featured works over at Art Blog: The Best of Modern Art, 1800-Present. Check out this quote wherein the blog’s creators describe what kind of art they like, and don’t like:

“Most of what has been outstanding art in the past hundred years has been disparaged by modern artists as ‘mere illustration.’ We find that term to be insulting, and more often than not, a snide attack from posers who cannot produce quality work. Let us be clear, we have no issue with pushing the boundaries of art, whether it be composition, medium, or otherwise. But for us at least, art must still fulfill its aesthetic role. In short, it must be beautiful, inspiring, sublime…or at least something that doesn’t look like vomit on canvas.”

Says it all, doesn’t it? 🙂 Today’s entries also include works by Jacek Yerka, Arnold Bocklin, Carlos Schwabe, Ray Caesar, and Luis Royo. Art Blog’s past archives make me want to spend all day there, with more than a few works I’ve never seen, and will probably research later on my own. I’ll definitely be visiting this place often.

Just found out about this via Chris Roberson and Win Scott Eckert. We’ve lost another literary giant. Phil Farmer passed away this morning at 4am in Peoria, Illinois. Never got to meet him but many of my author pals count Farmer as a humongous influence. Chris, Win, and Christopher Paul Carey come immediately to mind. Best wishes to all who loved Phil and his work. Pictured here is my cover for MYTHS FOR THE MODERN AGE: PHILIP JOSE FARMER’S WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE, edited by Win and published by MonkeyBrain Books about four years ago.

It’s done. Here’s my final cover illustration for the forthcoming Pyr edition of Mark Chadbourn‘s AGE OF MISRULE: BOOK 1 / WORLD’S END, the first of a spectacular epic fantasy series that debuts in the US this May. Blogs and websites all over the net have displayed a preliminary version of my cover illo that was provided for solicitation purposes. The version you see here is a first look at the final, finished illo you’ll see on the books when they release.

One of the big improvements for this final version is that I did a much better underdrawing of the god Cernunnos and you can really see the difference when compared to the prelim. Also the little figures at the bottom of the final are more active than they were in the prelim. The drawing of Cernunnos is just plain old pencil on 17″x22″ Crescent board, and I’ll likely display it at a convention or two later this year, as well as having prints of the final art for sale.

Here’s the final front cover design layout with everything in place. Pyr’s editorial director Lou Anders and I bantered back and forth a lot about layout decisions. Together, I think we finally got it right. (Special thanks to Diana and Lee for last-second insights.) Can’t wait for these books to hit the stores…..they’re amazing.

Wow, Subterranean Press has announced that the limited edition of Dan Simmons’ DROOD will be sold out upon publication. Amazing! What a testament to Dan’s writing and popularity that an $80 limited edition of his latest novel will be a complete sell-out despite the wretched economic times we live in. Congrats to Dan and to Subterranean Press on yet another big success. I’m really thrilled to see the trade edition of Dan’s book in stores (published by Little, Brown) and it’s not only selling well, but the reviews are ravingly fabulous (deservedly so)!! Way to go, Dan. And if you need a copy of the DROOD limited edition, and haven’t ordered one yet — there’s still hope. Subterranean says the best way to get one is to order directly from them, but apparently retailers and distributors’ orders were overwhelming, so they had to cut those down in order to have a few left to sell directly. If you want one, you might want to do it very soon.

The photo you see here isn’t my work or my studio. This is the studio of Barnet “Barney” Edelman, and his last painting. Today’s my mother’s birthday, and while I certainly don’t need prompting to appreciate her greatness, I’ve had a couple of recent reminders of the value of appreciating what I have while I have it. Today, I received an email from author and SCI FI editor Scott Edelman. He reported the passing of Barney who was a veteran art director at McGraw Hill and Scott’s dad. He asked that his father be remembered and while I normally wouldn’t mention friends’ private matters here, it’s the least I can do since Scott requested it. This image of Barney’s last painting really hit home and gave me pause this morning. The picture speaks for itself, doesn’t it? I’ll leave the tributes to Scott who wrote a beautiful memorial to his dad.

My pal Bob Eggleton lost his mom last week and I still think about him days after it happened. He posted a photo of he and his mom from his wedding day, and knowing him, I bet her memory will fuel his paintings in ways the rest of us can’t imagine.

Continued best thoughts and sincere condolences go out to Scott, Bob, and their families. Today’s a work day like any other here, but tonight when I see my mother, I’ll hug her a little longer and stay a little later.

Good stuff to share, while I continue cranking away on lots of new work:

* Congrats to FAST FORWARD 2 which was just selected as one of 2008’s best anthologies by LOCUS‘ latest Recommended Reading List. Several FF2 stories were also cited amongst the year’s best including Nancy Kress’ “The Kindness of Strangers”; Paul Cornell’s “Catherine Drewe”; Ian McDonald’s “An Eligible Boy”; Paolo Bacigalupi’s “The Gambler”; and Benjamin Rosenbaum & Cory Doctorow’s “True Names”.

One very important clarification: to anyone considering Paul Cornell’s story “Catherine Drewe” for Hugo Award consideration, LOCUS has the story listed as a novelette but by Hugo Award word-count standards, Cornell’s story (6,674 words) is best considered a SHORT STORY. So if you’re nominating “Catherine Drewe” for a Hugo, please slot it as a short story (thanks to Mr. Cornell himself for the clarification). However, when LOCUS conducts its online Locus Award Poll, they’ll likely slot the story as a novelette because their word-count standards may have suddenly changed from what they used to be. Whew — ‘make sense? Hope so. 🙂

* Subterranean Press recently unveiled the finished front cover layout for their limited edition of Dan Simmons’ DROOD. I did the cover illustration, but I’m not sure who did the typography. Probably Desert Isle Design, but I won’t know until I receive comp copies and see the credits. At any rate, this book is getting rave reviews including starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Library Journal. Congrats to Dan and to Sub Press! 🙂

* I just registered as a member of the ConceptArt.org community. It’s looking like I’m going to attend their March workshop. More on this soon.

Been away from here a while. Too long. Sorry ’bout that. Been unbelievably swamped lately, and working hard on several assignments. Coming soon here, new covers that I’ve been working on the last couple of weeks. Stay tuned. 🙂 Been working on new Elric drawings as well. It’s been long days and sleepless nights. Meantime, I thought this was pretty cool. The latest issue of INTERZONE (#220) has a terrific interview with Jeffrey Ford as well as insightful reviews of his recent Well-Built City trilogy trade paperbacks. I like the way they used my cover art in the spread. Both features are written by Rick Kleffel of the amazing Agony Column. And check out the issue’s cover art by Adam Tredowski, with design by Andy Cox. Love it.