Game of Thrones

Showing all 12 results

0 thoughts on “Game of Thrones”

  1. Dude!

    You didn’t say anything about being the Number 3 science fiction/fantasy artist on the planet, according to the Locus Poll.

    Hey everybody – check it out – John’s up to No. 3 from No. 8 last year –

    http://www.frankwu.com/13.html

    Yow!

    Frank Wu

  3. Man, I’m out of the state this weekend. Are you planning any events for Austin?

    I have the book already, and I can vouch for the fact that it’s supercool.

  4. Thanks, John. I think it’s gonna be fun. Wish you could be there.

    Josh — Thanks very much. it’s looking like I’m doing a signing at Book People (6th and Lamar) in Austin on Thursday night August 10th, right before ArmadilloCon. If you’re going to ArmadilloCon, then you can always catch me there instead. That looks to be the next time I’m in Austin, right now.

  5. Congratulations, John — that’s fantastic news! I’ll be cheering for you. A very attrctive blog, too, by the way.

  10. Welcome back, John!

    I was in Bedrock City in Houston this past weekend, and the clerk, on seeing me flipping through a copy of Heroes and Monsters on the shelves, looked at it and said, “Hey–that’s John Picacio art!”

    The clerk hadn’t heard of me or the book, but apparently is a big fan of yours.

  15. Glad you like it, Therin. Thanks very much. I think the McCoy novel (PROVENANCE OF SHADOWS) comes out in September, then the Spock comes out in December, followed by the Kirk book in February.

  17. Agree with your assessment. I’m not sure voters need to include a qualifying work, though this doesn’t seem to differ greatly from listing the publishing house behind an obscure title. I may be ignorant, but it doesn’t seem that verifying an artist’s eligibility would be an insurmountable task for the Hugo committee in 99% of the cases. Again, I am much gratified by Mark Kelly’s wonderful list of cover art available at http://www.locusmag.com

  18. Agree with your assessment. I’m not sure voters need to include a qualifying work, though this doesn’t seem to differ greatly from listing the publishing house behind an obscure title. I may be ignorant, but it doesn’t seem that verifying an artist’s eligibility would be an insurmountable task for the Hugo committee in 99% of the cases. Again, I am much gratified by Mark Kelly’s wonderful list of cover art available at http://www.locusmag.com

  19. Well, I agree with a lot of what you’re saying here. I think there’s a subtle, but important difference though, as opposed to the example of listing the publishing house next to an obscure title.

    I think the main advantage of voters needing to provide a qualifying work is this: it requires the voter to think beyond just the name-reputation of the person they’re voting for. It requires the voter to at least know one work from the past 12 months that embodies the reason why they’re voting for the artist of their choice. And if that artist happens to be someone who didn’t produce work in the previous year, or happens to be deceased, then that makes it impossible to vote for them. Currently, that’s not the case, and I don’t think that’s in the best interests of the Hugos, and their legitimacy. There’s great diligence paid toward making sure that publication dates and eligibility are in-line for the Hugo categories of the written word. Why shouldn’t the same diligence be paid to the Hugo for Best Professional Artist? I think the amendment helps the Hugos to help themselves.

  22. Well done!
    [url=http://rlcpzkco.com/pgzx/lfgz.html]My homepage[/url] | [url=http://pobsqbvo.com/kjmt/tfim.html]Cool site[/url]

  27. Weird. I replied, but it wasn’t showing up in the Comment counter, even after I refreshed. So I’m trying this again….

    I appreciate it. It was a pretty heavy moment.

    You were certainly missed amongst the Posse over the course of the weekend. It was a high-octane, high-alcohol weekend. 🙂

  28. Congrats, John! You’ve made a HUGE impact on the field in such a short time. (I know, I know, it doesn’t feel short to _you_.) This award is well deserved…and I’m sure that your Hugo is just around the corner! 🙂

    Thanks for all your help at the WSFS meeting. You’re reputation as a great artists and one that is strongly connected to the writers made a big difference there. I think we did some good.

  29. Hey, John, Congrats on the award!!! I just heard about it over the weekend from your Mom. That is so awesome!!! I also heard about the Star Trek and Xmen stuff, pretty cool!!! Keep it up, Bro, I love showing off ur stuff to friends. Hope to see you soon. Later

  30. Thanks, Irene. I really appreciate that. Big congrats to Donato on his Hugo. It was a long time coming, and as I said on your blog, it’s a good day.

    You did the lion’s share of the work at the WSFS meeting, and I’m glad I was there to be a part of the effort. Shouts to Dave Seeley, Alan Beck, and Erik Gist for being there as well. We DID do some good. I don’t know if any of the smofs will ever read this, but many thanks to them and all of the folks on the committee led by Ben Yalow. That was key.

  31. Hey, Rene!

    How’s it going? Glad you found this place. Yeah, leave it to my mother to let everyone know. She’s quick. 🙂

    I’ll probably see her today or tomorrow and show her the Chesley in person.

  34. Thanks, Charles. We’ll definitely spend some time together in Austin. Hopefully, we’ll go have at least one good meal together while we’re there. Congrats to you too on your Chesley for Best Color/Unpublished. THAT was one of those REALLY loaded categories….you, Donato, Bowers, Maitz, and O’Connor all had heavyweight material here….that was a beast. Congrats, man.

  35. Hey, John — let me add my hearty congrats to you for the Campbell win. I was very happy to see Chris Roberson have such a strong showing in the final voting, but your record and your work speaks for itself, and it was fun to watch you handle the whole process on your blog. Class act all the way.

    And yeah, I hope you and I get to work together someday. That would be a good day, wouldn’t it? 🙂

  36. Well geez, I would have gone to Worldcon if I had known it would get me a mention in your blog, you name-dropping whore!! Heh heh heh.

  39. Hey John, I’m really sorry I live half way around the world :-), but that can only mean that when we finally meet the joy will be greater. Much greater. I was really happy to see you again in California, and you will see me again next year in WorldFantasy 2007. And yes, we will be in touch soon. Congreatulations (again) for the Chesley Award, and upcoming events too.

    Rani Graff

  40. Hey John, I’m really sorry I live half way around the world :-), but that can only mean that when we finally meet the joy will be greater. Much greater. I was really happy to see you again in California, and you will see me again next year in WorldFantasy 2007. And yes, we will be in touch soon. Congreatulations (again) for the Chesley Award, and upcoming events too.

    Rani Graff

  44. Thanks, D. 🙂

    Yeah, Pocket’s been a complete pleasure to work with, so I’ve no doubt that I’ll be getting copies at some point.

    I LOVE the way Pocket’s art director/designer John Vairo did the typography on these covers. Very savvy and modern.

  45. John – Have you seen Harlan ranting about this particular title and how it infringes on his ownership of City on the Edge of Forever? Harsh words are being spoken.

  46. Hey, Scott —

    How are you? To be honest, I didn’t know about it until you mentioned it just now. I’m not privy to the details of these things when I’m offered a cover assignment. Whatever arrangement (or not) between Harlan and Pocket is completely their deal, so I’m out of the loop on that stuff. Sorry to hear that this has occurred though, and I hope it’s worked out in short order. Marco and company are good folks over there at Pocket and I’ve enjoyed working with them thus far.

  47. Hey, welcome to the other side of the pond! I have no idea what my travel schedule will be next year, but I’ll try to arrange to the in Europe in April.

  48. Hi, Cheryl —

    It would be great to see you over there. I’ve been to renaissance festivals before, and that’s the closest thing I can equate to this event. However, the grandeur and scope of this seems to be way beyond that, and not necessarily period-specific either. They’re still in the early stages of planning for this show, so as I find out more, I’ll pass it along….:)

  50. Yeah! Although it’s only free for me…we’re paying for Traci’s airfare so she can join me. But what’s not to love? We’re stoked about the opportunity. I even had a passing temptation to graft our honeymoon onto this trip since we’re getting married in March, but I decided against it, and just let this Netherlands trip be more of an organic adventure. So we’re still honeymooning in Toronto, as planned previously.

  53. Hi, J.E. —

    Sorry for the tardy reply. I really appreciate that! It was a fun cover to illustrate. The novel was originally published back in 1949, so it’s had a lot of cover treatments. It was fun to come up with a fresh take for this new Del Rey edition. Glad you like it. 🙂

  55. Thanks, Scott. I assume that you’re gonna be manning the booth for ADVENTURES IN CRIME AND SPACE over there in the dealer’s room. I think I signed ACS’ copies, but if I haven’t I’ll be sure to do it at WFC. You’ll be a busy man over there…wearing all of your hats at once…author, editor, retailer…should be fun. 🙂

  56. It will be a busy weekend, for sure. But I will perservere through it all, just as you will, Mr. Auctioneer and defending Best Artist. By the way, today (10/19) USA Today had a brief note on JOe Hill’s first novel due out in February (I believe a few days after Valentine’s Day). They love it. I’m sure Traci will too.

  58. ……………::’.:..
    ……………..”$;.
    ………………”””:;…
    ………………….$;………
    ………………….$:’……$$;…
    ……;$$$O$$$$$$:……:$$$$.
    ……..$O$$$$$$$$$$$…..;$$$$;.
    ……..’$$$$$$$$$$$$$$;.$$$’$$;…
    …….'”$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$..$$;……,…..
    ,..:….’:$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$…’$$…..:;'””
    “‘.:……:$:”:$$$$$$$$$$$…’$;..;:;;””
    ‘”‘$;..;.;$’….””$$$$$$$$…..’$.$$$$:””
    ‘”‘ “”‘””” ;.$$$$$$$$””……'”””‘
    ……….,;$$$$$$$:””
    ……….’$$$$$$$;.;.
    ……………”””‘”””””:$..
    ……………………….,$$
    …………………….. ;$$:
    ……………………..,;’$$’
    ……………………..”:”$:

    He knows this site!

  59. John:
    It’s interesting that you leave a word of recommendation for next year’s WF people, as I know that the Artist Category caused much searching for this year’s judges.

    One recommendation I would make in return is that you encourage your artist friends to make submissions to the judges. This doesn’t have to be expensive to achieve, but this year only one submission from an artist was received, with the result that a great deal of scouring around websites was needed to supplement art which appeared on book jackets, in SPECTRUM, etc.

    Just a thought.

    Christopher Roden

  60. Hi John, thanks for your great report and kudos! WFC took up about 2 years of my life, and I’m really looking forward to being able to use that time for other things.

    I’m not sure what 2007’s artist line up is, but I’ll be sure to pass your comment along to them (as well as 2008, Calgary, since I know they are in the process of getting out guest invitations).

    As for the art show, we really struggled with the space issue, and the final layout was only decided in the last week or so. If you want, I’ll give you the sad story when you come back in August (we discovered a problem with the original space about 2 months ago, and were scrambling for a solution).

    Renee

  61. Hi, Christopher —

    Great to see you over in Austin!

    Funny you should say that about the portfolios….I mentioned the same notion to a friend of mine who said he’d pass it along to the awards administrators. In addition, I’ve heard some folks offer the notion that the Artist category should be juried separately by a jury of artists, which makes a lot of sense. Personally, I don’t have a problem with non-illustrators/artists jurying the category, as long as they’re willing to give the same due diligence to the Artist category as the other written categories.

    Do the current WF Awards rules offer any clear, explicit submission guidelines for artists to submit portfolios of their work? I don’t recall that being the case. If so, that might explain why the jury receives so few direct submissions in this category. Perhaps the language could read as follows…bits of the following are adapted from the rules established by Arnie & Cathy Fenner for the highly-successful and respected SPECTRUM ANNUAL competition…

    “Artists interested in consideration for the Artist category are strongly encouraged to submit a portfolio of works to each judge (please limit the size of the images to no bigger than 8.5″ x 11″.) No original art, slides or computer disks will be accepted for judging. Loose, framed art will not be accepted for judging. No more than 12 works may be included in the portfolio. Works published or created in the year in question are eligible for inclusion. Proofs, tearsheets, color prints, laser prints, or other reasonable high-resolution hard copy are acceptable. Artists with a published folio or book of art in the given year are allowed to submit a copy of the book to each judge (in lieu of a portfolio) and the size restriction does not apply to these published works.”

    Something along those lines, maybe….just a thought…

  62. Hi, Renee —

    I appreciate the thoughts. Wow, you did a tremendous job, and the overall convention was a rousing success.

    1. For those that are curious, I offered the notion of Jeff Jones as a 2007 Artist Guest of Honor for a few reasons. First, you have the artist’s proximity to Saratoga Springs. Second, there are collectors in the area who might be willing to exhibit some of their prized Jones paintings in the Art Show to share with congoers. Most importantly, WFC ’07 would be an ideal opportunity to honor a living artist like Jones who has influenced the field so much and still does (he was just given the SPECTRUM ANNUAL’s Grand Master Award, in fact). Beyond the humble notion of Jones as a 2007 Artist GOH for the WFC, (and as a personal sidenote), I’ve been voting for Jones and for Michael Whelan for WF Lifetime Achievement Awards for the last few years because their contributions to the field are so far-reaching and significant that it’s self-explanatory to even the casual observer. What an amazing thing it would be to see Jones honored with the WF Lifetime Achievement Award in ’07, in addition to being a special GOH of the convention. I’d like to emphasize though that the Saratoga Springs con committee are the bosses, and I’m sure they have they’re own ideas of what’s best for their show. I’m not trying to intrude upon that process, with my editorial comments. Just offering a brainstorm or two…

    2. My thoughts about this year’s Art Show layout were intended more as a cautionary tale to the upcoming con committees. I understand that this year’s committee probably had extenuating circumstances that forced the Art Show to be a dark, ill-conceived space, but that explanation doesn’t change the harsh reality for the participating artists, many who came hundreds of miles to participate. Here’s my overall feeling toward future WF Art Shows: WFC expects the Best of the Best to display in its Art Show year after year. That’s terrific, but if so, then it’s upcoming bids and venues can’t continue to offer such poor layouts and lighting schemes. I was VERY proud to see the FACT group and the Austin con committee put such a premium on elevating the overall art quality of the Art Show, and really put a concerted effort toward inviting the Best of the Best. However, I speak from personal experience that it costs a lot of money to frame, crate, ship and insure art for a show like this. For some of the elite artists, we’re talking thousands of dollars for those cumulative costs, and that’s before they even commit to the membership, hotel, food and airfare costs. When artists are investing that kind of time and money to exhibit in one of these shows, then why shouldn’t the Art Show space be first-class with adequate secondary lighting and adequate space? If the display conditions are poor, then how can the convention expect the artists to continue to participate year after year? It makes sense that the Art Show should be given the same careful consideration that’s given to the Dealer’s Room, the Banquet Facility, and the Programming Rooms. If future WFC bids build a reputation year after year of first-class display considerations, then the first-class artists will want to come year after year. Otherwise, it doesn’t make sense for them to spend all of that money to display in a left-over space. The Art Show doesn’t need special treatment, but equal treatment. If so, then WFC will a richer convention year after year.

    Again — thanks, Renee, and to all of the FACT crew. My critiques here should never tarnish the exemplary work the whole Austin/WF crew did this past weekend. Texas is lucky to have one of the premier SMOF groups in the country, and it’s a credit to that crew that everyone I talked to went home so happy.

  65. John,

    Your suggestion of having Jeffrey Jones as the artist GoH at next years WF Con is a good one, however I’m afraid that he’s been a AGoH once before and the rules precluded being invited twice. Seeing his originals would have been a treat. I was a pretty frequent vistor to the Studio back in the day and watched the evolution of Blind Narcius etc. It was indeed a thrill and a deep learning experience. Being around those four artists was a heady aesthetic experience!

    The Northeast is a treasure trove of great artists. The Woodstock/Kingston/Red Hook area boasts Jim Gurney, Steve Hickman, Jame Warhola, etc., The Connecticutt are has Michael Whelan, Tom Kidd, etc. and the North Hampton area has a huge community of illustrators, among them: Tony DiTerlizzi, Dennis Nolan and Ruth Sanderson. I envy all of those artists as they are within easy driving distance of the con. It should be a heck of an art exhibition for sure.And with Ted and Bonnie Atwood running things it will be a great art space as well.

    Best,
    Charles

  66. Hi, Charles —

    Great seeing you at WFC. It was fun seeing folks get up close to your tiny little strokes in your trees, and say “How does he do that?”

    Thanks for the heads-up re: Jones. I wasn’t aware of the previous GOH nod. Fair enough. Maybe a collector or two in the northeast might still be interested in sharing some of that Jones goodness in the ’07 WFC Art Show though …. hmmmmm ….. anyway….you’re right — it should be a dynamite art show next year! 🙂

  67. Great story, John. My first convention was 1973 – AggieCon 4. The Guests of Honor were Jack Williamson and Chad Oliver. I was in Heaven. I will never forget that event. It changed my life and I have been to at least one SF convention every year since then, including AggieCons 4 – 37. I now sell books to the children (and some grandchildren) of people I met back then. Jack will be missed.

  68. Hey John:

    Thanks for the good word on DARK HARVEST… and thanks for giving me exactly the cover I wanted. You, sir, always bring the very best to the game.

    Your favorite dark horse,
    Norm

  69. Hi, Norm —

    Pretty terrific feather in your cap! Nice way to cap off 2006 for you, I would say….:)

    Great to see you and Tia, however briefly, a few weeks ago.

  70. Thanks, Scott. Yeah, he will be missed. I wish I would’ve gotten to meet Jack in person. Like I said though, I feel fortunate to have had the brief creative connection that I did.

  71. Great to see you too, John, and congrats from both of us on your many successes this year. It’s great to see one of the good guys finish first.

    Norm

  73. Those words are never a prelude for anything good

    *cough* Considering the first place my mind goes to when reading those words? Yes, yes they are.

  77. John,

    First off, thanks for doing the Q&A with us to kick off SFRevu’s artist series for 2007. Lou Ander’s interview is now as updated as it’s likely to get (with all those links and html things added in) and can be seen along with yours and Cory Doctorow’s interviews in the current issue at http://www.sfrevu.com.

    Ernest Lilley
    Sr. Editor, SFRevu
    SFRevu.com

  80. Hi John,
    I came across some of your work at Barnes and Noble the other day. Congrats to you….all of your hard work has paid off. Last time I remember, you aspired to be a Architect. Take Care!! Diane

  81. Hi, Diane —

    Thanks very much. I appreciate the kind thought! I guess it wasn’t really that long ago that I was involved in architecture, but it sure seems like a long time ago….that field taught me a lot.

    Hope you’re doing well over there! 🙂

  84. Hello John,

    Wow, you do keep busy. Great to see your artwork, and I look forward to hanging out at the Elf Fantasy Fair.

    By the way, any joy in terms of those travel arrangements? I haven’t heard anything new.

    Be well,

    David.

  85. First time on your post. Got here through link to James Clemens”Shadowfall” etc. Please let me know how the Fair is going when you are there. Thought I might hop the pond next year and see myself. Sounds better than the Renaisance Fair. How can I link to your work? Publlicatiosn? Web-Site?
    The trip sounds great.

  86. Hi, David —

    Actually, I haven’t heard anything, come to think of it. I’ll query them again this week, and let you know when I hear. Thanks for reminding me.

    I’ll check in with you as the date approaches, regardless…..

  88. Congrats! Your book is definitely on my list of art books to pick up as the pocketbook allows this year. I am hoping for sooner rather than later!

  90. Hey, Chris —

    Looking forward to seeing you out there. It’s gonna be a great show. As far as pubs, I’ll definitely be looking. I’m sure the hotel bar will be the place-to-be, as with most WHCs…

  95. Great account John!
    I’m sure I read that The Big Blow by Joe Lansdale is going to be made by Ridley Scott too!
    Allyson Bird

  96. Congrats on your two nominations! Your work is very intriguing as well as inspirational. GO JOHN

  97. Thanks, Allyson! Great to see you too. I hadn’t heard about that re: Lansdale….wow, that’s great news…I know Joe’s had films in the option stage before…let’s hope this one gets made. It was a great weekend for him over at the Stokers.

  99. I have that X-Men book on order, so this is cool to find out. 🙂

    I love the Modesty Blaise on the Myths for the Modern Age cover, too.

    Now I see why with all these awards and stuff!

  100. Thanks, Blue. That’s very kind of you. Yeah, I’m looking forward to the release of the X-MEN book myself…..kind of a dream come true for a guy who grew up on X-MEN comics as a kid.

  101. Glad you had a good time at World Horror Convention. It’s great having a guest who is accessible to really talk about their work. It was a pleasure chatting with you at the banquet. Congratulations on the Hugo nomination too.

  102. Hey, Alex —

    It was a tremendous show out there, and words really can’t communicate how great a job the con committee did. I’m very lucky to have been a GOH when a crew like that was running the ship. It was a dream. My wife and I had the time of our lives, and we thought Toronto was just an amazing town. And yeah, thanks re: the Hugo noms….I’m very grateful to be up for two of those this year. Great to see you, and stay in touch. 🙂

  103. John-Heya! Just got my copy of the World Horror Con book and it’s just fantastic! Lots of nice pix, esp your stuff and I liked all the inks by Gary Gianni. Happy to be part of it!

    Hope you’re well,

    Bob

  104. Hey, Bob!

    Yeah, wasn’t that book amazing? Steve Jones and Michael Marshall Smith did the design work and I thought it was first-class all the way. I had never heard of a convention souvenir book being done as a formal hardcover book, but apparently it has been done before. I can’t imagine there’s ever been one done more nicely than this though. Yeah, I was really honored to just be a part of the whole package. Love your blog, by the way!

  105. John – The 1976 worldCon in Kansas City (MidAmericon) had a hardback souvenir book designed by Tom Reamy and Arnie Fenner (I believe) with a nice George Barr cover featuring Heinlein. It is a treasured item in my collection.

  106. For some reason, comments on the Elf Fantasy Fair blog post are not enabled to me.

    Oh well.

    In any case, congrats again on the Locus Awards noms (and my poor memory on the Sunday about them: that’s what you get if I go out with my brother the night before…;-).

    Just to say that I had a terrific Sunday night at Elf Fantasy Fair with you and Traci and big D, little B, the prof, and Chris Geere. Barely made the last train home!

  107. Hey, Scott —

    Yeah, that sounds like a good one. I was blown away by the WHC book, even though I knew it wasn’t the first time this had been done….I’ll show it to you sometime, if you haven’t already seen one.

  108. Jetse —

    Looks like your comment showed up after all. Yeah, it was a great time with you in Utrecht. I’m very glad you made it….thanks to you, I think everyone had a blast that night. Glad you made your train! We’ll be in touch, I’m sure…and congrats to INTERZONE as well on the awards love….

  110. Hi, anonymous —

    I’m curious….were you trying to view the image via my blog or my website gallery? Just checked the link on the blog to that image (December 31st) and it seems to be working fine. What browser version are you using?

    If it still doesn’t work, let me know and I’ll have the webmaster look into it. Also here are links to the covers via Amazon. This is the link to the McCoy cover, and you can click the other ST covers from there:

    http://www.amazon.com/Crucible-McCoy-Provenance-Shadows-Star/dp/0743491688/ref=pd_sim_b_2/102-0850578-1179357?ie=UTF8&qid=1178733768&sr=1-1

  115. JD — Wow, thanks for the love over there at SFSignal. Very nice of you. You guys are a must-read for me every day….I appreciate it.

    Carl V., Bill P., and Chesya!

    Thanks very much!! Again, much appreciated. I’ll have more new cover illos posted here in these next few days….

  116. John,

    I found your blog when Mark Finn mentioned the Locus nomination–been awhile…

    Gorgeous art as always, and yeah…I can’t recall Publisher’s Weekly mentioning art in the issues I’ve read (with the exception of their children’s book issues).

  117. Hey, Christopher —

    Wow! Long time, no hear….great of you to stop by….I appreciate it. Went and checked out your website just now….glad to hear you’re still at it as well. 🙂

  119. And anyone who sees this cover and has even the remotest knowledge of your work will have no trouble identifying the artist. Another great cover!

  120. Thanks, JD….thanks, Scott.

    Yeah, I may have to catch my breath a bit before I’ll be ready to think about another art book. 🙂 You’ll be the first to know, J….I’m grateful that the current art book has had the legs that it’s had.

    Scott — ‘Appreciate it. Traci got your phone message and told me you called. We were away from the phone. I’ll call you tomorrow….

  121. Given that I would know a Picacio cover from a mile off, I don’t think you need to worry about it not being seen as yours (at least by me).

    Congrats — Tepper is one of my favorite authors.

  122. Hey, John —

    Heh. I appreciate that. Kind of you to say. Yeah, I’m looking forward to what Sheri’s legions of fans think of her new book. Hope you like it as well. Congrats to you too on all of your tour madness…..looks like really good times…:)

  126. John – Once again a spectacular cover to a book by a great writer. Bruce McAllister is one of the great undiscovered secrets of the field. And a hell of a nice guy.

  128. Creepy little thing, isn’t it. I accepted one on behalf of China once, and had to look after it for a few days until I could get it to him. They are quite heavy too. I could just imagine Poirot finding someone who had been murdered by being hit with one.

  130. Hi, Cheryl — Thanks very much. Yeah, it sure is creepy. Surprised to hear I was even in consideration for this, and when I read the email, I couldn’t picture in my mind what the award looked like. After looking it up, I realized I’ve seen it before, but it’s utter freakiness must’ve mind-tricked me. 🙂 At any rate, it’s nice to even be considered.

  131. Wow–that’s absolutely stunning! Excepting CANTICLE, I think it’s my favorite to date–it’s really gorgeous.

  134. Hey, man. The book looks fascinating. I am sure I will be getting it. Have a great time in Seattle and induct Emschwiller into the Hall. Then get back to work.

  139. Obviously fans appreciate the hard work that makes one of your covers so special. Congrats!

  140. Hi, folks —

    I really appreciate it all around. Thanks so much to all of you guys. Yeah, I’m still on Cloud 9…..I don’t think it’s sunk in yet. I figure it’s probably best not to wait for that, and just get back to work….:)

    Again, many thanks!

  144. Thanks, Dia….it was really cool. Hope to see some photos from your trip when you get a chance…..maybe over there on your Journal? Hope you had a great time…

  145. Hi, Andy! Yeah, I’m hoping to be at Armadillocon again this year. Because of a family commitment on the Saturday of the show, I’ll probably only be there for all of Friday, and then Saturday morning to early afternoon. So I’ll leave early, but hopefully we’ll connect then! 🙂

  150. John-I was one of the “fighters” for Emsh, part of the jury for the HOF inductees. There was alot of go-back-and-forth and it came down to two guys and, we went with Emsh who I think is so sadly overlooked in our modern world of SF art. It was a good day.

  151. Hey, Bob —

    I didn’t know that. I’m glad Emsh had folks like you fighting for him. He belongs in that club. Someday you and Whelan are gonna be in there too. Wish Emsh were here today to see that he made it. It would be great to see these guys in there someday….Richard Powers, John Berkey, Paul Lehr, and Vincent Di Fate. I hear Berkey’s health has been rough in recent years. It would be neat to see him inducted, so he could perhaps savor the moment…

  152. John,

    Big congratulations! I’m very glad to hear about this. It’s especially nice as I got to know you and your work, and I know how passionate you are about your art. This is clearly well-deserved. All the best for the future as well!

    David.

  155. Ooh, those all sound like fun panels. I’d especially love to hear what Laurel Hamilton thinks about her covers, since they are so, well, romancey-photomontage (which I like, but I know a lot of people don’t)

  156. Hi, J.E. —

    Yeah, that is going to be an interesting panel, isn’t it? You’ve got Laurell K’s covers on one hand, and then you’ve also got Toni Weisskopf, publisher of Baen Books, and Baen has a very, very particular style for their book line. Very different approaches, but both sell tons of books, and have rabid followings.

  158. Hi, Charles —

    Thanks very much! Sure, feel free to post the cover at your blog. Definitely happy to see folks spreading the gospel about all things Moorcock, and especially this next book of his.

  161. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a penciled piece of art from you. I think the first thing I ever saw from you was a penciled piece (the comic sample with the kids in pirate costumes).

    Very sweet illustration!

  162. Scott — Many thanks. Glad you dig it. We’ll catch up soon…

    David — Heh. You crack me up. Hey, if you get the new books, there’s not just my work for the first book, but Kaluta will be illustrating the second, Steve Ellis the third, and Justin Sweet the fourth. No official public word on who’s illustrating the fifth and sixth volumes. And if that weren’t enough, the intro that Alan Moore wrote for the first volume is awesome….

    Christopher — That was a long time ago, huh? That was for an early version of a story that became “The Big Fish Story.” Truth be told, everything I do starts off with pencil, so it’s there underneath the paint and the finishes….maybe not to the level of execution you see here, but it’s there. It’s just that this time the pencil work is left all on its own. 🙂

  166. that guy with the white hair looks like lucius malfoy on hp novels. his cold expression… greetings from a novelblog author (fireheart.tk) Andry Chang. btw I’m linking to ur blog via pyr

  167. Thanks for stopping by, Andry! I read the first Harry Potter novel, but I haven’t read the others more for lack of time than anything else. I’m not familiar with Lucius Malfoy, but I’ll look him up and see what you’re talking about. Of course, in this case, the guy in the white hair on the METATEMPORAL cover is none other than Count Zodiac AKA the legendary Elric of Melnibone. 🙂

  168. In hardcovers? Please? When, where, who? My Elric collections consists of science fiction book club collections. Here’s hoping.

    Amazing work, as always.

    I’m not a fanboy, John, really.

  169. Hey, William! How are you, man? I miss your blog. As far as a hardcover release of this, there are no plans at the moment. Del Rey’s releasing this in trade paperback because Mike really wants the book to be affordably priced for the most readers possible. At least that’s my understanding. I’ve heard a lot of folks saying they want to see it in hardcover though. You ain’t alone, that’s for sure! I’d love to see that as well. But for now, that’s the story. It’s certainly possible that this could be a nice hardcover series, but there are no plans at this moment.

  170. Glad you had a great time. There are some truly wonderful people there associated with that convention.

  176. I’m doing well–busy working and writing. Some health-related stuff slowed the writing progress, but that’s getting better and I’m about to start a rewrite on what I’m currently writing.

    I haven’t seen many of the old comic book folks. I need to head up to Vernon and check out Finn’s movie theater, and I’d love to head south and hit Austin, San Antonio, and Houston some long weekend.

    That’s about it…nothing too exciting–just staying busy.

    Take care, John–good luck with everything!

  177. Hi, Christopher —

    Sorry for the tardy reply. Yeah, Armadillocon is next week in Austin. Mark Finn will likely be there. Rick Klaw too. I’ll be out there for sure for all of Friday and part of Saturday. Best of luck as your health improves and your writing project finishes. Stay in touch…

  181. Thanks, Ryan. Yeah, I would say there’s a bit of Avengers influence in this book. As far as the cover, I was more thinking of the swinging fashion described by Kim, and while I worked on this one, I kept watching a DVD of Jimi Hendrix’s Monterey Pop performance, so that had a lot of influence on the color scheme….

  183. I’d love to make it down for Armadillocon to see you, Finn, and Klaw. I haven’t seen the three of you in the same place for a long, long time.

    Unfortunately, I’m not going to be able to make it down.

    I’d love a signed copy of COVER STORY, but it will have to wait for another time.

    Hope you guys have a blast!

  185. I’ll sign that copy of COVER STORY the next time we cross paths. Hopefully that’ll happen sometime next year. I’ll tell Rick and Finn that you and I have been touching base. Take care over there, man.

  186. Man….seems that Picacio guy is showing up all over awards, lately 😉

    Congrats!

    And very cool seeing Monkeybrain Books getting some nods, too.

    Good luck to all the Texas folks!

  188. Hey! I listened to it and it was cool. I can add your voice on the journal. 🙂

    Byzantine… Gustav (looked him up on the Wikipedia, /duck/)… I can see the influence, I think. Neat.

    You got your first cover by… luck? That’s really interesting. The duology of persistence and luck shows up again!

    Wow, about the Hendrix museum. That just sounds cool!

  189. Hey thanks, Ryan. Much appreciated. Glad you liked the interview.

    Yeah, essentially I did get my first cover with some good fortune. The truth is if I wouldn’t have done those comics first, and caught Mojo Press’ attention with them, I would’ve never gotten the book cover gig, so the comics weren’t luck. But the fact that Mojo Press saw that I would be a good fit for a book cover when I had never done one…..yeah, that’s definitely a stroke of good fortune I’ll always be grateful for.

    And yeah….if you’re ever in Seattle, you’ve gotta check out the EMP and the Science Fiction Museum/Hall of Fame…..it’ll blow your mind. Wow.

  190. Hi John,

    I just wanted to say how much my daughter, Erica, appreciated winning the print you donated to the art auction here. She’s fifteen and used her own money to bid. Her money is earned money, not allowance money, so that should say something. She recognized it as a fabulous value (especially with the sig) and loves your art. Thanks for the donation. It was one of the highlights of her weekend :)!

    Linda Davis

  191. Ah, well, you always find a mistake after you post. Erica didn’t win the print in the art auction…it was the charity auction!

    Linda Davis

  195. Nice con, and like Jim & Laurie I was there partially due to no Worldcon for me this year (first one I’ve missed in 22 years) and to and talk business with Howard Waldrop about his forthcoming book.

    I’d like to be back next year … we’ll see.

    Michael Walsh

  196. Hey, Lou and John — Thanks very much. Glad you guys like it. Off to Japan in about 14 hours. I’ll be debuting 4 original interior drawings from this book over there. I’ll likely blog about at least a couple of them when I get back home….

  197. Hi, Michael —

    Sorry we didn’t get to visit more at Armadillocon. It was a truncated con for me as I mentioned. I’ll drink a sake in your honor at Worldcon. 🙂 See you at WFC!

  198. John,

    This is absolutely stunning. Wow. Even though I have the white wolf edition, I will be getting this when it publishes.

    Stunning

  199. Man. The more of these you do, the more Elric is looking like an appealing thing to read. 😀

    I’m beginning to think I’m the only person who follows you around who hasn’t yet. 😉

  200. Hi, Robb….hi, Ryan —

    Off to Japan in a short while….just wanted to say thanks very much for the kind words. Ryan — don’t feel bad. A lot of my friends read the Elric books as teenagers, but I came to them much later in life. Never too late to start. 😉

    More when I get back…

  201. Sorry to hear you didn’t win anything, but you’re in great company and definitely on people’s radar. And that’s not such a bad thing 🙂

    Looks like a blast of a trip. Everybody I know who’s visited Japan has loved it; glad you had such a great time.

    And happy 38th!

  203. Christopher — thanks very much. I appreciate it.

    Lou — we did good, didn’t we? It feels surreal to know that we pulled off so much so far away in so little time…thanks, man.

  204. Dude! I’m so glad you had a good time in Japan (though sorry about the lack of hardware). I saw a photo of you and the giant cut-out of my face – hilarious.

    Frank Wu

  207. Hi John,

    Happy Birthday!

    I was quite fortunate to have a chance to talk with you. I also made friends with Lou. It was the best Worldcon ever, though this is my first.;-p

    – hayato

  208. Hi, Hiroyuki….hi, Hayato —

    It was was great to meet both of you over there.

    Hayato — I gave my friend Lou a photo of you and me and he posted it on his blog. Hope you don’t mind. It was terrific to meet you. Please stay in touch. My email is john [at] johnpicacio.com ….(if you remove the spaces and the [at], course).

    Hiroyuki — You ran a wonderful art show. I learned about many Japanese artists that I was not familiar with before. I think Naoyuki Katoh is brilliant. There were others besides him. You did a great job. As I mentioned to Hayato, please stay in touch. Again, my email is john [at] johnpicacio.com ….(again, if you remove the spaces and the [at], course). Please give my best wishes to Yasko as well, and please tell her to contact me so we can stay in touch. She was terrific and so helpful. I appreciated everything you and your staff did.

  209. Hi, Hiroyuki and Hayato —

    Please forgive my poor typing above. A redundant “was” and the phrase should be “of course” instead of “course”. I only say this in case you’re trying to translate my English into Japanese. You don’t need my misfires to make it more difficult. 🙂

  210. HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY!

    I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed the con and your stay in Japan.

    Thank you so much again for your kindness and everything, it was a great pleasure to be able to talk to and help wonderful artist like you. You were as amazing as your arts!

    So, my E-mail is bumtaiz [at] gmail.com –please let me know when you come to Japan again someday… well, mail me anytime if there was anything I can help you.

    -Yasko

    I’ll be 32 tomorrow (7th), by the way. 😉

  212. Hi, Yasko!

    Again, many thanks for your kindness and patience while running the Art Show. You were grace under pressure. I wish I would’ve been able to spend more time with you and Hiroyuki. Hopefully I’ll be back in Japan someday. The people are extraordinary. It would great if you and Hiroyuki were able to make it to Denver for Worldcon next year! Stay in touch….and Happy Birthday. 🙂

  215. what up?!

    I find sending e-mail to Blogger help (through their contact us function) actually does provide some sort of results.

    Good luck with this. It can be tough to get a website taken down.

  218. While I’d trust you enough to buy insurance from, I think your talents are much better suited for art.

    Good luck with the doppleganger blog…that’s just nutty…

  220. John D.; JK; Scott; Deanna and Christopher — Very cool. Thanks for the shout.

    Much love to you over there, Ogden Zoo!

    So I guess my audience roughly totals 6-7 people, huh? Must be a lot of folks lost in that bogus insurance phantom zone. I’ll have to settle that score very soon here…

  221. I love, love, love Thousand Deaths. I love how the front cover just looks like he’s standing on hilly or sandy terrain. Gorgeous. May be one of my favorite pieces of yours right now.

  222. Hey, thanks! It’s an image inspired by “The Wolves of Memory”, the longest piece in the book. I’m glad you dig it. 🙂

    Saw that your comment shows up here, but doesn’t show up in the comment counter on the blog. Must be a delay with Blogger….maybe once I type this, it’ll register on the counter….

  227. That is just gorgeous. You’ve really nailed their characters, and I love the shot of Bejor in the background. DS9 was always my favorite Trek, and it’s also the show I worked on the most, so I knew more of the writers/producers of that show and it’s cast than any other. So it’s really great to see this. Now you’ve done TOS and DS9. I guess you need to do a TNG.

  228. Very glad you dig it. Thanks for helping me with DS9 background early on, back when I started brainstorming. A lot of folks agree with you — that DS9 is their favorite of all the Trek incarnations. Myself, I’ll always love the original series best.

  231. Thanks, djk. Not a bad idea re: the book of sketches….I’m assuming you saw COVER STORY: THE ART OF JOHN PICACIO, which released last year from MonkeyBrain. Lots of sketches in there, but your idea of a book of sketches only is intriguing. That could be nice…..

    Checked out your website Imagi-Nation. Nice! Good luck with it. Bookmarked it and I’ll keep an eye on it.

  232. I’ll be picking a copy of your book soon: I’ve looked through it at a bookstore before…it takes a little more of a push to buy an art book compared to a novel…feels like more of a splurge, something you give as a gift…

    …I find artists sketches fascinating–maybe they’re a step closer to pure idea… to the process of creation.

  234. Yeah, it could be fun to put together a book of sketches at some point….I was looking at a Jeff Jones sketchbook earlier today….never ceases to amaze….

  235. Speaking of sketches, if you get a chance, check out the new book of Frank Frazetta’s roughs and thumbnails. Rough Work is the title and well worth looking at.
    I agree about Jeff Jones. He’s an amazing artist who I don’t think has received the attention he deserves.

  237. John dear, you are world famous. You have a bunch of major awards. Yeah, sure, other people have got money, but you have celebrity, and they can’t buy that.

  240. That’s the coolest thing I’ll read all week. It’s so funny how you can go through something years ago almost invisible, show up to something full of doctors and lawyers, and have people admire what you do.

    Geeks rule in the end. Hell, it’s not even that they rule; most people just grow up and realize the things that matter change, and art is one of the coolest things out there.

    Congrats–that had to be neat.

  243. Hey, if you went to John Marshall, where’s your dark blue corduroy Future Farmers of America jacket? I expect to see you wearing that at the next Armadillocon. 😉

    Yeah, no kidding….it is a small world.

  246. Hi John,

    It was great seeing you again. Congratulations on winning the IHG Artist Award. And congratulations for winning the Judges Choice Award for your Elric drawings. They were some of the most beautiful pencil illustrations Becky and I have ever seen.

    Also, thank you once more for the positive comments you gave me on my own work. Displaying my paintings in shows such as the WFC art show is always a difficult and humbling experience for me. Kind words from professional peers such as yourself make it well worth the effort.

  247. Hi, Steven —

    Thanks so much for the kind shout. Great to see you and your wife as always. Very appreciated. Oy….that’s what I get for listing names. You were right there on the opposite side of me at the Art Show, and I neglected to mention. As I told you at the show, I loved that tall, long piece you had in the center of your display. That was an exceptional one. I think you said it was a personal piece. Is that correct, and what was the name of it? It was one of my favorite things you’ve done. It’s right up there with your piece, Disturbing Dreams for the Curious, which you displayed at World Horror. If anyone’s reading this, and wants to see more of Steven’s work, check out his blog and his site:

    http://cryingflysoup.blogspot.com/

    http://www.stevengilberts.com/

  250. Richard — It was like the WFCs you’ve experienced, but with a lot more folks. Maybe you’ll make it to Calgary, next year? Hope you’re doing well over there…

    Dave! It was good times, wasn’t it? Glad you were there. Looked to me like you got a lot done. Hopefully we’ll do it again next year….

  252. Hey John,

    It was wonderful to see you again.

    The work you’ve done for Elric is fucking seminal. I feel weird fawning over your art when I see you, man, but any and every compliment is justified. (And your A Canticle For Leibowitz cover is still the only piece of art gracing my library.)

    And you’re spot on about the art show. Did you see some of those Jeffrey Jones classics? Amazing.

    And just to let you know, due to overzealous cajoling by a slew of people, my blog is back, to hell with consequences. (And thanks for the kind words.)

  254. Richard — Hope to see you there!

    William — it was great to see you and your wife again. It had been a while. Figured you hadn’t disappeared completely, but I was wondering when you were gonna be back. I appreciate the kind words, re: the art. You’re a tough critic, so I’m pleased the work connects. That means a lot. And further evidence you can’t keep a good man down — very happy to see your blog return by popular demand. 🙂

    Marco — it was a blast, wasn’t it? Glad we finally met, and hopefully we’ll do it again next year in Calgary. We’ll be in touch in the meantime, I’m sure…

  255. Hey John. I’m glad we got another chance to chat in the airport, where it was relatively calm and quiet. Apropos of our comments on Frank Gehry, have you heard that he’s being sued over one of his buildings?

  256. Hey there, Ted — Yeah, it was nice to slow down and catch up with you. I enjoyed that a lot. I hadn’t heard about the Gehry story, but man, considering that guy’s avant-garde designs, I’m not the bit surprised it happens. To be honest, back when I was pursuing architecture, the whole issue of lawsuits was something that always concerned me. My first internship….one of my bosses always joked that you weren’t officially an architect when you passed your registration exams, but when you got your first lawsuit. Not pretty.

    I couldn’t access the Times article (registration log-in), but I read it elsewhere. One of the sources I read noted what I immediately thought when you sent the story — even the great Frank Lloyd Wright was known to design buildings that had functional problems, like leaks. Falling Water is one of the great landmarks in American residential architecture, but it supposedly leaks like a sieve inside. I’m not excusing poor design or saying that it’s impossible to design a beautiful, functional building that works, but geezus, lawsuits in architecture are unfortunately very commonplace….glad I’m an illustrator. 🙂

  258. Congrats on the IHG Artist award and the Judge’s award for the Elric pencils, John. Both wins are really cool, but being the MC for the IHG ceremony is very cool, too. It’s clear that even when you’re not being nominated and winning awards, people are still thinking about you and your art in a positive manner and that’s golden!

    I was hoping Finn would get a win; it’s been cool seeing him get some nominations lately, too.

    Still, that recognition is great and it sounds like it was a blast!

  259. Hi, Christopher — Thanks for the good word; I appreciate it. Hope you’re doing well over there…..yeah, I was rooting hard for Finn….he’s still got some more noms in him though down the road so I’m hoping he’s got some wins coming in the years to come….

  261. I too am saddened to hear of his death. Like everyones death I am always a year or two to hear about them. Thankyou for the great covers.

  262. Hi John,
    I was really intrigued by your description of the film that I just had to see it. Well, lo and behold, we have the Dvd in the library’s catalog! It’s one that I’ll definitely be putting on hold for myself at Central Library.

  266. Hello John,

    I am very sorry that I could not make it to the signing. (I was not able to get things ready in time.)

    Thanks for showing those wonderful photographs!

    I am happy that everything went well and that you all had a fantastic time!

    I hope to see you at one of the conventions and I’ll try to catch up with Mike when Elric: The Stealer of Souls is published.

    Thanks!

    Best Wishes,

    lemec

  267. Hi, Lemec —

    Glad you liked the photos. I’ll try to post a few more over at the Miscellany board, when I get a spare moment. Hopefully we’ll catch up in person in ’08! 🙂

  268. So, Klaw doesn’t show for the signing but shows up for food after I’ve left. Sounds suspicious to me.

  272. Thanks, Andy! I think THE PHYSIOGNOMY releases in October 2008. I’ll definitely have more about the release dates on these as I hear them. Happy Holidays to you!

  273. I’ve really enjoyed the latest art. I always love your paintings and illustrations, but I really dig the hand-built things you sometimes do. Very, very cool!

    Happy holidays!

  277. How could I not be gratified, John, and Jamie would have been tremendously honored by your regard and by this highly decent gesture. Blessings upon you.

    Michael Bishop

  278. Hi, Michael —

    Wow, thanks for stopping by. Very best wishes to you and your family today and into the New Year! We’ll be in touch, I’m sure.

    For anyone else out there who might want to learn a little more about Jaime, here’s a link via The Roanoke Times.

    http://www.roanoke.com/vtvictims/wb/xp-113476

    The headline of that article really struck me…”Jaime Bishop: He talked about changing the world with art”….

  279. Love the art work, though Starship: Pirate is my favorite as far as the covers. I always wondered if the woman on the cover was “Val”, only b/c I didn’t picture her that Feminine. Anyhow, I was looking for news on Rebel and I figured while I was here I would tell you how much I enjoy the art work. Looking foward to more.

  280. Hi, Russo —

    Thanks very much for the kind words. I’ll start the cover for REBEL very soon here. Should release December ’08, I believe, but don’t quote me on that. As you probably already know MERCENARY just released this month. They’re terrific books……I’m glad folks are digging them. All the best to you for the New Year!

  282. Hi, Francis —

    Nice of you to stop by. Thanks for the kind words! Yeah, I like the range of your work and saw you had a few pieces in SPECTRUM this year. Re: WORDS & PICTURES — wow, you’ve got a terrific memory…..that’s going back to 1994/1995….it was a comic book that I co-self-published a couple of years after I finished college. My first love was comics, and unexpectedly, the work I did on those comics led Mojo Press to give me my first book cover job and I fell in love with the book cover biz. I haven’t done any of my own comics since then, but maybe someday….

    Hey, Happy New Year to you and I look forward to seeing more of your work in 2008! 🙂

  283. Hey, John,

    How could you forget the wraparound cover art for Bruce McAllister’s collection, The Girl Who Loved Animals and Other Stories, which was published by Golden Gryphon Press in October!
    Sheesh . . . What’s a mother to do!

    All best to you and Traci for the New Year!
    Cheers,
    Marty Halpern

  284. Hey, Marty —

    I don’t know how that one slipped by me. I went back and included the book in my little timeline, and also included a shot of the cover. Thanks, man! Happy New Year to you and Diane.

  287. All the best to you and Traci in 08, John. And thanks again for the Well-Built City covers.

    jeff ford

  288. I hope 2008 is an even better year for you, John! 2007 was really amazing; you’re an amazing artist and I can’t see how 2008 won’t be even better.

    Christopher

  289. Hey, Jeff — Same to you folks over there. Yeah, I’m real curious to see how the final WELL-BUILT CITY covers turn out….fingers crossed….

    Christopher! Happy New Year to you too….best to you and your novel in these coming months. 🙂

  291. Thanks, Marco. Great to finally meet you this year! All the best to the Solaris team….you guys had a pretty amazing year yourselves….back to the grindstone for all of us, right? 🙂

  293. We did alright, didn’t we? I’ve got my wind back now, and I’m ready to grind again for ’08. More on SON OF MAN, STARSHIP: REBEL and FAST FORWARD 2 real soon! 🙂

  295. Thanks, D. Me too. 🙂

    Liked the way you did Eos’ 2007 rundown using the covers….very cool! Smart, too, as I think that makes those kinds of lists more memorable.

  301. The picture for A THOUSAND DEATHS, is beautiful and haunting in a way. I like your work. I found your blog through Joe Mallozzi’s blog.
    Shana

  303. Thanks for stopping by, Shana. I appreciate it very much. 🙂

    Glad you like A THOUSAND DEATHS…..that image seems to resonate with people in ways that even I didn’t imagine. That’s great….again, many thanks.

  305. Thanks, Lou…..thanks, Jeff. Much appreciated. Before the release date (I think it’s Feb. 19th), I’ll have a few drawings posted here that you didn’t see at World Fantasy/Saratoga.

  307. Thanks, Francis!

    Hey, man — I went and checked out your blog and site and saw the growing diversity of work you’ve got over there, which was terrific. What blew me away today though is to find out that we’re both graduates of UT Austin School of Architecture! Holy cow!

    Small world, huh? I graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1992. You went on and got your Masters. Too good. Definitely stay in touch, man.

    Hook ’em! 🙂
    John

  312. Thanks, Lemec. Yeah, I’ll be curious to hear what you think about the rest of the book when it comes out. I’ll have more of these posting up every Monday, until the book releases. You still thinking about coming to the Austin Books/February 23rd Launch Party?

  313. I cut my teeth on Gould’s Elric, so those were always the images that stayed in my head when I thought of Elric. I think your work has changed that. Great, great stuff. (As usual!)

  314. Wow, that’s extremely high praise, Doc. Thanks very much. I’ll probably share the following note next week on the Miscellany Board, but here you go…..the Darnizhaan drawing has a direct relationship with you and a few of the other Miscellany Dwellers. When the first words of encouragement started coming in about my drawings from you and the Miscellany, it really pumped me up and focused me. I was just starting work on the Darnizhaan drawing. Probably no coincidence that it may be one of the best of the whole book. I appreciate the kind words of everyone at the Miscellany and they kept me focused during a lot of late nights. You’re the hardcore Moorcock fans, and I know you don’t pull punches. So it means a lot to hear from you.

  316. Majestically peerless!

    The ideal representation of Michael Moorcock’s characters,worlds,themes and moods!

    Exquisite artwork,John!

    You really give us the very best!

    Thanks!

    Joe Grabiak (lemec)

  317. Hi John,

    Yes,I have been thinking of a good plan to get to Texas for the Elric Release Party. 🙂

    I might be able to attend the event,I would really enjoy that.

    Thanks!

  318. Thanks, Lou. Yeah, that Bowie mix you made me got a lot of play during these drawings as well….

    Thanks, Joe. That means a lot coming from you. I really appreciate it! 🙂

  320. Congratulations, brotha. Rest assured that I will be buying this book — largely because of your art and the art direction in general. I’ve been so impressed with Del Rey’s Conan books that I’m dying to have Elric now.

  321. I look forward to hearing your thoughts, Dave. With Kaluta, Sweet, and Ellis following up after me, I’m glad I’ll be back for Book Six. I definitely learned a lot from doing this first one….

  323. Thanks, man. Yeah, aside from the contents you already know about, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at all of the little extras in this book…..they really help to capture the context in which Elric was first written and received…..pretty cool…

  324. That looks GREAT! I will have to pick that up.

    By the way thanks for all the kind words in your previous post. Small world isn’t it?? My degree was a first professional, I didn’t get an undergrad degree in architecture.

    If you’re inclined, you should set up an account at deviantArt.com and throw some of your stuff up there. It’s easier (for me, heh heh) to keep track of when you have new artwork up.

  325. Francis —

    So sorry for the tardy reply. Things are swirling over here. Yeah, I’m definitely familiar with DeviantArt, but I’ve never thought about setting up over there. Maybe sometime down the road….might be a good idea….

    Heck, I’m lucky if I can keep my own blog updated, much less having multiple blogs/site! Meantime, I’ll definitely keep stopping by your blog as well……keep pushing over there. And thanks again! 🙂

  326. I LOVE The Margarets!

    I assume you know that it says the jacket art was done by Stephan Martiniere? OOOPS! I emailed him & he said that’s not my cover, I think it was done by John Picacio.

    So now that I’ve found your blog, I can tell you how much I like it – in fact, the only thing that drew me to it & resulted in me buying it was the cover! (Teppner is not an author that I regularly read.) I just can’t keep from looking at the faces . . .

    Will it be available as a print? I’d like to purchase it.

  327. Hi, ces — Glad you dig THE MARGARETS. And yes, thanks for the heads-up re: the credit mistake….I was aware of it, but I appreciate the consideration nonetheless. It’s very gratifying to hear how much you liked the cover. My wife and I are about to have my website updated and we’ll be selling affordable prints of various images, including THE MARGARETS. If you’d like us to email you with the details once we’re ready, just leave a comment here. Otherwise, keep an eye on this blog in the next few months and we’ll have details. Thanks again. 🙂

  328. Yes John, please email me with the info regarding purchasing a print of The Margarets cover! Thank you very much!

    Hopefully when it’s released as a paperback (and in any future reprints) they’ll fix their credit mistake. I’d hate to be the person who made the error, that’s for sure.

    Christine
    West Seattle, WA

  329. Congratulations,John!

    I am overjoyed each time I see a new illustration from you.

    I’m so happy that you have a copy of the actual book!

    I will treat mine like the most valuable artifact in the world when it arrives.

    One day,I hope to cover a huge room with wonderful artwork such as this!

    Thanks!

  331. Hi, Lemec —

    You’re too kind. Hopefully we’ll get to see each other on Feb. 23 at the Elric signing in Austin. As far as having artwork on your walls, stay tuned….I’m talking with Mike about making available prints of some of my Elric art, and when it happens, I’ll announce it first here on my blog as well as the Miscellany. 🙂

  335. John,

    A copy arrived for me today. I’ve got these stories in a couple of different editions and this by far is the nicest. I really liked what White Wolf did with the Eternal Champion/Elric stories, but wow, this is an awesome looking book.

    And the DVD-like extras are kewl!

    Rob

  336. Hi, Tony —

    I look forward to your thoughts when you get your virtual hands on the book. 🙂 Thanks very much….

    Hi, RobD — That’s really kind of you. That means a lot to hear you say that. Believe me, there’s lot more in the new edition than just my art…..I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by all the extras that have rarely, if ever, been seen before by most folks.

    Hi, RobB — Big thanks to you too…..again, it means a lot to hear you say that you own other editions, but that you’re digging the new one so much. Really makes me feel good. Saw your blog today and it was nice of you to give the book a shoutout. Very cool. And by the way, your Blogger photo never fails to crack me up…..hilarious. 🙂

  337. John – I think this is my favorite of the Elric illustrations. The subtlety of the pencil work is amazing, particularly when seen up close. The other pictures are great and energetic but the power of this one lies in the calm and the expression on Elric’s face.

  340. Hey, thanks, Christopher.

    Well, if you’re gonna pick up Elric for the first time, this series will be an awesome place to start. Besides the obvious greatness of Mike’s material, there are lots of essays and extras in each book that put a historical perspective on Elric and his influence on the field. Pretty intriguing stuff, especially if you’re a genre writer….

  341. Quite elegant and extraordinary!

    It certainly does capture the imagination.

    It’s nice to match my memory of the event in the book with a fantastic image!

    I remember that!,the picture is new,yet it seems like it has always been with me,it connects really well with my imagination and with the words I read from Michael Moorcock’s novel!

    Cheers!

  343. Once again you’ve captured the essence of the stories so well, John. I see a real sense of resignation and fatalism in the image. I also appreciate how you’ve captured Elric throughout the previews you’ve shared. You show Elric as young, vulnerable, fierce, and tragic–sometimes all at once. Your interpretations of Elric are likely to become definitive for those who are new to the stories, but they also capture why long-time fans were excited about the stories when we first read them. Great stuff!

  344. Thanks so much, Doc. I’m working on more Elric stuff for later in the series…..very motivating and gratifying to hear that you’re liking what you see so far. It keeps me going! 🙂

  345. Just saw it in the store this weekend. Tremendous! Mine’s on its way to me now in the post, but I thumbed through the whole thing and was blown away. I’d seen most BUT NOT ALL of this already, but there were a few surprises. My favorite remains the one where Elric is posed hiding behind the tree…

  346. Thanks, man! Means a lot to hear your opinion.

    I guess the books have released early in some locations. Either that, or Amazon is just slower than everyone else. 🙂

  348. Congratulations,John!

    I received a copy today!

    I love the book!

    I am very impressed and I only just now removed it from the box.

    I don’t want to give spoilers,but it is spectacular!

    There is one illustration in particular that absolutely glorious!

    Time to look at the whole thing and to begin reading!

    My goodness,there are some nice surprises in there!

    I’m so happy it is out in the stores as well!

    It’s fantastic to have Elric among us once more!

    I am awestruck and very pleased!

    Best Wishes,

    Joe

  351. Hi, Cindy —

    That’s really nice of you. I wonder if the SA Library System is gonna order any of these? Do have any idea?

    How are things at the San Pedro Branch? Hope they’re treating you well over there….

    Very best,
    John

  352. Hi, Britta!

    Sorry for the belated reply! Hey, congrats on being part of a great series…..it’s an honor to be a part of your book! Good luck with it. I really appreciate the kind words.

    Very best,
    John

  353. Hello John!

    It certainly is an exciting time!

    I placed my Austin Books Elric order last night.

    I am really looking forward to seeing some pictures from the signing! 🙂

    Thanks very much in advance for your autograph.

    My friends are really going to enjoy their copies of Elric: The Stealer of Souls!

    I have a buzz from getting the book and I will always be highly pleased each time I open it to see your fantastic artwork!

    Good Luck on all your projects!

    Wishing You The Very Best,

    Joe (Lemec)

  354. Hi John,
    I contacted collection development today and they’ve ordered 10 copies of the book for the library system. So a record is created and it’s in the catalog.

    Everythings good at San Pedro. Just adjusting to moving from a 700,000 sq. ft building to 4,000. Big difference!

    ~Cindy C.

  355. Hi. I’ve just stopped by on my way back from Joe Mallozzi’s blog and I’d like to say a big thank you for your contribution to teh BOTM discussion. To my shame I haven’t yet got a hold of a copy but since todays-sorry yesterdays(out of synch here in deepest Cornwall UK)blog post and the recent FF1 discussions I am keen to add it to my already burgeoning book collection.
    I would also like to say how fantastic your artwork is, I especially love the Elric illustrations which take me back a very long time to when I first met Elric in my early teens. I’ve ALWAYS loved fantasy/sci-fi artwork and had all the typical posters as a kid, Matthews, Frazetta, Freas, Vallejo and prided myself (way back when) on finding new artists my friends hadn’t heard of- always was a bit of a show off lol.
    Anyway, I digress,I feel its rude to stop by someone’s blog and mooch through their things without saying hi.

  356. Hi, Moyz —

    Very kind of you to stop by. Drop by any time. I appreciate the kind words very much…..I’ll try to drop by Joe’s blog as often as I can to see what’s going on….

    Very best,
    John

  357. Hi, Cindy —

    That’s awesome. Glad to see the library system here will be carrying the book. Thanks for any part you had in making it happen. 🙂

    I appreciate it…..

    Stay in touch,
    John

  359. Congratulations!

    I’ve never read Moorcock – I just might have to now, solely based on your many blog entries about this book!

    I’m always super-happy to see so many people at book events – it just goes to show that books are not dead yet!

  361. Hi, D —

    Thanks….yeah, you’d love this store…trust me….it’s right up there in quality and diversity, with Jim Hanley’s Universe across from the Empire State Bldg….

    Hi, ces —

    Yes, long live books! 🙂
    Thanks very much….if you decide to read Moorcock, and especially Elric, the new release (ELRIC: THE STEALER OF SOULS) is a great place to start….it gives you a lot of historical context and extras that are pretty cool whether you’re new to Moorcock’s work or a hardcore fan.

    Hi, Ryan V —

    Yeah, if you’re ever in Austin — this store is a must! 🙂

  362. Good Morning John!

    I just ordered the book via Amazon – I should have it on Thursday!

    Now I just need to finish Perdido Street Station.

  363. Hi, ces —

    I’ll look forward to hearing your comments about the Elric book, down the road! 🙂

    I’ve got a British hardcover edition of Perdido Street Station…..someday I need to get to that myself….

  365. John —

    Got to eat at the Clay Pit for the first time myself recently — man, that’s a great restaurant! We should organize a convoy there next Armadillocon.

    (Hey, you going to ApolloCon this year? They invited me, so I guess I have to go…heh.)

  366. Very sweet cover, and a very cool way to handle the stories (presenting the writer with the art to inspire the story).

    So many times, writers get the cool part of that deal (seeing artists do great things with stories). I hope the story for your art was cool to read!

  368. Hey, Lou — Thanks, man. Yeah, you’ve got a mint condition copy coming your way from Austin Books. I bubble-wrapped the bastard myself, just to ensure that it got properly protected.

    Hi, Mikal — Yeah, I’ll be at Apollocon. The main reason is because it’s Lou’s first GOH gig and I want to be there for that. See you there!

  369. Hi John,

    That is fantastic news!

    Thanks very much for letting us know.

    Congrats to Mike! 😀

    Have a joyous and out-of-this-world time there,pard!

    Joe (Lemec)

  374. Greetings John!

    Thanks very much for signing my books!

    I immediately knew an artist wrote the message on the page! 😀

    Your handwriting is perfect! Wow! I should have known after viewing all your superb and wondrous works!

    I really enjoyed your comments!

    Yeah,Mike as SFWA Grandmaster came at a good time.

    You have made me very happy!

    A Thousand Thanks!

    Good Luck in Everything,

    Joe Grabiak (lemec)

  378. Come out, man! It would be awesome to see you there.

    Straight up, I know I’m gonna want a Philly Cheesesteak within minutes of my arrival from the hotel. There’s a joint called Texadelphia in Austin, over on the Drag, that does amazing cheesesteak sandwiches, but I’ve never had the real deal from Philly. Malik Rose, fomerly of the San Antonio Spurs, was from Philly and he had a cheesesteak place over here in the Quarry for a while, but the stuff was pretty pricey, so I didn’t do it very often. Anyway — I went and looked up Geno’s, the legendary shop there in Philly, but dude, I’m already turned off by all their chatter about “freedom fries” and “if you don’t speak English, we don’t serve you.” No grub is worth that. I kinda laughed when I read they’re dealing with civil rights suits because of that jive. So I read that there’s a place called Pat’s that’s supposed to be really good and there’s a place called Steve’s Prince of Steaks that’s supposed to be awesome. And Steve’s has a location over in Cherry Hill, NJ where the con will actually be…..so that looks like a winner. Too bad my wife is totally grossed out by the whole concept of cheesesteak sandwiches. But man, I’ll all over it….anyway, I’m game for any good recs you have for urban food, drink, sights, bookstores, weird stuff…..lay it on me. 🙂

  379. Oooh, it’s tempting to come down for a day to see you. I could combine it with a visit to a friend who lives in NJ about an hour outside Philly. Hmm, must ponder.

    Oh wait, the con is actually in Cherry Hill? That’s even closer to my friend. Hmmmmmm.

  380. Do it, D!

    I’d love to see you. Yeah, the con’s in Cherry Hill this year, but Traci and I will likely spend some time in Philly ahead of the con, since we’ve never been there. Sadly, I think this will probably be my only trip up to the Northeast this year, so this will likely be as close to you as I get (sniffle). 😉

    It’s gonna be good times…..

  383. If you’re going to get a cheesesteak, you have to get one from Pat’s King of Steaks (which is across the street from Geno’s). Pat’s is the inventor of the cheesesteak, it’s where ROCKY eats cheesesteaks.

    It’s my favorite of all the cheesesteak places. Of course, you need to order correctly or they send you to the back of the line. 🙂

    I don’t know if I can swing two trips to Philly in the same year, but we are talking of coming down to San Antonio…

  384. You sold me. I’m going to Pat’s for sure. Looks like Philadelphians consider cheez whiz the cheese of choice. Man, I hate cheez whiz, but I guess I’ll have to suck it up and do it the way the natives do it.

    Check this out….I read about this today — “the South Street Special”, made by wrapping a cheesesteak from Jim’s Steaks, located on the corner of 4th & South Street, in a slice of pizza from Lorenzo’s at 305 South Street.

    Are you kidding me??? Hilarious.

    Hey, if you come to SA, gimme a holler and Traci and I will definitely take you out for some great food.

  386. Hi, ces —

    Swing by if you can on Saturday! As you can see from the schedule, I’ve got a couple of program items on Saturday, including the slideshow at 2pm. According to the con’s site, weekend passes are $60; Saturday memberships are $40. Not too bad. And if that’s too much money, let me know sometime this week, and maybe I can meet you at the hotel bar and we can touch base for a few minutes on Saturday or Sunday. (FYI: Next week, I’ll be away from email for much of the time.)

  395. It was good to meet you and your wife, you crazy man. I say “crazy man” because I might, hypothetically have some incriminating pictures of you.

    Heh.
    Heh.
    Heh…

  396. Hi, Michael! Great to meet you as well. Good times next month in Austin…very much looking forward to it.

    Hi, Cherie — Hypothetical ncriminating photos, huh? Well, I’ll make you a trade….you post those, and I’ll post plenty of your favorite candid shots that you love oh-so-much. 😉 Seriously though, it was a blast to finally meet you. Holler anytime…

  400. I was thrilled to meet John at Norwescon on Saturday, March 22! Luckily I had printed the list of Hugo nominees and was able to give it to him. I said it to him Saturday, and I say it again, “Congratulations!”

  401. I talked with Lee at ICFA and he was enthusing about how wonderful your cover was. I knew it would be, of course, but wow! Nice job.

  402. I am in love.

    Oh my.

    I’ve never read Modesit (sp?) but yes, I am off to Amazon now to buy this book, solely because of the cover.

    And besides, I need to broaden my SF authors anyway. 🙂

  403. So that’s who I was talking to! Karen Simmons, while she was waiting for Traci so they could go to SAM! What a nice lady! And now I know who the guy in the pin-striped suit and red shirt was! And it was a pleasure meeting Jon Armstrong also. And Ciruelo (the dragon Guest Artist of Honour – or something like that) down in the art show. And all the other wonderful folks I met, some of whom were attendees and some of whom had artist/author/panelist name tags that I was too embarassed to stare at to learn who I was talking with.

    And, of course, John, who graciously signed 2 books for me and had a wonderful slide show.

    Yeah, the costumes at the con were really something. I’ve never seen so much explosed flesh in one place in a long time.

    And, yes, we do see the sun in Seattle. Occassionally. I’m so happy it put in an appearance for John and Traci’s trip and First Anniversary! Congratulations guys!

  405. Hi, Cheryl —

    Thanks! I’m glad you dig it and I’m glad that Lee was pleased. That makes me happy. 🙂

    HI, Christine —

    You’re the best. Let me know what you think of VIEWPOINTS CRITICAL. I hope you like it. It’s a very eclectic collection, and I think Lee’s an author with unusually broad range. I’ll be curious to hear what you think…..judging by some of the panels your husband visited at Norwescon, I wonder if he might like some of the stories in there as well? Just a thought…..:)

  407. Hi, Christine — I really appreciate you making the effort to come out to Norwescon and I’m really glad you and your husband had a good time. Guess what? I kept the printout pages you gave to me and they’re right here on my desk, with all sorts of notes and scrawls on them. I’m glad you brought those….I think it made the news “real” to see it on those printed pages. Thanks! 🙂

    Hi, Christopher — Much appreciated, man. Yeah, it’s amazing company to be amongst. I’m still ecstatic….

  408. Lou — Wish you were there too….it was good times.

    Hi, Christine — I felt bad pulling Karen Simmons away when you two were talking, but she had alerted me that she was looking for my wife because she wanted to head out see some sights. So when I found Traci, that’s when I came and grabbed Karen. She’s a very nice woman, isn’t she? We spent time with her and Dan Simmons on Sunday night, and they were terrific people. Even though you had limited time at the con, you sure managed to find some of the best folks — Karen Simmons, Jon Armstrong, Jeremy Lassen, and Ciruelo — all fabulous. I’m glad! Please holler anytime over here, and let me know if you need anything down the road.

    Very best,
    John

  409. Much as I would love to claim the credit for the Con Book, all I did was wave my hands and expound broad generalities of Vision. It was my crew of Dqniel Kaufman, Katrina Marier, and Paul Carpentier who actually had the talent to make it happen and look good. I wold have been toast without them.

    Don Glover

  413. That sounds like an awesome event!

    Congrats – first on that first anniversary and for doing it in style. Second on your Hugo nomination.

    I thought The Terror was great also. Have to arrange to meet Mr. Simmons some day…

  415. Thanks, Dqniel!!

    Hey, Big D — Norwescon was cool. You’d dig it, I think. Costumes ahoy, and a really diverse range of programming.

    Hugely thrilled to see you in the running for the Campbell!! Yeah, it’s hard to believe that it’s already been almost a year since Elf Fantasy Fair.

    And yeah, Dan Simmons and his wife Karen are solid folks. I was hoping he’d be at Worldcon since he lives in Colorado, but I think he’s gonna be a guest at a festival in Germany during that time. So no Simmons at Worldcon this time. Hopefully down the road though…

  417. My copy came today!

    This cover is even better in person! I agree with Lou – it will definitely pop off the shelf!

    Something I noticed too – the faces on the cover are slightly raised up from the background.

    And good job on the typeface chosen and its placement.

  418. Hey John,
    Vladimir here from Norwescon. I agree with everyone: while your work is always striking (I can spot a ‘Picacio’ from afar–in a good way), this one is Freaking Amazing! it reminds me of TRON, but, what sells it for me are the expressions on the faces and the juxtaposition of circuitry and ‘calligraphy’– it takes the viewer a moment to realize both characters are ‘mirrors’ of each other.

    Anyhow, I’m just writing to point out that you can always hit other sites up for good quality images– in my design work I have to pull down images for The Elliott Bay Book Company’s events flyer, so I got to barnes and noble, and booksamillion.com… hope this helps… cheers…

  419. Hi, Christine — Hurray! Glad the book arrived and that you’re pleased with it. 🙂 I agree with you — I think the Tor designers made nice decisions with the printing.

    Hi, Vladimir — How are you? Very glad to hear you dig the cover. Thanks so much for the kind words. By the way — I had a blast at Norwescon. I doubt it’ll be the last time I’m up that way. My wife and I loved Seattle….

  420. Good to meet you as well, John. I dig your work; I discovered Canticle for Liebowitz for the first time when your cover for it caught my eye in a B&N. Keep on keepin’ on. 🙂

    -a

  421. Thanks for chatting and again, congratulations, John! We gotta support our home-town artists.

    Gilder McCarroll
    Pubilcist, Chimaeracon
    San Antonio, TX, USa

  423. The jacket design was by Vanessa Paolantonio.

    I was at the University Bookstore this afternoon. All copies of the book are gone!

  424. Hey there, Aric —

    Very cool of you to say re: CANTICLE. That really makes me feel good. What a book, huh? A real honor to work on that one….

    Just now realized you also have a coffee blog…..man, you really know your stuff….I don’t even drink coffee, but I thought that was pretty cool….look forward to the next time we cross paths….

    http://www.wayofcoffee.com/

    Best,
    John

  425. Hi, Christine —

    I appreciate the news about University. That’s great….hopefully Duane orders a few more copies over there. And thanks VERY much re: the designer’s name — Vanessa Paolantonio. Yeah, she did a really nice job. Kudos to her!

  427. Ces – you beat me to it.

    Vanessa did a great job, and fought for the spot gloss. She’s an awesome part of the Tor Team.

    Thanks for the kudos John. it’s always gratifying when the artists are happy with what we do to their art.

  428. Thanks, Irene. Yeah, great job by Vanessa! Maybe I can give her a blog mention later this week since folks may not see her credit down here in the comments.

  431. I’m well! Hubby is in Portland for 3 days. The sun is shining and it’s 44F out, so I took a morning walk. Spring has arrived – flowers, trees, cats, & dogs!

  432. Glad to hear it! I’m not sure if we get spring here in San Antonio. I think it goes from a mild winter straight into summer. 😉

    Already getting muggy here, but far from unbearable….yet. Decent weather overall though….no complaints. Traci and I do miss the cool temperatures up there in Seattle. Boy, that was nice. I think we’re also skewed because we managed to get near-perfect weather for the three pure tourist days we had up there. It’s now one of our favorite cities.

    Someday we’ll get to Portland…..never been there….haven’t been to Vancouver either…..we’ve heard great things about that town.

  433. Portland’s Powell’s Books original branch just on the edge of the Pearl District has a HUGE science fiction section. You should get a book signing gig there.

    The Portland Art Museum is fantastic! We saw the China exhibit with all the terra cotta soldiers there & the Egyptian artefacts exhibit there. And lots of other wonderful exhibits also.

    The Pearl District has food, food, food. Plus shops. And did I mention that it has food?

    Well, I could go on forever about Portland. But you & Traci would really enjoy it.

  434. Congratulations to Mike and John!

    A+ for Elric is pretty sweet!

    Super-cool!

    I’m very happy the book is well received!

    Cheers,

    Joe

  435. Thanks, Christine….thanks, Joe!

    Sorry I’ve been a bit absent here…..it’s because I’ve been completely present here in the studio working on new covers. Much more soon….:)

  436. Oh good! I was beginning to wonder if you’d been swept away in the storms! or melted in the muggy heat!

    Can’t wait to see the new covers!

  437. Hi, Christine —

    Nothing that bad thankfully. At the moment, I’m working on two STAR TREK covers and I’m finishing the final cover for the new Pyr edition of Robert Silverberg’s SON OF MAN. This one will be a wraparound cover. I’ll post it here as soon as it’s done.

    Also working on the covers for Lou Anders’ next big anthology FAST FORWARD 2 and the next Mike Resnick STARSHIP book. More to come after that. It’s been busy…..:)

  438. Busy is good!

    It’s a beautiful day today – 72 degrees tomorrow!

    We went out to b reakfast down by the beach – later we’ll go back down to walk.

  439. Hi, Christine —

    Just touching base…..I haven’t blogged in a while, and I’ll have much to say in the next couple of days. Like I mentioned before, I’m working on several covers and just trying to stay focused on the art, so I haven’t been blogging in the meantime. SON OF MAN is almost done though, and I’ll be curious to see what folks think. Hope you’re doing well over there. 🙂

  440. Well, we had 2 days of sun & then the rain returned. Today is “guess we better file our taxes day” – why do it ahead of time when you can do it the last day? 😉

    We finalized our trip to Frisco – May 2-6 – got hotel reserves & everything!

    I just finished reading a Lackey/Roberta(somethin)> book. Well, I didn’t really read all of it. I read the first 25% and the last 25%, and even that was too much. Then I picked up Mieville’s “Scars” (british version). It’s really amazing how some authors you only need to read the first 2 sentences and you’re hooked!

    Glad to hear you’re still cooking on your art! I know the covers will be fantastic, and it’s great that you share them with us!

    Take care,
    Christine

  442. Thanks, Christine. I appreciate it. 🙂

    The final color art will hopefully get posted tomorrow. I was hoping for today, but it’ll have to wait one more day.

  446. Thanks, Bill. That Simmons story is a helluva piece. I finished reading the manuscript recently, and it’s terrific. I’m looking forward to doing that one, for sure.

  447. Gaaaaarrrrrrr!

    Just when I think I have a favourite cover, you turn around & release another one! And then the new one becomes my favourite!

    Yes, I can see why you listened to Hendrix – I used to go see him live ages & ages ago when he played at this dance hall in Venice. And no, I wasn’t old enough but they let me in anyway.

    That cover is beautiful!

    Now I’ll have to buy the book. The only silverberg I’ve read is the Majipoor chronicles.

    Congrats!

    Christine
    🙂

  449. Hi, Christine —

    Thanks as always. Really glad you like this one! 🙂
    Insanely jealous that you got to see Hendrix perform live! Wow. I didn’t come into the world early enough. In recent weeks, I’ve been looking up old footage of Hendrix on YouTube and imagining what it would’ve been like to be there….nothing close to the real thing, I’m sure….

  450. No, youtube isn’t close to the real thing. I’ve also seen a couple of dvd’s of concerts – better, but still not close. filmage just doesn’t capture the energy & feel of seeing someone live. Saw James Brown at the same place too. Oh, and Ike&Tina Turner.

  451. I just recently heard about this from Bob Eggleton, then I ran across your blog. Fantastic news and WAY past due! Thanks for helping to remedy the oversight : )

    I’ve been a HUGE fan of his work and own several pieces. I discovered Science Fiction in the 60’s and it is his Surreal Abstracts from those PB covers that have haunted me all these years.

    As you say, he probably did not give a rat’s ass about awards — but I’m still happy to see his work recognized.

  453. Thanks, John! I wasn’t alive when Powers’ work dominated the racks, but so much of his work still communicates decades later. Still potent. He’s one of the all-time greats, for sure…

  454. I’m Jamie’s dad, and I’m grateful to you, John, for once again thinking of our son on the anniversary of the day of Jamie’s death, and indeed of the day of so many other vibrant human beings’ senseless murders.

  456. Hi, Christine —

    Thanks! Yes, it’s a wraparound….this book is one of my all-time short story collections. Ford’s one of my favorite writers…

  468. My copy came in the mail today.

    I’m a little disappointed in the cover. The colours aren’t the same as in the image posted here. And they did the cover in a matte finish, so everything blurs together.

    Also, they cut off the cover down the cat’s nose and just barely got in the gentleman’s right glasses frame – maybe about 1/4 in. to the right shows.

    So now it goes in my ever-growing stack.

    John, did you ever start Perdido Street Station?

    The sun has been out all day . . .

  471. What a thrill for you John!

    There you were, up in front of everybody, giving a speech about Michael Moorcock! And here I was, cleaning house!

    Sounds like you had a wonderful weekend after working hard & late the past couple of weeks. A well-deserved mini-vacation.

    P.S. Deleted first post – reminder, always proof text before posting.

  473. Lou — Me too!

    Hi, Christine — Yeah, it was quite an honor to be up there, since Mike’s BEHOLD THE MAN was the first book I ever did a cover for….it was a thrill to be there.

    Hi, Michael — Yup, I’ll be at WFC. Hey, I loved your tux on Nebula Night. Looked good, man!

  475. Excellent – thanks for posting this. Moorcock is simply the best there is and no accolade could do him justice, but this one comes close.

  476. Thanks for sharing this, John. If it brought a tear to my eye as a fan, I can only imagine how it affected Mike and Linda. I’ve been reading Mike’s stuff for almost 25 years. It’s a rare thing to have your childhood hero NEVER disappoint you. It’s such a blessing that the man is still writing, still productive, still expanding our minds.

    Wish I could have been there.

    All the best, Nick.

  477. Thanks so much for that, John. Brought a tear to my eye AGAIN! Yet I can never really believe that it’s me being talked about.
    Very generous of you — and the others you roped in — I think of us all as a kind of multiverse of talent, all linked together in one great ranch…all lending our strengths to the same great enterprise!

  479. Yikes! Once again I stand proudly in the shadow of MM…
    John, reading this speech is nearly as good as hearing it was, and as Mike says, yet another tear in the eye.
    A fabulous speech fit for the evening.

  480. Hi, folks —

    Playing catchup over here, ever since I got back from the Nebs.

    Thanks, Christine, Alan, Nick, and Michael E.! I really appreciate it.

    Grandmaster Mike — it means the world that the words connected. I felt like a heel asking some of the best authors ever to limit their expressions to only 100 words, but I knew I only had about 4 minutes up on that podium. So every word had to count. Like I said, you can’t adequately express love that big in that short a time, but we gave it our best. It was a great night, and I was just thrilled to be in the room as a witness.

  482. Just to clarify, a person must be a living donor for bone marrow. 5% or less is extracted from the body, and is replaced within a few weeks. The donor usually feels fine in a few days.

    I am donating my organs when I die, but I did not realize I could be a bone marrow or kidney donor while alive.

    People of African ancestry are underrepresented and while 1 in 500 people of mostly European ancestry should be on the registry, 1 in 10 of mostly African ancestry are required due to genetic variance, due to the history and realities of human migration.

    While tens of thousands are required here in Canada and hundreds of thousands more are required in the US, there are only 1633 registrants of African ancestry on the registry in Canada. About 77 000 people short.

    Luckily, the registries work worldwide, but there are shortages everywhere.

  483. That is great news. My favorite writer – who gave me the hope that even if in this universe I am doomed to chaos, there is a facet of myself living for order.

  484. Moorcock’s writing has sent me on a quest to find all of them that I can and even have multiple editions when I ran of new books to find…. I wish he’ll visit smaller literacy cons like Confluence, since he would make my decade on a visit in person. His latest books have been incredible and shown that he has surpassed his earlier works.

  486. Thanks again, everybody. I actually prefer smaller conventions but we can’t always come to them because we’re in Europe half the year. However, I’m planning to visit Biloxi, Miss. for their convention next year. Mike

  487. I think you’ve given hubby & I a reason to finally join the museum – heck, we haven’t even to it yet! Must do.

    Thanks!

    Christine

    Brought to you from the City by the Bay . . .

  488. Hi, Christine —

    Oh boy — when you and hubby go, you’re in for a real treat. It’s a dynamite facility. I can’t recommend it too highly. I love the balance the Museum strikes between exhibits on sf literature vs. exhibits on sf media. They’re really done it right, so far. And with the same ticket you can get into the Experience Museum as well, which is the music portion of the building and I could spend hours over there…..the SF Museum/Hall of Fame is one of my very favorite Seattle things. You’re lucky to have it! 🙂

  489. I hadn’t realised they were already getting it started! It’s going to be veddy veddy interesting, certainly.

    Ooh, free wallpaper… 🙂

  490. Hi John!

    We’ve been to the Experience Museum – one could easily spend hours there! We went for the special Bob Dylan exhibit they had.

    It’s 5:25 am here in San Francisco and I am wide awake! The weather is just like it was in Seattle when we left. Why can’t places be open this early? It’s another whole 4.5 hours till 10 am!

    🙂

  493. I’ve gotten like 6 or 8 wallpapers so far, starting with Martiniere, the first.

    And a couple of emails about the new website.

  494. Great write-up and pictures. Thanks for posting.

    I wish Lou Anders had been there, too. I would have challenged him to a game of pool in the hospitality suite.

    I wish I’d had a chance to talk to everyone there. Your introduction was stellar–what a great speaker! Thanks for all the work of pulling it together.

  495. Thanks, Diane. I appreciate it. Yeah, I wish Lou would’ve been there too. He would’ve dug it for sure….we’ll be at Worldcon/Denver for sure, if you’re gonna be there. Pool tables should be mandatory in con hospitality suites….

  496. Well, they are awesome!

    I even recognize a couple of the people, even though I’m not a Star Trek fan.

    How many of these are you doing?

    Cheers!
    Christine

  497. Hi John,

    I blogged about these covers last week. Thanks for the wonderful portrait of Thelin the blue Andorian!

    He even has the same facial features as his animated counterpart in the animated episode, “Yesteryear”. We were wondering who you used as the “model”?

  498. Hi, Therin —

    Very happy to hear that you’re pleased with the covers. That makes me happy, as you know this material inside-out.

    Answer to your question: my portrait of Thelin is based on two reference points: 1. the animated version of him (you’re correct on that one); 2. a good friend of mine, Jeff Lucas, who lives here in San Antonio….Jeff’s a diehard Trekkie connoisseur from way back, and I thought it would be cool to use his face as the model for Thelin, plus it didn’t hurt that he had certain facial features that echoed the animated version.

    ‘Hope that helps…..thanks again for all the kind words! 🙂

  499. OOH, that one looks neat – I love the look in his eyes!

    I’m finally caught up sort of on my reading – the last 2 books I read I really didn’t care for, but I finished them.

    Next is my Elric book! Finally!

    I had wondered where you’ve been – glad to hear you’re hard at work! Frisco was wonderful!

    cheers!
    Christine

  500. Hi, Christine —

    Thanks very much. Yeah, I hadn’t intended to be away from here for a week, but I’ve been working sunup to sundown on covers. Time flies. Hope you like ELRIC: THE STEALER OF SOULS. 🙂 Glad to hear that Frisco treated you well…..it’s a great town. I’ll have more here soon….back to work on ELRIC: THE SLEEPING SORCERESS….

  502. That looks really intriguing! It sounds like the publishers really made some effort to complement your artwork. Congrats!

  503. Thanks, Christine. Yeah, the book looks really good…..I’m generally not a huge fan of foil covers, but this one works well. I was impressed. 🙂

  509. I got mine! Last Wednesday from Amazon! Yippee!

    It’s now officially in my ToRead stack.

    I really like wrap-around covers.

  512. As a New Yorker I am snickering a bit at the idea of one mile being considered any kind of strenuous exercise. Hee. Should be a nice morning constitutional, though!

  513. Yeah, a one-mile walk is nothing. That’s not the part that’s lunacy. It’s any of us acting like we’re being healthy at 9am when we spend hours in the hotel bar the night before. 🙂 Frankly, I’ll be curious to see how many people decide to do this with us. Maybe eventually it’ll become a yearly Worldcon tradition and eventually move into a one-mile run — in costumes! I’m seeing Stormtroopers in full gear, a few Andorians, the occasional Lovecraftian monster, all sprinting through the streets of an unsuspecting city….

  519. Both Michael and Bob’s work is wonderful! Michael is the first “fantasy” artist whose work I ever took notice of. I’m not that familiar with Bob’s, but the few I’ve seen in various blogs were very nice.

  527. Good question, Christine. And thanks for the kind words. 🙂 It took a long time before I was sent my comp copies, so I doubt that there are warehouses full of these books here in the continental USA. They came straight from the Czech Republic. So I would think you’ve gotta order via Laser Books.

    Website: http://www.laser-books.cz/

    Email: laserbooks(at)seznam.cz

    If you email them, send it to Martin Sust. Good luck. 🙂

  529. hehehe

    No, none of you have busy lives, professional or otherwise!

    I mean, after all, all you do is sit around & draw!

    😉

  536. You’ve done it again John! Your cover for The Stealer of Souls is now one of my favs, and now its going to be a long wait ’till this work on book 3 comes out, let alone the wait for book 6 too!
    Top marks! Toe (a.k.a. Rothgo)

  537. John,

    The cover turned out exceptional! Well worth the wait!

    And congrats on getting to do Book 6 and bookend the series also!

    Christine

  539. Looks good. I was afraid he’d be blue again, or that you’d decide to have him standing near a pink light source this time.

  542. Hey there!
    Just realised I never responded to this.

    To everyone out there that is fan of John’s art, take any oppurtunity you can to meet the man. He is genuine, humble, and real. I can laud his art, but really…if you are here you already know the quality of his work.

    For those that haven’t read any Moorcock I highly recommend it. One note though: if you are a stickler for genre and “staying true” to certain forms, Michael Moorcock does everything he can to transcend and shatter those definitions!

    In all, it was a wonderful experience. One I greatly appreciate having and one that I hope to have oppurtunity to repeat.

    E

  543. Hi All,

    Just a quick follow up. Had the hearing on Thursday and . . . we got the permit!

    I’m so grateful for all your help and support. As several people commented, the Planning Commission didn’t know what hit them. I was in and out of the hearing in fifteen minutes. Now I have to wait about a month and a half to get permits from the building department and then I can start the construction.

    Since I don’t want to hex myself by setting a date, I’m not going to but keep an eye on our website http://www.borderlands-books.com for news as things progress.

    Thanks again,
    Alan

  544. John, it’s heartbreaking to see how little feedback gets today the ASFA Forum… I know we are talking here about a no-profit organization and the work of volunteers, most of them incredible people, most of them changing year after year, but I feel that something more could be done to give voice to professionals and emerging artists…

    Maybe an ASFA Blog could be a better and more visible format then the current Forum and website?

  547. After all the hard working you’ve been doing the past month, you deserved a break! Glad to hear you had a wonderful time!

  548. Thanks, Christine. 🙂 I’m happily back at work here….finishing off the final cover for FAST FORWARD 2….final tweaks and revisions. When it’s done and Lou approves, I’ll post it here.

  553. Hi John! Thanks for linking to my site. 🙂

    Yes, I’m still working away at mine. I’m trying to turn in my vote (slightly) early, in case teh Internets decide to hate me on July 7th. My goal is an informed vote, and it’s been very fun to get the information. And a bit tiring at times, but overall it’s been worth it.

  554. Hi, Arachne —

    Yeah, I ran through your category rundowns and really appreciated the effort there. I thought long and hard about my ballot before turning it in, but your site would’ve been a big help if I would’ve known about it while I was deliberating. I’m sure it’ll be a big help to lots of last-minute voters. 🙂 Next year, I’ll know to visit early and often.

  555. I guess I could’ve spelled it “France”, right? You’ve probably seen that one a billion times. I knew your name long before I met you, but geez, if anyone can’t get it right when it’s right there on your badge, that’s not so good…..:)

  557. Hi, Christine —

    I think it may be too late for non-Worldcon members to register to vote for this year. However, if you’re still interested next year, it is possible to buy a supporting membership ($40, I think?) and you have the right to cast a Hugo ballot, even if you don’t physically attend the convention, which is in Montreal in ’09.

    Have a good 4th over there in Seattle!

  559. We’re all looking forward to seeing the covers! congrats John on being chosen!

    And kudos to Pyr for choosing to publish Chadboutn’s books!

  561. Hi, Mark —

    I’m reading the UK omnibus edition that Lou handed me last weekend when we were in Houston. I carry it with me everywhere, so I can read in every spare second that I’m not working on something else. It’s an honor to be working on this…..I’m blown away by the first book of the trilogy so far, and from what Lou’s been saying, it only gets better and better.

  562. Thanks, John!

    I plan to do the Nebulas and the Hugos next year. And do them as soon as the final nominee lists come out, so people will have the information earlier.

    It’s partly so late because I started taking a more serious interest in science fiction about… uh… a few months after the final nominees were announced. That was also when I filed for the sort-of absentee vote registration too.

    Next year, earlier for me too! It’s been a great learning experience in multiple ways.

  575. If you skip to the end of this video, you’ll see some more pages from it. This thing deserves to win a ton of awards.

    JeffV

  577. Hi John!

    Nice to see you here again! I’m surprised you aren’t driving to WorldCon with your art in your car – it would be a gorgeous drive this time of year!

    Congrats on being the Artist Guest of honour at the PhillyCon!

    Christine

  578. Thanks, Christine. I’ll definitely be in Denver, but if I drove up, it would probably wipe me out by the time the con started. 🙂 So I’ll be flying, although you’re right….I’ll bet the scenery is terrific!

  581. RESPONSE FROM STU SEGAL

    OK, so while everyone is snickering and rolling on the floor laughing, let me explain why we’re all doing a 1 mile non-aerobic saunter each morning:

    This grew out of a lively discussion at Frank Wu’s LiveJournal Blog, wherein we were discussing the fitness (or unfitness) level of fans at Cons, and were looking for some activity we could introduce to entice some of the less-than-active fans. There were ideas like having panels in the gym while people walked on treadmills or worked out with weights.

    Eventually we hit on a morning stroll, which is something everybody could do. Then we decided on a very modest length, so as to not scare off the very people we want to entice. Then, to really sweeten the pie, a number of concerned authors, artists and editors agreed to lead the strolls and do what amounts to a strolling kaffeeklatsche.

    So stop snickering and come out with the rest of us – the best way we can help our sedentary friends and colleagues is to set a positive example.

    9AM in front of the Big Blue Bear.

    . . Stu Segal

  585. I knew there was a reason I like your Margarets cover!

    Congratulations!

    And congrats to all the other nominees too.

  589. Well deserved, John! I’m keeping an eye on you for both Chesley and Hugo!

    …and this year I, too, am joining the Chesley club, pleased to see that even in my category I’m not in bad company at all! 😉

    MM

  591. Maurizio! Congrats on your nom too!! Was very pleased to you there……good luck!! 🙂

    Hi, Steve — Really appreciate it. You gonna be at Worldcon or World Fantasy? I’m still debating if I want to hassle w/ shipping art into Canada. Haven’t decided. You?

  592. Alas no, we won’t be able to hit WorldCon or World Fantasy this year. Our final convention for 2008 will be GenCon in a couple of weeks. After that it is hibernation time for Becky and me. 🙂

  593. Thanks John!

    I spent part of today looking at cell phones. I had one once – used it about 5 minutes every 3 months. Haven’t seen it since the first of the year (can’t you tell how that devastates me?), but now that Michael is travelling more, we decided that maybe I should get one. What a racket.

  594. Hi, Steve — Aaargh. Sorry to hear that. Guess I won’t see you and Becky until next year. Definitely stay in touch in the meantime…

    Hi, Christine — Cell phones are a racket, aren’t they? I never turn mine on, unless I’m out of town at a convention. But other than that, I really try not to use it. Might be old school but I’ve never felt the need for anyone (other than my wife) to be able to find me anywhere, anytime.

  597. Thanks, Chris. Nice of you to stop by. Actually, that commission we discussed didn’t work out….the good news is I held my ground, and probably did the right thing in the long run. Thanks for your sage advice…..hopefully we’ll cross paths more down the road….holler anytime. 🙂

  599. Sounds like you and Traci had a wonderful time! Congrats on your art show award! The colour drawing is indeed beautiful but that pencil drawing is absolutely amazing!

    Next year you’ll win the artist award!

  601. The photos are wonderful, and it’s so nice that they have such detailed captions. Lou looks really good in lavendar!

    And Traci looks not only beautiful, but very happy.

  603. Christine — The program book was given out at the 2007 World Horror Convention in Toronto and was produced by the con committee of that con. There wasn’t really an official “publisher” for that book. It was given to all attending members of that con, and therefore, the print run was pretty low. It was an AMAZING book though with gorgeous production values. FYI: The cover art first appeared on Joe R. Lansdale’s short story collection BUMPER CROP, but the con asked to re-use the art because I was the Artist GOH, and Joe received the WHC Grandmaster Award.

  604. Hey John,

    Man, was I bummed that couldn’t make it to Worldcon! Last minute family issues kept me away. I had been looking forward to it for tons of reasons, including hanging out with you and Traci a bit.

    Oh well, next time…

  606. Hey, Dave —

    The facility was so huge and the functions were so spread-out that I wondered if you and I were in different places the whole time. At one point, I kinda wondered where you were, and then after a while, wondered if you had said you were coming in the first place. Sorry to hear about the family detour…..congrats again on being a Campbell finalist….you’ve had a helluva year. 🙂 You doing WFC in Calgary?

  610. Big D — Yeah, you should definitely look into Calgary ASAP, so that you can at least make sure they’ve got hotel rooms available. WFCs are notorious for selling out their hotels early. Fingers crossed. 🙂 See you there!!

  615. Thank you so much! I’d love to go but my wife is having a baby right then! Maybe I could sneak out for a few days… I do plan on Worldcon next year in Montreal, any chance you’ll be there? I should have mentioned in my initial post how much I love your work and what a big fan I am! I’m linking you to my blog if that’s OK.

  616. Congrats on the growing family! That’s awesome. Way to go, and yeah, completely understandable that WFC wouldn’t be on your list this year. 🙂 You’ve got your hands full, for sure.

    Yes, I will be at Worldcon/Montreal. Absolutely. So we’ll definitely see each other there, if we don’t cross paths sooner.

    As far as the linkage — go for it. Someday I need to update my own links and include you…..definitely need to keep an eye on your work……you’re doing great stuff. Thanks very much for the shout…..stay in touch. 🙂

    Blog: http://johnpicacio.com/blog.html

    Website: http://www.johnpicacio.com/index2.html

  624. I was so glad to talk to you at ArmadilloCon, and will keep an eye out for prints. I just love your work John, and agonized long and hard over whether or not to buy one of the Elric prints until I thought about the reaction I would get when I brought it home…(and confessed the expenditure.) My fantasy would be to have a Picacio cover someday. 🙂

  628. Thanks, Joe! Pretty cool that they put an artist in the moderator position on a big writers panel like that one….felt like an honor. Glad to hear folks enjoyed it. The other panelists were the stars of the show, as it should be.

  629. It was great seeing you again, John. Pictures of The Well-Built City piece do not do it justice – it looks absolutely spectacular in person.

  630. JD —

    Glad you were there, even though I know you were swamped back home. Thanks very much re: the Well-Built City. 🙂 I didn’t think it would make another public appearance after Denvention, but glad it worked out.

  633. Thanks, Jeff. Yeah, I thought the box wouldn’t really be able to survive another appearance at a con after getting shipped to Worldcon/Denver. However, it miraculously arrived intact days after that con, so it was able to make a surprise appearance in Austin. The con decided to display it right in front of the double-door entrance to the show, so it was the first thing everyone saw when they walked in. Pretty cool.

    Thanks, Jonathan. Armadillocon’s one of the best regional literary sf/fantasy shows in the country, year-in and year-out. Pretty panel-intensive, and the FACT folks know how to run a show.

  637. Hi, Derek —

    Didn’t realize you were part of the Dark Forces Book Group until just now. Very cool! Yeah, good to see you at Mangia…

    Hey, Lou —

    It was good times….but yeah, back-to-back cons are killer. Was looking at next year’s schedule and there’s an outside chance that I might have four consecutive weekends of cons across the US from mid-July to mid-August…..oy……I’m gonna have to think really, really hard about that….

  638. Hi, Rie —

    Very kind of you and completely understood. The sentiment is very appreciated. I’ll let you know when the Elric prints officially go on sale and maybe they’ll be a few dollars cheaper, if you buy directly from me….:)

    Good to see you this weekend!!

    Take care over there,
    John

  640. Watching this makes me realize how awkward I feel watching myself on playback. No problem when I’m in front of the camera, but watching the playback….yeah, it makes me itchy. 🙂 Many thanks to Cheryl for doing it though….very cool of her to make it happen.

    Haven’t heard from you in a while! I’ll email you in a second….

  641. Hi John, it was nice to see you over the weekend. And just so you’ll now be in the loop (hehe) I have decided to temporarily at least embrace my inner Goth. (I’m sure you were wondering about that.)

  643. That’s wonderful of her! Please tell her that all of us who read your blog really appreciate her photography and persistence – especially in getting shots of facial expressions whose owners wish she hadn’t caught!

  645. Thanks, Christine. 🙂 I owe you an email soon, but it’s been swampy over here with persistent deadlines and two cons back-to-back…..but hopefully soon. 🙂 Hope you’re well over there!

  647. As John indicates this was one great show. BOXCAR is about to go out on the road, so if they come to your area you need to go.

  649. Amelia’s good people. You’d like her.

    Just went and checked on your brother Emru’s brave fight with leukemia….I’ll drop him a message today….

    Thanks, Tamu!

  653. Hmm, that’s a good question! Not sure offhand if it’s Cryptonomicon, something like North & South by John Jakes, or any selection from GRRM’s Song of Ice & Fire. Those are all at least in the 1100s or longer, I think. Now I’m curious….

  654. Hi, D —

    Yeah, I read Dan Simmons’ THE TERROR for pleasure several months ago. Great read, but that kicked my ass. Almost 800 pages there, but I had to read that in tiny chunks over months. Read King’s THE STAND way back when. That was a fatty. Since the AGE OF MISRULE reading was for a job, it went quicker, but I’m a slow reader so it still took me several weeks (again interspersed between several simultaneous cover jobs).

  655. Hmmm. doesn’t the longest book you’ve ever read depend on the size of the pages, the size of the typeface, & the size of the leading? You can get lots of words in a small typeface on large pages.

    I have no idea what the longest book I’ve ever read was. I never really pay attention to the number of pages in a book, although I have noted on occasion that some books I thought were long actually turned out to be only half “book” and the rest appendixes.

  656. Definitely right, Christine. Word count is the true barometer. Not sure how many words in AGE OF MISRULE, but judging from the omnibus’ tiny margins and tiny point size, it’s gotta be way up there.

    Thankfully, I’m betting Pyr’s new editions will be much more reader-friendly. 🙂

  657. Thanks for all the kindness! I resend it directly to the graphic designer Lukas Tuma. He is really great without any doubt 🙂

    But I must say (not only to Christine), that Laser don´t send the copies abroad, sorry for that.

  660. Quote #5 reminds me of President Kennedy’s infamous quote from his infamous inaugural speech. All of the quotes are wonderful!

    And Paintalicous is WONDERFUL! It immediately went into my Daily Read list. I especially like that it isn’t just American artists, but includes artists from all over. The Hory Ma is just so ethereally beautiful . . .

  662. Hi, Christine — Yeah, you’re right….I like that Paintalicious does seem to have an international flavor. That’s a good thing!

    Hi, Eric — Glad you dug it…..I still owe you an email. Been swamped with deadlines here of late….

  665. Thanks, Silvio. Love Italy. I spent a couple of weeks there way back in 1990, and hopefully I’ll be able to take Traci there someday. I’ve never been to Milan though, so that would be a fresh new experience. Someday…

    If we ever get there, it would be great to see you!

    Hi, Christine — Yeah, Traci definitely loves her travel….:)

  666. That is a really beautiful cover too! I like the way the central figure is repeated on the back, only rotated 180 degrees. And the type matching the central figure is perfect.

    Good job everyone!

  669. Thanks, Yasko! Much appreciated.

    Sorry I wasn’t able to send art to your show in Japan. I ran out of time between preparing for Worldcon/Denver and Armadillocon in Austin. Hopefully another time…..thank you for thinking of me! 🙂

  670. Oh, don’t be sorry!
    I knew you were very busy with those cons, so it was all right. Actually I was meaning to Email you about it but… was being lazy.
    *I* am sorry. 😛
    Anyway, thank you so much for your consideration!

  675. John — if I could’ve found some, I probably would’ve worn them. I consider myself fortunate that didn’t happen…

    Christopher — thanks, man! Hope you’re doing well over there.

    Dia — thanks. 🙂

    Chris — Kids who wore Kirk shirts thought they automatically were gonna pull the chicks. Fools. Clearly you and I were ahead of the game, and realized that the real aphrodisiac was the homemade Spock shirt.

  676. That’s a wonderful shirt John! Do you still have it?

    My brother-in-law is a visual effects person. He was the “visual effects R&D supervisor” on the first motion picture, 1979.

    Cute picture too!

  679. Thanks, Christine…..no, unfortunately, I’m not sure where that shirt is. I suspect it might be a tight fit these days though. 😉 Wow! Your brother worked on the first ST flick? That’s awesome. Saw the Directors’ Cut of that movie a few months ago…..visual effects and music on that one still hold up.

    Paul — hard to forget “Devil in the Dark”, isn’t it? That’s the one where Spock mindmelds with the big brown blob….probably not Leonard Nimoy’s finest hour.

    Deanna — thanks! 🙂

  680. I remember watching that first episode. I even remember watching the ads they showed all summer leading up to it. Also, the last time I trick-or-treated I went as spock, though I had the wrong color shirt. My mom helped me make the pointed ears out of “flesh” colored tape.

  682. Congrats!

    We’re going to Spokane in a couple of weeks – it should be a beautiful drive across state at the beginning of Fall.

  683. Sounds like good times, Christine! Never been to Spokane, so Traci and I are looking forward to it next year. If you have any favorite eateries or sights over there, let me know. 🙂

  685. Thanks, man. There’s a lot more to this drawing, but I’m holding back until I get the whole thing down in color. Should be done this week. Hope you’re doing well over there!

  691. Yep, I ordered them immediately, with overnight delivery. Going on Vacation oct. 1-6, & both books are going with me!

    They are gorgeous, especially side-by-side.

    You need a vacation too John!

  692. Lou — Whoops. Sleep-deprivation. Sorry ’bout that. Just fixed it! Thanks for catching that.

    Christine — Thanks! I might get that vacation….but it probably won’t be until Xmas. 🙂

  694. That is one eerie creation. It was interesting to see how you created it. 🙂

    Now I’m definitely intrigued about the story it came from. ^^

  699. Those covers really make me want to investigate the book behind them! And I like the way you’ve created the image too!

    (more books for my reading pile . . .)

    Happy Halloween!

  700. Thanks, Christine! Happy Halloween to you too! 🙂 Jeff’s one of my all-time favorite writers. THE PHYSIOGNOMY is the book that first put him on the literary map. He’s evolved a lot since then, but it remains a great book and a terrific trilogy.

  707. John: That’s a great freakin cover. Really am impressed with you ability to continuously reinvent your style.

    Jeff Ford

  708. John

    I think your covers for Elric are great apart from one thing, Elric’s face. He doesn’t look like how I have always visualised him – beautiful, cruel, slightly alien (or at least elven in the general sense). He doesn’t look very beautiful and looks more haggard than anything else. Sorry but had to be honest about this.

  709. Thanks, Cindy! Sorry for the belated response. I’ve been in Canada, and just got back.

    Hi, Maryelizabeth — I really appreciate it. Thanks! 🙂

    Hey, Jeff — Again, I appreciate it. Evolution is the name of the game. Hopefully the progress keeps moving forward here…however slowly it seems…:)

  718. damn my melon is huge…you would have to shoot me with a really cute girl so I look even more troll-like…

    Great to see you as always! Hope to make it next year!

  719. Thanks, Adrienne…..good luck with the documentary! 🙂

    JK — yeah, we’ve got the same problem. I married a woman with a slender face and therefore my head looks even more Shrek-like in most photos. What can you say? We’ve got large domes.

  720. Hey, John, it was great to hang out with you, as always. Thanks for all your encouragement and for spreading the word.

    I have to say, I sort of bolted after the award ceremony to catch someone I saw at a distance, and then I was all the way to my room before I realized I hadn’t chipped in for the wine at the table. The embarrassment… I promise it wasn’t intentional, and – better yet – I’ll make up for it next time.

    -David.

  722. You all had way too much a good time!

    John, I enjoy your photos soooo much! Keep taking them!

    It’s 51 and rain rain rain here in Seattle.

  723. Thanks, Christine! Glad you like ’em. No rain here in SA in a very long while……I’d say we’re officially in a drought. Send some of that rain down here. 🙂

  725. Hey, Laura Anne —

    Great to see you this weekend. Be careful. Just because I didn’t publicly post embarrassing photos of you doesn’t mean I don’t have them. 🙂

  729. Three reasons:

    1. Canadian customs is notoriously difficult on the wallets of artists (and bookdealers) coming into Canada.

    2. Swamped with cover art deadlines leading into World Fantasy Con

    3. Philcon is in two weeks and I’ll have nine panels worth of artwork there. That’s a lot, and even under ideal circumstances, it’s tough to prepare two great art displays in two different cities that are scheduled so close together.

    Tough choice, but the good news is I’ll have art at next year’s World Fantasy Con in San Jose.

  731. When CNN first called the election in favor of Obama, I looked at Traci and said “oh no, don’t do that…it’s too early to do that”, and then we immediately flipped over to MSNBC and realized they had just done the same, and I was filled with numbness. And then delirium! Hot deadlines here at the moment, so I can only listen to the TV instead of watch it right now, but every time Obama’s acceptance speech comes on, I’m watching history. In some ways, every time it’s replayed, it makes the unreal just a little more real, and after this eight-year national nightmare, I guess I need that today. Feels so good. The work has only begun though. Now we have an opportunity, and I’m eager to see what we can do with it.

  732. Great to see all you great people in Calgary!

    On the one hand I wish they did World Fantasy mor often, but on the other hand then it would probably not be so good.

    To San José! I already bought my ticket.

  733. It was a great evening.

    Four years ago, Bush said the American people gave him a “mandate,” and he ran with it (ran with it into the ground and then started digging!)

    Last night was a true mandate, and like you mentioned: an opportunity.

    It’s not a cure, and there’s a lot to do, but I really feel like this is as big as it seems to me.

    Cynthia freaked when the win was projected when results came in from the west coast. I had that same initial, “Hey, wait…I know he’s winning, but don’t call it yet.”

    But then the reality of it all sunk in.

    A solid win and an opportunity for hope.

    It’s still sinking in, but I’m looking forward to seeing what happens as Obama and the nation run with a genuine mandate from everybody who voted for him.

    And I really hope those who didn’t vote for him give him a real chance.

    I think he has it in him to be the “uniter” Bush only claimed to be…

  736. Dear John,

    You better take a TON of photos! And don;’t forget to get a few shots of Traci in there too!

    Artist Guest of Honor – I can’t even begin to imagine how exciting that must be! congrats!

    And have a wonderful time!

  742. No worries, Doodle. I appreciate your thoughtful comment. When I first took this assignment, I realized Elric means many things to many folks, and everyone has a visualization in their own heads of what Elric should be. For me, he’s a tortured figure who’s torn by his own conscience, his noble ambitions, his chaotic nature, his cruel genetics and heritage, and his addiction to Stormbringer. In that last way, he’s not unlike a drug addict, really, and maybe that’s why I see him the way I do….many thanks for your thoughts! 🙂

  743. Pablo Picasso was certainly a man of deep contradictions. Pablo Picasso was a self avowed communist. However, he was also one of the world’s wealthiest artists, leaving his heirs an estate valued at $260 million ($1.5 billion in 2008 dollars) when he died in 1973. Pablo Picasso once remarked, ‘I like to live like a poor man, except with lots of money!’

    http://www.free-art-images.com/

  746. It was fabulous to meet you (and Tracy) and hear how you create your work. I am always interested in new creative techniques and I like your use of both traditional and digital. I hope your stay in Philly was fun and that your journey home is/was safe. Hope to see you again.

    Mary Ann

  747. John, I was thrilled to obtain a copy of your cover art for “The Margarets” at Philcon today. I read the book recently and spent as much time just staring at the cover as I did reading the words. Thank you for producing such a beautiful (and evocative) piece of art.

    Karen
    (The Chromatics)

  748. Another wonderful trip!

    I’m too sleepy to be more lucid. Had to get up at the crack of dawn for the drywall repair folks show up any minute now to work on all 3 floors of our condo – we had prep work to do – and they called at 7:30 am (about 1 minute after the alarm went off) to ask if they could come then. Guess what they were told.

    Look forward to Part 2!!!

  749. Hi, Mary — it was terrific to be there with you. Good times!

    Hi, Mary Ann — great meeting you and yeah, Philly and Philcon were really good to us. It was a fabulous week and weekend. Thanks for being there. 🙂

    Hi, Karen — Was really looking forward to hearing you folks at the masquerade and as it turned out, they sent the masquerade judges away during your performance to do judging business. Since I was one of them, I didn’t get to hear you. I’ll Google and check you out later today. Many thanks for your kind words re: THE MARGARETS….I really appreciate it all around! 🙂

  750. Thanks, Christine! I hope everything’s OK over there! Normal repair or emergency repair? Hope you’re OK.

    Yeah, it was a great trip, but a mountain of catch-up to do now that I’m home. Will blog about Philcon sometime very soon…if we miss each other before Thursday — Happy Thanksgiving!

  751. Thanks for the write-up on the tourist part of Philly. I grew up there, and still love the place, even though I’m in the Big Apple now. I could have told you about the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It isn’t the Met in New York, but it’s in the same class. And the Rodin Museum is a satellite of the Phila. Museum of Art, operated by them.

    Another lovely art experience is the main branch of the Philadelphia Free Library, which has an extensive collection of Arthur Rackham illustraions, and sometimes trots them out for display.

    And I see you made the pilgrimage to Pat’s Steaks. If I recall correctly, Jim’s Steaks is the byproduct of a schism in the family that operates Pat’s, so they are competing on authenticity.

    An old friend once called Philadelphia “the Junk Food Capital of the world”, citing the cheesesteak, the soft pretzel, and Italian water ice as examples. I think he was on to something. And there was even an attempt at franchising the concept: there was a fast food chain called Philly Mignon that featured the cheesesteak on its menu. The one in NYC didn’t last, and I don’t know if they still exist. Likely not: the FTC went after the franchisors in 1984 for various rules violations.

    Personally, I like the steaks without cheese, and just sauteed onions. I don’t care for Cheez Whiz, and on one of Pat’s steaks is the only time I ever ate it. I suspect the hot sauce available to add to your steak can cover a multitude of sins.

    Should you get back there again, I also recommend Hilary’s ice cream parlor on Chestnut St., which advertises a higher than anywhere else butterfat content in their product. You break your diet just looking in the window.

    Should Hilary’s not be around, Basset’s Ice Cream is also recommended. Bassets is in the Reading Terminal Market, which is a Philadelphia treasure. If it’s food, the Terminal Market has it, usually fresh from the farm. Having the Terminal Market a block away was a major fringe benefit for the Millenium Philcon worldcon.

    And if you like seafood, I’ll point at Bookbinders, and push the oyster stew. Philly also has a large and healthy Chinatown, though my favorite Chinese place, the Mayflower, was gone when I went back down for Millphil. A shame, as thier hot and sour soup was the reference standard I used in judging other Chinese places.

    I liked Joe McCabe’s comment likening Philly to “living oin the Shire”. I think part of that was the result of city planning. When I was growing up there, there was an unwritten law that you couldn’t build a building taller than the statue of Willim Penn atop the city hall clock tower (Which is about 30 stories tall, I believe.) So Philadelphia never developed skyscraperitis, and you don’t realize how big a city it really is because it doesn’t *feel* big. When I was living there it was also called a “city of neighborhoods”, with areas that had maintained a consistent composition and identity for many years. Locals old me at Philcon that that is beginning to revive again, which I think is for the good.

    Thanks for the kind words for my old home town. It has quirks (like Sunday “blue” laws) that are hold overs from the Puritan origins, but it has a rich history and character, and I’m pleased to see others recognize it.
    ______
    Dennis

  752. Thanks John! Actually the repairs were sort of inbetween normal and emergency. We think they either came from a minor earthquake or the condo just naturally “settling” – we bought it brand-new, a couple of weeks before they actually finished it. The one in the middle floor ceiling was just a fracture, but the one in the bottom floor staircase had cracked all the way through & had even begun a perpendicular crack. So, when we had the construction company’s maintenance person install a new microwave last week, he noticed them & said the sooner we got them fixed, the better.

    We’re going out to a restaurant on Lake Union for turkey day dinner – no cooking, no leftovers, & no dishes to wash! May yours & Traci’s day be filled with turkey & love!

  753. Hi, Dennis —

    Just finished posting a Philcon report above, and saw your reply here. Awesome writeup. Printed this out so I’ll have it when I return to Philly somewhere down the road. Traci and I loved Reading Terminal Market, had an ice cream called Gadzooks at Bassett’s, and visited several other eateries there in the days before Philcon. Love that place. Great to hang with you in Philly. It was a pleasure!

    Hi, Christine — Happy for you when the repairs are over. Yikes. Good for you escaping the fuss and muss of Thanksgiving prep. 🙂 Have a great one!

  754. Ahhh, so you did discover Bassets and the Reading Terminal Market. Excellent!

    Should you get a chance the next time you are there, check out the terminal itself. What is now the entrance to the Philadelphia Convention Center used to be the Reading Railroad station train shed, with the executive offices of the railroad housed above. The architects did a nice job, incorporating some of the original tracks into the design in a nod to the history of the building.
    ______
    Dennis

  755. Thank you for the kind words about my job at Philcon. Job descriptions at a con tend to be fluid things, so Hotel Liaison is as good as any. I wasn’t really in two places at once, but I was more or less continuously on duty, and had less chance to actually see the con than I might have preferred. The first year in a new property always presents challenges, so it wasn’t unexpected.

    I think I’m mostly caught up on sleep…
    ______
    Dennis

  756. John: Ah, yes, whiskey sours, I like em not too wisely but too well. It was great to see you and Tracy, if only for a brief time through the haze. Great art show.

    Jeff Ford

  757. Hi, Dennis — Thanks for all you did. Really appreciated.

    Hey, Jeff — Thanks for coming out and hanging on Friday. Meant a lot to get to see you. Best of luck to Derek as he shops the schools, and Happy Thanksgiving to you and the family. Holler anytime…

  759. John, great report on your visit – I have lived here all of my life and truly enjoy hearing other’s interpretations on the area. And, yes, “real” cheesesteak fans do not go for the Cheez Whiz – out here in the suburbs, they use American Cheese – a nice mild goey mess – but delicious.

    Now going to read your Part 2…

  761. I swear, SPECTRUM 15 is also the spectrum with the most pages!

    But somehow I left it with an un-satisfied feeling. don’t know why. So, I put it aside and will revisit it in a couple of weeks.

    The quality of the book is, as usual, top notch. Now, how many days are there before the next one is released?

  762. I think you’re right — it is the fattest SPECTRUM yet. Did a quick survey of the book when I first bought it, and now I’m slowly going page by page through it a little at a time, a little bit each day. Haven’t finished yet. The Book category is about as stacked for quality as I’ve ever seen it….some amazing stuff there…

  763. spent a few hours in downtown Seattle today. Of course, I went into Barnes&Noble. And there, on the end cap with about 5 other featured sf books was … drum roll … Elric: The Sleeping Sorceress! And mid-level too, so it was easy to spot. And on the left-hand side. It looks beautiful in person! Congrats!

    P.S. I need to post a couple of Pike’s Place pictures – need to pull them out of my camera first though. Now, where did I put the instruction book?

  764. John, thanks for sharing the information. It is always sad when someone leaves this world for the next. His vision will live on in his work…a form of immortality.

    Mary Ann

  766. I will not forget Cawthorn’s work as I loved the Elric series and illustrations and am grateful to have met the other part of that team,Michael Moorcock, at the Nebulas this year.

    Losing James Cawthorn and Forry Ackerman in the same week saddens me, as I wonder whom we shall lose next. Still, I am grateful to have seen the work and met some of the people who created it.

    We are in the stage of our lives when we begin to see more of our heroes, mentors,& influences get their ticket to the next ride (my personal carney influenced metaphor), and while it makes me sad, that is a selfish thing. For those who go, I wonder what the next adventure will be like.

  782. Thanks, John, and everyone. Can’t tell you how touched I am. People are so generous. I hope to meet soon, too, Paul. Anyone else going to be in Biloxi next March with John and me ?

  784. PS Actually, I DID coin the term multiverse to describe multiple universe. I just didn’t realise William James coined it first in the 19th century to describe different states of mind!

  785. Right on, Mike. Thanks for stopping by…..I’m gonna go back and edit the text and insert that correction, so that the record reflects the truth about the coining of the word. Thanks for clarifying….I trusted Wikipedia, but hell, I should’ve just gone straight to the source. 🙂

  790. Happy Birthday Mike! We have yet to meet in this ‘verse but hope to some day. Your work has inspired countless dreams and visions. Thanks John! Happy Holidays to all – now back to work!

  791. Wow. Brilliant guy!
    I met him in Altoona last month, but I somehow suspect our brief meeting won’t merit me a proper Christmas Card.

    Happy holidays!~

  792. Happy Holidays to you too, Lee. Yeah, I have a feeling it won’t be the last time you’ll cross paths with VV….I suspect he’s gonna be a favorite in this field for a long time to come….

  794. “John Picacio’s ridiculously cool jet-legs-ape-in-front-of-rampaging-mob cover infers a story all its own” –
    Gotta love that one! It would be rather cool to have someone write a story based on this art…You are right John – it is nice to see the covers reviewed…and to see them appreciate your talent…

  798. Thanks, Christine. 🙂

    Yeah, with the recession and all, over here we’ll need to watch our travel budget next year. So taking an impromptu trip to Boston for Boskone ’09 in two months….yeah, that’s dicey. I’m looking into it though, just to see what the costs are…..

  806. Wow, that Jeffrey Ford trilogy piece is pretty mind blowing! I loved it. My second favorite was the Dan Simmons cover. Both really fabulous. Looks like you had a damn good year. Benno

  807. Thanks, Benno. Much appreciated. Just received copies of the Dan Simmons book last night. Will blog about it sometime soon. Happy New Year over there….

  808. I hope to be able to see one of your shadow boxes in the future – I know you don’t like to travel with them, but sincerely hope that if you do decide to take them to a Con (or if you have an exhibition of your work in a gallery somewhere), you are sure to give some advance notice!

    Just stunning.

  809. Mine’s coming in the next couple of days from Amazon! Our lovely (and I do mean that sincerely!) winter weather that started with snow on Dec. 13 has delayed its delivery. I can’t wait to see it in person!

    Good job john, I love the cover!

  810. Thanks, Christine…..really glad to hear you got one. You guys have been slammed with so much snow this year…..wow. Glad to hear you’ve been enjoying it though. 🙂 Hope you enjoy the book when it arrives!

  811. Hi, Mair! Just realized I forgot to drop by here and say ‘thanks’ for your kind comment. Yeah, ‘hard not to damage those big shadowboxes when they travel, but the next time one heads near you, I’ll give heads-up….maybe Boskone 2010??

  812. John, the book arrived this morning! You should be very proud and happy with the cover – it is beautiful! The paper they choseis very subdued, which really emphasizes the art & makes it stand out even more.

    What a wonderful little gift this book would make for someone for whom one cares.

    Congrats!!!

  816. That cover looks amazing! I have MUSE OF FIRE already and am eager to see what you come up with for THE TERROR.

    Greg

  818. It’s a great thing to see your name right up there in lights (okay, not lights exactly) with the author’s name in book reviews and such. You are becoming a legend, John. 😉

  820. Hah! Thanks, Mair. Hard to feel like I’m too big when I always feel like I’m running from behind. 🙂

    Hi, Charles — I’ll get to that interview once this smoke clears…..looking forward to doing it justice. Thanks for the patience. 🙂

  822. Found this through Google search for Moorcock Elric. So glad to see Mike looking healthy and happy in 2008. I was doing research for a writing class in which I was asked to pick three of my favorite literary characters and one of the choices is Elric. Words can’t describe how much enjoyment I have gotten through the years from the Eternal Champion saga. Also, I heard about a movie in the works – it’s definitely time for that, after seeing what Jackson did with the Ring Trilogy and “Underworld Rise of the Lycans”.

  824. Hi, Jeff — Good luck with that paper, and yeah, I can’t wait to see what an ELRIC film will look like. I’m hoping the filmmaking team (whomever ends up doing it) will do it right, with the same quality with which Guillermo Del Toro interpreted Mike Mignola’s HELLBOY.

  828. That is one impressive cover!

    I like the figures at the bottom, especially done in silhouette.

    And the god is definitely more interesting with more detail!

    And I love the sky work!

    all this despite the fact that green is not even a favourite colour of mine. (unless it’s a forest green)

  829. Thanks, Christine! 🙂 I really appreciate it. Hey, that does bode well for this piece if you don’t like green and you still liked it. I’m pretty happy with this one too. Hope you have a great birthday weekend!!

  830. Yeah, it’ll be great to see him over there and since it’s a smaller con, it’ll probably be a little less hectic than a Worldcon or World Fantasy show. Good times for sure!

  831. Outstanding, John…love the shadow and direction of the light…hope I get to see the underdrawing somewhere this year…

    And congrats on the Drood sell-out, too.

  832. Thanks, Mair. Let’s see…..looks like this year I’ll be in the following cities for convention appearances (thinking off the top of my head)….Biloxi, MS; Spokane, WA; Montreal, Canada; Austin, TX; Huntsville, AL; Denver, CO; and San Jose, CA. So the closest city this year to you would be Montreal for Worldcon. You gonna be there? The only trouble with that city is I’m not sure if I’m actually exhibiting artwork up in Canada. It’s really difficult dealing with customs up there so I may have to attend Worldcon without an art show. We’ll have to see. It’s highly likely that this drawing will be exhibited at World Fantasy Con in late October in San Jose. Any chance you’re gonna try to hit WFC this year, even though that’s a long ways from Philly?

  834. hey, I flew to San Jose for a concert once – anything’s possible. Of course that was in my younger days when paying bills wasn’t so important! Ha!

    I am way overdue for a visit to dear friends in Southern Cal – maybe I could make a big California trip out of it. San Jose is more likely over Montreal…October is far enough away that I can plan for it…and have never been to a WFC…could be the right time.

    And I just re-read your reply – I have a best friend that lives in Helotes – have to see how far Austin is from her…

  835. Hi John, James from the UK here.

    I’m a new fan of your work, having first seen your amazing artwork on a copy of ‘Canticle for Liebowitz’ that I picked up in the US. Have been a big fan ever since and intend on picking up a copy of ‘Cover story’.

    Anyway congratulations on another outstanding piece of cover artwork, I just don’t think there is anyone out there that has a style like yours. Hopefully you are illustrating the other two books in this trilogy?

    Lastly, am very much looking forward to receiving my Sub Press copy of Drood – My favourite author and artist together! Can’t wait to see what the cover for ‘The Terror’ looks like.

    Keep up the great work and take care.

    James

  836. Thanks, Charles. 🙂 Now you see one of the big reasons I haven’t finished our interview yet. Soon though. Thanks for the patience!

    Hi, Mair — Let me know if WFC becomes a serious consideration for you. If you’ve never been there before, it’s a different kind of con. Lots of authors, editors, publishers, illustrators, etc. and they actually cap their attendance because they want the con to stay intimate. It’s a great con every year. Don’t worry about it “capping out” anytime soon though — you’ve got plenty of time to decide. As for Helotes, it’s much closer to San Antonio than Austin, but it’s still only about 1 to 1.5 hours from Austin, and Armadillocon is a really good little con every year.

    http://www.armadillocon.org/

  837. Hi, James —

    Extremely kind of you. I really appreciate it. Yup, you’re right — I am illustrating the covers for the next two books in the AGE OF MISRULE trilogy. Will be working on the cover for DARKEST HOUR a little more this week, in fact. And today, I’m hoping to get some work done on THE TERROR cover so that’s definitely on the front burner. Glad you were able to reserve a copy of the DROOD limited…..those seem to have sold very quickly. Thanks for stopping by! Holler anytime. 🙂

  840. John,

    Nice illustration on this cover! It’s awesome that you start your illustrations with pencil and paper. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for more of your work.

  842. Thanks, Brad! I appreciate it!

    Hi, Mair — Hadn’t thought about Armadillocon yet since it’s not until August, but the nice thing about that show is it’s close enough that I can drive to it, and therefore, take my art with me. So of all of the shows this year, this is the easiest one to bring shadowbox work. You thinking about making it down to Austin for the show? Let me know. If you actually come all the way from Philly for this one, that certainly would sway me to bring at least a couple of shadowboxes so you could see ’em.

  843. Thanks for the reply John.

    One of the best things about becoming interested in your work is that it’s given me the chance to check out some writers that I’m not sure I would have otherwise come across easily. I’ve now read and enjoyed books by Rudy Rucker, Robert Silverberg and Jeffrey Ford this way. I guess this is one of the side benefits of having a great artist design your covers for you…

    Am excited to see your ideas for the Terror, and on that note you must be thrilled that Sub Press are now going to do a seconf print run for Muse of Fire. Congratulations for that.

    Jamie

  844. John, I am definetely considering Armadillocon. My friend out there is graduating with a degree in Communications in May and I owe her a visit…although I hear it will be quite sweltering out there in August. If I do decide to do it, I’ll surely let you know.

    m.

  845. The single determining factor for me to buy the Subterranean Press version over the standard edition was the cover art. It’s simply fantastic. Great job.

  846. I’ve always been a fan of Silverberg, now I’ve become a huge fan of John Picacio!

    It will be a pleasure to add this book to my library, and this will be one of the few with the cover facing out.

  851. I looked at the artists list – that’s quite a line-up! You’ll be in most excellent company for sure! We’ll all pray for the weather to cooperate.

    Congratulations!

  852. Thanks, Charles!! We’ll catch up very soon, I promise…

    Thanks, Christine…..yeah, the weather can be unpredictable in that part of the country in November….fingers crossed. 🙂 Proud to be part of the lineup….

  853. QUOTE: “…or at least something that doesn’t look like vomit on canvas…”

    I love it! This has started off my day (or at least continued it since I’ve been up for 5.5 hours already) well!

  854. Yeah, that says it all. I can’t be bothered with all that. I think it can sound pretentious whether I say am an “artist” OR an “illustrator”. I’m an arteest, heh.

  858. Hi John,
    There is a VHS copy a of documentary from 1980 called “The World of Andrew Wyeth”. It’s available through the San Antonio library system. Also, a documentary from 1996 “The Wyeths, a Father and his Family” available through interlibrary loan. Let me know if you want me to put any of these on hold. I’m still over at San Pedro.

    ~Cindy C.

  859. John, I watched this vid when you had it on facebook – excellent interview – and it is always interesting to hear how an artist composes/creates/designs his work. Thanks for the link…

  861. Thanks, Cindy. I don’t think our VCR works anymore. I’ll see if I can get it up and running, and if so, I’ll definitely let you know.

    Hi, Mair — many thanks!! 🙂 Hope you’re doing well over there.

  862. Hey John!

    I would have to say that an all-encompassing depth of story matters the most to me, especially in sci-fi. Nothing short of epic!

  864. I enjoy the originality of Science Fiction artwork. In stories, I like that I can escape to a world so far from the real world and yet understand the hearts and souls of the charaters portrayed.

    Kathy

    Helotes, TX

  865. Hi, Mayo — Good to hear from you! 🙂
    Hi, Kathy — Well-said, and thanks for taking the time.

    Although I know my blog gets visited by lots of folks around the world, I sometimes wonder how much of an science fiction/fantasy/horror audience there is here in San Antonio. I guess there are three of us so far. 😉

  866. Hi, Mair —

    Very kind of you. Yes, I do. I’ll touch base with you soon with specs and prices, as soon as the smoke clears here in a short while….

    Hope all’s well there,
    John

  868. I found you through the Express-News and I would love to see a Sci-Fi Con here even one that is small.

    I am a fan of the space opera especially in the style of Peter Hamilton.

    I do think that it would be hard to pull in a lot of the bigger name artists and toy/merchandise vendors but it would be worth the try.

    I would be happy even with a real comic book/sci-fi store in the area something like Forbidden Planet in London.

  871. Hey John – Just got back in from a frigid week in Chicago, great food, crappy weather. I would like to see a con here, just casnnot devote a lot of time to making it happen.

  872. Hi, everyone —

    Just wanted to say thanks for the comments. Duly noted, and I’l definitely pass them along.

    Kathy and Ransom — please email me at
    john (at) johnpicacio (dot) com — and of course don’t include any spaces in that address. I may have some more info to share about this issue in the coming weeks.

  877. …of course count me in John. I think that as a fan of all things scifi/fantasy and art of all kinds- a con here in SA could be good for the fans from all over and local writers, artist and businesses.
    Dena

  884. Hi, folks — Extremely kind of all of you. Really glad you dig the piece. RE: the Hugo nom — I’m thrilled and sky-high happy. Thanks so much, everyone.

    Big D — See you in Montreal, man! Congrats to you too! 🙂

  889. Thanks, Jamie…..I really appreciate it. We’ll see what happens….the best advice I can give is for folks to check out as many of the nominees as possible and vote when the final balloting eventually commences. 🙂 It’s an amazing ballot in all categories this year…..I’m proud to be a part of it.

  890. Glad you had a good time! I am both depressed and amazed to realize that my first CoastCon was exactly 30 years ago… It was at a small beachside motel that we shared with a fraternity weekend, not a match made in heaven, and was mostly populated with gamers from the nearby Air Force Base. The few literary fans in attendance got to be very good friends with each other and the Author GoH over the weekend :->

  892. Hi, Janice — There was a real can-do spirit amongst the Coastcon con com team and I tip my hat to them. I think the majority of fans at the con were gamers, but I definitely saw a few more literary fans on Saturday than on Friday.

    Anarcathartic — Definitely eaten at Denny’s before, but no, I’ve never eaten at a Waffle House before this weekend. As Diana Rowland said, it was decent comfort food. Surprisingly tasty.

  894. Hi, Jack —

    I will definitely be at Worldcon. Already had my membership, but now that I’m officially a Hugo Award finalist again, I wouldn’t miss it for the world. 🙂 See you there!

    And I’ll not only be at MileHiCon this year, but I’ll be the Artist GoH this year. Barbara Hambly and Nancy Kress will be the Author GoHs. I’ve received word that a lot of author friends will also be there, so I’m looking forward to this one….

  896. Thanks, Christine! I love the diversity of the artist list that made the book…..that’s one of the great things about the recent SPECTRUM volumes.

  901. Thanks, Charles! 🙂 Still haven’t forgotten about our interview, I promise…

    Hi, Christine — Yeah, it’s good to see so much quality emerging right now in genre art….

  902. Thanks for the shout out Mr. I am glad you had fun and it wasn’t too inconvenient to be without your computer and have to work at the Con..that’s what you get for being Mr. Mega Important HUGO dude..Super Super Congrats again on that I have my fingers and toes and some other stuff crossed for you…My Bad that I didn’t get you guys and Introduce you to Ginny earlier who knew you would hit it off so well..Suffice it to say I wont make that mistake next time…Of course it almost goes without saying that you and Traci were a joy to have and I cannot wait to have you both back again Ray and Randolph voiced the same delight to have you and we all look forward to having fun another time Much Love to you both Leanne

  903. Glad you enjoyed yourself. I also enjoyed meeting you and spending time. Look forward to seeing you again.
    Yes, this is Frank from Hospitality.

  905. Thanks, John. If we helped make your Con more enjoyable, then we have succeeded in our duties. And may I say, thank you so very much for the artwork on the badges. The badges are beautiful every year, but this year they were particularly so! This is John from Registration, part of Mike’s crew.

  906. John,

    I just checked over on Subterranean Press’ site and well sadly 500 dollars is a bit much and 80 bucks is a bit more reasonable.

    Anything I can do to just get a copy of your artwork, in non dust-jacket form. Prints maybe?

    I am really loving it this piece of art. I think it is my new favorite of your work.

  908. Thanks, Ransom. I really appreciate the kind words.

    Currently, Subterranean Press owns first publication rights to the image, and that means that at this time, they’ve got exclusive right to use the image in print. Once the book is out of print, we’ll see what happens re: prints of this image. Again, many thanks….:)

  910. I forgot to tell you at the con how much I admired that cover. I’ve already ordered the cheaper edition from them and hope my order made it in time. Well done!

  911. Looks awesome John. Now if I only had the money… =)

    And don’t sweat about the interview every time I comment. As I said before, no rush. Don’t want to give you a heart attack every time I congratulate you…

  912. Thanks, Mark! Much appreciated. The books turned out great so yeah, I hope your order gets fulfilled….if you already got it in, then I’m guessing you should be OK since they had 40-50 copies as of yesterday morning, but I’d guess those will vanish fast.

    Charles — thanks! ‘Appreciate the patience. 🙂

  913. The empire of Ice Cream is in my Top 5 John Picacio Favourites – so far no other cover has knocked The Margarets off its top spot! I even bought Empire just because I loved the cover, and the paper they used and the print job are superb. One of these days I ought to consider opening the book (which I never have) and reading it . . .

  918. I love Stephen King. When his “On Writing” book came out I wrote something for his little contest — and wound up winning. This was before I’d sold anything professionally. It gave me a real boost. Those short stories King published in the men’s magazines back in the 70s were great. As for ‘Salam’s Lot, that book scared the hell out of me. But more than that, I responded to his use of language and his sense of structure and pacing. He was still feeling his way toward his strongest voice, but the scope of his ambition impressed me. I knew he was something special.

  919. Hi, Mair — Will definitely post it here when it’s done. 🙂

    Hi, Jack — Wow, very cool that you won that contest. Yeah, I’d never read ‘SALEM’S LOT before I got this assignment. Great book!

  920. Got my copy today – it’s not just the cover art that’s amazing, the whole book is beautiful and I can’t wait to read it.

  922. YES!

    I especially like the clouds. And the movement of colour, bottom to top, cool to hot, which draws the eyes upwards.

    I don’t think I’d enjoy meeting any of those entities!

  924. Thanks, Christine. 🙂 When I was doing this cover, the manuscript was still being written (which is not uncommon). So I’ll be interested to see how well my cover illo reflects the finished novel….the author has a robust fanbase though, and I suspect his name alone will cause folks to pick up the book.

  926. Awesome cover, John. It’ll really stand out on the bookshelves…

    I hadn’t heard about this novel previously, and can’t find any plot summary on Amazon, etc. Any more info you can give us please?

    thanks

    James

  927. Hi, Jaime — It’s a good question. Truth be told, this assignment was a little unusual because not only was the manuscript still in development when I was commissioned (again, not uncommon), but even the TITLE changed from when I was first given the assignment. The inspiration for my cover art was my understanding that the Seven Deadly Sins play a key role in the book. I assume that’s still the case. I don’t think the publisher would’ve been so enthusiastic about my art if it misrepresented the novel, so I’m hoping that’s the case. Steve Niles is a terrific writer, so I’m really looking forward to the finished book just like everyone else. 🙂 When I find out more, I’ll certainly pass it along. Sorry I’m not more help on this one!

  928. No worries, John. Definitely looks intruiging, and I enjoyed 30 days of night (graphic novel and movie) so it bears further investigation.

  929. Well written, John. I have always loved Michael’s work and lament the day I sold two signed prints I owned of his…times were tough.

    And very cool to know that many authors and artists were inspired by Paul’s images.

  930. Oy….’have to do what you have to do in tough times. Doesn’t make it any easier though….

    I’ll be curious to find out who the jurors were for this year’s Hall of Fame induction. It’s usually writers, editors, and word folks voting on these, so therefore they’re generally inclined toward voting other writers and editors. So to see not one, but two, artists in the four choices is a welcome sight. At least to me. 🙂 All four inductees are hugely worthy.

  931. Hi John. Just wanted to say that, concerning the comment you made about Michael Whelan being an all-around nice and generous guy, I’ve been saying the same about you ever since CoastCon, bro!
    JP

  932. Here, here, JP – I could not agree with you more…

    …and John, it is about time that the cover (and internals) artists are recognized – after all, that’s what sells a book to someone unfamiliar with an author…especially when the artist is you! Ha!

  935. Thanks, Christine! 🙂
    I’m working to make the cover for Book 3 even better. Will have that one soon. The cover for Book 2 is all done and Pyr’s already sent that off to the printer.

  939. Just got my Collector’s Edition! No Pyr logo on the spine!

    I am very impressed – the cover turned out darker than the computer image, so it’s more of a dark green than a bright grass green. Yay!

  948. Thanks for the mention. I have a vision for SAFUN but right now, it’s my personal blog. SA has good roots, good people, great culture – we just need more voices. With Twitter and other social media networks, I have discovered some amazing people doing great things on the internet right here in SA. We are moving in the right direction.

  952. Thanks for the heads up about other blogs–I am going to look them up. Also, will you, perhaps, be at Armadillocon this August? It comes right on the heels of WorldCon, so perhaps not…

  953. Hi, Nancy —

    I’ll see you at Armadillocon for sure. Will definitely be there. I’m scheduled for three cons back-to-back-to-back, but that’s life. SpoCon in Spokane, WA and then off to Montreal for Worldcon, and then from there back down to Austin for Armadillocon. Yikes.

  960. Congratulations, John, fantastic job. This series will look great on the shelf lined up next to each other…

    Quick question, if you don’t mind, do you have anything else in the works in the epic fantasy genre? One of my favourite covers of yours is the one for Michael Moorcock’s ‘Wizardry and Wild Romance’ and it would be great to see something else in that vein.

    Also really looking forward to your cover for ‘The Terror’, after the incredible work on ‘Drood’ and ‘Muse of Fire’.

    kind regards

    Jamie

  961. Thanks, Eric! Really appreciate it!

    Hi, Jamie — Very kind of you. The final art for THE TERROR is coming soon. As far as epic fantasy goes, I’m working on the sixth ELRIC book right now. And Pyr has signed me on to do the covers for the next AGE OF MISRULE trilogy that follows the initial three MISRULE releases this summer. 🙂

  963. Just an update.. I work for the printer who produces the prometheus books, and while I am not responsible for the logo error on the first print, I can confirm that the logo is in it’s rightful place on the second printing. So grab what you can of the first edition because the corrected reprint is going to press.

  970. Really fascinating to hear the insight behind the art, John. For all that it’s worth, I can see your though process and I think the final art is even better – the limiting the detail to the figure works really well and I think this one will be very eye-catching to those browsing bricks and mortar bookshops. Must also be very exciting to be one of the first to be involved with a new talent…

    One question, is photography involved with the face? It’s incredibly realistic.

    Jamie

  971. Thanks, Jamie. Very kind of you.

    The illustration is all drawing and painting composited together in Photoshop. No photography in the final result. However, I shot photos of a friend (hi, Matt!) for reference. So most of the details of the figure, including the face, were drawn and painted based on that reference. I changed some of the details here and there, as I normally do when I use reference, but I definitely referenced those photos while drawing and painting.

  972. One other note — when I say “drawing and painting composited together in Photoshop”, the drawing and painting was done in pencils and paints in the real world, and then scanned in and finished in Photoshop for the final.

  973. John, this is an amazing piece of work. Just riveting. Jack is such a lucky man to have this for his first cover.

  974. Thanks, Daryl. I appreciate it. After reading this manuscript, I’m definitely a Jack Skillingstead fan and I’m really eager to see where this book takes him. I feel like I’m the lucky one to be along for the ride….

  975. Excellent work. I’m love how this turned out. There’s a certain fragility to the image that seems to capture Jack’s work.

    Thanks for allowing me a glipse of the creative process. I enjoyed seeing at least part of how this magic happens.

    — Sanford

  978. I remember asking youat your NWCon slide show what you do when you look at a book cover and say “this isn’t working” – now I know! You start over.

    This is an absolutely amazing, beautiful, & nailed cover! The blues are just gorgeous! And the thought process you used to get to it was most interesting. And the clouds for the “back” work wonderfully. This cover would definitely catch my eye in the bookstore, convincing me to buy a book (hardcover?) by a brand-new author.

    Congratulations!

  980. Try Ursa Major Yahoo Group for literary SF fandom.

    BTW, see Joe Mallozzi’s blog dated 14 May. I may finally join his BOTM club; for June, it’s a tome about some “Elric” dude … 😎

  982. Krubrick said approximately that same thing in a print interview some years ago. It made an impression on me, too, John. Coincidentally, I’ve been watching 2001 clips the last few nights. It’s still a mind boggling movie. And no fucking cgi.

  983. Our lives seem to run in parallel lately, don’t they? 🙂 Yeah, I found out that quote ran in Playboy back in ’68, but I’d never seen it before. Really hit home with me….

  985. Hi, Ransom —

    I saw your comment and now it’s gone, but I thought it was a good question. I’ll be posting about my art as always right here, and I’ll cross-post it to MISSIONS UNKNOWN! as well. That’s usually the bulk of my blogging, but now I’ll be posting a lot of stuff that’s not necessarily about my art and more San Antonio-centric. That stuff will be posted over at MU! and not necessarily over here. That material is coming very soon.

    You can always count on this blog here to be the home where I share my latest artwork though, no matter what.

  989. don’t know if you ever read new posts to old blog entries, but just in case…loved the reunion bit. What it boils down to is that many of your classmates may make a lot of money (the definition of “success” by many)- but YOU have a job that you truly love…which is actually priceless….

  991. You really don’t notice that her body is missing when you first look at it. Only after “studying” it do you see it.

    I think you did a better job than Phillips as far as the fade away aspect.

  994. I’ve long appreciated John Gardner’s similar expression of this idea–but given more narrative heft–from his 1978 book On Moral Fiction:

    It was said in the old days that every year Thor made a circle around Middle-earth, beating back the enemies of order. Thor got older every year, and the circle occupied by gods and men grew smaller. The wisdom God, Woden, went out to the king of the trolls, got him in an armlock, and demanded to know of him how order might triumph over chaos.
    “Give me your left eye,” said the king of the trolls, “and I’ll tell you.”
    Without hesitation, Woden gave up his left eye. “Now tell me.”
    The troll said, “The secret is, Watch with both eyes!“
    Woden’s left eye was the last sure hope of gods and men in their kingdom of light surrounded on all sides by darkness. All we have left is Thor’s hammer, which represents not brute force but art, or, counting both hammerheads, art and criticism. Thor is no help. Like other gods, he has withdrawn from our immediate view. We have only his weapon, abandoned beside a fencepost in high weeds, if we can figure out how to use it.

  996. Hey, William —

    Wow. That’s awesome. Read your post four times, and it gets better every time. That last image is gonna stick with me for a long time. Thanks so much.

  998. I got my copy a little over a week ago! And it has the Pyr imprint on the spine!

    Also, I finally received my copy of Drood. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have your cover but a VERY VERY VERY BORING DREARY UGLY COVER. Sigh.

    I also have Mieville’s new book!

  1001. Thank you, John, for continuing to produce outstanding ad surprising work. The Asimov’s cover is a delight–also rewarding anew with each look.

    Also, I use both 2001 and The Shining in my film studies class. Kubrick is always an inspiration.

  1005. Hi, Lou…..hi, Mair — Sorry I’ve been distracted over here.

    Lou — thanks, man. Means a lot coming from you!
    Mair — yes, I will have prints of this, coming this fall. Will post here as soon as I do. 🙂

  1007. Can I get an Amen. And I disagree, it is possible that is one of your finer moments. Sometimes a little well placed vulgarity is need to get someones attention(not to mention the metaphor, intentional or not).

  1008. Oh, man, what a fantastic post. Yes, yes, yes! Yes on all points, yes to eternity!

    I’ll back a Greg Manchess, Gary Kelly, and yes, a John Picacio over some dumbass Damien Hirst diamond skull any day. And twice on Sunday.

    I agree with EM Geist, btw—I’d keep that moment in your greatest hits pile, if I were you.

  1009. Two things Amigo:

    1. “ill-conceived installation sculptures” is redundant.

    2. I usually end these discussions with “The Masters were illustrators”. Oh, then sometimes “Fool!”

    Great observation about all the approvals those guys need by the way – brilliant.

    Adios!

  1010. Amen.

    Jeff’s point about the masters is well made. I tell everyone that every piece of “Classical” art that they swan and drool over was illustration. The Sistine Chapel, Illustration. Portraits, illustration.

    It is my contention that Maxfield Parrish putting prints of his work into the hands of the common man was the most important force in the ghettoization of illustration.

    When both the church and the secular rich were no longer the only people who could have ART, then they could insure that what the common man could own was NOT art.

    And then generations of pretentious hacks and faddish sensationalist poseurs could tailor the Emperor’s clothes as they saw fit.

    SO the rich want a cow chopped in sections and held in Lucite? Great to see that money don’t make ya smart.

    Give me a Mucha, a Leyendecker, a Wyeth. And speaking of Wyeths, can you even imagine a 3-generation dynasty of Hirsts? Of Warhols? Of idiotic installationists? Actually, now that I come to mention it, it might be a great Fox family drama…

  1011. Kyle — thanks for visiting. Glad you dug it!

    Erik — Hah! You crack me up. Thanks, man. 🙂

    Pablo — Nice to see you! Really kind of you to say. Just found your design blog recently — it’s terrific! Need to add it to the blogroll. “Greatest Hits”…..hah! ROFL. 🙂

    Jeff — Priceless. Yes, yes.

    Lee — Well said, man!!

  1012. a bit late, but here goes…
    I’ve always felt that great art is that which affects you in a profound way. I’ve seen Renoir and Mucha, Parrish and Picacio, Rockwell and Michelangelo. All have touched my heart in profound ways and are equally capable of bringing me to tears for the beauty I’ve found there. Beauty really is in the eyes of the beholder, and in response to the boneheads who continue to belittle illustration and illustrators, I’m kinda reminded of the wisdom of one Leonard McCoy when he said,”what he has said is unimportant, and we do not hear his words.’Yeah, that works for me.

  1013. Excellent post, John.
    I absolutely agree with your point of view as an artist and art lover.

    Brian’s post – it is as if he read my mind…

  1015. Thanks for the nod, John. I have enjoyed exploring both your blog and your web site.

    On the subject at hand, I certainly agree with you. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when artists started to believe that it was dishonorable for art to simultaneously be useful or serve a purpose, but I think it’s fair to say that such views are the exception rather than the rule over the long history of art.

    As the recession chews away at the funding for such frivolous nonsense and the US is forced to become more serious, it will be interesting to see what happens to “art for art’s sake.”

  1016. I’ve always felt that people who feel the need to slice and dice art in categories of fine/commercial or highbrow/lowbrow — whatever the medium — are generally trying to sell you something. Most often it’s “fine art”.

    I don’t need a narrower definition of art than the creative endeavors of men. From the cave paintings at Lascaux to the song a sixth grader just made up for fun, it’s all art.

    You can debate its merit and quality for eternity, but this need to strip the very term from a work is a way of elevating mediocre work.

  1017. Hi, David — Thanks very much! As always, you leave us with something resonant…..in this case, that last sentence….now THERE’S some food for thought, huh? 🙂

    Hi, Mark — Yes, yes, yes. Couldn’t have said it better!

  1018. Thanks for the interview John! The font on Age of Misrule is delicious, and perfect for the book! Now I have some new fonts to peruse.

  1022. I have to warn you though, Twitter will eventually let you down. Disappearing Tweets, Direct Messages, arbitrary policies, server downtime, the disappearing photos…

  1023. Great idea, John. I just might take you up on it. It’d be a lot of work to track down all the rights, though. How much spare time do you have. 🙂

    Moshe

  1024. Hi, Moshe —

    How you doin’ over there? Hah! I’m just an artist. I don’t know anything about rights, other than my own. 🙂

    In all seriousness though, while I probably won’t be a good candidate to track rights, I can help connect appropriate parties with many of the living artists and of course Mike himself. Probably best for each of them to answer about rights for themselves, but I can help shorten the connection time.

    In addition, I hastily assembled a 50-image slideshow presented at Coastcon this year. Mike and I did a panel where we talked Elric art and it was good times. That slideshow could be a basic start for someone building a list of essential Elric imagery to include, but it would only be a start and should in no way be considered a definitive presentation. There’s a LOT of stuff I didn’t include because it was only an hour-long panel.

    I’m actually hella-busy right now doing the cover art for the sixth ELRIC Del Rey volume, but please feel free to holler at me anytime if I can be of assistance. I’ll do what I can.

    myfirstname [at] johnpicacio [dot] com

    (no spaces of course)

  1026. As someone new to Elric (and to Moorcock’s work), I am hungry for images of the character and would welcome such a book. Mike’s writing is so visual and lush, it simply begs for the characters to come to life before your very eyes, and the first step to this comes from the magic that flows from an artist’s pen.

    I commented on Moorcock’s Miscellany about this, but felt compelled to do so here, too.

    dasNdanger

  1034. The thing I always liked about King (Salem’s Lot in particular), is that no matter what’s going on, there’s always that underlying feel of something happening–no matter what is happening.

    It’s hard to explain, but this image is how I always viewed Salem’s Lot.

    Very cool!

  1035. Hi, Christine — Thanks very much! Centipede’s LOVECRAFT book last year was absolutely stunning, and I suspect this King book will be at the same superior level, but I can can completely understand anyone having sticker shock. Especially in a tough economy…..still, I’m glad you dig it. 🙂 Very appreciated.

    Rhonda — Thanks! 🙂

    Christopher — Really appreciate it. That makes me feel really good.

  1036. Excellent as always.

    You know, at this level of consistency, it’s only going to be news when you *don’t* do something totally cool. 🙂

    Keep up the great work!

  1042. I think it would be hugely successful, John. I have a collection of illustrated books. I would often roam the “childrens” section of bookstores looking for illustrated hardbacks of old fairy tales. Michael Hague and the Brothers Hildebrandt are two of my favorites, along with Brian Froud. I even own a Time-Life series that are wonderfully illustarted. It would be awesome to add a similar hardback book from you to the collection. I hope you can find the time – maybe it just needs to be something long-range so you can squeeze in an illustration here and there between covers. I see it as a slip-cased edition… 🙂

  1043. I like the way you think, Mair. 🙂 Yeah, Jeff and I think it would be a hit too. More importantly than that though, we think it would be something worth doing. ‘Appreciate your thoughts as always!

  1044. “lush illustrated”–I’m in!

    Gorgeous cover art for THE EMPIRE OF ICE CREAM. If this is a glimpse of the kind of work you’ll do together, I can’t imagine that it wouldn’t be a fabulous success.

    Wishing you well.

    Best,
    Fran Friel

  1052. Thanks, Mair! And I just saw you joined Twitter. I’m in select company on your list. You’re too cool. 🙂

    As for the mag — I just opened up a PDF of the entire interview. Too bad we can’t read Chinese (well, I can’t, at least). I’ll soon post it here anyway because Chinese typography is just beautiful to look at…..

  1055. I just saw the listing on SFSignal – that’s quite a list! MANY very talented artists there!

    congrats, & good luck!

  1056. My best wishes, fellow! It’s a pleasure to attend this race…we haven’t yet met personally (one day it will happen, I know), but meeting you on the arena is a honor and a satisfying surrogate… 🙂

    Your paintings are amazing. Be assured that your creations keep inspiring even artists, not just fans!

    Very best, Maurizio

  1058. Thanks, Christine! I’m honored to be in their company. 🙂

    Maurizio! Good luck to you too! It’ll be a good day when we cross paths in person….

    Thanks, Charles!

  1060. all three books are beautiful! Especially lined-up together on my bookshelf! I’m halfway through Book 2, having complted Neal Stephenson’s ANTHEM. congrats John & Pyr!

  1065. I simply MUST (sorry caps) second Moshe’s idea. As a “former/re-formed” animator of the lowest degree, I’ve always seen Mikes’ stuff in my own mind at least as being best portrayed in animation. No fancy Tom Cruise w/ a platinum wig, no heavy computer-generated sequences, no a true “cartoon” for adults if you will.
    This would be a marvelous idea and would preserve the various ways that Elric has been seen by many different people the world over. (Since of course NO live-action movie will even get close to satisfying as many exisiting fans as animation would.)

  1069. Hi John,
    I was looking at Rachel’s blog and clicked on the link to the Carlos Cortes’ fairy tale grotto and saw you there. I just wanted to say hello from Winnie. I love to see your work. Rachel and Wayne have some really nice prints of yours. You are such a talented artist. Tell Tracey hello from us. I hope everything is going well with you guys.

  1075. Already have it bookmarked and added to my google homepage from when you mentioned it the other day, John – looks like a FABulous site!

    🙂

    as always, thanks for the great link(s)!!!

  1077. [SMACK!] Ouch. Thanks for the critique and the links. Just comparing these pieces with what’s on the front of skine.art today leaves no doubt in one’s mind.

  1078. Well said, John! Thank you for your kind compliments of Bob’s work. Some of your contemporaries have not been so kind. 🙂

    Bob is a law unto himself, in love with brushstrokes and colour as with all types of art, from modern illustration to the masters from the last 1000 years. He learns from and quotes it all. He could teach several subjects on it.

    Mr Roberts is another misguided soul who believes cover illustration art is high brow art. It isn’t: it is driven by a need to sell as many books as possible with marketing execs as well as editors and art directors ALL directing what should go on a cover. It isn’t easy to navigate those narrows. However, Bob and many others still manage to produce quality work. If Mr Roberts were to take a look at any one of the artists you mentioned, at their personal works, he might just go home and revise his opinions. I know Bob’s is breathtaking…

    Bests.
    Marianne

  1079. Hm. I’m biased — I prefer simple covers with restrained and minimal art. As ART though, I don’t see how doodles could compare?

  1081. A beer sounds good. I like beer.

    The three images you praise are all very pretty, no question. They are examples of the dominant contemporary style in SF art. I like the bulk of SF-themed art, as it goes, although it seems to be to follow a fundamentally Pre-Raphaelite aesthetic: representational art rendered in bright colours, realistic (often photorealistic) form, predominantly figure portraiture (often semi-clothed figures) in landscape. There are good, commercially-grounded reasons for this of course, but it’s limiting. Much as I love the PRB, it’d be nice to think that there’s more to art, and especially the best art, than this. A lot has happened in art since the 1870s.

    re: the Giancola. I agree the textures are rendered in a very technically accomplished manner; but I can’t say the mini-baroque curls of the composition do much for me. You say the image ‘packs an emotional wallop’ and you and I may have to agree to disagree on that. It seems to me rather unengaging, emotionally: dealing in an empty kind of pathos.

    The Dan Dos Santos also leaves me cold: technically accomplished but trading also in visual cliche (attractive young girl in leather skirt). The Eggleton is, once again, accomplished; seems to me derivative and unexciting. The point with all three is not whether they are good; it’s whether they are the best. How would they fare in any of the last dozen shortlists for the John Moores painting prize, for instance?

    “Mr Roberts is another misguided soul who believes cover illustration art is high brow art. It isn’t: it is driven by a need to sell as many books as possible”

    This is obviously right … the commercial imperative bit, I mean; the bit about the state of my soul is only probably right. My beef is not that these images won’t sell books; it’s with putting them in the shop-window of the genre’s blue-riband prize as examples of the very best in art today.

    On the other hand, I like your image, John, at the top of the post very much.

  1083. John,

    I love the illustrations you’ve chosen to illustrate your point. However it seems to me that each and every one of these could have come off a genre book cover from anytime in the last 40 years or so.

    If that’s the case then its down to the industry and the market it serves rather than the individual artists. Which may be where the emphasis of Adam’s argument is off target.

    But if the general point made is that any popular reaction to any popular medium tends, by definition, to be conservative and we need to pay attention to that tendency then its a general point I agree with.

    All the best

    Simon

  1084. John, one more reason I love you.

    Mr. Roberts, I’d be better able to listen your arguments if a) you had purchased a membership voted in the Hugos or b) you provided counter-examples that were even remotely serious. The mole-skin site is laughable.

    As for a) since you chose not to vote you cannot claim that “these are my awards.”

  1085. At the risk of going off topic:

    The current batch of moleskine art is exceedingly patchy it must be said (though I love the bus in the woods guy) – I was shocked by just how bad some of it was. There has, though, (I promise) been some stunning stuff on it in the past – hence my shock at the current batch.

    Not much, even the good stuff, that could be used for book covers though I’ll admit.

    And I say that advisedly having had to field a fair amount of scorn for some of the more experimental covers Gollancz have used on recent repackage exercises (whether they’ve won a Yellow Pencil Design award or not . . .).

    Best

    Simon

  1086. heh, heh, heh. Bob is constantly scribbling in his moleskin book. I use one to write notes in for my writing projects. Does that put us on the same page?

    Mind you, I think what Mr Roberts and others consistently forget is: that the Hugos is a ‘best of’ competition put up by the fans, for the fans to vote on their favourite book cover artist. Sometimes those nominations and votes are a kneejerk reaction to nom their constant old fave, or alternatively to intellectually spend time perusing many of the artists and use that as their basis for choice. Then you’ve got that geographical oriented voter denomination that shifts and is influenced by wherever the worldcon is held in any give year. All in all, it is still a crap shoot. Also, it depends on just how many paintings of each artist MR Roberts has based his opinions on. Every artist has some spectacular pieces, just as he or she has a series of ‘get the job done’ ones because the bloody publisher/marketing exec has changed the bloody schedule AGAIN.

    I remember one uppity new author (name with held to protect the obnoxious) gatecrashed one of Bob’s kaffeeklatches at San Antonio worldcon to tell him what a horrible painting he thought Bob’s was for the cover of his magazine short story. Bob listened and made some comments about telemetry and inclination and declination of orbits, etc. The author in question huffed a bit, and then begrudgingly asked the price of the original painting ‘he didn’t like’. Bob had the satisfaction of telling him that it had sold out of the studio to a major collector who absolutely LOVED it and praised it a great deal. The author picked his jaw up off the ground and quietly left. The collector still raves about the painting to this day…

    It’s all about personal perceptions and points of view… I do try to see all points, but some days it’s worth a laugh. 😀

    Keep up with your opinions, Mr Roberts…at least you have honest ones…

    Marianne
    PS: Thanks for sharing, John. Hugs…

  1087. Folks — I’ve a little bit to say here so I’m gonna break this up into a few parts because Google is choking on the length of my response. Please bear with me.

    Part 1

    Hi, folks —

    Thanks for the comments here. Much appreciated.

    I need to jump back to work and may disappear here for several hours, but Adam and Simon are on UK time so I wanted to reply to them before it gets too late on their side.

    Adam — You’re asking all of us a question of “is this the best that sf can offer?” and frankly, I applaud your relentless push for excellence. No snark or sarcasm there. I’m being serious. What you consider excellent and what I consider excellent may differ, but regardless, I welcome the questioning. Thank you. Unfortunately, as a nominee in this case, I’m not comfortable answering that and would prefer to just return to the daily task of getting better at my work while others carry this conversation of “what is best” because in fact, my own work is involved here. My battle is to do the work; it’s up to others to decide where it fits in the cultural continuum. The reason I responded in defense of Donato, Dan, and Bob was I didn’t appreciate the blanket generalizations of the pro sf art nominees, but you’ve been kind enough to offer detailed thoughts here. Though we may differ in our analyses, I respect your takes.

    In a nutshell, I view art/literary awards much like title belts in a boxing world where there are different federations with title bouts, but no unified belt recognizing the undisputed champion. I realize the Hugo is essentially a popularity vote, and functions according to a field of gravity that I may not understand all of the time. I’m OK with that. Call me crazy, but I still love it and am honored to have been nominated five consecutive years. Maybe someday I’ll actually win one, but I can promise I never take the nom for granted. Do I wish there was one award that unified focused fan and critical scrutiny into one heavyweight, one-belt-to-rule-them-all recognition? Sure! Do I have a problem with anyone calling the Hugo “the most prestigious award in sf”? Personally — I’m OK with it. I’m also fine with anyone who wants to start a new award and imbue it with a significance they feel is lacking within the Hugo and elsewhere. Wouldn’t bother me in the least. Back to the boxing analogy — each belt (World Fantasy Award, Chesley Award, Spectrum Award, Locus Award, Hugo Award, etc.) recognizes according to its own field of gravity and in my mind, artists (literary and visual) who have consistency of work and recognition from the various titles over the years may have a stake in the argument of “bests” over a career.

  1088. Here’s the 2nd part of my two-part response to Adam:

    But what about superlative work that doesn’t get acknowledged by the awards as it possibly should? I think the best we can do is keep holding those works up as what we think is best, and hope that we can turn the tide. Vincent Van Gogh was a genius but he died penniless and crazy, largely uncelebrated in his own time. Fast forward to now — and which artist commands the highest auction prices ever? Yup, the dead crazy guy with the missing ear who was ahead of his time in his lifetime. Will Adam Roberts be the 21st-century sf literary equivalent of Vincent Van Gogh? From what I hear, your books may have the literary equivalence of that kind of genius. I hope you have the success, within your lifetime, without the poverty, and while keeping both of your ears on your dome. But you and I both know the truth — true groundbreaking artistry, the kind that changes the course of history, is seldom embraced within its initial incarnation. In fact, it’s usually, sadly, quite the opposite. In a corporately-controlled world of publishing where profit is king, that sure makes “groundbreaking artistry” a very difficult sell, and usually the domain of publishers, editors, and artists with strong stomachs, stronger visions, and strongest wills.

    That said, I think beating up sf fandom for not selecting more challenging works is an exercise that will warrant little to no success at best. I think what’s more courageous, but a much tougher road, is to encourage more challenging work to exist (which you do consistently from what I hear). However, I wonder what happens when you take the same line of hard questioning you took to fandom and take that to your editors, your publishers, their sales forces and the bookstore buyers that make the choices for what exists in a bookstore. If you can change THOSE mentalities and raise those standards, then you may truly shift that balance of commercial mediocrity toward commercial and recognized excellence. You and I both know how mind-numbingly difficult that is, but I think that’s where the real, meaningful battlefront is. And it is not an easy one. I wish you luck and do look forward to reading you someday. Don’t be a stranger.

  1089. Whew — Simon. Thanks for stopping by. As far as I’m concerned you nailed it with this line — “If that’s the case then its down to the industry and the market it serves rather than the individual artists.” I’m not trying to relieve myself and the commercial book cover illustration community of its accountability to strive toward new ground, but our job is to both sell a book with an image that, as you know, must satisfy the viewpoints of many masters (art director, editor, sales, marketing, chain buyers(!), publisher, and that’s before the author and audience come into play), and still somehow create a transcendent visual image that is true to the book’s contents and a moveable set of artistic values. I’ve said it before but I’ve got a lot more respect for an illustrator who can create a transcendent piece of art after running that gauntlet as opposed to a non-commercial artist that doesn’t have those kinds of market pressures to bear and must do the same thing. To my understanding, Adam is saying “artists — don’t succumb to the status quo of yourselves or your contexts. Either be willing to help push the rest of us toward new frontiers, or lose the right to call yourselves ‘artists.'” I agree with that, even if my own work sometimes fails in the attempt, to my profound disgust and despite my very best efforts. I have these conversations with Lou Anders all the time. He’s trying to do the same thing on his end as an editorial director, and it’s one of the reasons I LOVE working with him. We push each other. We talk about this very thing ad nauseum and he does his best to push the chips forward a bit where he can, and I do the same. Whether we’re in any way successful is up to the audience, and history, to decide. If this stuff was easy, everyone would be doing it, right? 🙂

    Alright, fellas — I wish I could stick around and say more, but typing is not my strong suit. Back to the real work.

    Thanks very much,
    John
    p.s. Marianne, just saw you chime in here. Thanks for the Bob story. Very cool. 🙂

  1091. Thank you, John, for your detailed, dignified and, in the circumstances, very gracious reply.

    “In a corporately-controlled world of publishing where profit is king, that sure makes “groundbreaking artistry” a very difficult sell“

    Of course I very much take the force of this.

    Simon’s right, actually. ‘If that’s the case then its down to the industry and the market it serves rather than the individual artists. Which may be where the emphasis of Adam’s argument is off target.’ Attacking individual artists for doing their best professional work is an idiot’s strategem; I apologise for that. My issue is actually with the dominant aesthetic, the larger visual idiom that dominates the market today; I should have concentrated on that.

    Plus the stuff on the moleskine site has been a bit shit, recently. Perhaps I should have linked here, or here instead. How many examples of SF would stand a chance at the first of those links? If the answer is, none, then why?

  1092. Will only add to this that John and I have talked often about the ground that has perhaps been lost since Richard Powers, whose work is still groundbreaking today.

    The covers for Fast Forward 1 & 2grew in part out of those discussions, though 2 was also influenced by French revolutionary art and the death of Dave Stevens, plus our own dissatisfaction with the then-contemporary political realities.

  1093. Actually, I’ll add that the purpose of the cover is to put the book it graces into the hands of the appropriate reader, and the last thing you want is to work with an artist who is using the cover as an excuse to fund his personal gallery work at your book’s expense. An artist who can place the needs of the book first, while still producing gallery-level work, however, is gold.

  1096. Excellent read…everyone!

    Lou: I belive you nailed it in that second post – and John is gold! My background is in graphic design and illustration and John is one of the best illustrators working today…in any genre.

  1098. You know, that Daniel Dos Santos piece is probably my favourite from last year. To me, it’s a difficult perspective to make work and it’s a picture that works at various scales, which is something that a lot of pieces fail at.

    My thing is this: I see a lot of SF and Fantasy art while I’m putting together The Drink Tank and Journey Planet. Will I say that there aren’t any artist whose gallery on DeviantArt rival the output of those on the Ballot? I can think of a couple who come close, but they’re not in the stream, really. Are there works by those that are nominated that leave me cold? Sure, but that happens to every artist.

    I usually look at the Hugos as not awarding the Best, but the Most Popular. Does that view cheapen the awards? Sadly, yes, and sometimes the Best and the Most Popular collide and that’s good. Do I think the short lists are perfect? No, of course not. Do I think they’re bad? Not at all.

    With the possible exception of music, visual art is the hardest field for an outsider to judge. I worked (thankfully briefly) on the Art Beat in Boston and I still feel like I’ve not got nearly enough of a grasp on things to make the call “These are the Best Pieces of SF&F Art in the World!”. I can merely say ‘These are my Favourites”.

  1099. Hey John – you forgot the 3’rd previous cover you did for Subterranean Press…..the cover for the Bradley Denton chapbook “Blackburn’s Lady”, which incorrectly credits you as the cover artist.
    Hope all’s well, eh?
    Brad

  1100. I’ll join the list of people queuing up to buy you a drink at WFC, John. And Adam too, if he’s going to be there. This is the very model of how passionate disagreements should play out on the internet.

  1101. Mind you, I think what Mr Roberts and others consistently forget is: that the Hugos is a ‘best of’ competition put up by the fans, for the fans to vote on their favourite book cover artist.

    Though I’m not qualified to comment on the craft of painting and illustration, as a fan and (I’m coining a term here?) arrogand(!!) I believe I’m qualified to say that ‘Awards for fans are correct, even when tasteless, because they’re for fans’ – the defensive posture of which the above-quoted comment is a version – is gutless bullshit meant to justify a form of border-patrolling parochialism to which fans come all too naturally. It seems to me that Roberts is making an argument about the narrowness of the Hugos’ purpose and scope, and – in passing – an argument about a certain lack of ambition among sci-fi fans and creators, perhaps.

    He’s not short on ambition or purpose – and condescending to a reasonable man because he pissed in your piss cocktail is, at the very least, a reaction worth examining.

  1102. Wally:

    If your argument about the Hugo Awards boils down to, “You should change your awards because I don’t like them,” then in my opinion you have two legitimate choices:

    1. Join the organization and work to change the Awards to be more the way you want them to be. Remember, there’s not “they” in WSFS. There’s no faceless Board of Directors that you lobby for changes. You don’t elect representatives and then lobby them to do what you want. WSFS is governed by a “Town Meeting” form of government, and every member represents him/herself. You want change? Make it yourself.

    2. Start your own Awards that are Done Right. If you’re right, then those same Right Thinking People that you claim to represent will flock to your award and will ignore all of those other terrible awards like the Hugo Award.

    If neither of these appeals to you, then don’t be surprised if the members of WSFS — particularly those people who do actually attend meetings and work on changes — have a tendency to dismiss your comments.

    I lose patience with people who tell us, “You should change things, but I’m too good to actually dirty my hands by actually getting involved in the messy process of doing something, so of course I won’t do anything other than whinge about it.”

  1103. Wow. I can’t match the eloquence that most of the comments here have demonstrated. Nor do I have the artistic talent (ok… any artistic talent) to lend weight to anything I might say.

    However, I think John’s comments are well stated (as well as those of his other supporters).

    Being married to an artist, myself, and having spent time with several wonderful professional artists and illustrators over my 20+ years of convention running (and attending) has given me a pretty broad view of what is out there. And, I very much enjoy the works of all of the artists mentioned.

    So, since John is too humble to speak on his own behalf, I want to show my support for John and his brilliant work.

    I think John has a very unique style that shows both his incredible imagination and genuine talent. John also does an amazing job of capturing the spirit of the books he illustrates. Since that is the ultimate responsibility of the illustrator, I think when we look at Hugo nominations, we need to keep that in mind. If this were an award for fine gallery art, perhaps the criteria would be different. But, for a Hugo, the art needs to be of the highest caliber, while at the same time, meeting the strict needs and demands of the publishing industry.

    John’s work does just that. It is esthetically pleasing, accomplishes the needs of the contractor(s), and shows genuine artistic excellence (IMHO, of course).

    And, lest my opinions be disregarded as isolated and uneducated…. I can say that the attendees at last weekend’s SpoCon, who are a very diverse group and a good representative sample of fandom in general, universally loved John’s work.

    So, that’s 700+ people in one geographic region… which statistically represents a lot more folks.

    So, while everyone is certainly entitle to thier opinion as to what is worthy and deserving of being recognized with a Hugo… it is ultimately a matter for the *fans* to decide – and being one of the nominees, alone, offers evidence that there is a significant number of fans that disagree with Mr. Roberts’ stated opinion.

    Good luck, John. The competition is stiff, but may you finally be the bride this time!

    Randy

  1109. Awesome, John! I tried to tweet back that night but Firefox apparently doesn’t get along with twitter. The “trophy” is really stunning! Congrats on the win.

  1111. Hello John,

    I am impressed by all the wonderful stuff that you post online. I sure to love to see all those pictures, when I get a chance to check them out. That Twitter is a lot of fun. Seeing all those covers are great, and thanks so much for pointing out that Armadillocon photograph of Mike M. !!! I’m sure going to treasure the 6th Elric when it comes out. Thanks for sharing all those images with the fans and readers!

    Best wishes,

    lemec, August 2009

  1112. Sorry about the Hugo – I think you’re an amazing artist, and with such talent you will only continue to grow. Here’s to 2010!

    Any more consideration about that Elric art book? It would be a wonderful thing. 🙂

    Speaking of which – a quick question. I’ve mentioned this on Mike’s site, but figured I’d just ask you. Is it by coincidence only that some of your Elric art in Stealer of Souls looks a bit like Laurence Fox (husband of Billie Piper)? Was watching him on TV, and I thought, ‘wow! That looks like Elric hiding from the monster behind the tree…’ lol.

    Anyway, thought I’d ask. Hope all is well! You should stop by Mallozzi’s or Moorcock’s and say howdy again! Have a great one, sir!

    das (dasNdanger)

  1113. You are to be commended for your portfolio. It is outstanding. Your work has truly evolved since your early days of Words and Pictures.

    I look forward to seeing your next work of art.

    -Longtime Fan

  1120. Hi John, sorry to see you’ve not been able to post as much but it sounds like you have a pretty full plate right now…

    And, with that in mind, I mention the fact that I just read this: http://missionsunknown.com/2009/10/john-picacio-to-illustrate-a-song-of-ice-and-fire/

    My favourite artist illustrating the world of my favourite author? That makes me all kinds of happy. I know it’s a long way off still, but I can’t wait to see your visions of the Ice and Fire world.

    Jamie

  1121. I really appreciated reading your comment about Mucha as well as your thought on “artists” like Andy Wahrhol. I was in Prague last weekend, and I visited the Mucha museum. I have to say that his finest work, “The Slavic Epic” is in an old castle deep in the countryside of Czech. I saw a study completed for those twenty canvases and it was as compelling as any of the works of any of the masters. It seems that simply because he was able to support himself financially, his work has been deemed unworthy. What a shame it is; art is creating something special regardless of whether it’s a book jacket cover, or a gigantic oil painting. It’s just a real shame we do this to ourselves.

  1126. This was a problem at the last Canadian WorldCon as well, as I understand it. This is a bad thing and the worst part is that some WorldCons get it right, and others don’t and there’s no sort of continuity to make sure that the mistakes of one WorldCon are truly learned.
    Chris

  1127. My entire interaction with the Anticipation Art Show was lacking. Communications were practically nil and attempting to go through other channels within the con also failed to get a response.

    OTOH, as mentioned above-each Worldcon is it’s own animal, which makes it hard to make any sweeping statements.

    I do wonder sometimes if the Art Show is considered the poor relation. The Masquerade and Hugo Awards are flashy, the Dealer’s Room brings the cash and Programming is where the guests are.

    I hear ASFA is on the move, perhaps this is something they can set their sights on?

  1129. I was a hard working member of the Anticipation Staff for many months before the Con. (not the Art Show, I helped in the planning and execution of another area).
    Anticipation was one of the most poorly run Conventions I have ever seen – the Chairs were completely insensitive to any input from anyone except their “inner circle”, who were, quite bluntly, a bunch of incompetents.
    The situation would all be forgivable except, as you point out, this was “part 2”, part 1 being the disastrous Torcon which was even worse.
    The turnout for the Anticipation Art Show and Dealer Room was atrocious. Yes, blame it on Canadian Customs, but the organizers knew, or should have know, this all along. It would not have been very hard to enlist the Montreal area art community (hey, a short walk from the convention center revealed *tons* of galleries!)
    I am embarrased to tell people I was part of the Anticipation staff, as it was the worst planned and executed Con ever, Torcon excluded.
    Please don’t hold the incompetence of the Anticipation Committee against all future Worldcons. I, for one, have decided I will *never* attend another Canadian SF convention – but I will continue to attend Worldcon as long as it’s not in Canada!

  1130. @John: I’m not going to pretend we weren’t late getting the cheques out, but as far as cashing the cheque is concerned, I’m afraid it _is_your bank. We sent out cheques from that very same account for the past four years to plenty of other US folks and they had no problems cashing our cheques. We did decide to open a temporary bank account in the US to offset that (new) problem and to help our members avoid the outrageous bank fees US financial institutions charge for cheques drawn in US funds from a Canadian bank.

    @anonymous: can you please tell me (and the world) who you are?

    I will say that even if we had enlisted the help of a local gallery (assuming we could find a willing one with the expertise to import artwork, not all galleries do) it probably would not have helped that much. As it is, we enlisted the help of a Canadian who is used to importing goods and artwork and that still did not seem to reassure many artists.

  1131. The Renovation chair has told me she would like to see us do an art night to go with the Chesleys. I might be helping out with that and welcome ideas. I don’t believe the art show should be “a poor relation’, though I have worked with people who do. I’ve repeatedly had to fight for the art show’s continuation at ConFusion, but I think it’s important, so I do. Any we also have strong art programming at ConFusion, and should at Worldcon.

    Some worldcons have had outstanding art shows, and that is what I want to see. I don’t think we can make the con into as big a money making forum as some other venues – this just isn’t that audience – but we can at least communicate well and treat our artists well.

  1134. Rene, I like you a lot and you’re a swell guy. Allow me to put this gently.

    You’re 100% fucking wrong to claim that it’s my bank that is the problem. I look forward to seeing you at SmofCon so that you can try saying that again to my face.

    This defensiveness you and some of your Anticipation associates have expressed toward this problem is EXACTLY why I felt the need to post what I did. Your response here only validates why I needed to speak up. You seem to live in some fantasy land that says that if yourself, Bruce Farr or any other Worldcon associate types a letter saying this is a legitimate check that can be cashed in any US financial institution, then the bank should just roll over and hand over the cash. It doesn’t work that way. I’m sorry to shatter your fragile fantasy. That’s not real life.

    Here are the facts:

    1. I have two different financial institutions with which I bank.

    2. I spent five hours total with both banks trying to effort your check through. I talked to eight different employees, and two different managers. All of them at BOTH banks said that your check could be cashed, but only with punitive collection fees and six-to-eight week collection delays. Why? Because both institutions (again, BOTH BANKS) said that the routing number was not a standard US routing number and therefore could not be handled like a standard transaction. That’s not acceptable because that’s not what US artists agreed to. And you know it — so stop acting like “well, it’s your problem, John.” What’s despicable about your attitude is that if there’s a problem for even ONE artist or ONE vendor, your response should be “hey, let’s fix it” but instead your response is to point the finger at me. WRONG ANSWER.

    3. Rene — your treasurer and your art show director have already admitted that there are many artists throughout the US in this same boat. So to claim that it’s MY bank means you’re either a) a master fantasist; b) disingenuous; c) a liar or d) both of the above. So you’re basically saying, “hey, John Picacio — it’s your problem that you don’t bank with the right bank that cashes our checks.” For your own sake, don’t try that line again. It only makes you look like an idiot. I’m not doubting your claim that some banks may have cashed these checks with no problem, but that doesn’t change the fact that many artists CAN’T cash your checks. And this “hey, it’s not our problem” deflection of blame is the stuff of children. Comprende?

    4. There is one proper response in this situation: don’t blame the artists trying to cash your checks, but instead say “I’m sorry. We’ve made some very poor judgements here, and we’re sorry for the inconvenience. Let us help you get paid as quickly as possible here and move on from this embarrassing situation.” THAT’S THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE RESPONSE. Don’t embarrass yourself with further excuse, accusation and explanation.

    5. For all future Worldcons — all I’m asking is that you not only learn from this situation, but should you find yourself in the same — don’t try to deflect the blame onto the people cashing your checks. It only makes you look like an idiot. Worldcon is better than that. At least I hope so.

  1135. John:

    I don’t speak for Rene, but from what he wrote, and without any additional information, it seems to me that “you” in what he wrote did not mean “you [specifically], John Picacio, and no other person in the world,” but “you [indefinite plural].” English really doesn’t have enough second-person pronouns.

    From everything I’ve read, this whole business with the checks seems to have taken as a surprise, and may even have been caused by a change in the way US banks started handling checks, given that as far Anticipation knew, checks drawn in US funds on their bank had been going through without the delays and collection fees in question. Heck, I seem to remember an expense-reimbursement check for a minor item a couple years ago going through without a hiccup.

    But it’s not good, and should have been resolved much sooner than it was. And US Worldcons need to work harder as well to not make it just as difficult for non-US artists to display here. I remember going through a few financial contortions with Aussiecon 3 to try and get money from the USA to Australia without having to pay massive conversion fees.

  1136. Kevin —

    I went ahead and glanced at your LiveJournal post. I’m not interested in getting into a debate about Dragon*Con and Worldcon. That has nothing to do with the issue at hand.

    I saw this comment in your reply to Rene Walling: “I agree completely, including on the other points about US banks acting as if they are the only country in the world and that everyone else is on another planet.”

    I’m gonna give you the benefit of doubt and hope that you’re not trying to attribute that sentiment to me as well. Otherwise, what’s your point? Again, this comment has nothing to do with resolution or making sure the same failures don’t repeat themselves again — and when I say “failures”, I’m talking about sending out checks with dodgy routing number information as well as not offering communication to the artists about the exorbitant delays in processing as well as blaming the artists cashing the checks instead of solving problems in an expedient manner.

  1137. Kevin —

    We cross-posted. I appreciate your response above. Thanks very much. Yes, I can see some logic there. Let me that CLEARLY you were NOT attributing that USA-centric sentiment to me. That seems obvious now. 🙂

    Also — I can get with your explanation, but next time I would ask that this info should be shared with the artists in reasonable time, and I think everything would be cool. A healthy dose of communication from the con and treasury to the artists would’ve gone a LONG way to defusing this. Simple as that.

  1138. I’m gonna give you the benefit of doubt and hope that you’re not trying to attribute that sentiment to me as well.

    You’re right. (I see the crossed replies as well.)

    …as well as not offering communication to the artists about the exorbitant delays in processing as well as blaming the artists cashing the checks instead of solving problems in an expedient manner.

    You’re quite right about the lack of communication. This is something that nearly every convention fails to do. We — and I mean almost all fannish conventions in my experience — are really bad at it, and we need to improve significantly. How to get people to do so, though, is something I don’t know how to do. It takes a high level of commitment and for most people it’s more than they want to do. I know that it’s been like pulling teeth in most organizations with which I’ve been involved to get that commitment to commuications, as so many people seem to treat information as a zero-sum commodity.

    It’s particularly bad when the communication needs to be, in essence, “We screwed up, and we’re sorry, and we’re going to fix it if we can.”

    (I’m reminded of one of the feedback sessions at ConFrancisco in 1993 when we were taken to task by how badly we botched up con registration. Those of us on the head table said, more or less, “You’re right. We blew it badly, and we’re sorry we inconvenienced everyone. We really hope that our successors are paying attention to how annoying we were and will not repeat our mistakes.” Astonishingly, almost everyone since then actually took the lesson to heart, and that’s why, at most Worldcons, you shouldn’t expect a significant wait at Registration. But anyway, what I remember from the time was the open-mouthed astonishment from the audience members, who expected us to come up with some complicated song-and-dance about why it wasn’t really our fault, and were left with little more to say after we apologized for the mistake and said that we should have done it better.)

    Also — I can get with your explanation, but next time I would ask that this info should be shared with the artists in reasonable time, and I think everything would be cool. A healthy dose of communication from the con and treasury to the artists would’ve gone a LONG way to defusing this. Simple as that.

    Absolutely right. I was unaware of the magnitude of the problem myself until recently. I admit to primarily “tending my own garden” within Anticipation’s managment structure, concentrating on things like getting the WSFS rules updated.

  1139. John: I did not mean to say “It’s your problem John”.

    I understand you’re angry, but will ask you to be patient and read on:

    Try to see it from our point of view: we opened a US account in late 2004 with the Bank of Montreal (BoM). This is a pretty standard account and tons of people in Canada have them (I’ve had my personal US account for over 20 years with no one having a problem cashing my personal cheques in all that time).

    Now we’ve happily used this account throughout the bidding process and in the two years preceding Anticipation, writing cheques to conventions for ads they ran in their programme books, reimbursing people for expenses etc… I don’t know off the top of my head how many cheques we wrote drawn from that account, but it’s certainly a few hundred.

    So as far as we’re concerned, based on several years of doing business this way, everything is swell. Don’t ask me what happened with some US banks in the last few months that changed that, I don’t know. But don’t ask me to believe that we are entirely the ones to blame for this. I don’t know why they have so much trouble with a cheque from a Canadian bank, but there it is. Once we found out about it, we started to take steps to solve the problem. Specifically, open up an account with a US bank, and transfer funds to it and then mail new cheques, meanwhile tracking which BoM cheques got cashed since some people managed to do it with no problems we heard of. But all this takes time and meant a few more weeks were added to the process.

    Now I ask you, can you blame us for trusting things would be fine with the cheques we had when they’ve been working fine for years?

    As for the hours lost dealing with your bank, I’m truly sorry, there is no worse thief that the one who casues you to lose time for you can never regain it, and five hours — ouch! As you already knew, we have taken action, but action always takes a bit of time.

    As for which banks are worse, I can give you rants about either US or Canadian banks over a beer a Smofcon (or two, those rants are pretty long) 🙂

  1140. @ René

    We sent out cheques from that very same account for the past four years to plenty of other US folks and they had no problems cashing our cheques.

    I’m sorry, but that’s BS. Lunacon had a problem with the check Anticipation used to pay for an ad in 2008. Our bank wanted to charge us 35% to cash the check.

    Shirt told Bruce about the problem at Denvention (if not before that), and told you personally about the problem at Albacon in 2008. So it should not have been a big surprise that others had the same problem. The fact that you sent letters with the checks makes me think that you knew a potential problem existed.

  1141. Now that you mention it, I do remember one Lunacon having problems with a cheque. Does that invalidate all the others successful transactions? I’d say no.

    Overall, nothing in our experience told us this would be an issue the way it is.

    I stand by my opinion of US banks

  1142. Not an artist, but since they’ve put their names “out there” (via your blog) I am thinking they are very likely to honor their payment commitment.

  1148. Great stuff as ever, John.

    Hopefully sub press will be doing a version on Dan’s next novel ‘Black hills’ with you as cover artist too…

    Dan has posted about your art on his forum several times, obviously he’s a big fan too!

  1150. If you have some contact information for art directors who might be interested in coming to worldcon, especially those who you think might be glad of an excuse to come to Australia and write part of it off as business, please send me contact info privately. I think it’s a terrific idea to try to expand our art-related outreach.

    Great to see you albeit briefly, and congrats again on the UT win :->

  1151. That would be Craige Howlett who is co-chairing next year’s SMOFcon in San Jose. Craige has been heavily involved in Fanime con, the 5,000+ annual San Jose anime convention.

  1152. JGMotek — Thanks very much. Contact info for ADs I do have…..I’ll do my best to assemble a list of them and get it to you privately at some point. It’s a matter of time as I’m swamped with work at the moment, but I’ll try to make it happen.

    Cheryl — Thanks! Craige had terrific info. I learned a lot from him.

  1155. I have subscribed to the magazine in the past and do buy it on occasion today. I would like to see more interviews with artists. In some ways it’s surprising that artists aren’t covered more. I think because the art is part of the fabric of science fiction and fantasy it’s overlooked. Maybe it’s just not on their radar but should be.

  1156. I like reading interviews with artists more than writers. I’ve read so many interviews with writers…since I write, I can usually identify with what writers say in interviews.

    Artists have always fascinated me. Maybe because as a kid, even before wanting to be a writer, I wanted to be an artist.

    I’m fascinated by the similarities and differences between writers and artists. I have a friend at work who is an artist, and it’s always great chatting with her about creative things because it’s a different view about–in many ways–the same things.

    I’ve never been a sci-fi fan. There is some fantasy I like, but it’s not what I typically read.

    When I’ve picked up a SF/F magazine, it has usually been because there was something art-related that caught my attention. And then, since I have the magazine in my hands, I end up reading things that I normally would have never known existed.

    It seems like LOCUS leaving out artist interviews is selling themselves short. While I realize–especially with literary magazines–that publications full of short stories are primarily supported by people who want to write, I think most writers would do themselves a favor by reading interviews with artists, musicians, and other non-writing creative people.

  1157. So to continue/ elaborate on what I said on Twitter:

    I subscribe to Locus, because I’m a writer in the SFF field, and it seems like one of the best ways to keep up with writerly business. At the same time, I would like to see more inclusion of illustrators/ art directors because that is also, I think, part of the field. Maybe they could start with interviewing/ profiling people like Irene Gallo, the art director for a major publishing house, or Dave McKean, who has a long-standing collaborative relationship with a major author in the field, or someone like you, with the experience of doing the GRRM calendar.

    I really think it’s possible to keep the writerly focus which does seem to be working well for them, and also branch out into a new and interesting direction.

  1158. I want to jump in and clarify something in case it’s not already clear in my post — Christopher makes the point about how much we learn from other communities which are tangents to our own. I completely agree. For instance, I learn a helluva lot reading interviews by writers like Jeffrey Ford, Cory Doctorow, and Charles Stross, even though I’m not a writer. Reading about the way they see the world sometimes impacts my own. I’m willing to pay good money for those interviews, and do so when I subscribe to LOCUS. My point is that if the magazine claims to be the mag of “The Field”, then the field (in my estimation) realistically encompasses much more than just writers and I’d enjoy learning from those other communities as well (including interviews with peers within the art community). I love those interviews with writers but I suspect that LOCUS is capable of covering more than just that community. However, I could be guessing wrong, and maybe they have zero interest in that, and the same may be true of their core readership, and if so, then that’s a valid response, and I should move on, and spend time elsewhere. I don’t have enough data to say for sure. That’s why I’m raising the question….

  1159. I always thought LOCUS was a magazine for writers, and that the “field” they covered was the field of writing. It’s always interesting to read artist interviews, but they aren’t what I associate with LOCUS. I’d like to see LOCUS continuing doing what they are doing so remarkably well. And I’d like to see a sister magazine devoted to sf/f art, the “field” here being the field of art. I’m afraid that if LOCUS did include an artist interview, it would appear as an “afterthought,” with 10% of the magazine being the artist interview and the remaining 90% being the writer interview and the other material. (The percentages quoted are made-up by me.)

    One problem I see with LOCUS including artist interviews – you’d have to have a picture or two of their art, and those pictures would (at least to me) be worthless if they weren’t in colour. Colour is expensive, especially if you want to do a decent job of it. And LOCUS is a b&w magazine.

  1160. Question: What is ImagineFX’s subscription size?

    And, while its true Locus might lose some folks, don’t they have more to gain from the 12,000,000+ folks who frequent ConceptArt.org each month?

  1161. Hi, Christine — Great input as always! 🙂

    Hey, if Locus were willing to devote 10% of their mag to art discussion, that would be a huge improvement, even if the rest of it were all devoted to the writing side. That would be a huge step toward them living up to the claim of “The Magazine of the SF&F Field”. As far as a “sister magazine” devoted to art — I hate to break the news, Christine, but I suspect that ship ain’t gonna be sailing in anytime soon, at least not from LOCUS. 🙂

    Your point about art presenting better on color pages is well-taken and a good one. However, I would offer the example of a magazine called THE COMICS JOURNAL. I grew up reading that mag and I distinctly remember reading long, extensive (like 20 pages long) interviews with folks like Frank Frazetta and Dave McKean and countless other visual artists and storytellers. Most of the artists were known for their color work, but the mag printed their imagery in b/w. Back then, the mag’s interior was completely b/w and printed on much worse paper than LOCUS is currently printed on. I treasured those interviews and still do. Really insightful stuff and never a bad interview. Learned A TON from those texts including lots of art history and problem-solving. Their b/w printing did not diminish their potency or value.

  1162. …if you want to include more in the “field” then why stop? What about scripts, movies and TV? Maybe the focus of LOCUS is correct and their masthead not quite accurate as John has proposed. I would think once you open the doors to artists and art directors, there would be no reason to stop there…unless there was a way to describe the field of this pub as “published” or “literary” field somehow…just random thoughts here…

  1163. Mair – I think there’s a difference between restricting yourself to the publishing field which includes artists and branching into other media. SF&F book and magazine illustration is not a new phenomena.

  1164. The Comics Journal is a great call. If Locus were to do artist interviews with that kind of length and depth, even with black and white images of the art, I would be more willing to subscribe and suspect others would as well.

  1165. John: I personally would find interviews with artists just as interesting, but I think then it might make sense to open it up entirely–have more interviews with editors, etc. The variety in that case would make the magazine more fascinating, in my opinion. Especially since they sometimes get the same old usual suspects multiple times.

    As for reproducing art in the magazine–not even necessary beyond what’s doable financially for the magazine. It’s actually a lovely way to integrate Locus’s online and magazine presence–run the artist interview in the magazine, run a gallery of the artist’s work on Locus Online, and reference that fact in the magazine.

    But there’s a larger issue here–there are so many interview venues out there on the internet now that, much as I love Locus and read it every month, the importance of being interviewed by Locus has diminished.

    So, in the larger scheme of things, *more generally*, I would, as a reader LOVE to see more varied interviews with a variety of people in professions important to the field acrosss ALL interview platforms. – JeffV

  1166. Hi, Mair — I think LOCUS’ brand identity is firmly established on its coverage of sf/f publishing, and not sf/f cinema, gaming or otherwise. It’s not like LOCUS has NEVER run artist interviews. They have. They are capable of it, but all I was saying is that in my opinion, it would be nice to see them much more often, as cover artists are a vital community of “the field” of sf/f publishing that is LOCUS’ core content. I don’t think artist interviews would detract from their established agendas of book-centric coverage. In my opinion, it would only enhance it.

    Hi, Carl — Gosh, I loved those COMICS JOURNAL interviews. Those things were like a seven-course meal. It took about that long to read them. They were so intense, especially when Gary Groth did the interviewing. But yeah, to my point, the paper was dirt-cheap and not particularly art-friendly, and yet it still didn’t diminish the communication of a given artist’s ideas.

    Hi, JV — Thanks for dropping by. Well-said. I agree. I’d love to see interviews with editors and art directors. Personally, I would devour that stuff. I would love to see how they see the world, and how they think. We’re all vital parts of the same publishing ecosystem (more commonly known as “the field”).

  1167. You know, some writers love the covers that their novel’s artist did, and ask for them to do the artwork on their next novel (especially if it’s a series), while other writers don’t seem to notice. A good way to tie-in the artist interview would be if the writer being interviewed would talk about the artist, and then the artist interview could follow as a tie-in.

    Don’t worry John, I have little hope of a sister magazine devoted to the artists happening – that is, after all, why we’re having this discussion and last year’s on the importance of cover art.

    Is the market there though? Well, I went in B&B today and saw 6 different art magazines (not inluding Painter’s, Photoshops, Imagine FX). I was surprised. Unfortunately I was already running late and didn’t have time to peruse them. But I doubt any of them were artist interview oriented.

    P.S. Maybe we should start a letter-writing campaign. Just kidding. 🙂

  1168. Hi, Christine —

    Well, that’s certainly one way to do it.

    And as far as a letter-writing campaign…..yeah, this was my one letter to the situation. Hah! I’d rather draw and paint than talk about this kind of stuff, but I guess I felt like it needed to be said, and honestly, wanted to hear your perspective and other people’s, so there you go. 🙂 Good to hear what other people think.

  1169. I’m probably going to be sorry I said this, but you know, I am going to write a letter to LOCUS.

    But not until next week – I have to finish a birthday celebration for my Hubby this weekend,

  1170. What if rather than running a photo on the cover of the artist being interview, the artist supplied a nice/wonderful/spiffy piece of art for the cover … wonder what that would do to sales?

    Anyway, once upon a time, back when dinosaurs ruled the earth, & Locus was mimeographed, they use to run black & while art by various fan artists. But that was a looooong time ago.

    — Michael Walsh

  1171. I’ve subscribed to Locus on and off over the years, but I think the internet has made serious inroads into the point of the magazine.

    I rarely read the interviews. It’s only the occasional author that has something interesting to say that hasn’t been said before in a writer interview. Plus, sff authors are easy to get interviewed–any blogger can get one if they’re patient. So, for me, the interviews aren’t a draw.

    That leaves publishing news for me. And again, the internet is a much more current and timely source. The advantage Locus has for me there is one-stop shopping for info (their online site, meanwhile, is abysmal), mostly of interest to me for things I missed online.

    I also like their reviews since the reviewers are uniformly knowledgeable about the field.

    My two cents? 1) Dump the always too long and too many Old Writers Dying pieces. Most times, they’re about minor lights of the field with an occasional giant. Put that stuff online because it’s really of interest to a very very small audience. 2) Dump the “Books Received” section. Who cares? There’s not an sff publisher in the business that doesn’t send their titles to Locus. Authors and publishers care if the book is reviewed, not stuck in a long list of “oh, duh, they got the book.” If it’s of interest to booksellers, again, throw it online.

    Those two things along would free up tons of space for broader topics without sacrificing the author interview.

  1172. This is a pretty interesting topic. I’ve read LOCUS for years, and must admit that I never really considered this, but agree wholeheartedly. I think Lou has a good point about the comparison to IMAGINE/FX, although that magazine is really more about the exploration of art in the field with some training thrown in, while LOCUS is basically a news and review magazine. That actually may be the downfall – it’s a bit more difficult for writers (which makes up all of the Locus staff) to critique art, even though they do review art books from time to time. Personally, I’d love to see it – their author articles are usually only about two or three pages anyway; why not some artist interviews? Great idea.

  1174. It would have been cool to see that B+W version on silver foil…I have seen some amazing things done with minimal color and foil stock…Let’s hope it does very well, anyway.

    Happy Holidays to you, John.

  1176. Impressive, as always. And I still love the cover to DROOD. Hope you and Traci had a great holiday time.

  1178. awesome collection for 2009 – stunning work, John! Looking forward to your 2010 work (have already been telling friends about the calendar!).

  1184. That is a fantastic cover! But you really need to zoom it to a bigger size to see all of the incredible and interesting detail in it – especially the animals. I also really like the diagonal placement of the 3 figures. A great start to 2010!

  1187. DragonCon was my first Con (ever) last year, and it was marvelous. I was really impressed with the diversity of interests that the Con catered to, and meeting my favourite comic book artist was the highlight of the event for me.

    I’m excited to be going back this year, so I’ll remember to walk by and see more of your art!

  1190. Thanks, Jelly. 🙂 I’m really looking forward to the show. I think it’s gonna be an amazing time.

    Kim — Yeah, I’m sorry I won’t be able to make Melbourne. The cost was just too much with everything else that I’ve got going this year. Plus I’m not sure how profitable that art show would be for me, with all of the framing, shipping and handling, and especially in a down economy….

    Brandon — Really appreciate it. 🙂 Thanks very much!

    Brandon —

  1193. For some reason yesterday I couldn’t see the entire image. But today, no problem.

    Beautiful! I love the contrastiness of the 2 colours – black and bright turquoise!

    And the entire cover is beautiful too!

    Congrats!

  1196. Hey, man —

    Once you’ve made Locus’ Recommended Reading List, you’re pretty much a big-time author and I expect you to charter your personal plane for special occasions like this. 😉 LOL.

    Congrats on making that list. Hopefully we’ll see each other down the road later this year….:)

  1200. Thanks, Jason. 🙂

    Christine — it’s gonna be crazy-cold. Lows in the single digits when we’re over there. Oh well — at least the con is indoors. 🙂

  1204. I don’t have an artistic bone in my body, but I know what I like, and I like Mr. Picacio’s work. I was lucky enough to attend Boskone and met him. In addition to being a fantastic artist, he’s also a real nice guy. Introduced himself in the reception line, and later held an entertaining and enlightening panel discussion with another artist. His piece, The Well-Built City, won “Best in Show”, and deservedly so. Neither my words nor a 2D picture can do the such a three-dimensional object justice. Great stuff!

  1206. You were a great guest, too! And congratulations on being named the Artist Guest for next year’s Capricon. You’ll get another chance to visit winter… ;->

  1208. John: Congratulations! You know how much I dig the WBC assemblage. So glad to hear your wonderful work on it has been recognized by the art show at Boskone.

    jeff ford

  1209. Thanks, Laurie. You and Jim pulled off a tremendous success along with the other NESFAn committee members. It was a great show.

    HI, Kerry — Yeah, I’m really looking forward to returning to the Chicago area. Haven’t been there in several years. Scalzi and Janice Gelb are fun people. It’s a great lineup. 🙂

    Jeff — pretty cool, huh? I’m really grateful. Fitting too. This is the final trip for that big assemblage. I hope it survives the trip home. It’s a fragile original — so it was great to see it get a major recognition for its last public appearance.

  1210. I’m so glad you & Traci got there! With snow everywhere & airports closing & flights being cancelled I was afraid. But you made it! Congrats on winning best of show too! There were some good artists there!

    And what an interesting con report – you always do a wonderful job with your write-ups!

    I had a wonderful Valentines/Birthday weekend, but I don’t think I’m going to eat for a week! Or at least 4 hours. 🙂

    Christine

  1211. John,

    I was the gray-haired guy who stuck to you like shellac during your kaffeeklatsch to catch every inspiring word. No way you were going to just sit around talking: in one minute you got us onto our feet and hustled us into the Art Show.

    So instead we got a high-energy, hands-on, closeup tour of your stuff in the show — what worked, what didn’t, how it got that way, and in one sad case (that we could tell still hurts) how the publisher went with the safe full-color version instead of the gutsier and dammit better spot color.

    You mentioned that you always, if humanly possible, read the book before you do the cover — something we don’t hear from every artist. But you obviously meant it, since you praised the writer’s work in detail for every artwork you talked about.

    Your passion and commitment came through, man. Thanks for an unforgettable hour. I told some of the con committee afterward that you were the hardest-working man in show business.

    — Bob Devney

  1212. Thanks, Christine! Happy belated V-day. 🙂

    Much appreciated, Bob. Glad you were able to make it on Sunday. I was grateful to be there, and it’s always great to hear that the work is connecting. Thanks very much!

  1213. John, congrats on a great time for you. I love hearing you get acknowledgements on your work, especially the assemblage. Awesome getting that best in show ribbon! !!

  1220. Thanks, Mair! Thanks, Christine! ‘Appreciate the feedback. 🙂

    I’m working on the next cover for this series. It’s called THE QUEEN OF SINISTER. Trying to juggle that along with the George R. R. Martin calendar work….

    Pyr really liked the MISRULE covers so I’m trying to maintain connection with that previous trilogy (which does connect to this one), while still evolving the illustration in a fresh direction. Fingers crossed. 🙂

  1221. Oh!, my goodness! That is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen!, and the shades of green make it especially resplendent!

    I see now that I will be forever amazed and inspired by your new art.

  1222. Do the queen in purples! Purple is considered the “royal colour,” right? Or maybe that’s too obvious. But a cover in purple would be dynamite!

  1223. Thanks, Joseph! Really appreciate it. 🙂

    Christine — yeah, that’s a good thought. I might have to consider that. It’s definitely gonna have some blues to tie back to the second book in the previous trilogy. There’s a definite color rhythm happening with these Chadbourn trilogies, but yeah, I’ll have to consider if some purples can work their way in…..:)

  1226. congrats on the opportunity to do such a awesome piece of artwork! I sure hope that you incorporate your own ways it looks to you, Ill definatly have to checkout your final picture.

  1228. Wow! Ted’s illos are just stunning! Glad he got the opp for publishing them finally. And glad you have more time for yours.

  1229. With regard: My entire interaction with the Anticipation Art Show was lacking. Communications were practically nil . . .

    There is absolutely no doubt that communication prior to the Convention, regarding Art Show issues (artists, direction, etc.) was lacking severely. I am in a position to know this absolutely. It was inexcusable, and I am grateful I am not the one who was responsible.

    I have nothing to do with the payment of artists, and cannot comment on that part of the issue.

    At this point, I’m trying to find out more about another issue. Is there anyone reading this who has NOT been refunded volunteer money, or who has been incorrectly refunded.

    This matter has recently come to light, and given that generous amounts of cash have been passed on to other Worldcons, some people have been left wondering where a refund which should have been received has disappeared to.

    This is not an issue with form of payment (i.e. check/cheque), nor is it confined to one department, or one country. I know of people who are geographically scattered, and who have connections with at least four departments, who have either not at all received the refund, or who have been short-changed.

    I’m looking for more . . . it would be interesting to know how wide-spread this problem is.

  1230. For volunteer reimbursements, I suggest you get in touch with your Department head. So far, three volunteers have done so. One seems to have been an oversight on our part, we did not have the correct address for the second one, and the third is currently being reviewed.

  1234. I went out and looked for The 13th Reality a while back, and could barely find it on the shelf for all the reasons you can imagine. That b/w & red cover still rocks. Congratulations on having it included in Spectrum.

  1237. Hi, folks —

    Sorry I’ve been away from my own blog for a bit.

    My pal Paul Vaughn is currently redesigning my website and blog so that they’re more user-friendly. Feels like a house under renovation right now. Need to get him some feedback so he can keep going on it, amidst the oncoming deadlines here….

    Mark — Thx very much! ‘Appreciate the feedback!

    Christine — Missed saying ‘hi’ to you for a while now. Thx to you too. I appreciate it. 🙂

    Amy — It’s a team win. 🙂

  1243. Congrats! That is certainly my favorite of the covers. Very eye-catching and entertaining. I posted it early this year in my list of favorite cover art for the last year. Well deserved!

  1247. Massive congratulations to all three. Have some wonderful adventures!

    Marco @ Angry Robot
    (also a July 5th-er)

  1250. I am THRILLED for your bundle of joy….give my best to Traci…and am so happy this was all about some good news! You will make a great father! You’re gonna spoil Samantha!

  1252. Marco — Very nice. You, Samantha, and Jean Cocteau all on the same day. Nice company. 🙂

    Thanks, everyone. Traci and I very much appreciate the kind thoughts. 🙂

  1254. A baby! WOW! Congratulations to all 3 of you – I’m so happy everyone is doing well!

    Sleep? Who needs sleep?

  1260. Kudos to you and your family John! Samantha is a beautiful name-one of my all time favs. Don’t know if you are aware that it means “Listener” and dates back to biblical times. So very happy for you and Traci!

  1263. WOOHOOOOO!!!

    Congrats. There is nothing more wondrous in the world than holding your newborn…not even your art, John.

  1264. WOW! Luck comiccon attendees! They look beautiful – any chance of making more setx after the con for sale on your spiffy website?

    And how are Mom & Samantha doin?

  1265. Hi, Christine —

    I think 50 will be it. I’m handmaking each of these so there won’t be anymore thereafter. Too much work doing these. 🙂 If there are any remaining, I’ll do a blogpost and make them available.

    Mom and Samantha are holding their own. Thanks for asking. 🙂

  1266. Wow, John, that is a gorgeous art print set. I’d certainly be interested in snagging one as well, but I can’t imagine all of them not getting snapped up during SDCC. Have a good time!

  1267. John- It was great seeing you at comic-con. Great to see an old pal from years ago! Brought back a lot of memories. And your work is amazing, dude! Can’t wait to see what’s next! I’m having a matting cut to frame that print tonight!

    – Mike Hood

  1268. Great write up and awesome pics, John. Sounds like you had a fabulous time. Glad it was successful for you…and hopefully for Dave, too.

    I commented on Lou’s photo of the view from your room….looks like a scene from “Logans Run”….

  1269. It was great to finally meet you in person, John. it was even better that the person I met produced artwork that I love. Great work. See you next year at SDCC, if not sooner!

  1270. Belated replies here. Sorry ’bout that, folks.

    Mair — Dave did well at SDCC. He made plenty of client contacts and seemed to always have a ton of traffic swarming his booth.

    Hah! Our view did look like Logan’s Run — you’re right, come to think of it. 🙂

    Charlie — Great to meet you too! Let’s stay in touch.

  1271. Hi, Christine….hi, Jason —

    I’ll post about this soon but I do some of these limited edition card sets remaining. I’ll need to calculate for shipping, but I’ll let you folks know soon.

    Mike — Great to see you too. That was a blast. Grateful that you stopped by….brought back good memories. Holler anytime. 🙂

  1274. LOVED your story of the superhero in the purple cape! How cute!

    Thanks for the write up and pix…hope to partake of the festivities next year…

  1276. Thanks for the shoutout. It was a pleasure hanging with you, Lou, Steve, Farah, et al. I had a blast at D*C, and I’m glad the con worked out so well for you; I suspect we’ll all be meeting in Atlanta again.

  1278. Lou — It was great, man. No doubt. Best of times as always.

    Mair — You should do it.

    Stu — I think you’re right. Great work this year! Thx for all you do. It’s very appreciated!! 🙂

  1282. Wow! Haven’t ever seen anything quite like this before. Outstanding, John. Love the viewer’s angle…haunting…yet beautiful…

  1288. Very powerful imagery! Subtle and grandiose, all at the same time… Can’t wait to see it in Dallas next week!

  1289. I love the stark contrast of the headdress mixed with the fadeout at the bottom of the piece.

    Just lovely!

    And hey, I was looking at some video from DragonCon – seems there was a walking, talking Elric there?

  1291. Let me just say for the record that I’m an idiot for forgetting you in my little report up above. How I forgot your name shows how desperately low I am on braincells not devoted to current deadlines. Sorry, Madelynn. 🙂

    Yes, I’m REALLY glad we visited, however briefly and we’ll obviously keep in touch as paths unfold. Holler anytime.

  1292. John,

    Thanks for the nice shout-out. I am so thrilled with the “Elric: Sword and Roses.” Its the best cash I’ve spent in a long, long time! As I was walking it to the car, three people stopped me and feasted their eyes upon your awesome work!

    Cheers!

  1297. Happy Thanksgiving, Mair. Thanks for the kind words. It may be a couple of weeks before this issue hits US bookstores but it should show up sometime in December. 🙂

  1301. Absolutely lovely work, John. Can never overstated enough.

    Two questions:
    1) Are large prints of your work currently available and/or will you be producing a set of the postcard prints like you had available this past year?

    2)Will there be a ‘Cover Story II’ or a new volume containing your work to present after the publication of your previous book?

    Thanks,
    ADRIAN

  1302. Lou — Thanks, man. Much appreciated. 🙂

    Adrian — Some of these will definitely be available as 17 x 22 prints later this year. As far as a new artbook, no plans at this point. COVER STORY came out in ’06 and even though it’s only been five years, I think if a new book came out today, it would probably have more work than that one did, without duplication. Maybe once I get through the GRRM calendar, I’ll put some feelers out and see if any publishers have interest…..thanks for the kind thoughts, man. Very appreciated. Need to slide by Sidebar Nation and catch up on a couple of interview listens. You guys are the best.

    Happy New Year,
    John

  1303. John, I think your illustration for The Waters Rising is some of your best work yet and I wish you all the best in this year’s awards nominations.

  1304. Hi, Carl —

    I’m way tardy in replying to this thread, but just wanted to say sincere thanks for the kind words. When you say something’s good, I take note. Much appreciated.

  1310. Thanks, John!

    I am happy to note that we’re up to 300 confirmed program participants today (writers/artists/editors/scientists/fans…)

  1321. Lev: Thanks very much, man! Congrats again on the John W. Campbell nom. Well-earned!

    Scott: Very much appreciated. Wish we crossed paths in person a little more often. 🙂

    Christine: Thank you! Would be nice to make it up to the Seattle area again someday soon. I’d trade your weather for ours today. 98 degrees today and it’s not even summer yet. Yikes!

  1325. CONGRATS! Way to go! You went for your dream, fought for them, and here you stand now. Great achievement! Can’t wait to see what you do for the next 10. 🙂

  1327. Stu: I would take that deal if it were offered to me. 🙂 Hopefully I’ll get better at what I do….that’s the main thing…

    Lou: Thanks as always, man.

    Kat: Thank you, Kat. Congrats on your big event tomorrow night. Very cool!

    Gloria: Much appreciated! Long way to go still! 🙂

  1328. Well said, John. Your fire and determination shows in your level of success. And we’re all so lucky to have your talent to enjoy. Congrats on your anniversary.

  1331. Wow! John you’re really making the field shine! Of those twelve images you posted, the “Sword and Roses” and “Fast Forward 2” really jump out at me. I guess that’s because those two hang in my studio and I look at them everyday! Keep up the beautiful work! Vincent

  1333. That’s fantastic and congratulations, John. The sheer quality of your oeuvre and the tenacity to stay strong for ten years within an hyper-changing marketplace gives people like myself a tangible inspiration to keep after our own dreams of freelancing.

    Here’s to another 10 years, sir.

  1334. Great post, John. Showing up every day and doing the work, doing it as well as you can, and then doing it again, is, in the end, all there is. The work is what matters. I’m proud and happy to have one of those covers (and soon another) be on one of my books.

  1335. Mair, Vincent, Adrian, Mark — Thanks! Much appreciated!

    Adrian — Will holler at you and the Sidebar fellas to see when our schedules finally connect. 🙂

  1336. Congratulations on being nominated for Best Professional Artist. Clearly, you work speaks for itself, but you continue to prove there is more to a professional than creating high artistry. You are a friend to fellow artists and the speculative fiction community as a whole. Your going out of your way to include me in not one but two dinner events over this weekend at World Horror Con that I simply could not have enjoyed otherwise made me proud to call you a new friend and peer. To me, you are a true professional. Thank you.

  1340. Dear Mr. Picacio, Just wanted to say how powerful these images you have created are to me; and I really appreciate your talent and what I perceive of your style. Best of luck with your future work.

  1343. Smirnster: Maybe George in NYC, I’m not sure. But barring something unforeseen, I don’t have plans to make it to NYC this year, as of now.

    Lucas: Am I gonna see you at SDCC at all? Would be great to visit. George is cool. If I ever get a chance to introduce you guys, I’ll do it in a heartbeat.

  1353. Thx, folks. Early on here, the score reads:

    Arya: 4
    Hound: 3
    Melisandre: 1

    Still plenty of time to spread the word and tell your pals to chime in.

  1362. HOUND HOUND HOUND HOUND!!!!

    Also.. that Bran bit is just beautiful. Can’t wait till Comicon. 🙂

  1364. Wow. I disappear into my work for a while and you Hound fans went crazy in the interim. Updated totals:

    Arya: 5
    Hound: 12
    Melisandre: 1

    I’m sure Arya fans are hoping that those Anonymous votes for the Hound are not the same person. Let’s hope so. 🙂 One vote per person, folks. LOL Let’s say Tuesday, May 31 at 5pm CST will be the close of voting. Keep spreading the word and rocking the vote.

    Jenn — Thanks! Very glad you like Bran. 🙂

  1368. My goodness, I love how you did Bran’s hair. I just want to muss it so badly….

    And as much as I’d love to see Melisandre’s gown (it’s a girly thing), I’m going to cast my vote for the Hound.

  1369. It really is fantastic. I’m usually indifferent towards Bran, to be honest… and yet I’m in love with that image. Could be that I’m a sucker for sepia tones. 🙂

    Will you be on hand signing Calendars at Comicon?

  1371. Trackrunner: Very appreciated. Thank you. 🙂

    Jenn! Muchas gracias! Yup, I will most definitely be there. From what I understood, the plan is George and I will be signing calendars at Bantam’s SDCC booth. That’ll be the official launch of the calendar and first time it’ll be on sale anywhere.

    For most of the show, I’ll be sharing a booth with Star Wars artist Dave Seeley, where we’ll have lots of our work on display and for sale (I think the booth is #4600 but don’t quote me on that….:)) So if you miss out on the Bantam signing, I’ll have calendars for sale at my booth too. See you there?

    Clay — Yup. Your vote counts. Melisandre’s got some catching up to do. Hound is taking no prisoners right now. Still plenty of time ’til Tuesday 5pm. Keep rocking the vote, folks.

    Latest vote count:

    Arya: 5
    Hound: 16
    Melisandre: 2

  1381. Indeed! I go every year, as work permits, hehe. Miiiiight even have some stuff in the artshow this year.

    See ya there!! 🙂

  1383. Thank you for the sneak peak, it looks great! If there is to be another one, I’d love to see the Hound, please 🙂

  1385. It’s Thursday morning and the Hound continues to show no mercy.

    Latest vote count:

    Arya: 7
    Hound: 25
    Melisandre: 2

    Voting continues until Tuesday, May 31 at 5pm CST. One vote per person. Hound fans, well done so far. Arya and Melisandre fans, don’t give up. Still time to change the game. Keep rocking the vote, folks. 🙂

  1386. Valerie & Iris — Pleased to hear you’re digging Bran. Much appreciated! 🙂

    Jenn — You do some terrific prosthetic FX work. See you at SDCC!

  1388. Ooh, tough one. Arya is one of my favorites to read about, but a chance to see the Hound is hard to pass up. So, I vote for the Hound.

  1398. I vote Hound.

    Also, this is the first time anyone ever managed to capture the very image of Bran I had in my head. And while many artists somehow make children look like grown-ups, you have captured the child from the book. Love the play of light and shadow on him too.
    I’m definitely getting this calendar. That one sneak peek convinced me.

    Cheers, Max

  1401. It’s Saturday morning, and the Hound and his fans are still taking no prisoners. Arya fans — I’m proud of you. Feisty as ever, and not giving up. Melisandre fans — still three days left in the voting, but you’re gonna need help from R’hllor to pull this off. Voting continues until 5pm CST Tuesday. Keep rocking it, folks. 🙂

    Updated vote count:

    Arya: 9
    Hound: 35
    Melisandre: 4

  1402. William: Will be good to see you this summer. Looking forward to partying w/ the Brotherhood in Reno.

    Sparrowinsky, Max, & Lochin: Thanks very much for the kind words re: Bran. Much appreciated. Glad you like! 🙂

  1408. Oooh, the Hound!

    Don’tbe surprised by so much Hound fans, he really is one of the most beloved of all characters and he does have quite a lobby 😀

  1409. Voting now closed for the next 2012 ASOIAF Calendar sneak peek! Thanks to all of you for voting. 🙂

    Final vote count:

    The Hound: 40
    Arya: 11
    Melisandre: 5

    You have spoken. And in fact, you have roared. Fans of the Hound were rabid and awesome. The Hound will be the next sneak peek.

    Where does that leave Arya and Melisandre fans? You fought valiantly. That did not go unnoticed. Stay tuned….your day may very well be coming in the near future. But for now, the Hound has won this battle.

    So when is the Hound’s sneak peek going live? I’ll check in very soon and let you folks know. Keep watching this blog and better yet, keep watching my Twitter feed for updates.

    http://twitter.com/JohnPicacio

  1411. If I make it to WorldCon, I will look you up. Also San Antonio 2013, You know where the BBQ is… Take me to your Dealer…

  1412. Thank you!! Not just for being such an easy guest and so easy to please, but for truly helping to make con such an amazing experience. I am so very in awe, and your chosen pieces in the art show were incredible. The oil original with black, grey, and white tones was breathe taking! I will never forget.

  1413. I just wanted to say thank you again for signing the wonderful picture that SallyRose managed to get for me! It already has a space of honor on my wall where I can view it daily.

    Hoping to get to see you at another Con – your work is magnificent and I want more of it!! Rellie

  1414. Robert — Will do.

    Tobi — Thanks very much. Again, sorry I didn’t get to say a proper goodbye. The auction at the Dead Dog seemed to have no end in sight and I just ran out of gas. Plus I had to leave at 4:45am that morning. You were terrific. I appreciate everything you did.

    Rellie — Very good to hear it. Thanks very much. 🙂 Hopefully we’ll see each other again down the road. Maybe Worldcon/Reno?

  1420. RE: Why the green and orange light on his face?

    Anonymous had the guess, but Darth Nerdicus nailed it specifically. Both of you are correct. Yup, for the moment I’m depicting in my artwork, the Battle of the Blackwater is happening outside Sansa’s bedroom window. So the room is bathed in the green and orange light of the blazing wildfires outside.

    As for the month, Darth is close. Anyone wanna guess with confidence? 🙂

  1423. Apologies both to you, Mr. Picacio, and my daughter, as I’d accidentally posted under her Google account (the Darth one, but we’re both fans!).

    Love the picture, and I’m glad I got the Blackwater guess right! I’d hoped it was the February one, though…

  1424. This looks amazing! I cannot wait to get my hands on this calendar! 🙂 The burns and the angry intensity in his eyes are just perfect. You do amazing work, sir!

  1426. Just saw your post over at Westeros, so I thought I’d swing by to say the Hound looks amazing! You definitely have an incredible talent for eyes: your Ned’s look piercing and your Hound’s look terrifying.

    I’m looking forward to the Arya and Melisandre sneak peeks, though I’ll admit I’m most excited about seeing your Sansa, who is far and away my favorite character in the series. I’m so glad she will be included in this calendar.

    Enjoy SDCC! Wish I could go, but alas, not this year. 🙁

  1428. I’d totally sing him a song.

    Hehehehe.

    Beautiful work as always. I can’t wait to see the rest of this image, but already have a feeling I’ll be having you sign this page in particular so it can be framed for my work-room. Hahahaha. Love love love.

    I have no guess as for the month though.

    I never thought I’d see the day where I was this excited for a calendar. But I am! 🙂

  1429. The first sneak peek made me think that I *should* buy the calendar. Now, it’s pre-ordered on Amazon, along with my _A Dance with Dragons_. My rabid-the-Hound-fangirl’s heart was conquered. Wonderful art, Mr. Picacio! We, fans, are lucky to have you work on the calendar.

  1430. Hi, Jenn…hi, Lochin —

    Thx very much! I appreciate it. If the Hound could blush, I’m sure he would. (Well, maybe one of his cheeks could..)

    See you at SDCC, Jenn!

  1432. Thanks for the info, Kerry. Worked great at Capricon, and I know artists appreciate your attention to detail. 🙂

    As you know, it costs so much $$$ for pro artists to attend a Worldcon (framing, packing, shipping, insurance on top of the airfare, hotel and $$$ registration that everyone pays). This year’s Worldcon is working hard to make the show an attractive one for pro artists and I think they’re doing a kickass job in the planning stages. That said, anything future Worldcons can do onsite to make the show less hassle for artists is smart. When you consider that the artists have so much more hassle going IN to a Worldcon than authors, agents, editors, filkers, and fans, it makes sense to have less once at the show, right? Waiting weeks and weeks for cons to process Art Show checks is a big negative, and artists have to consider that when choosing to participate in a show.

    Unfortunately, I see many pro artists choosing to participate in other shows instead of Worldcon. Worldcons can be a complicated machine, but from the pro artists’ standpoint, we (increasingly) have to look at the bottom line for these things, and that includes cash flow and how a con impacts that.

  1434. If it’s San/San, the month in question is *obviously* February.

    Valentine’s Day and all that.

    And yes, the green and orange light from the fires in King’s Landing during the Battle of the Blackwater, wit hthe light coming in throught the window in Sansa’s Tower cell.

  1435. Joel — Exactly. Elaine was close but not sure. You nailed it. Sansa Stark and the Hound will be the October art in the calendar. I chose October for this one because:

    1. Green and orange says Halloween and fall to me.

    2. With a face like that, how can the Hound belong to any other month? LOL

    Would be great if all of the cool kids in 2012 wear Hound faces like this for Halloween just like so many were doing Heath Ledger’s Joker a couple of years ago.

    Gotta love ASoIaF fans though — I think it’s brilliant that several (including Steel_Wind) wanted Sansa and the Hound for February because of Valentine’s Day. You people are twisted geniuses. I love it. 🙂 LOL

  1436. John-

    Chicon 7 doesn’t want to make any promises it may not be able to keep and what works for a $1,000 person con, like Cap may not work for a 5,000+ con like a Worldcon.

    That said, we are going to make the entire artshow process as painless as possible for the artists and we should have a timeline in place well before artshow submission which will outline the payment policy with a reasonable timeline for processing.

  1437. This is the best preview yet! Sansa is my favorite girl, and Sandor is my favorite guy. I’m so pleased we’ll have a month of them together in this calendar (even if it’s not February).

    I love the detail of his face and his intense expression. Great work! I’m dying to get a peek at how Sansa fits into the page. After seeing this I’ve pre-ordered my copy from Amazon… although it’s too bad I’ll never have the chance to get it signed.

  1438. Thanks very much, Katharine! I’m glad you like what you see so far.

    You say you’ll never get a chance to get it signed? Never say never. 🙂

    I’ll be doing appearances at San Diego Comic Con, Worldcon (Reno, NV), Bubonicon (Albuquerque, NM), and World Fantasy Con (San Diego, again).

    Not exactly sure what 2012 holds, but I do know I’ll be in Chattanooga, Seattle, and Chicago for sure.

  1439. It sounds like a book to savor. And what a perfect excuse (as if I need one) for a trip to the bookstore! Congrats on getting the cover. That is one of my favorite of your illustrations.

  1440. Thanks, Carl! I appreciate it. 🙂

    Didn’t see any at Barnes & Noble over here, but Borders was carrying them in the Graphic Novels section (weird placement).

  1441. Yes, bookstore placement defies logic, at some stores more than others. I’m frequently annoyed by the fact that new releases are often placed on a New Releases table and then you cannot find any copies of the new book back in the section of the bookstore where similar books are.

  1442. Agreed, Carl.

    If that bothers you, then you’ll LOVE this then.

    Prologue: Unfortunately and sadly, we’ve had a rash of crime at San Antonio bookstores where thieves run in and steal handfuls of graphic novels and then resell them on Craigslist. Borders contends that they even KNOW who some of the thieves are, but that unless the SAPD can catch the thieves in the act, then there’s nothing they can do to arrest and prosecute. I don’t understand that, but that’s what they claim.

    OK — so as you probably know, Borders is in deep financial trouble right now. And frankly, all brick-and-mortar stores are in a delicate place these days.

    Therefore, it would seem reasonable that if inventory is being stolen, then you move it closer to the cashwrap where it can be better monitored or put security cameras in place where the material can be watched while people browse, right? If you’re a bookstore chain going bankrupt, then you wanna make it easier for people to buy inventory from you, while protecting inventory, right?

    Borders’ solution: move the material BEHIND the registers where no one can browse or shop, and they now have to request books to be pulled down one by one while someone hovers over them. Way to go, Borders! That’s SURE to drive sales up.

    Or better yet — I went to another Borders and asked where the GNs went. They said, “We don’t carry our GNs on the floor anymore. They’re stocked in the backroom where no one can get to them. You ask for a book and we go back, see if it’s there, and if it is, we bring it out to you.”

    Seriously.

    I wish I was making this up, but I’m not…..

    In a time when a bookstore is a precious thing to be supported and appreciated, that’s the kind of store response that hastens the arrival of the Grim Reaper.

    At any rate, I hope folks will seek out this new art book because it’s a real gem. 🙂

  1444. It’s yours, sir. I will package it up with tender loving care. If you don’t mind, email me at

    john (at) johnpicacio (dot) com

    and we’ll work out the details.

  1445. Alright — so there you have it, folks. Sale over. Dave wins.

    In the near future, I’ll be putting some of my original Elric interiors up for general sale. Keep your eyes peeled. 🙂 Thanks!

  1446. Bloody hell.
    You did it again. The very image I had in my head, brought to paper – and I want to say “brought to life” too, because it is a very vivid image. The eyes in particular, very intense.

    Bloody amazing play of light and shadow once again, and the fine detail in the scars… brilliant. Man, I love your work. It’s like Phantom of the Opera meets Freddy Krueger, it totally rocks. XD

    Also, it looks fairly realistic. While the desciption in the book certainly is intimidating, it isn’t exactly realistic (except if the scarring is fresh, which it obviously isn’t) – oh well, Sansa’s POV, and we all know what a goose she can be. *lol* Arya just sees “a man with a burned face” the first time they meet and isn’t frightened by it – I guess Sansa exaggerates the colouring, particularly because the close description is set at night, and in the flickering light of a torch, which can make even scarless faces spooky (oh, and, obviously, because she’s an exciteable goose *g*).
    So, extra props to you for making it so realistic =)

    Looking forward to any other upcoming sneak peeks 😉

    Regards, Max

  1448. Hi, Max —

    Sorry for the tardy reply. Been working on several new things here. VERY MUCH appreciate the kind thoughts on the Hound. I’m glad you’re digging him. Much more where this comes from. I’m hoping either Bantam or me will have more sneak peeks soon. Stay tuned. 🙂

  1450. I haven’t read the books yet, so your Arya is a little different from TV Arya. But, yes, the attitude is 100% right. I’m going to have to buy your calendar when it comes out.

  1451. Thx, Laurie! 🙂

    Yeah, as you may have guessed, Bantam hired me to illustrate based on the books, and my work makes no reference to the TV series or its actors. So yeah, it’s interesting to now look back and see what HBO is doing with their vision, vs. my own. HBO is creating whole new scenes that were not written by George, so in many ways, the TV series is a whole new work entirely separate from the books. I agree with you though — when I saw what Maisie Williams is doing with Arya in the TV series, it felt very much like the same spirit and attitude I was channeling into this piece.

  1452. I love it! She looks just like the Arya that I had in my head when I was reading the book (I’m only through Game of Thrones). I love the look of determination! You captured her perfectly. I’ve already pre-ordered and hope to get it signed at FenCon if you are there.

  1453. Thanks, Lisa. Much appreciated. 🙂 I don’t have plans to attend FenCon this year, but I haven’t ruled it out either. Gonna be a great show, but I’m travelling so much that it’s very iffy….if I do, I’ll make sure to say so here on my blog though.

  1456. Love the expression! Also, the movement of her unkempt hair. Can’t wait to see the full image!

  1457. Adrian — High praise from you, sir! Means a lot. I appreciate it very much. 🙂 (The books are amazing, by the way, if you ever get a chance to read them. The first one, A GAME OF THRONES, is a masterpiece.)

    Dennai — LOL 🙂 I don’t know what you’re looking at, but that’s a headshot. Hey, you never know she may not be holding Needle at all! Then you might have NoNeedleGate on your hands. My advice — wait ’til the calendar comes out in July. 🙂

    Laura — Muchas gracias!

  1458. It’s a really amazing pic. I found it by chance in google but I didn’t know that it was yours until now, when I’ve been looking for it again! I preordered 2012 SOIAF calendar two months ago and cant wait to have/see it.
    Marvellous work, really!

  1459. Ali —

    Thank you very much for the kind words. I’m glad you dig the Hound! Let me know what you think of the calendar when it comes out in July. 🙂

  1462. Thanks, Tracy. Yeah, it’s gonna be especially good this year, art-wise. Hopefully future cons will pick up the baton from this one and build upon its example.

  1463. You nailed it John. Depending on when this shot is in the book, she may or may not have hair. That said, this is exactly how she looks, period.

  1464. He ain’t mucking about people: I just received a rather splendid package all the way from the USA and boy oh boy, the original is seriously impressive. Not just in scale but given that it is B&W pencil work, the subtlety. Happy days!

  1470. One of the tweeters on my feed put it best “Beautiful, Menacing and hot– as a fire priestess should be.” I think you hit those notes very well.

  1477. Paul — Yeah, I saw that tweet from @krakencode. Nice one. Appreciated yours as well. Thanks, man! 🙂

    Toraneko — Me too. 🙂

    Anonymous1 — Much appreciated. I don’t know who Ali Larter is. I’ll need to Google that one later….

    Anonymous2 — Thank you! 🙂

    Carl — Thx very much. Means a lot coming from you!

    A-Train — Muchas gracias, sir! Am I gonna see you and the Sidebar gang at SDCC? Sadly, I won’t be at Dragon*Con this year.

    Jordi — Yeah, Nicole Kidman would make a great Melisandre for HBO. No doubt. She’d also completely jack that production budget off the charts, if you know what I’m saying. LOL Didn’t have her in mind at all though.

    On the subject “who Melisandre looks like”, I just posted this on GRRM’s blog, so I’ll paste it here:

    The art I did for the calendar is based on the way I saw the characters while immersed in the ASoIaF books. So my Melisandre art is definitely based on that, and when I was drawing her, she was based on personal memories and imaginings, referenced from two ex-girlfriends and my wife. A dangerous combination, now that I think of it…. 🙂 LOL

  1481. Absolutely perfect; ironically, this illustration is even more sultry than I imagined. Her eyes are powerful and smoldering. Bravo.

  1487. Evgenia — I don’t agree, but you’re entitled to your opinion. Sorry you’re not onboard.

    ptz & Anonymous4 — Thanks very much. Glad you like what you see so far!

  1489. Thank you, Disegno! I love Italy. The last time I was there was 1990. Visited Venice, Florence, Rome, Siena and many places in between. Venice still drifts through my dreams — one of my favorite cities on the planet. Would love to return someday!

  1491. JD — Ain’t a broken record to my ears. Still sounds like good music, and very appreciated. 🙂 You see a lot of stuff everyday because of the Signal, so when you say my stuff’s good, it means something to me. Thanks, man.

  1492. Pretty hot job. Do I need a calendar somewhere in the house… definitly do now.

    You said it’s inspired from ex-girlfriends? I wish I dated Tea Leoni too!

  1493. Pierre — They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I think that applies when the audience connects a picture with their own memories and associations. You see Tea Leoni. Someone else sees Nicole Kidman. Someone else sees Lucy Lawless. Someone else sees Ali something-or-the-other. Someone else believes all of you are wrong and SWEARS that it’s Phyllis Diller. Someone else believes behind the shadow of a doubt that it’s the spitting image of Cloris Leachman. It goes on and on….

    I kinda smile when I hear all of this crazy stuff. It’s part of the art game, I suppose….:)

  1496. Paul — It’s amazing how many fans see Phyllis Diller when they look at my artwork of Melisandre. 😉

    Personally, whenever I look at my artwork for Melisandre, I see Bea Arthur. Doesn’t everyone else see that??? It’s so obvious, right? LOL

    My friendly suggestion to everyone — don’t get too caught up in looking at art and saying ‘it looks like someone I know’. It’s like a cat chasing a snake, only to find it’s been chasing its tail. Better to just enjoy it for what it is. 🙂

    Ben — Thx for the kind thought. As far as Amy Adams being an inspiration for the art — definitely wasn’t. Had to Google her name to remind myself who she is. Now that I look at her, she would make a great candidate for HBO’s show as Melisandre. That would be interesting, wouldn’t it?

    Many thanks to all for this kind feedback. Very fun. I DO appreciate it! 🙂

  1499. Wow – you’ve really brought her to life. I had a similar idea in my minds eye of what she looked like, but your art is a huge improvement. Thanks! Now as I continue the series I’ll have this wonderful image in my head.

  1500. Wow – did you land a choice spot in the room or what!!! Sorry I won’t be there to experience it….some day I hope. Good luck!

  1502. I’ve worked Comicon before… I know the value of a good location. Hope the show goes great for ya! 🙂

    I’ll stop by the booth Thursday to pick up Calendars before they sell out. Hehehe. Hopefully I can get into that Sails Pavilion signing.

    I have such a love hate relationship with Comicon… such chaos!

    OK! Back to work! So much to still do!

  1503. Jenn — I’ve got a few Thursday meetings that might occasionally take me away from the booth.

    For sure you can catch me there Thursday between 9am to 11:30a. And for sure from 2p to 3p. I’m dead positive I’ll be there MORE than just those limited hours, but those are the ones for which I know I’ll be there on that day. See you soon!

  1504. Hehehe… well I know first thing that morning I’ll be setting up for the art show, and that 2-3 block might see me in line for the Game of Thrones panel. If not Thursday, Friday! 🙂

    See ya at the Con!

  1506. I went to comic con once – many many many years ago when it was just comics. And maybe 3000 people. I wouldn’t go anywhere near it today – way way way too many people, and too much Hollywood.

    It does, however, have some great artists attending, one of which is you John! I’ve been quiet this past year, because I’m not really fond of Martin.

    But your 4-panel accordion fold-out looks gorgeous! IF you have any leftover, I’d love to have one! And you and Dave have a great location, right near the entrance and next to donato Arts.

    Have a wonderful time! Little Samantha is growing into a beauty!

  1507. Amazing job!! Congrats on your stunning pictures! So much here to absorb….exquisite. Can’t wait to meet u this weekend 🙂 Where will be the best place to have you and GRRM sign the calendar at the same time at CC? thanks for your amazing work!

  1508. I love this calendar. I appreciate your taking the time to explain your image choices for each month. It’s always extremely interesting to learn what choices an artist makes when doing work.

    Thanks!

  1510. Really great stuff John, and I appreciate the description of how you created them. I’m not an artist myself, but am always interested in the process and materials artists use to create their works. This has obviously been a labor of love for you and I am thrilled for you getting the chance to do it. I hope it sells like gangbusters.

  1514. One can only imagine the reaction were you to have printed the above into the calander itself John!

    Granted, printed at the back, as you wouldn’t want to color the viewer’s mind before they had the oppertunity to reacted to it in an open way.

  1516. Wow. Just beautiful! So very well done. The detail, the expressions…the color…all so amazing! Now I’m mad that I have yet to read any GRRM. 😛

  1517. I think you’ve captured each character perfectly, they’re almost exactly how I envisioned them. Now they’re totally living in my imagination thanks to your gorgeous vision. I am ordering this right now.

  1518. Hi, folks — Sorry for the belated reply. Was in the middle of San Diego Comic Con chaos when your replies came in. Hugely appreciate the shoutouts and kind words! Thanks so much. Means the world to hear that these images connect with you.

  1521. John,
    It was indeed a great Worldcon. Thanks so much for everything. your panels were really amazing, and it was of course great to see you again.

    -Steve/Race

  1524. The Renovation crew did an excellent job. There were so many great panels to choose from, I hardly knew where to start!

    It was wonderful meeting you. Thanks for coming to our parties. I can’t wait for Chicago!

    Edit: Because I can’t type.

  1525. Honestly bummed that I didn’t see you more, but dang you were a busy one! Hoping we can connect at a future con.

    And you don’t know this, but after the day I’m having, this meant the world to me:

    “All I, or anyone, can do is get better each year — and just work.”

    It’s so good to remember that, sometimes. Thank you.

    I’m very sorry for the 0-7 record. I don’t know anyone who deserves it more than you, and I’ll be voting for you next year as well.

  1527. You’ve had my vote every year I was eligible to vote. And I’ll continue to recommend your work to others. Madness that you’re 0 for 7. Let’s make it 1 for 8 next year!

  1530. WC was just a fabulous time. It was great to see you again. Renovation was so much more than I expected…just a grand time….

    John, your panels were great. Am always interested in your points of view.

  1531. Your State of the Art discussion was my favorite at the con. I really like your art work. Thanks for coming out!

    Melinda Moore

  1532. John,

    Thanks a ton for the kind words for our “little” con. I was so impressed with you and George’s presentation that I ran out to get a calendar at another bookstore so that I could get your signature on some of that beautiful art. I was really blown away by your friendliness and interactions with the fans. Thanks making us feel like we were all superstar artists! 🙂

    And, by the way, when I came home and showed the calendar and the signatures on the Bran page to my wife, she was blown away, too…her favorite’s the Jon Snow page, so I’m kicking myself for not getting that one signed. Hopefully we can have you back again soon!

    Cody

  1533. Game of thrones is, probably, the best TV serie that I’ve ever seen.
    It’s raw and real like none, and reflects the European Middle Age (althought was fantastic, not historic) in all over its dimension.
    The characters and the script have an incredible depth.
    Perhaps, the sex scenes and explicit violence are too frequent.

  1534. John
    Sounds like you had a great time. Ya- it is a great little show, but then I am partial to the regional ones, just seem to have more heart. Hope to catch you at another show soon.

  1538. A-Train! Thank you, sir. Man, when the composition is that simple, NOTHING is a small thing. LOL

    I appreciate the good word. 🙂 Enjoyed the Struzan talk over at Sidebar. Need to go read Swain’s Mike Golden piece when I get a break….

  1540. I agree with Scott too, this is the best rendition of him, at least for me shows he can control himself, is contained and absorbed in the delicate task at hand; you know, like tiger carrying pups between its jaws kinda attitude, XD

  1541. You have, indeed, produced terrific art in 2011! And explored new venues! It’s a shame I’m not a GRRM fan, but that doesn’t stop me from admiring the work in the calendar, or recognizing its “goodness.” My favourite piece, though, is Silverberg’s “Times Three.”

    And then there’s your wife and daughter.

    Truly a remarkable year! And another remarkable year, 2012, on the horizon! Happy New Year!

  1546. Thanks, Farah. Hey –I just remembered…your book had cover art by me on it….it was a second-rights piece though, so doesn’t really count as ‘new work’ even though it’s new publication. Hmmm….tempted to include in the array though….at any rate, will be good to see you on the road next year. Happy 2012. 🙂

  1555. Great anecdote, John.

    I’ve always been a huge fan of BLUEBERRY (even more than of his Moebius works) and am quite saddened by Giraud’s passing.

    Time to read some BLUEBERRY comics.

  1559. Splendid John!

    Consider spreading some of this new joy over at the multiverse: there’s a whole lot of love for Barsoom there at all times, but right now the recent John Carter movie has been getting a very positive reception in the Q&A – Mike loved it for one.

    As usual, your image(s? hopefully more than one!) is utterly splendid!

    Cheers
    Rothgo

  1563. You so captured it, John. “Wow!” was a word that coursed through my head the entire weekend. It is great to see you, as an artist, confirm the camaraderie that I saw as a fan. I talked about that in my first go round in trying to put this weekend’s experience into words. It was apparent all weekend, but especially at the awards ceremony. You guys/gals love each other and it was such a great thing to be in the midst of all of that.

    Thank you so much for the kind words. It was a true pleasure to be of help and consider me signed up to help again next time.

    And it looks like you’ve done a lot of work on answering some of my interview questions here, so feel free to recycle ’em! 🙂

  1564. I’m still on cloud nine from this past weekend. The entire experience exceeded my expectations ten fold. I’m finding it hard to put into words what an electric vibe I felt throughout the entire weekend. From the artists to the fans their was this synergy that is hard to describe to others who weren’t there.

    It was a pleasure meeting you in person after admiring your work for years. As for helping you out it was no problem at all and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Just to extend my SFAL experience a little bit longer was worth it to me. Carl and I both didn’t want to remove our badges after the three days. We just didn’t want it to end and I know you know just how we felt. It was truly a magical weekend which I hope we can repeat again one day. Take care.

  1565. Fellas — Again, thanks so much. You were lifesavers on Sunday. The whole weekend was one for the ages. Counting the days ’till we hopefully do this all over again. 🙂

    Carl — Will definitely be handling that interview this weekend!

  1566. Well stated John, It was really great to see you again man. You where the first artist I knew, when I walked in on Friday morning. It felt very accomodating and well placed, that you should be the one to greet Swain and I when came in. Such was the entire weekend, so much love and reverance was given to every detail and gathering. I wish I had more than one body, to be able to experience everything this magnificent was. Thank you John for a excellent encaspualtion. Look forward to seeing you again soon, my friend.

  1569. Man, that is some stellar company you are keeping! Congrats on being a finalist, will wait with crossed fingers for the results.

  1570. Just wondering, what is the reason for separate categories for hardcover and paperback cover illustrations?

  1571. Thanks, Carl! ‘Appreciated! 🙂

    Steve — I don’t know the answer to that but my guess is that ASFA felt that because some books are released as first-edition hardcovers and others as first-edition trades, it allows more art to be recognized than if both were combined into one category. There’s a lot of great sf/f cover art every year, and even with two categories, it’s still tough to whittle down to a handful.

  1573. Congrats, Charles. 🙂

    Look at this way — better to be appreciated while you’re alive and still in your prime, than after you’re gone, or not at all. 😉

  1580. Damn, John. That is way more than a pretty picture. Much communicated in that image.

  1587. Nice work John! I like the look, self-confident and natural, as opposed to the usual cliche of skin-tight, skimpy, hyper-sexualised “feminism”.

  1590. W-O-W

    This is stunning. She looks so human. I’m still not sure how to put it into words, something about the contrast of hard and soft really pulls at me. A working Lady Liberty crowned in machines and dust. I’m normally quite unimpressed (to downright irritated) with female representations in art but this, THIS is lovely.

    This looks like it took a while.

  1595. Let me second Paul with the ‘Ohhhh’ and add ‘SNAPS!’.

    Looking forward to the the prints and I have the article bookmarked for my lunchtime reading today!

  1596. Man, it’s going down!

    Looking forward to it, sir.

    And I wish I could stay for that ‘Art of Darkness’ panel, but it’s just a bit too late in the day.

    I meant to ask: are you going to have new originals on display like for ASoIF, perhaps?

  1597. A-Train: I’m just doing programming at Dragon*Con. No Art Show this year. I’m there for basically one day (Friday), and then I’m off to Worldcon in Chicago on Saturday. However, if you want me to bring some of my ASoIaF prints for you to check out, lemme know?

  1598. Aw man. But it makes perfect sense to not set up at D*C only to pull up stakes the next morning.

    I’m trying to breeze through Dragon*Con early Friday morning myself and escape from downtown Atlanta like Snake Plissken to beat the usual Friday afternoon traffic jam down here.

    And don’t go through any trouble on the ASoIaF prints, sir. All good. I’ll wait until you make the announcement of them available for sale.

  1599. Hi,

    It was nice meeting you at DragonCon, your lecture was great! It’s a shame you didn’t stay longer, I would have loved to see what else you had to say. I hope you have a nice trip to Worldcon.

    Annick

  1604. I’ve said it in numerous other places as well as in person, but congrats again. I was definitely one of the folks letting out a loud roar when Scalzi read your name.

  1611. Martha and I gave you a standing ovation when Scalzi read your name (and would have done so even if we weren’t standing through the entire Hugo ceremony).

    Totally thrilled for you — seeing you get both awards was one of the highlights of an all-around awesome WorldCon weekend.

  1612. Thanks, Michael. Thanks, Alamo. And great job over there in Chicago, Doug. Loved sharing all of this with the Bros, and especially you and X-Ray. Helluva weekend. 🙂

  1614. John, congratulations! You made a big fan out of me at last year’s Bubonicon in Albuquerque and I was really rooting for you to get this great recognition.

  1616. Ryan & FrodoStark — Thanks very much. I appreciate it. / Mary — You were there after a couple of those tough losses. Yeah…..glad to finally break through. 🙂

  1618. Belated congratulations, John.

    It’s been a long time coming, and therefore very well deserved!

    Besides, back in 2006 I first went to LACon IV, and then drove, with a car full of Interzone magazines, to Dragon*Con (almost coast to coast).

    So you doing both WorldCon and Dragon*Con by airplane: this pathfinder calls it cheating…;-)

  1620. John – I saw the article in the paper this morning- The Hugo!!! Congratulations!!! Long overdue and well-deserved! All the best, my friend! – Mike Hood

  1621. I am delighted you won at last!! You totally deserve it.

    I’ve only been to a handful of Worldcons and have always enjoyed your panels and artwork. I appreciate your involvement in fandom.

    Ita V

  1626. Hi, David — ‘Appreciated. That’s a helluva task you’re asking. I think if my art directors excuse me from a week of work, I *might* be able to tackle that. 😉 I mentioned Powers and Berkey in my speech at Chicon because their work means the world to me and I feel that, Hugo or no Hugo, they are giants. There are certainly others that could be mentioned along with them. I’ve never seen the Best Artist Hugo to be an absolute (or any award for that matter), and that wasn’t the point of the post. It is interesting to see that this category has recognized four different artists in five years, whereas it only recognized four artists from 1980 to 2005. I don’t know the reasons. You would probably know better than me? Michael, Bob, Don, and Jim were and are dominant artists, but we both know that there were a helluva lot of great artists in that quarter-century that were also doing great work. I’ll let others dissect those things. As far as your post suggestion — it’s a good one. That one would take some time though…..:)

  1627. Hi, Mair — I think I missed your comment initially because I was typing. Sorry ’bout that! ‘Appreciated. 🙂 Yeah, that dragon is one of Bob’s best, I think. Agreed.

  1628. Very cool, John. Thanks for compiling. Congratulations again on being added to that prestigious list of artists! Can’t wait to see what you come up with next.

  1630. Thanks, John and congratulations.

    I had forgotten Stephan had won in 2008, I somehow had it in my head that he was a Hugo bridesmaid like you were.

    I voted for you first, and him second on my Hugo ballot for that reason.

  1631. Thanks, Regina…..thanks, Jayme! 🙂

    Paul — I appreciate it so much. Sincerely. As far as not knowing the history — no worries. That’s part of why I did this post — to educate and enlighten — and it helps when these things have pictures. 😉

  1633. Sternbach’s Moonbow illustrates a novella I wrote far back, and he’s been the most evocative in deep space imagery. I’d like to see him back in the field!

    Gregory Benford

  1635. You know, besides being a terrific visual storyteller, you’re also great with words. Thank you for sharing what the experience was like. I would have been roaring with the rest of them if I’d been there.

    We’re really REALLY happy for you. 🙂

  1636. Congrats. I’ve been a fan for awhile and I was glad to see you win this.

    Man, this list was a blast from the past. John Schoenerr and Rick Sternbach were huge favorites of mine when when I was reading Analog and Galaxy in high school way back in the 70’s. Typing in either name in Google brings back a ton of covers for issues I remember reading.

  1637. Randall — Hugely appreciated. Thanks so much. 🙂

    Jetse — You’re an animal. Hardcore all the way. 😉 LOL

    Danielle — Muchas gracias. 🙂

    Mike — Hey, man! Awesome to hear from you. Hope all’s going well there. Been a long way since our old D&D days. 🙂

    Ita — That’s really, really kind of you. So appreciated.

    Anne — Thanks so much. Hope we see each other on the road soon. Hope you, Brian and Rosie are doing well!

  1641. Congratulations, John! Your work is beyond beautiful – it’s breathtaking! And I’m not saying that just because I’m totally in love with Zenith on the cover of The Metatemporal Detective…

    😉

    das/Deirdre

  1642. This is absolutely gorgeous by the way! Was thrilled to see it when I got an ARC recently. I can give you a sneak preview: the cover will be on my favorites of 2012 list!

  1643. This is an amazing post, John. Makes me want to go out and spend a fortune tracking down the books with these covers or this artwork inside. Great to see a visual representation of such great company, to which you now belong. Very proud of you and again very happy for you. Wow!!!

  1651. While I am a big fan of eBooks (as you know), I wouldn’t be happy to see B&N close. I wasn’t happy to see Borders close, either!

    I wish that B&N would have concentrated on selling BOOKS and executing on that. I think part of their problems comes from over expansion but also selling toys and non-core items.

    I started seeing this several years ago (look for a posting on my blog called “The Death of Captain Future”). Maybe they can turn the ship around, get their booksellers to be enthusiastic about what they read and transfer that to the customers. That’s one place that eBook sellers (or online sellers) can’t go.

    Maybe.

  1653. I’m still waiting to see an explosion of deluxe binding hardbacks: books who’s physicality is something to admire in addition to their content.

    Subterrainian, Easton Press, The Folio Society and so on have been plugging away in this market for a while, though sometimes at silly prices (Susan Cooper’s Dark is Rising series was hopelessly overpriced for example)and with mixed quality (most are very unadventurous in regard to the binding illustration…! 😉 But a simple leather binding does not a desirable item make: better physical design is required.

    For pulp fiction: holiday thriller/romances/crime fiction; monthly comics and writing-by-numbers horror/scifi, the ebook fits well.

    But for books you want to read again, want to own, want to admire, I think there should be a bigger market than there currently is. The current paperback industry (particularly larger formats) is doomed in that regard I think.

    PS: Happy new year John!
    Rothgo

  1655. Un autre des plus d3 gold grands avantages que vous pouvez avoir dans le jeu est des quêtes. Juste pendant les secondes, vous recevrez non seulement EXP de tuer les foules dans la quête, mais gagnerez aussi EXP supplémentaire d’accomplir la quête avec quelques articles agréables et argent. Bien sûr, il y a des types de foules sont l’avantage pour vous, comme humanoid ont tendance à laisser tomber plus d’or et articles. Ainsi si vous êtes sortis en diablo 3 farm gold vous alignant loin, essayez de tuer autant de humanoids comme vous pouvez. Si vous voulez complètement apprécier le Monde de jeu Warcraft les choses les plus nécessaires dont vous devriez avoir besoin est d’or. Vous voulez savent comment faire hou la l’or plus vite ? Pour un nouveau joueur la voie la plus rapide de complètement apprécier le Monde de Wacraft recueille le Meilleur les Professions de réalisation Hou la d’or. Quelques minéraux sont très populaires d3 gold eu dans le jeu et sont hautement demandés.

  1661. Thank you, John.

    From someone who is not on LonsStarCon’s staff, but appreciates the sentiments.

    AnnR

  1662. Wow, thank you! That’s one of the best write ups I’ve read about this labor of love. It was lovely as always to see you this weekend. 🙂

    It’s very true that we always need people to volunteer, to share their ideas and to get involved. We have room in many different divisions for fans to help us pull this off and allow us to show everyone what an amazing place San Antonio is! We have so many interesting and exciting things for everyone – plus keep in mind, our membership cost covers everything we do and see at con (programming, events, exhibits, etc).
    So volunteer to help us! volunteers@lonestarcon3.org or simply be an ambassador and help us spread the word.

    Thank you John for sharing your experience with people. HUGS

    Elizabeth McCarty
    Promotions & Marketing
    LoneStarCon 3

  1663. John, you do work for the Worldcon, and it’s very important work that many of us our bad at: you are an ambassador.

    Welcome to the meritocracy.

  1665. Brilliantly said, John. Thank you for writing about what many of us who do the work believe and live in our hobby.

    One of the ways I’ve put it was that the Secret Masters of Fandom aren’t really Secret, but being a “master” in this community means sweeping up the floor a lot.

    Jack Vance’s novel Big Planet also had a Worldcon-like community: Kirstendale, where everyone lived like a king, except that for every hour spend lording it up, you had to spend five or six hours in a menial service job in order to keep the society running. Outsiders only saw the lording-it-up part, not the cleaning-out-the-blast-furnaces part.

  1666. Thanks, John.

    You will help Worldcon be a success. You do that by participating in the program and art show.

    We are happy to share the process with people like you who usually see conventions from a different angle. (I say “we” as the extended community, I’m not on this year’s Worldcon concom.)

    I may want to link to this blog post in some other places that have a less generous view of convention fandom. Which is why I say “thanks”.

  1668. Any fan convention is a labor of love, whether large or small. But the big ones take an extra measure of love, plus a whole crapton of labor. “Fans are we, what more can be said? We do it for Pride, and not for the bread.” Thanks, John, and hope to see you soon.

  1669. You’re a pretty cool guy, John. I’ve known that for a while. You’re smart, talented, and interesting.

    And now, you’re a hero to everyone who has ever sweated, worked their brains and heart out, to bring a Worldcon to fandom.

    You just get it. And we thank you for it.

  1670. Thanks, John!

    San Antonio is one of my favorite places to visit and I’m glad to be able to lend a hand or two to this year’s Worldcon. Besides, I LOVE to visit Mi Tierra and County Line while I’m in town.

    And, thank-you for being the artist and fan that you are. We appreciate your hard work.

  1673. Beautifully written, John; thanks for saying this. Worldcons are an amazing event and I am impressed by the many who do so much to make it happen.

    I’m hoping to be at Worldcon this year and maybe even volunteer to help that intricate machine run. If not; I’ll see you at CONtraflow where I can thank you in person.

  1674. Thank you John. A Bunch of my friends were there. I don’t have the money to go, but I got reports, and I’ll be volunteering during the con.
    See you at the con.

    Lisa Harrigan

  1679. Thanks for this write-up John. As one of the worker bees there at the meeting if any of us wrote something like this it would seem like self-promotion. Genuine comments coming from a relative outsider looking in helps to justify the effort. Drop in on us in the consuite sometime during LSC3 and let me hand you a cold beverage!

  1680. As someone who has worked on several Worldcons (although not this one), I thank you for posting this. As Deb said, you get this.

    It was so refreshing to run across this post after some of the harsh and unhelpful criticism we’ve been seeing too much of recently.

  1681. John, I want to thank you on a personal level for participating. Your participation, and the participation of all the volunteers means a lot to me.

    I agree with Eretria8, your support and ambassadorship for WorldCon is invaluable whether you know it or not.

    Thank you so much,

    Sara Cooper

  1683. John, you post reminds me of Walt Willis, who wrote oh, so long ago, “”Fandom is a very worthwhile hobby, and the most worthwhile thing in it is doing as well as you can something that interests you and gives other people pleasure, no matter how much trouble it is.” (I found it in Warhoon 28, Richard Bergeron’s collection of Walt’s fan writing.)

    One of the things I love about Worldcon is that there are places and ways to help for pretty much every sort of fannish interest. Some fans work for years to bring one together; other fans are happy to show up on site a day or two before the convention starts and pitch in helping unload trucks, toting supplies and equipment where it needs to be. Each is a valuable, much-needed contributor.

    Heck, I’ve even had a blast doing jobs large and small for Worldcons I knew I wasn’t going to be able to attend. And I’m far from the only person to do so.

    Thanks for your great post!

  1684. another excellent work, can’t wait to see the whole deck. Thanks for waiting to Kickstart the 2014 calendar til after WorldCon, that way I’ll be around and willing to be a supporter once again.

    see ya in San Antonio, hope we can share a meal and a few hours during the con.

  1685. Thanks, Parris! We’ll ALL need to recover after Worldcon. Absolutely. ‘Appreciate the kind words! I’ll check in with you soon and compare schedules. See you in a few weeks! 🙂

  1688. wow. I’ll have to see if the wall in the staircase has room…

    hey John, can anyone get in on the action? I’m pretty sure I’ve got a tasty object or two of (someone’s) desire stashed in the vault I could bring down to donate.

    let me know, OK?

  1690. Thanks, Laurie and Margaret. ‘Appreciated!

    Parris — I love the idea of bringing more things into the action for this worthy cause, but I suspect my Art Show display space will be pretty limited. As it is, I’m having to decide on certain things staying home because there won’t be enough display real estate. Beyond that, if I come up with any more brainstorms for how all of us can help at LSC3, I’ll holler for sure. Giant hug to you — and thank you! 🙂

  1691. I wish I could be there, John, what a fabulous poster, and such a great idea! But, budget constraints and paid gigs take priority. I hope this brings a good donation and is the first of many such. *hugs*

  1694. We have to wait till December for more details on Loteria?! Too late for Christmas then… but on the other hand, I do have a birthday in Jan: how handy to have something to say when my better half asks what I might be wanting!

  1696. Thank you for supporting this. I live in NJ and attending the Worldcon, I want to donate to the cause. Searching for the t-shirt Stand With Texas Women is how I came across this post. If not available for sale at the Worldcon, should I find the t-shirt at Planned Parenthood or the Democratic HQ or some place else in San Antonio?

  1703. Very well done (and deserved) John! There’s a bus-related saying on this side of the pond that would fit: but as nobody on your side would get it, best not to bring it up. Said he spending quite some time sort-of doing so, longer in fact than if I’d just gone for it in the first place!

  1719. This is great, John. I’m excited because this year will be my first in nominating and then voting for the Hugo Awards. Fun to see a couple of images I had not seen (the magazine image and the YA book cover). I of course wish you all the best this awards season.

  1722. John, You Are Awesome!!!!
    Since I am a second grade teacher, I am eligible for the Hugo Award’s “Best Fan Artist” category for my jewelry that I design (usually render on the computer), cast, and assemble. My work can be seen on my Facebook page. I am happy to say that one of the offerings eligible this year is the Chesley Award Winner Pin, which you have in your possession, and can be seen here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Springtime-Creations.
    Thank you for giving us Visually Inclined People some time on the internets!
    -Spring

  1723. Thanks!

    I have a fantasy image called “Imprisoned” that was published in 2013 in the interior of Infected By Art.

    http://www.artbylarocca.com/images/2D/Paintings/Imprisoned.jpg

    I also have two images that could be submitted to the Unpublished Monochrome category.

    “The Mighty Cthulhu”
    http://www.artbylarocca.com/images/2D/Traditional/Cthulhu_DLaRocca.jpg

    “Third Eye”
    http://www.artbylarocca.com/images/2D/Traditional/Third_Eye_DLaRocca.jpg

    Thanks so much!

    David LaRocca
    http://www.ArtByLaRocca.com

  1727. Arrived safe and sound in the UK today John – just in time for my birthday. Is it rude to give a gift to yourself? In this case, I’m not going to question too closely! It’s utterly lovely John, as indeed we all knew it would be. Hat’s off to you (once it gets a bit warmer anyway!)
    Cheers!
    Rothgo

  1732. While I’m quite removed from the sf/f community (were it not for friends within the community, I wouldn’t have known about what happened over the weekend), I’ve watched this with interest. Having seen people quick to anger and retaliation online and worse — refusing to accept apologies when they are called for and genuine — is sad no matter what subculture gets caught in the crossfire. The NYT article you link to is perfect. It’s strange how people can act in what they convince themselves they are sure of. I have a health issue and there have been times I’ve been laid off jobs and unable to get care. The angry people like Nicholas Kristof mentions in his op-ed have tried riling me up in those times, asking me if it infuriates me that I’ve gone without while “freeloaders” get care. It’s never that black and white, and in my specific case, the people are disappointed to hear that I believe in compassion for others, even if I’ve gone without care.

    I’d seen Ross, here and there, but after reading about this weekend’s debacle, I read more about him. I think it’s cool that he’s been married to the same woman since the late 80s and has a couple daughters and a son. Obviously, I don’t know everything he’s said or done, but he seems to care about the people in his life, and the majority of those closest to him are women. (That, and he’s close to Neil Gaiman, who has always been very kind and outspoken about those crossing lines and being cruel; I can’t see Neil being friends with a misogynist.)

    What I like most about your entry is the reminder of why I’m glad I know you. This is so perfectly stated, as well as kind to all involved. Not that it’s my reason that I moved on from independent comic books, but the short time doing that, I had someone on a comic books IRC channel threaten to kill me, just because…I live in Texas and don’t own a gun. It’s weird, the urge of some to become so angered over certain things, and now worse: when they wield some perceived power in their rage. I hope the Ross/Goldman family takes you up on your gracious offer and that cooler heads prevail.

  1733. This is a very thoughtful post, John, and I thank you for adding your voice. I was unaware of Mrs. Goldman’s message to Seanan, but in the interest of closing what appears to be an open issue, I wanted to include Seanan’s response (she had not seen Mrs. Goldman’s daughter’s messages and was not ignoring them, and Mrs. Goldman apologized for assuming rudeness):

    “I am very sorry to have upset you. My concerns came from what I know of his humor, and not what I know of him as a person. It can be very easy, with comedians, to forget that stage persona and reality are not the same. I can make excuses–it was early in the morning, I was startled, I spoke in haste–but truth is, I spoke. No rescinding that. I am genuinely sorry to have caused you pain. I will consider my platform for speaking better the next time I have concerns. I have been educated on your father’s place in fandom; I just think that didn’t spread as far as my dismay did.”

    It is important to consider both sides. Definitely something to think about.

  1736. Interesting to read your thoughts, John. I hadn’t been aware of what had happened until I saw you mention it on FB yesterday.

    It is sad how this all played out. Can’t say I disagree with people’s concerns as I’m not sure it is a wise idea to bring in someone to emcee who has been known to create controversy in the past, but attacking him directly or indirectly on social media is certainly not the adult way to voice concerns.

    Sadly it has become our default way of dealing with things. The SFF community is a hot mess, in my opinion, and has been for some time. I too often choose not to speak up about it because it makes me equally sad and angry and I find myself at a loss of how to express myself without adding to the problem. I try to be part of the solution by focusing on the positive things but that doesn’t seem to counteract all the negativity very effectively.

    Now that it is all said and done I think it would have been interesting to see if Ross could have been a fun, entertaining and respectful emcee, given his reported love of the genre and the respect I assume he has for his wife, who herself is a big part of the community. Due to the quick judge, jury and executioner system of social media we’ll never know.

  1737. John, well said. And I’m truly glad you said it.

    We actually had warm days over the weekend, and I jumped at the chance to get out and about with my husband, so I completely missed seeing any of this until well after the fact. I started seeing hints of something last night, but have only fully come to understand it this afternoon after a good bit of reading.

    I guess the thing that I would like the Ross family (and others in the world at large, whose introduction to SFdom is this situation, though I suppose with two SF/F authors in the family, the Rosses may already) to understand is simply this:

    The bombastic behavior exhibited this past weekend does not, nor should not, represent the SF/F professional community as a whole.

    Your comment, John, that we should not be ruled by fear resonates with me, as I have anxiety disorder. Fear and anxiety are, and have always been, a large facet of my life — but it has been my personal maxim to never let it rule me. So much so that I can, and have, deliberately done certain things in defiance of that fear that rises up within me. That said, it doesn’t mean I’m never afraid. I’m afraid a lot. When the disorder is flaring, I’m afraid probably most of the time.

    BUT I REFUSE TO LET FEAR RULE ME.

    I’m no hero. I’m nobody especially famous, even though I’m a writer. I’m just a cussedly, stubbornly determined, middle-aged woman. And I’m not going to let fear rule — and ruin — my life. Sure, I get scared. I blow up. I shoot off my mouth. And I go back and apologize. But I’m learning how to rein in that fear enough to THINK BEFORE I shoot off my mouth. So as time goes on, I am shooting it off (and myself in the foot) less and less.

    May this be true for us all.

    God bless.

  1738. John,

    This.

    As the tweets of SFF people I follow flooded my timeline decrying Mr. Ross’ choice as a presenter (in all caps and all certainty of the worst) I was reminded of the similarly genuine fear and horrified reaction to Latin@s purchasing homes in a section of Reading (PA) that had until then been all Anglo. In that case, as well, the perceived threat drove the existing homeowners to express themselves in public forums as if their prospective neighbors were dangerous, and that proximity to them would spell disaster.

    Fear makes people give vent to their worst impulses. It is certainly nothing to be encouraged in SFF nor everyday life.

  1740. I’ve always had enormous respect and affection for you, John. This post has only increased it.

  1741. Very kind of you, Ginjer. I didn’t know you were retiring until I returned home, after seeing you at Boskone. What an amazing legacy you created across your career. Huge ‘thank you’ for all you’ve done for the sf/f field. 🙂

  1746. I’ve loved the Loteria art! I can’t explain why I love El Pescado as much as I do, but every piece is amazing. What gets me most is looking at the traditional cards and thinking, “How does one even begin interpreting that?!” and then you reveal a new piece and amaze people.

    I’m happy for you getting another nomination for a great award, but I think I’m happiest that you’re having such a great time doing your own thing this past year!

  1747. I agree with Christopher – seeing you earn awards and nominations for your Loteria artwork is so wonderful… I can’t even think of the right adjective! The work thus far has been spellboundingly perfect – it is just great seeing your collection build upon itself, one beautiful illustration after another. I’ve loved each of them and anxiously look forward to the rest! Yay for you! mair

  1748. Christopher — Thanks so much, man. I appreciate you being here through it all. Long road ahead. It’s gonna be fun. 🙂

    Mair — And you’re gonna end up being a part of it. 😉 You’re the best! Thank you!

  1749. Nice! Congratulations John! You have any plans to expand your mantle? You have certainly been bringing home a lot of hardware as of late. 🙂

    -Steve

  1752. Well, my daughter and I have always loved you, so this should be no surprise. And prepare to own the future as well…

    Mikal Trimm

  1754. I’d like to ask for permission to use your artwork of the Others for a game modification I’m making for Civilization 5. Generally, crediting the artist is enough, but I’m making sure you’re okay with it.

  1755. I appreciate you taking the time to ask first. Unfortunately, I cannot give permission for this usage. While I do own the copyright to these artworks, I prefer that they remain associated with the works of George R. R. Martin, and not with other properties. It’s respect for GRRM, but also, he owns the characters depicted on these artworks. Were those characters to be used with properties other than his own, that would also become the legal domain of his lawyers as well. It’s probably best if we pass on this one. Thank you for your consideration.

  1762. I love the idea of a literary center with bookstores and other things (literacy programs, writing programs…cool stuff like that). It’s definitely a town where I can see that happening (826 Valencia took off and spread to other cities — why not something like a bigger literacy center with stores and programs?)

    It’s sad seeing any bookstore not able to stay in business. In some ways, it’s worse, to me, when it’s a store that specializes in something.

    A local bookstore where I live is closing right now, which is a bummer because it was a rare thing to have a bookstore in the town where I live. But the store tried to be everything to everyone, and when I tried striking up conversations, the people running the store didn’t talk because they were so shy. I believe they own the building, so they will at least make money renting out the building (it’s a great building). I sometimes wonder, had they specialized, if things would have worked out better for them. They couldn’t compete with Amazon or the multi-level Barnes and Noble one town over. But if they specialized in something and offered what no other place in the area offered, I wonder how things would have turned out.

    And that’s why it always seems to hurt a little bit more when a place specializing in something has to close the doors.

    I’ve never been to Borderlands, but it’s a store I know exists because it has a great reputation. I know they weathered a 100% increase in rent and so many other things and have kept going where others would have failed. Even as it looks like the end, still coming up with ideas like a literary center where a variety of specialized booksellers and other things to do with reading and writing shows great thought and love for what they do. I know their profit margin was not large, but I applaud their success in paying employees, bills, and themselves and still having a little bit left over. That’s success! I hope their drive and love for what they do results in the ability to keep going in some manner because it’s not just bookstores — any business that adapts and thinks that much is a boon for any neighborhood!

  1764. Great seeing you there! How many cons do you know serve PRIME RIB to pros and guests? Wish we had time to chat but we were both stupid busy. See you at Worldcon?

  1765. While those of us who weren’t GoH, Miscon is still magical. This was my first one also and I was use to much bigger cons (Animazement in Raleigh, NC). Thank you for taking your time and making the effort to be there for us. We appreciate it out in the audience.

  1766. So glad you had a good time, John, despite how much we missed you here in Kansas City. Great lineup there. Todd Lockwood is an artist whose work I would love to see in person. He’s got the stuff. I always stop and take notice when I see one of his book covers.

    So happy that they treated you well, because you are one of the good guys.

  1767. Just (finally) got around to starting this over the weekend. I noticed Lou had put a link up to signed copies of the book on ThinkGeek and so I ordered hardcovers for Jeff and I (it was his birthday this past Monday).

    Read about 70 pages last night and am loving it. Lou’s words and Justin Gerard’s illustrations make for a lovely pairing, and this book is exactly what I needed to be reading right now. It is hitting all the right buttons for me. I should be poised and ready to grab book two when it comes out here soon.

  1769. Great to hear. Sent this note to Lou and he appreciated it very much. Justin’s doing great work. Lou’s growing quite an audience army with these books. Sky’s the limit for Thrones & Bones!

  1770. Wow, that is some great company you are in. Congratulations on getting four nominations, that is awesome. I’m glad the four are not in competition with one another, as I would be hard pressed to choose out of the four. I think you stand a really good chance, and that is no slight to the other nominees. The short list in each category has me hopeful for the future of illustration.

  1771. Thanks, Carl! Very appreciated. Yeah, it’s great to see the excellence and the range of new and established talent in this year’s nominations. It’s a FORMIDABLE set of works across all of the categories. Wow.

  1772. Congrats (yet again) John!
    After having waiting for ages for any to turn up, there now seems no end to them.
    It seems the bus paradigm is being followed to the letter!

  1776. There is something missing here, John. I think the need is to examine the term ‘World Fantasy’, because Fantasy has come to mean something over time. Define Fantasy as exactly that, and we are in a world of goblins, etc. But World Fantasy has been more than that, and that is what needs to be explored.

    I see a globe, with a Gandalf-type figure and a shrouded figured.

    Personally, I would prefer no change at all, but there are my thoughts for what they’re worth.

  1777. Thanks, Chris. I think exploring the term “World Fantasy” in some sort of three-dimensional form is a noble path. Again, my point in posting this is to help steer the overall conversation toward finding the right person for the job rather than debating icons. We can do that all day, right? I think it’s much more productive to share a new world of three-dimensional talent and then hope that the board members select the right talent to do the job rather than us try to do that artist’s job in advance. I see too many people thinking that hiring an artist is about hiring a pair of hands to execute a prescription, and for many situations, that’s not a productive way of working with great talents (and certainly the best artists I know steer clear of those situations as best they can).

  1778. Hi John ,
    I like your suggested approach to producing a new design for the World Fantasy Award trophy. I wonder if it could be taken a bit further, borrowing from the approach used for the Hugo Award Base design, by having a new design each year? Each World Fantasy con committee would commission a new artist each year to do a design which has a new inspiration … Just like the works being honoured.

  1780. I agree wholeheartedly with the thought that the artist matters, but, as I mentioned a few other places that this was discussed, I think the two dovetail, that is, what should it be and who should do it. If a sculpter specializes in bronze full size statues, they may not be the best selection. My personal vote would be for Rebecca Rose. http://www.sculpturings.com/

    To me, the most common symbol in fantasy, one that cross cultural boundaries, is the ring. The magic ring, the kings signet ring. The wedding ring. The poison pill ring. The idea of circles and cycles and the looping nature of stories and time. Rebecca does artistic wearable ring sculptures designed to also be displayed. Imagine if the winners could actually WEAR their award if they see fit. In addition, if you look at her work, she specializes in packing as much symbolism into each piece as possible.

  1781. Alexander: If I were a decision-maker in this process, I would be suspicious and wary of any preordained idea or agenda that was being campaigned or championed at this time. A long time ago, when I was working as an intern architect, my boss at the time gave me one of the most valuable pieces of advice I’ve ever received. The firm specialized in high-end custom homes for a very wealthy clientele. My boss said, “Our clients will never be satisfied if we design the house they see in their dreams. What they want is for us to design the house that they could have never imagined.” That’s what the great artists do. They see things we haven’t yet imagined and they make them real. That’s what this award can be.

  1782. I forgot to say — thank you for suggesting the work of Rebecca Rose! Terrific stuff, and I hope others take note of her work as well. That was a name I did not know previously. Appreciated. 🙂

  1783. I see your point, and your boss’ statement is, well, boss, for any kind of artist, writers included. That said, by the nature of the beast, and award, we’re already limiting the scope a bit, right?

    And my pleasure. I love turning people on to different artists!

  1784. John, thank you for this post. It’s sensible, pragmatic, and with a view to the artistic issues that matter most.

  1786. Hey John – Interesting post. I disagree, but only very slightly. I don’t think the first question should be who should create this sculpture? There’s an assumption that a sculpture is even the desired outcome, something I don’t believe is a given.

    I think the first questions should be along the lines of what is the purpose of the World Fantasy Award, who and what is it intended for, what is the community it speaks to etc. While this may seem obvious, I don’t think it is. Once an answer has been to that has been decided, then the question would be how should we recognise this achievement? What general form should the award take? At this point I’m not talking elf vs talking head, but rather should it be a certificate, a sculpture or whatever. I believe at one point in the early days a certificate was strongly suggested.

    Once you’ve decided on what the community of the award is, what it is intended to recognise, and what sort of general media you’re looking at, you could then proceed towards the solution. I do strongly agree with an approach that would see a general brief developed and given to an artist who would be given considerable scope to suggest and develop solutions before moving on the final award. I also don’t think this process should be particularly public. It is my experience that design by committee – no matter the committee or the good intentions – ever works well.

    And yes: I’m quite delighted that I’m not involved with the decision making process too 🙂

    Best
    Jonathan

  1788. It’s a fair argument, but like others I am not sure it’s the whole picture. “Who is the best sculptor?” as a simple question might get very different answers if the proposal is for a figure or head to if some mythical creature/fantasy icon is proposed, or again if the idea is for an abstract piece. Do we want Rodin or Hepworth?
    Whilst accepting we shouldn’t predetermine the design before finding the artist, I think it is relevant to consider the type of design alongside finding artist(s).

  1789. Kev: That’s why it’s vital that people on this committee know what they’re talking about when it comes to sculpture and art. If they want to be making this decision, then they should be poring over bodies of work from experienced craftspeople and doing due diligence. Asking questions. Contacting artists. Doing their homework. Otherwise, why be on the committee, right? You judge an artist’s work based on their existing body of work. It’s that simple. They should hand-select an artist or artists to provide them with sketches. Pay those artists for those sketches. Decide which direction they want to pursue. Hire the chosen artist and pay that artist for their time, their work, and the rights to the work. It’s not acceptable to expect artists to do speculative work for free for this job, under any circumstance. Expecting artists to do free work, masquerading as some sort of “open call” is shoddy, disreputable business practice, and if that’s what WFC wants, then I would encourage all professional artists to avoid this process, at all costs.

  1790. Jonathan: If the award wants to devolve into a certificate, I think that would be a major missed opportunity. If the awards administrators don’t respect the object and the job, investing it with value, substance and consideration, then why should anyone else value it? They have an opportunity in front of them — a PR opportunity, a design opportunity, a branding opportunity, and more. These chances don’t come around very often. That said, if they want to turn the award into something that can get stashed into a file cabinet, then I guess that’s their prerogative. If I were in their shoes, that wouldn’t be my preference though.

  1792. McQuarrie’s art for SW is so amazing. I’m very jealous of your stash! 🙂

    My brother-in-law snagged tickets for all of us for a showing tonight back when they first went on sale. I’m thrilled not only to see the movie, but thrilled that we have reserved seats so that we don’t have to go stand in line for hours to get good seats. We already have primo seats lined up.

    Can’t wait.

  1794. Bob Eggleton’s specific comment on winning a Hugo was “Cool!”

    I admit that I often don’t vote in the artist categories because I’m not familiar enough with the work. (The advent of the Hugo packet makes this quite a bit easier, of course, but art is at its best when you can see it up close and personal. That’s why my friends so often have to pry me out of museums!)

  1795. John
    I enjoyed your take on the subject. I persoanlly feel more comfortable talking about writers, so getting the artist perspective is beneficial. Not that I have a vote, but perhaps someday I will.

  1796. The Hugo administrators are supposed to check eligibility, and I have seen things listed on the long list being crossed off with a note on why it wasn’t eligible.

  1797. Last year, there was a nominee in the category who was ineligible. He was only removed and replaced AFTER voter questions were raised, post-announcement. The Hugo admins are presumably juggling a ton of information and things slip past. Last year is just one example that mistakes are possible. Don’t assume. Check eligibility.

  1798. Let me preface this by saying I am not disagreeing with anything written above, but on the eligibility question, I went digging while I’m trying to figure out my 2-6, and only recognized Elmore and Karcz’s names, and figured I would share my work.

    (TLDR — I am 95% sure they are all eligible this year, and I was one of the people who pointed out the error last year.)

    Larry Rostant has done a large number of genre book covers, in the UK more often than the US, including a Game of Thrones set, one of Guy Gavriel Kay’s series, and Kate Elliott’s Spiritwalker series. Specific 2015 works include Peter Brett’s “Skull Throne” from Del Rey and Mary Robinette Kowal’s “Valour and Vanity” from Tor.

    Michal Karcz is known best for his art prints, and does more album covers than book covers, but he has done SFF covers, including Kim Stanley Robinson’s Shaman for Orbit UK in 2014 and Polish editions of classics by Arthur C. Clarke for Wydawnictwo Literackie. I *think* the Clarke books were 2015, but couldn’t make absolutely sure. Since his online portfolio doesn’t show all his commissioned work and doesn’t indicate publication year (and I don’t speak Polish.) I could not absolutely confirm a 2015 book cover. I can’t tell if an album cover for a major label (i.e. Conjure One’s Holoscenic among others) counts as “professional publication” or not. So, *probably* eligible but may need to be absolutely confirmed. (I might be going easy, as he has been a favorite of mine for years, though I didn’t nominate him.)

    Abigail Larson seems to be more focused on her own art books but she does also do illustration for others, and will be in the next Spectrum. She did covers for Turkish editions of Tamora Pierce’s Protector of the Small and an alternate cover for an issue of IDW’s Edward Scissorhands in 2015, which make her eligible.

    Lars Braad Andersen does the covers for Castalia House’s “There will be war” series, several of which were published in 2015.

  1799. I agree with Bob Eggleton that Elmore’s name was the only one I recognized. In this modern age, virtually every artist is online, and a quick Google search of [name]+art can quickly reveal the artist’s work. It’s harder, though, to see what work was done when. Even on the convention circuit, artists are known to trot out an old piece (I sold an older work myself at Albacon). So often people vote on the body of work.

    While I agree Elmore is a good artist, I don’t think he’s as good as many others I regularly see. One other finalist was decent, and the rest were ho-hum. Artists need to be more proactive about nominating; the Hugos get a lot more notice than the Chesleys.

  1800. thank you for all your nice words, I am honored to be nominated. I never, in my wildest dreams, ever thought of being nominated. I came from the gaming industry (my first big breaks) and it seems like that type of art has been ignored for many years, but I agree that game art has had a large influence on a couple of generations…and still does. Because I take the award seriously, I feel more than honored to be nominated. I have had a career that has spanned over 40 years, I have loved it. I am 67 and I paint or draw every day…I am obsessed I guess…..but I love it, I keep trying to get one good painting!!!!

  1802. Great post and points.

    As a reader and nominator I’d love to have artist participate more in conversations, list what they have eligible just like many authors do, and add each other to a number of the resources popping up to help nominators find out what/whose eligible and good and where to find work/examples. Pro and Fan artists came up in discussions a number of times before and during nominating season on File 770 – how to find artist & figure out eligibility. It’s definitely something a number of us want to get better at. I think we’d welcome your participation as nominators.

  1803. I bought one of these prints at Balticon50 when John was one of the guests of honor. It was a tough choice considering all of his ASOIAF works are so incredible. My decision was not based off of character choice (although of course all Stark characters rock!) but rather the artist’s ability to convey movement in the print. When you look at this gorgeous piece, it is as if Robb is riding in the midst of a great battle (I like to think it’s the Whispering Wood just before Jaime is captured) and Grey Wind is about to leap into the frame any minute, you can feel and sense the fluidity of the battle. It’s stunning! All of John’s work harness his eye for color as well. This print is no exception; the grays and blacks and browns that cover the print only enhance John’s subtle use of color where it is necessary. I’m so proud to have this work of art. What is more, it is the envy of all my friends. The details are flawless and I love John’s take on the subject. It’s perfect.

  1804. Meg! I just now saw this comment. It had been waiting for approval for days and I hadn’t seen it because I’ve been working on new stuff here. So sorry. Thanks so much for the very kind words!! Was a pleasure meeting you, Rheal, and Autumn. CONGRATS on your cosplay award at Balticon! Well earned! 🙂 (And yeah, we’re both not giving up on the Starks yet.)

  1805. Ok, done and done. Loaded onto my Kindle app.

    You definitely did a fantastic job achieving a universality for that character. Not to peek too much behind the curtain, but how much did you work from a model? She looks 100% like a real person.

  1807. Wow! Beautiful work. I thought the drawing was a photograph. And I have to say my first thought was not, that she’s some combination of ethnicities. I just thought she was a beautiful woman, and that this was a great cover. I don’t see why this is an issue in the publishing world. Great work on this. Stick to your guns and hold to what is beautiful.

  1809. Thanks for your work as a juror! Regarding image sizes and quality, after following the published submission guidelines I felt that the images were crunched down to a rather low degree for a jury submission. I can only imagine how poorly some of the images looked after being scaled to meet them.

  1810. Hi, Chris: About 95% of the images were A-OK as far as size and clarity. They had great color and resolution, and it was a breeze to see them. So the rules have it right as far as effectively presenting images on monitor for jurors. I think the 5% or so that were too small or pixellized just didn’t follow through on the instructions.

  1813. Glad you had a great time John. I keep telling people it was one of the greatest weekends of my life when I did it. Friends I still have to this day including John Fleskes.

  1815. I can appreciate this list. Lots of quality there. One artist I never see getting any recognition is Jon Foster. It is baffling to me as I think he is incredible. Thanks for the suggestions Jon. Be well.

  1816. It was great to see you John. Spot on with your comments above. Pretty amazing group behind the scenes and an open giving group of artists and art directors. See you next year.

  1818. I’m a first gen Mexican/Puerto Rican American woman from the borderlands of Southern California. I’ve been writing my entire life and publishing since 2005. I consider my work mythic fiction, informed by the wonderful wild familia and our bruja lineage. Some people call it magical realism, I call it life. I’ve published in various literary journals, anthologies and newspapers. I work construction to pay the bills. I have a fantasy trilogy based on pre-contact mesoamerican mythology that will go on sub soon; pyramids and jaguars instead of castles and dragons, with brown skinned warrior women. I’ve written these books for the nerdtastic brown girls who want to see themselves in high fantasy and have never had the chance. I would LOVE to attend WorldCon. Please consider me, thank you!

  1820. I’m Monica Robles Corzo AKA Monarobot, I’m a full time Mexicana indie artist from Chiapas, I make monsters inspired in Maya culture, aesthetic and mythology, I’d like to attend this con because I’m a science fiction fan and I’ve been developing Maya inspired sci-fi works myself!

  1822. My name is Bibiana Camacho. I’m from Mexico City. I’d like to attend this Worldcon because my literature (I’ve published four books, two novels and two tale collections) mix science fiction, with contemporary horrors, insanity, solitude and mystery. And I’d love to meet other authors, discover other worlds and stories.

  1824. Hi, my name si Gabriela Frias Villegas. I am a Science Communicator who studied literature and mathematics. I am the curator of Science Fiction Science (Ciencia Ficción Ciencia) a festival in which writers, scientists and artists discuss science fiction subjects from their perspectives. I would love to go to Worldcon because I want to meet authors and other creators who have new and exciting ideas. Currently I am
    working in a book about how science and science fiction ingfluence and interact with each other, and it would be great to discuss the subject with other people interested on it.

  1825. I couldn’t answer sooner than today because i was in the California desert conducting readings at anonymous’ immigrant cemeteries, scouting the water canals and holding cross-border “Tierra y Libertad” flag-making parties at Mexicali, and I’m really glad there’s an extension to the deadline! Why would I love to be in WonderCon? Well, I love cons, and I love speculative fiction and have written and published stories in both English and Spanish, and I’ve even conducted a crazy two-month extravaganza of science fiction interventions right on the San Ysidro border crossing, so I really appreciate to talk and exchange ideas with people who are as involved in the subject as me. Why speculative genres? Because they provide the most amazing toolkit with which to analyze, understand and change our contemporary, globalized, and highly-unequal world.

  1826. Hello and thank you for your actions, John.

    A friend of mine contacted me yesterday and told me about this, and after careful consideration, I decided to not follow on his proposal for me to take a shot at a sponsorship, but I will sure let my fellow Mexican creators know about this opportunity over my social networks and personal contacts.

    Once more, thank you for your efforts in making our community more visible to the larger worldwide audience.

    All best to you and your loved ones, and I sincerely hope to meet you sometime in the near future.

    Love,
    Txabier.

  1827. Hi, my name is Adam Gallardo. Why do I want to attend World Con? To connect with a larger community that, in broad strokes, operates in the same world I do. As a second-generation Mexican-American who grew up in an almost all-white city, I felt more than a little isolated. Then I decided to pursue life as a writer, and that was even further isolating. I just want the chance to mix with people who will understand at least one of the worlds I occupy. And, thanks to this initiative, it sounds like there might also be a larger Latinx presence at the con as well, which would just be icing on the cake.

    I’ll be honest, I have struggled with my cultural identity my whole life – hell, I white-washed my own first novel – and now I want to strive to make my personal identity more a part of everything I write.It would certainly be nice to connect with other Latinx creators and fans.

    I can give you a link to my Amazon Author page if you’d like, or my CV is on my blog.

    Thanks for this opportunity.

  1828. Hi! My name is Iliana Vargas. I was born in Mexico City, in 1978. Since my childhood I’ve seen an alien at the mirror, and that image has guide me to the literature and other creative expressions about science fiction and all the ways of fantastic imagination. I have published 3 tale books in which you can find hybrid beings and monsters; bizarre places, languages and atmospheres; entities from other dimensions and personages who are lost between the dream-world and the wakefulness.

  1829. And I would love to go to WorldCon because I want to share the things that I like to imagine and to write, and to know the creations, dreams and nightmares of the people who also loves the several worlds of science fiction and the power of the imagination.

  1830. Hi. My Name is Edgardo E. Pérez , I’m from Hidalgo, Mexico. I spend my life study Physics. I love Science and I love the Science Fiction. Some cientifics have a bad idea abut that fantastic world of fiction. They say, the cience get stoped and hinder by the brains fulled of fantasies. I think it is in other way. I study Physics, i mean, I study the real wolrd but I read science fiction to expand my mind because I remember that words from la Barca: “the reality before to be reallity, was a dream”

  1831. Angela Lujan

    At my first Worldcon, Renovation, I saw panels with professional writers, I saw the Hugos and writers gaining recognition for their work. I realized for the first time that professional writer was not just fantasy. This was something I could actually become.
    I’m now at the University of Nevada, Reno, where I am majoring in English Writing. I’ve published works in the school’s literary magazine, Brushfire and I’m currently the staff writer for the school magazine, Insight. While attending UNR, I’ve taken courses that have helped me to understand my intersecting identities as a woman who is Mexican and queer. I’ve made it my goal as staff writer for the magazine to use my platform to bring some awareness of diversity issues to campus. This means I’ve written about gender nonconforming faculty, and lectures addressing issues of race and gender. I’ve written about local nonprofits and how they help marginalized groups. I try to write about people who help people. People who are trying to bring their dreams into reality.
    When I first picked up a science fiction book, Have Spacesuit-Will Travel, I thought that science fiction was about dreaming of distant galaxies, adventures that inevitably involved lasers, and alien creatures. As I navigate my life, and my town, and meet people who try to create a better future, I’ve come to think of science fiction as the dreams these people have; dreams of helping people, dreams of more inclusive communities, dreams that will someday come true.

  1832. Hi, all — I wanted to stop by here and say that I see ALL of you above and I’ll be following up with each of you, as I continue making decisions in the days ahead. I’m receiving a tsunami of submissions via my email too, and I’m carefully reviewing every submission, including yours. Thank you for your patience and I hope to check in with each of you soon. 🙂

  1833. Hello John. Extraordinary endeavor. Thank you very much for the initiative.

    My name is Medardo Landon Maza Dueñas from Texcoco (very near Mexico City). I am a writter of epic fantasy. I have a degree on Creative Writting from the Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de México (UACM).

    ACHIVEMENTS:
    -First honorable mention for the novel “Hadas en Chapultepec” in the 12 Premio Internacional de Narrativa Ignacio Manuel Altamirano (2015)
    -Wiinner, with the essay “El Quijote y Sancho & Frodo y Sam” of the X Premio Aelfwine of the Sociedad Tolkien Española (2014)
    -Accesit award for the fan-fiction novel “La Partida de Celeborn” of the Premio Gandalf 2011 of the Sociedad Tolkien Española

    BOOKS:
    1. “Hadas en Chapultepec” (2015) Fantasy novel
    2. “Póquer de Cuatrillizos” (2014) Fantasy novel
    3. “Castillo Hueco” (2013) Short novel, fantasy
    4. “Bosque adentro” (2013) Fantasy Children´s Book
    5. “Bajo la colina” (2013) Fantasy Children´s Book
    6. “La diminuta mariposa morada” (2012) Short novel, fantasy
    7. “Vampiros, licántropos y otras infamias” (2012) Fantasy Bestiary
    8. “Unicornios, dragones y otros portentos” (2008) Fantasy Bestiary
    9. “Elfos, trasgos, gnomos, trolls y otras criaturas del rincón” (2017) Fantasy Bestiary
    10. “Hadas: Damas de Poder” (2007) Fantasy Bestiary.

  1834. Hi, John!
    My name is Libia Brenda. I have been a sci-fi reader since I was a girl. I started to write in my teenage years and I belive that one of the subjects that most puzzled me was to discover (in my 20´s) that science fiction was considered as something not-too-serious. What on Earth can be more serious than the especulation, the vision of the effects of our actions in the Universe, the extrapolation of what humanity can do? Of course I didn’t belive then, and less then ever, now.
    I now belive that us, writers of “a larger reality” (Ursula K. Le Guin´s words), are a great bunch of people in which company one can have the best time. I´m also convinced that to meet all kinds of writers and imaginators it’s one of the best ways to establish a real dialogue, and the best way to have access to others visions and ideas. That is one of the reasons because I want to attend the Worldcon 76, the other main reason, appart from the fact that sometimes for people in Latin america is not so easy to attend such beautiful events, is that we need to encourage the presence of female authors, woman who create, who do wonderful stuff and sometimes don’t feel supersure that the world is going to embrace them (it’s a bit my own case). So that: mostly, I want to know other women in Science Fiction, I know that there are going to be a lot of guys, as always 😛
    I have some short stories publish in anthologies from Mexico and Spain, some translated to the Italian, in a couple of books; some other short stories (and articles) in the web. And I am a memeber of a nerdy collective call “Cúmulo de Tesla” (Tesla’s Cluster?), conformed by artists and scientists dedicated to talk, write, study and enjoy the dialogue between science and art. THank you for open the door to us! Cheers 🙂

  1836. I realize I might be late for this but in case there’s still time… I’m a filmmaker and VR/AR content creator, born and raised in Mexico City and have been living in Los Angeles CA for the past 10 years. I am also a puppeteer and learned about this opportunity through my friend Mary Robinette Kowal. I would love to attend Worldcon because I feel it would be a great opportunity for me to meet other science fictions creators and talk about where are our fictional worlds taking us. We are responsible for the worlds we are putting out there and the futures we are imagining and placing on people’s minds. We have to make sure that those futures are full of hope and innovative ideas that can help others imagine a better world.
    Thanks! Tanya Leal Soto http://www.tanyalealsoto.com

  1839. Hello, my name is Enue Reynaldo, I’m from Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico. I am a geneticist and molecular biologist. In addition, I have written science fiction stories like “The Last Project” included in the anthology “The Prometheus Mirror”. I would like to attend this Worldcon, because I want to meet people who have dedicated themselves to the development of science fiction and share with them my experience as a scientist who has written science fiction. Since I was a child, science fiction inspired me to become a scientist. I think every child who wants to be a scientist is because he or she has interacted in some way with the world of science fiction and was fascinated by it. Also, I think Mexican children could be more and better scientists if we write more hard science fiction in Mexico. Thanks for your attention.

  1840. Hi, my name is Francisco Javier Gonzalez, I am a science fiction writer from Tijuana. My last novel is set in a futuristic city where two drug cartels are fighting each other, one side configured by politicians, soldiers and drug dealers; the other one by a group of narco-zombies. It is a tale that does not defend the narco-culture that surrounds it, but instead, makes a statement against drug wars and necropolitics, altogether. A very relevant topic to the city I grew up in. You can take a peek at it right here: https://www.amazon.com/Muerto-despu%C3%A9s-Spanish-Gonz%C3%A1lez-C%C3%A1rdenas/dp/1492290734 I have written several other science fiction stories, as well, centered around an array of different futuristic topics. I am right now working on a series of Sci-Fi short stories centered on man and machine hybridizations and how this reflects human kind’s relationship with machines and technological mechanisms. I just found out about your membership sponsors. I am very interested in meeting other science fiction writers and exploring new Sci-Fi perspectives. I know I’m a bit late, but if so happens that a spot would open I hope you can consider me as a 76th Worldcon attendee.

    Sincerely, Javier

  1841. Heard such great things about your visit. I’m sorry we had a conflicting event and I missed your main talk, but we’re all really grateful for what you offered our community. Keep up the great work!!!

  1844. John, the students are still thrilled to have met you. You inspired them. They all want your Loteria! See you in August and maybe your art at NACCS in MN.

  1849. Thank YOU for being an awesome guest. Everyone I spoke with said you were very friendly and engaging, had a lot of fun either at your panels or just hanging out in the Dealer’s Room. I know I myself had a blast spending time with you. Best wishes on your Loteria project, I look forward to seeing whatever comes next with that, and of course all the best wishes for The Mexicanx Initiative’s Assistance Fund.

  1852. I’m just a fat old lady who really doesn’t understand most modern sf/f and wasn’t even at CONstellation, but your post and what I have heard about you has definitely made me a John Picacio fan.
    (I am Raymond’s mama, and even though I never get to see Tricia anymore I love her heart and soul!)

  1853. You and Ray are the greatest, Tricia. Thank you for everything you both did for me. I was sorry to have to leave so early on Sunday. Glad I was able to be there for my daughter today, but sorry I wasn’t able to get more hours with you all yesterday. Epic weekend!

  1854. You raised a great son, ma’am. Ray was rock-solid all weekend, and I would not have done as well without him. My thanks to him and Tricia for everything they did for me and the con. Appreciated! 🙂

  1855. John you were a great AGOH. It was great talking to you at our room party Friday night. Congratulations on reaching your goal. Enjoy WorldCON.

  1857. I have written and published a book of science fiction in 2010 with the title “Último Edén” and it was hard to sell in Mexico, place where I live, but I think it is worth the while to be published in the USA. I live in Mexico City. Right now, it’s in the slush pile of two publishing houses, but because of my limited English language skills, it has been hard for me to find a publisher or someone who can believe in me. You can check a review and an interview of my book published in La Jornada in 2010. http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2011/01/09/cultura/a04n2cul
    “Último Edén” (Last Eden) is a science fiction novel and a caustic satire, a dystopia situated in the Third World in which our present civilization of Internet trends and culture, gadgets technology craze, and capitalist greed is distorted and taken to extreme levels. It’s a bizarre mix between Sartre’s “La Nauseé” and Easton Elis’ “American Psycho”, but also mixed with teaspoonfuls of a la Burroughs’ derision and scorn, but with a plot.
    The @taraxy is the employee of the future. They have a PC integrated into their brain to be more intelligent and productive, eliminating interfaces as they remove healthy eyes and ears just to be updated with the novelest and state-of-the-art technological advances. But they have been immunized against their fellowmen pain and suffering, with the result the world could be going straight to hell and they go on with their lives happy-go-lucky, care freely and nonchalantly.
    Genocide of unemployed masses, or lumpens, has been legalized to eliminate overpopulation and social unrest. Fascist ©orporations have overthrown the national States and immortality is available downloading minds into genetically enhanced bodies that can live four hundred years. But for that to happen one has to have lots of money.
    That is why SAX wants to be one of the @taraxy, one of the winners, because this is the only way he could have something like a future. Unfortunately, he can’t afford the OS @taraxy that allows all of this to happen. So then, he gets it illegally from the dark internet, since Companies prefer the @taraxy when they choose the employees that will be hired and who will not, leaving the rest of humanity doomed to unemployment and death.
    That is just the beginning of his ordeal, because, when he tries to get a better job, the hirers discover his ploy and denounce him to the Neuronal Police. Now, sax must figure out how to save his hide. Sax is involved in a spy ring and high politics where he must make use of all his cleverness and wit to escape from the fate of the lumpen, the lowest of the low, which is death and extermination.
    I have a bachelor degree in Journalism and Collective Communication from National Autonomous University of Mexico, as well as a diploma in Creative Writing in the SOGEM School of Writers (the General Society of Writers of México). I am member of a narrative workshop directed by the writer Mario Gonzalez Suarez. Ediciones B México published my first book, Last Eden, (Último Edén) which is a science fiction novel, in 2010.

  1858. Desde el jueves pasado he pensado de que servira la fantasia y la ciencia ficcion en nuestras vidas, no porque no lo fuera para mi y sin embargo hoy despierto como si viera por vez primera sus posibilidades. Todo eso apartir de la llamada de un amigo diciendo que viera esta nota http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/2018/05/30/cincuenta-mexicanos-protagonizaran-la-convencion-mundial-de-ciencia-ficcion-1589.html
    Y que deberia escribirte porque piensa que tengo posibilidades (dije que lo haria sin tomarlo muy enserio).
    Comenze a ver tu trabajo y paso por la cabeza esa emocion que me produce leer ciencia ficción …en estos ultimos años con poco animo, talvéz porque las historias distopicas que inventaba en la imaginación son ahora palpables… pero a la véz, al ver tu obra recorde mucho la “pintura fantastica”: Boris Vallejo, Rowena Morril, Larry Elmore, Frank Frazzeta, Jeff Esley, Kent Kelly y más. Crecí viendo su trabajo ilustrando libros, cartas, juegos de RPG, discos y videojuegos que obtenía solo por eso. Si, la fantasia y la ciencia ficción nos dan posibilidades -no solo como un producto consumible- en la “realidad”. Me explicare: imaginar para conocer lo que no existe -concebir más allá de nuestras posibilidades-, tener un espacio interior propio en que esas posibilidades nos enfrenten y podamos responder ante ellas; la posibilidad de que algo de ello produsca un cambio de conciencia de nosotros e inclusive esto lleve a un efecto en nuestra realidad (fisica).
    Dibujar cambio mi vida y se hizo natural para poder contar las cosas que imaginaba / soñaba e ineherente al estar en espacios estrictos y cerrados.
    Hoy tengo presente eso y, dedicado a la educacion, entre otras cosas a la enseñanza por medio de las artes es lo primero que inconcientemente enseño. Seguramente reflejando esa emoción de descubrir creando que tuve (y que a esta edad es diferente pero no menor) y muy importante repetirlo: para que ellos se hagan conscientes de si mismos.

  1859. So proud of you John! Think of you every Thursday afternoon when I play lotteriia with my senior friends at Northeast Senior Center. I have bragged about you and shown them some pics! Continue the great work! Love you. Aunt Sandy

  1861. John, you are Life, Love, Creativity, Light, Empowerment Incarnate. Thank you thank you mil gracias thank you. It is, was, an honor and pleasure being part of your journey as you make history, and make a difference.

  1863. You’re the best in the business John. As always it was great to see you. Congrats on the Alfie, well deserved.

  1865. Thank you for the amazing gift of sharing your WorldCon w us. Our s wasn’t as hectic but it truly was a lovely time!

  1866. John, you were epic in everything you did at Worldcon. Thanks especially for your gracious and valuable donation to the charity auction. Yes, we missed out having that drink, you’ll just have to let me know next time you’re in town! Thanks for making Worldcon 76 memorable!

  1868. John, it was a pleasure and privilege being backstage right with you and handing you water bottles! (And checking in to make sure I was good while having only 30 seconds backstage before returning onstage will stay with me a long time.) Watching from backstage, you were the consummate host, and I don’t think anyone would’ve known you hadn’t rehearsed if you hadn’t told us on this blog. Congrats on both the Alfie and on everything you and the Mexicanx Initiative accomplished. See you at a future Worldcon.

  1870. This was an amazing Worldcon, and I once again thank you for everything you put into making it one. From opening things standing with the MI to the Hugo Ceremony freight train, whether I saw you from the back of a packed room or from a few feet away as we shared an elevator, you were a shining thread of what Worldcon is to me.

    Because the thing that makes a Worldcon great, in my mind, is that it’s full of great people. You brought people, you spoke to people, you inspired people, you made us all better than we’d been coming in and then you took that energy and used it to power up for the Hugos. Seeing you accepting the Alfie later that night was a perfect moment that encapsulated it all.

    Congratulations and thanks.

  1871. John,

    Congratulations, you did a wonderful job! Juli and I enjoyed your company and your support. Also, I am VERY envious of that Alfie Award…😎

    Best Wishes,
    Chris B.

  1874. Great to meet you and chat just a bit. Hell, it was great to meet with all the Mexicanx folks you brought in as well. I’ll attempt to contact you soon on social media about some information I’d promised–I knew you were busy as hell, and I was as well. So a little later will probably work best for both of us, eh?

  1876. I’m not sure where else to rate this with stars, so I’m just going to put this here.
    It’s definitely a 5, because this is gorgeous.
    I purchased this in 2016 from Mr. Picacio when my family and I went to our first Fan Days in Dallas. I was happy to meet him and purchase a couple of pieces. The other I bought was a smaller print of Dany. The colors, details, and depth are amazing. You see the art and it’s beautiful, then as you look closer you catch all of these details, from the crane atop the Wall, to the fine hairs of the fur trimmed cloak, the rings of chain mail, and especially the eyes of all three. They really seem to have expression to them. I’m no artist myself, but I would guess that eyes and emotions are hard to get across in two dimension. These are my absolute favorites from pieces I’ve purchased at a few different conventions.

  1879. Had a great time. I drove all the way from Louisiana for this event after hearing about it on John Picacio’s Facebook post. It was well worth the drive. Job well done by everyone involved in putting on this years Pop Con.

  1881. This was a great event and we were glad to have the oppurtunity to participate. Grace was able to raise awareness and we both were able to engage with the artists, the authors and the organizations. Well done!

  1882. What you are doing is AMAZING!! Its an unexplored avenue to changing the status quo and perception of Mexicans in this country … and the globally. We need our own Mexican superhero. What the Black Panther is to African Americans! Will do my best to follow you and support these efforts!

  1884. In addition to the two works you mentioned above, I’d recommend the following as suitable for a Graphic Story nomination:

    Unstoppable Wasp 2: Agents of G.I.R.L., Jerome Whitley, Elsa Charretier, Megan Wilson (Marvel)
    The Hidden Witch, Molly Ostertag
    The Nameless City: The Divided Earth, Faith Erin Hicks, Jordie Bellaire (First Second)
    Spill Zone: The Broken Vow, Scott Westerfeld and Alex Puvilland
    The Prince and the Dressmaker, Jen Wang
    Abbott, by Saladin Ahmed, Sami Kivela, Jason Wordie

  1886. Thanks for the Related Work recommendation, finally filled up my ballot.

    I’d also offer these for consideration re: Best Graphic Story:

    The Electric State, Simon Stålenhag
    Kill Six Billion Demons, Book 3: Seeker of Thrones (https://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/seeker-of-thrones/), Tom Parkinson-Morgan
    Mister Miracle, Tom King and Mitch Gerads
    The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins, by Clint McElroy, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy, and Carey Pietsch

    For best Art Book my top picks are Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Imaginarium by Paul Kidby and Marvelocity: The Marvel Comics Art of Alex Ross by Alex Ross, Chip Kidd, and Geoff Spear.

  1887. I gotta agree with you on Marvelocity. It’s going on my ballot too for Best Art Book. And thanks for making me look deeper at the Stålenhag. The copyright page says 2017 so it would be ineligible, but Amazon shows the official release to be this last September. So based on the actual release date, it’s going on my ballot too for Best Graphic Story.

  1888. I just discovered you on Twitter. This is a lovely post and I look forward to getting to know your art.

  1890. ¡¡!! Thank you for your kind words, dear John! <3
    I love that you had a great time in Dublin (I had it too) and I'm really looking forward for most World Con meetings, more Mexicanx presence and (well, yeah) more nominations AND WINS for all of us. I would never stop saying that, if not for you, and all the support from Julia and different members of the Family, this would don't have been possible. So, thank you again, and a thousand times. 🙂
    PS: The foto of me walking near GRRM is awesome! I think I was so aware of his presence, that I didn't want it to be the classic "please pay me attention", because he most be tired of it. But it was supercool to be near HIS coolnes. 😀
    ALl teh love to you. And see you soon.

  1892. This is really fantastic, John, and the timing of its completion/release/reveal is perfect as we continue through a Spring where the temptation is to focus solely on all the chaos around us and miss out on the simple once-a-year beauty of the world coming back to life after its long winter rest.

  1893. Hi John
    I have the first series of your Loteria cards. I am interested in getting more. The ones I have are 4″ x 7″. I have the fish, the harp, the moon, the rose, the mermaid, the deer, the stairs, the umbrella, the heart, the world, and the skull. You are such a talented artist, and I hope that you can help. Are you still making these?
    Thanks,
    Nancy

  1894. Appreciate you so much, man. Thank you. Gonna email you in a minute here because it took me so long to reply to this comment. Been hustling hard. 🙂