{"id":1922,"date":"2015-12-16T16:20:48","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T16:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnpicacio.com\/onthefront\/?p=1922"},"modified":"2015-12-16T16:24:13","modified_gmt":"2015-12-16T16:24:13","slug":"invasion-of-the-body-snatchers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/johnpicacio.com\/onthefront\/2015\/12\/16\/invasion-of-the-body-snatchers\/","title":{"rendered":"INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p> $\"SNATCHERSpicacioLR1\"$ \n

Here\u2019s my final cover art for the 60th anniversary edition of Invasion of the Body Snatchers<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Simon & Schuster \/ Touchstone\u2019s senior art director Cherlynne Li approached me to cover-illustrate this classic Jack Finney\u00a0novel, originally titled\u00a0The Body Snatchers<\/em>. First serialized in Collier\u2019s Magazine<\/em> in 1954, the book was collected by Dell into a single volume in 1955. Since then, it\u2019s been re-packaged countless times. Hollywood has morphed it into four major screen adaptations, where the title was changed to Invasion of the Body Snatchers<\/em>\u00a0(which\u00a0apparently caused publishers to retitle the book itself).<\/p>\n

When I began brainstorming cover art concepts, I realized that even though I had never read the original novel or seen one of the films, I felt like I \u2018knew\u2019 the story. Sleepy\u00a0American town is creepily\u00a0assimilated by alien beings who take over people\u2019s minds, one by one. The narrative is\u00a0virtually an archetype at this point, but of course, it wasn\u2019t enough to \u2018feel\u2019 like I knew the story. I read Finney\u2019s text in its entirety and realized another thing. While\u00a0very much a story of the 1950\u2019s, Finney never intended the narrative to be a metaphor for the American\u00a0paranoia toward\u00a0Communism. I suppose that hysteria was what the early film adaptations played upon, but reportedly, that wasn\u2019t Finney\u2019s original intent.<\/p>\n

Instead, the story seemed to be about a different kind of fear\u00a0\u2014 the fear of loss and change \u2014 of\u00a0losing the one you love the most, of losing your\u00a0identity, and even completely losing yourself in a changing world. These aren\u2019t just 1950\u2019s themes. These are themes that resonate thunderously\u00a0right now<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

That was the eureka\u00a0moment that inspired my cover art.<\/p>\n

We live in a time of\u00a0sweeping and sometimes terrifying change. Many of us are fighting against centuries of aggressive assimilation. We all seem to willingly allow ourselves to be assimilated daily by technologies of our making, and yet we\u2019re all trying to\u00a0hold on \u2014 to our loved ones, to our values, and to ourselves \u2014 to be something meaningful before our precious time is snatched away.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s a reason to read a familiar story, it\u2019s to be reminded how to summon the will to overcome our own challenges. It\u2019s no wonder this book is still resonant as ever after sixty years.<\/p>\n

For more on the book vs.\u00a0film connections,\u00a0check out Sandy Ferber\u2019s review via FantasyLiterature.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"