Hey, Philadelphia!
I’ll be in your town next week and I’m bringing the biggest public display of my artwork I’ve ever assembled. It’ll all be at Philcon (which is actually across the river in Cherry Hill, NJ), where I’m this year’s Artist Guest of Honor. Most of the works will be for sale, and there will be framed originals as well as framed prints in the collection. It’s my only East Coast trip this year, so if you’re in the area, I’d love to see you (Nov. 20 thru Nov. 23)! If you’ve got books or covers you want signed, bring ’em on as well.

Question for you, Philly — what are your favorite local restaurants and eateries, especially in the downtown Philly and surrounding areas? And yes, the first stop when I get off the plane will be to get real Philadelphia cheesesteaks. I’ve received a couple of very reliable reviews already (thanks, Diana! :)), but I’m open to everyone’s feedback. It’s my first trip to Philly…. who’s got the best cheesesteaks? Best pizza? Any great indy bookstores? Any ‘can’t miss’ unique weirdness?

Best to all Vets out there….all who’ve served, and all who currently are! Both of my granddads served in WWII and I think of them today. One other comes to mind today — Mr. Thomas Kustelski. His son Tom and I have known each other since the 6th grade — by far the oldest friendship I have. Yesterday was one of the toughest days for the elder Kustelski. He said goodbye and buried his great wife of 55 years, and mother of his nine children of which my buddy Tom is the youngest. Add to that — today’s Mr. Kustelski’s 76th birthday and he’s a great American military veteran. As tough as yesterday was, today might be even tougher for him. So I’m thinking of him.

The artwork is an oil painting/shadowbox assemblage I did for REALMS OF FANTASY MAGAZINE several years ago. They asked me to illustrate a wartime ghost story called “Last Tour of Duty” by Devon Monk and this was my solution. Still one of my favorite early works…

Back home from the Great White North, where this year’s World Fantasy Convention unfolded in Calgary. I’m bushed. A few hours of sleep, and then it’s back to work. Some photo highlights:

OUR GANG: (l to r), Karen Jones; Lou Anders; Paul Cornell; me; Chris Roberson; Jennifer Heddle; Allison Baker… good times at Earl’s, Sunday night, post-WFC Awards.

HORSE OF A DIFFERENT COLOR: Marjorie Liu and me in front of the coolest thing I saw in Calgary all weekend — a scrap metal stallion too brilliant for words.

ART & LIFE: Talking about both with Shaun Tan (left) was one of my con highlights. Love the way his work keeps searching and evolving. My pal Justin Ackroyd is an uber-mensch for bringing me a first-edition of Tan’s new book TALES FROM OUTER SUBURBIA all the way from Oz.

CAMPBELL QUEEN & EVERCLEAR KING: Campbell Award winner Mary Robinette Kowal — elegant as ever; John Klima — locked and loaded for another night of hard boozing. Klima was nominated for two World Fantasy Awards this year. Although he didn’t win this year (much as I wanted him to), his star’s rising and his day’s coming. Meantime, Klima says another bottle of 96 proof Polish Everclear is just the ticket to ease his pain. Next year, JK, next year….

GOOD TIMES: (back, l to r), Graham Joyce, me, Marjorie Liu, Nikki Kimberling; (front), Paul Cornell.

PARTY LIKE A ROCK STAR: Or at least like an Artist Guest of Honor… the great Todd Lockwood shows young upstarts how the pros do it. That’s a bottle of Macallen 18 Single Malt Scotch, courtesy of Borderlands Books’ fabulous Scotch-tasting Party. OK — true confession — much as I’d love to say Todd pounded that entire bottle Amy Winehouse-style, he was actually hard at work with his GOH duties and barely made the party in time to savor the bottle’s last tiny drops.

THE SCARIEST SIGHT THIS HALLOWEEN: Diana Rowland (author of the forthcoming MARK OF THE DEMON) becomes Sarah Palin. Check out her button though — apparently even the Gov’nor knows who this country needs right now. (Destiny knocks — look who’s on TV right when I snapped the photo… and yes, please vote on Tuesday, if you haven’t already! :))

WHERE’S ANG LEE WHEN YOU NEED HIM?: Graham Joyce says he can’t quit you.

DAZZLING & DASHING: Jude Feldman & Alan Beatts at the World Fantasy Awards… their first time as highly-deserving finalists for the World Fantasy Award (Special Award / Professional)… although they didn’t win (congrats to Pete Crowther), they looked damned good. 🙂

Final thoughts — shoutout to Kim Greyson for working his tail off and being the epitome of hospitality. Was weird for me not to be in the Art Show this year, but it was with good reason, and I’ll be back with art next year in San Jose. Speaking of art — great times not only with Shaun Tan and Todd Lockwood, but fellow illustrators Mike Dringenberg, James Beveridge, and Martin Springett. Huge congrats to Edward Miller, otherwise known as Les Edwards. I didn’t win the World Fantasy Award for Artist, but he did and it was well-deserved. Cheers, Les! Too many friends to count at this show, and great to see all of them, which is what makes WFC what it is — a few who weren’t pictured above, knowing that I’ll inevitably forget someone — Liza Trombi, Amelia Beamer, Diana Gill, Christian Dunn, Mark Newton, Marc Gascoigne, Jeremy Lassen, Jetse De Vries, Rani Graff, Laura Anne Gilman, Daryl Gregory, David Anthony Durham, Kay Kenyon, Louise Marley, Steve Jones, Mandy Slater, Gigi Gridley, Jim Minz, Lee Modesitt, Mark Teppo, Farah Mendlesohn, Adrienne Loska, Jacob Weisman, Jerad Walters, Tony Richards, and many more….. Another WFC in the books! Hope to see you in San Jose next year for the next one. Now, time to crash…

Dan Simmons’ MUSE OF FIRE releases in December from Subterranean Press, and now it’s received a coveted starred review from PUBLISHERS WEEKLY! Congrats to author and publisher.

You’ve seen the art posted here. Now here’s Subterranean’s finished front cover design. I dig it! 🙂

Busy, busy, busy here on many fronts….

Great news — Jeffrey Ford‘s WELL-BUILT CITY trilogy is available now in brand-new trade paperbacks from Golden Gryphon Press! ‘Been looking forward to seeing these books out on shelves, and I’m thrilled they’re now in stores. Jeff Vandermeer just finished running a series of q&a’s with Jeff F. re: the trilogy. Here’s the first one. These little chats are especially useful if you’ve never read these books. The trilogy is an amazing read, and it was my honor to do the cover illustration for all three. How can you go wrong when the first book, THE PHYSIOGNOMY, is a World Fantasy Award winner for Best Novel? Whole-heartedly recommended for your reading pile. 🙂

io9, one of the coolest, mandatory-read sites in sf, spotlights my work with a cover illustration gallery including the very recently-finished cover art for Dan Simmons’ MUSE OF FIRE (Subterranean Press). Big thanks to io9’s Charlie Jane Anders! And I love the title she crafted for the piece — “Revenge of the Giant Space Tentacle”. Awesome!

Here it is — this is my cover art for the forthcoming Subterranean Press hardcover edition of Dan Simmons‘ space opera gem, MUSE OF FIRE. There will be 1500 copies of the hardcover trade ($35 each) and 250 signed-and-numbered leather-bound copies ($60 each). Get ’em before they’re gone. Seriously. All previous Dan Simmons limited editions have sold out from Subterranean, and it’s a safe bet this will do the same. I’m really honored to be a part of this amazing book, and quite honestly, I can’t wait to see the finished product myself.

Bonus — Subterranean’s head honcho Bill Schafer commissioned me to write an essay about the making of this illo, and he’s included it in the latest issue of Subterranean Online! Besides this essay, you’ve got original short fiction from my pal Chris Roberson — “Mirror of Fiery Brightness”, Part One and Part Two, plus much more! Check it out! 🙂

One final note about this illustration — for years, I’ve been a fan of the great Polish poster artist Wieslaw Walkuski. This piece is an homage to his genius, with much admiration and respect.

I guess that headline can be read two ways — either you’ve got the good news that there’s free Paul Cornell reading somewhere, or you’ve got the bad news that Paul Cornell has been unjustly imprisoned and his righteous fans want him out. Thankfully, it’s the former. 🙂 In support of the brand-new anthology FAST FORWARD 2, Pyr is now offering the entirety of Paul’s short story “Catherine Drewe” for free. This is the opening story of FF2. Check it out while it’s available!

Here’s an idea of how crazy-busy it’s been here….. Thursday afternoon, I received a box from Pyr. Was in the middle of drawing and painting at that moment, so I set it aside in my studio, planning to unpack it a few minutes later. Two days later — yikes, I just remembered to open it this morning! (Needless to say, I’ve been juggling a lot of deadlines here lately.) What’s in the box — my comp copies of Lou Anders’ much-anticipated new anthology, FAST FORWARD 2!! Incredibly proud to be associated with this book, and it’s available now! 🙂 Seeing how beautifully these books turned out totally makes my day. Congrats to Lou and all the authors in this awesome book.

Bonus (revised 9/28/08) — check it out: save 50% off the cover price of FAST FORWARD 1 for a limited time! See Lou’s blog for details.

Amongst the covers I’m working on right now — MUSE OF FIRE by Dan Simmons, coming this December from Subterranean Press. Final color art will be shared here next week. Here’s a peek at part of the b/w pencil underdrawing. Subterranean’s taking pre-orders for this book right now. Word to the wise: all of Subterranean’s previous Simmons limited editions completely sold out. So act quickly if you’re interested. 🙂

More exciting news — I’ve agreed with Subterranean to cover-illustrate their forthcoming limited editions of two more Simmons magnum opuses (or is that “opi”?), THE TERROR and Dan’s forthcoming book, DROOD, which is set in the life and times of Charles Dickens. I’m reading DROOD right now and it’s awesome….an absolute page-turner. Subterranean is taking pre-orders right now for THE TERROR and I’ll post here when they start taking orders for DROOD.

Much more about the final MUSE OF FIRE art next week.

SFSignal reminds us all that today in 1966, the very first episode of STAR TREK aired (“The Man Trap”). Can’t remember which episode of STAR TREK was the first one I ever saw, but watching it in syndication after-school was a seminal part of my early years. Seen here: my 2nd grade school photo, circa 1976, rocking my prized homemade Mr. Spock shirt, with insignia patch sewn by my mother. It’s amazing how large my dome was even at that tender age. Fast forward to 2006 — that same kid illustrated this triptych for David R. George III’s STAR TREK trilogy commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the show (published by Pocket Books). And yeah, it really was a thrill. Live long and prosper, Trek. 🙂

Pyr‘s Lou Anders recently unveiled the complete cover design for his forthcoming antho, FAST FORWARD 2. Cover illustration by yours truly, and jacket design by Jacqueline Cooke. The book hits shelves next month!

A shoutout and big thanks to my pal, illustrator Lee Moyers: when I was working on the final cover art, I phoned Lee out-of-the-blue and asked him for some critique. Lee’s one of the rare guys who illustrates and designs equally well. His suggestions were invaluable and they absolutely led to this becoming a better piece. Thanks, man!