Words now, con photos later. A grueling, but rewarding week in Denver, at Worldcon 2008. I’m bushed. Some personal highlights:

* Good times with friends in and around the CCC and the Hyatt Regency: Lou Anders, Chris Roberson, Allison Baker, David Louis Edelman, Paul Cornell, George Mann, Mark Newton, Christian Dunn, Sean Williams, Alan Beatts, Jude Feldman, Irene Gallo, Diana Gill, Paolo Baciagalupi, Mario Acevedo, Shanna Swendson, Blake Charlton, Deanna Hoak, Cheryl Morgan, Kat Richardson, Ian McDonald, Liza Trombi, Amelia Beamer, Rani Graff, Jetse De Vries, Liz Gorinsky, Jeremy Lassen, Jim Minz, Diana Rowland, Diana Sherman, Warren Hammond, Walter Hunt, Kate Elliott, Alan Beck, and too many more to name.

* Good talks with Farah Mendelsohn, Moshe Feder, Steve Saffel, Cheryl Morgan, Colin Harris, Vincent Docherty, Seth Breidbart, Joni Dashoff, Andrea Senchy, Mike Willmoth, Jean Goddin, John Hertz and more.

* Big thrill — ran into the legendary Frederik Pohl at 1am Saturday morning

* Fun parties — The Tor Party (except for the brick-wall wave of “what’s that smell??”), the Hugo Losers Party, the Asimovs Party, the Baen Party….great stuff, but hats off this year to Lou Anders’ dominant Pyr Party and the HarperCollins/Eos Party, hosted by Diana Gill and Jack Womack. Eos did it classy and festive, and it was so much fun. Whoa, Pyr though — they went all out with free Pyr beer glasses, potent Brazilian drinks, chocolate soccer balls, and Brazilian-themed decorations in honor of Ian McDonald’s Hugo nomination for BRASYL. I heard buzz about their party even two days after it was over. Awesome.

* Stroll with the Stars — hats off to Stu Segal! I thought Stu was nuts to think that anyone would wake up at 9am Friday, just so they could join Lou Anders, Paul Cornell, Stephen Segal, and me for a mile-long walk through downtown Denver. Wrong. We had a mighty pack of 40-50 strong and Stu may have just created a new Worldcon tradition.

* Fun Friday lunch, and good talk, with Jack Skillingstead, Nancy Kress, Patrick Swenson, and Daryl Gregory. First time I’ve met Jack….I’ll soon be illustrating the cover of his new Golden Gryphon collection, which will release sometime in ’09, I believe.

* Won a Worldcon Art Show Award! My pencil process drawing for Robert Silverberg’s SON OF MAN (pictured at top) was selected amongst the best works in this year’s Art Show. Good thing I’m not a betting man because I actually thought this piece had a better shot, but I’m thrilled to be selected amongst the best, no matter what.

* Attention art collectors: If you haven’t seen Vincent Villafranca’s bronzes, you’re missing out. This guy’s a superstar. I wish I owned this.

* Being a Hugo Award Nominee — Proud to say…my fourth consecutive year as a Hugo Award finalist in the Best Professional Artist category. Unfortunately, still no Hugo win for yours truly. I finished in second this year. Stephan Martiniere got the rocket (congrats, Stephan!). If I’m lucky, maybe I’ll get a fifth shot next year and maybe we’ll see what happens then. Never take these things for granted. For now, back to doing what matters — creating art, and chopping the rock. This year was the first time Traci joined me at the Hugo festivities, and that was special.

* I was proud to see my compadre David Louis Edelman finish a strong third place in the Campbell Award balloting. Mary Robinette Kowal took the prize (congrats, Mary!) in a very stacked group of finalists that included Joe Abercrombie, David Anthony Durham, Scott Lynch, and Jon Armstrong. Bigger days ahead for DEdelman! Disappointed for my pal Paul Cornell, who finished second in Best Dramatic Presentation Short Form category. Stephen Moffatt’s “Blink”/DR. WHO episode won the Hugo, but I sure would’ve liked to see Paul up there for his “Human Nature” episode. Hopefully, another year, another time, for Paul. Ditto for Lou Anders who has many more noms to come.

* Hats off to all the tireless folks that helped to make this year’s Worldcon fun and successful. This show had its fair share of problems (too much real estate between function spaces; lack of appropriate signage; projectors that never seemed to project properly), but everyone did their best, and it was appreciated. Apologies to those I forgot to mention, and onwards to Anticipation next year!

The 2008 Chesley Award Nominations are here. I’m a finalist in two categories — Best Hardcover Illustration (for the cover of Sheri S. Tepper’s THE MARGARETS (top) and Best Paperback Illustration (for the cover of Rebecca Ore’s TIME’S CHILD (both published by HarperCollins/Eos)). Thanks to Richard Aquan, Diana Gill, and Jennifer Brehl for those assignments. 🙂

Great company in both categories — Donato Giancola, Bob Eggleton, Todd Lockwood, Stephan Martiniere, John Jude Palencar, Dan Dos Santos, and more. Congrats to all fellow Chesley nominees this year.

Update: the Chesley Ceremony will be Thursday, August 7th (7:30pm) at Worldcon/Denvention.

Attention all Denvention/Worldcon attendees — good news! FREE stuff!

Hot off the press — the grainy photo above shows the front, middle, and back of my spiffy new art promo that will be available free at Worldcon. This quick snapshot doesn’t really do justice because they printed perfectly. I’m really happy with them. Get ’em at my autographings and also at my Worldcon Art Show display. (Schedule here.)

Big news — Lou Anders and the good folks of Pyr are sponsoring a big bash at Worldcon Friday at 8pm. A signed 17″x22″ archival print of my cover art for FAST FORWARD 2 will be raffled off at the event and they’ll be serving crazy Brazilian beverages in honor of the Hugo nomination of Ian McDonald’s BRASYL. More details below. The best part is you’re invited, so don’t miss it!

Right now, I’m special-guesting over at the blog of STARGATE ATLANTIS executive producer-extraordinaire Joseph Mallozzi. Joe graciously invited me last week, and his readers fired a barrage of terrific, wide-ranging questions in the meantime. Read my responses and feel free to ask more in his comments section. In totality, it reads like an extensive interview, so check it out. 🙂 Thanks again, Joe!

Been away from here for a while….working on several fronts at the moment, including preparing my artwork for shipment to the World Science Fiction Convention in Denver next month. Oy…shipping art is such a hassle. Now fingers crossed that it arrives intact!! Right now, I’m reading DARKEST HOUR, the second book of Mark Chadbourn’s AGE OF MISRULE trilogy. I’ll be doing covers for all three books for Pyr‘s releases next year, the first time the books will be available in the US. It’s an amazing dark fantasy epic so far and I’m blown away by its depth of mythic detail. Other assignments are on the burner here. More on them when they’re finished.

News and notes:

1. Tor.com launched this past weekend. Nice mini-gallery of my stuff over there, and overall, just a terrific and dynamic site. Check it out if you haven’t already.

2. Several folks have emailed me that Dave Itzkoff reviewed ELRIC: THE STEALER OF SOULS in the New York Times. All kindly mention that Itzkoff’s review fails to mention Alan Moore’s intro or my illustrations. Happily and most importantly though, the NYT piece shines a glowing spotlight on the greatness of Mike Moorcock and the book itself, which is all that really matters to me in the end.

3. Attn: anyone living on the upper east coast of the US — Philcon 2008 has now opened their hotel room block and is taking reservations. However, their website doesn’t yet display that info, so here it is. Philcon is this November 21-23 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cherry Hill, NJ. To reserve your hotel room before they sell out, call the hotel directly (800-381-9553) and be sure to mention “Philcon” to get the con rate for the room block. Remember to specify “quiet” or “hospitality” floor. Online hotel registration will be available as soon as the web site is updated. Guests of Honor include Tim Powers as their Author Guest of Honor (or Principal Speaker as they’ve dubbed him); Scott Christian Sava as the Special Guest; and yours truly as the Artist Guest of Honor. I’ll have new never-seen Elric original art on display there, and lots of other goodies for sure. Be there. 🙂

STARGATE: ATLANTIS executive producer and man-of-the-world Joseph Mallozzi has invited me to guest-blog over at his place and he’s soliciting questions right now. So if there’s anything about covers or art that you want to talk about, feel free to pile on and ask away over at his place. In yesterday’s entry he gives a shoutout to Lou Anders‘ forthcoming FAST FORWARD 2 anthology. Go Joe!

It sounded like a small bomb exploded outside, so I ran to the door. When I opened it, nothing was there but a large cardboard box. The mailman was sprinting back to his truck down the street. The above photo shows you what shook the house. Not the Jess Nevins extravaganza to the left, but Centipede Press‘ jaw-dropping magnum opus, A LOVECRAFT RETROSPECTIVE: ARTISTS INSPIRED BY H.P.L., edited by Jerad Walters. Nevins’ FANTASTIC VICTORIANA is there for visual reference — so you can see how bone-crushingly massive the Lovecraftian masterpiece is. I’ve heard the hype. I’ve heard the giant pricetags. And quite frankly, I was reserving judgement until I saw the book for myself. But now that I’ve experienced my comp copy, I’m still numb 24 hours later. Two things to say:

1. When I first heard this book would have three editions and the least-expensive would be $395, I asked myself, “Who’s gonna buy this thing?!?” However, now that I’ve witnessed the gorgeous printing, the who’s-who list of artists (Michael Whelan, Bob Eggleton, H.R. Giger, Bernie Wrightson, J.K. Potter, etc., etc.), the humongous size and heft….my revised question is “who can resist this thing?” Granted — most of us don’t have $400 to drop on a book like this, but for anyone who has a personal library and love of Lovecraft and Cthulhu stories and art…here’s the skinny: this book is now an essential Holy Grail that has just made your library incomplete unless you have it. Seriously….it’s that traffic-stoppingly luscious.

2. For the past several years, I diligently fill out my World Fantasy Awards ballot and try to make intelligent nomination choices in each category. In 2009, this book, A LOVECRAFT RETROSPECTIVE, will be eligible for the World Fantasy Awards, and I’m already looking forward to including it amongst my selections for the category “Special Award/Non-Professional”. I won’t be voting for it because I’m in it, but because I can’t imagine an achievement that could top it in the year 2008. It’s that good, and that worthy.

Last item: I noticed the following on the back end flap when I was showing the book to my wife late last night. “Following early Weird Tales art by Lee Brown Coye and Virgil Finlay, Lovecraft’s personal favorite, to classic examples of 21st century renderings by modern masters like J.K. Potter and John Picacio, this volume’s more than 400 pages comprise the best artwork inspired by the Rhode Island icon of horror.” Too cool! 🙂
Above: my spread in the book
Above: a double gatefold spread of a Michael Whelan classic that literally is so big, it falls off the table

Here’s the final cover art for the forthcoming Pyr anthology FAST FORWARD 2, edited by Hugo Award finalist Lou Anders. Art’s best when it speaks for itself, but if you want behind the scenes trivia, here’s a little. This cover had a few inspirations, not the least of which is the mental tennis between me and Lou. It’s not so much Lou saying, “I want the cover to look like this” as much him firing short phrases of things he’s seeing in science fiction, and then I respond with what I see, and at some point, I take off and run with the ball. Hard to explain if you’re not there, but it’s just the way we’ve always worked. The best of times. Back to inspirations:

1. This image has been in my head lately….an illustration by Theophile Alexandre Steinlen featured on the cover of a late-1800’s French magazine called Le Petit Sou. The symbolism is so resonant. I don’t think that this image was created with the USA in mind, but it reminds me of the ideals that founded this country, and also what it will probably take if the US intends to be great again. I love this image, and it not only spawned the FF2 cover, but at least two more illustrations that I’ll be doing for myself (or maybe even for future covers?).

2. Something unexpected and out-of-the-blue….the death of Dave Stevens, the creator of THE ROCKETEER. I’ve never seen a drawing of his that wasn’t full of love and hope. My personal tastes in art have shifted a lot since all those years ago when I treasured his comics, but his recent death still jolted me. In some small way, the cover of FF2 is my way of saying, “RIP, Dave….thanks for the memories.”

3. From Paul McAuley…Lou quoted this in FF2’s intro….”(Science fiction) not only shows us what could happen if things carry on the way they are, but it pushes what’s going on to the extremes of absurdity. That’s not its job: that’s its nature. And what’s happened to science fiction lately, it isn’t natural. It’s pale and lank and kind of out of focus. It needs to straighten up and fly right. It needs to reconnect with the world’s weather, and get medieval on reality’s ass.”

While I was at Apollocon, I missed this. Jeff Vandermeer posted a solid rundown about Centipede Press‘ massive artbook extravaganza, THE ART OF LOVECRAFT: ARTISTS INSPIRED BY LOVECRAFT. Several of the book’s artists are quoted in the article, including yours truly. If you haven’t heard about this book, it’s a doozy. 400 pages of Lovecraft-inspired art, most in full-color, for a price tag of $395, for the clothbound, slipcased version. And if you’re looking for a less-expensive alternative, you’re outta luck. That IS the least expensive. The even snazzier editions retail for $495 (cloth, traycase, extra prints) and $2,495 (leather-bound edition, signed, extra prints). Oof…I’m still waiting to get my comp copy, but when I do, I’ll bet it’s gonna be amazing.

Here you go — my final cover art for Random House/Del Rey‘s forthcoming trade paperback, ELRIC: THE SLEEPING SORCERESS by Michael Moorcock. If you’re keeping score at home, this will be Book Three in Del Rey’s six-volume Elric series and it’ll be a December release. Here’s a few pertinent details for the first three books:

ELRIC: THE STEALER OF SOULS by Michael Moorcock (Book One) — cover art and interiors by yours truly; available now.

ELRIC: TO RESCUE TANELORN (Book Two) by Michael Moorcock — cover art and interiors by Michael Kaluta; available late July ’08.

ELRIC: THE SLEEPING SORCERESS (Book Three) by Michael Moorcock — cover art seen here, by yours truly; interiors by Steve Ellis; available early December ’08.

If you’re curious and haven’t seen this yet, here are my pencils that I previewed last month. So now that this cover’s finished, I move on to do the cover and interiors for Book Six in this series, which is a real honor since I’ll get to bookend the run. This stuff is so much fun….

Zoom….already halfway through the month of June….just realized I have a copy of Delos Books‘ 2008 calendar here in my studio and look what just happens to be the featured art for the month of “Giugno”. Of course, this illustration of mine first debuted here in the US as the wraparound cover for Lou Anders‘ 2003 breakout anthology LIVE WITHOUT A NET. Last year, Delos Books bought the Italian rights to use it for the cover of their venerable sf mag ROBOT, as well as this Italian calendar appearance. Very cool….hard to read the fine print on my low-res jpeg, but here are a few sf notables: June 2 — Lester Del Rey’s b-day back in 1915 (I’ll be doing a big Lester Del Rey cover project later this summer) / June 9 — Joe Haldeman’s b-day / June 25 — the debut of one of my all-time favorite films BLADE RUNNER, back in ’82 / June 29 — b-day of the great Michael Whelan.