…and to all of your fellow 2008 Inductees into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame — Ian & Betty Ballantine, Rod Serling, and William Gibson. If you think that’s Richard Powers the novelist, you’ve got the wrong Powers. I’m talking about Richard Powers, the seminal sf artist about whom John Clute said: “When we think of 1950s science fiction, we may see Kelly Freas, but, when we dream, we dream Richard Powers.” Powers’ art is bar none, amongst the most powerful and influential work in sf history. His work expanded the possibilities of sf art beyond the limits of pulp.

And yet despite his mighty influence on the trajectory of sf cover art for the 50’s, 60’s and beyond, Powers was never formally recognized by any of sf’s major accolades, including the Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist. I’m not an expert on Powers, and his career long preceded mine, but I suspect he probably didn’t care much about awards. So perhaps it didn’t matter to him that the field for which he gave so much, never formally recognized his body of work.

Fast forward to 2007 — I was asked to be one of the judges for the Science Fiction Hall of Fame‘s 2008 class of inductees. I was not only honored to be in the company of my fellow judges, but delighted to make the case for Richard Powers. He wasn’t inducted by me. He was inducted by our whole team, as were the other inductees, which were sometimes fiercely, but thoughtfully debated. It was a team effort — Charles Stross, Ellen Datlow, Nancy Kress, Michael Cassutt, Ellen Asher, Robin Wayne Bailey, and me; that was this year’s judging crew. Congrats to all of this year’s inductees and their families; I was proud and humbled to be part of this process. Richard Powers — wherever you are — as of June 21, 2008, you’ll forevermore be a Science Fiction Hall of Famer, the formal recognition your work deserved all these years, and will now deservedly have.

(pictured above: Richard Powers’ cover illustration for Edmund Hamilton’s THE STAR OF LIFE)

Huge congrats, Mike! Thrilled to see you become the 25th individual honored by the Science Fiction Writers of America with the Damon Knight Memorial Grandmaster Award. Full details here. SFWA’s press release says that “the Grand Master represents SFWA’s highest accolade and recognizes excellence for a lifetime of contributions to the genres of science fiction and fantasy.” Based on that, I can’t think of anyone who’s done more to earn this. The honor will be bestowed to Mike at the Nebula Awards Ceremony in Austin, TX this April. You can bet I’ll be there.

Hear ye, hear ye — now available from the good folks at SHIMMER — their 2008 Art Issue. Most magazines commission art to complement a story, but for this special issue, art director Mary Robinette Kowal has instead flipped those roles. She selected art first, and SHIMMER then invited authors to write their stories based on the art. The cover illlustration is by me, and Kurt Kirchmeier crafted a cool story from it entitled “Penny Wise”. SHIMMER also interviews me for the issue. Therein, we discuss, art, marriage, lightbulbs, and I manage to craft one of the most spectacular jinxes in modern sports history. See for yourself when you pick up the issue available here.

Wow…the Austin Books signing for ELRIC: THE STEALER OF SOULS was a massive success, to say the least. Thanks to everyone who came out and patiently stood in line Saturday. It was a pleasure to be there with you. Mike Moorcock kicked it off with a reading from the novel THE STEALER OF SOULS, and then he and I did a quick Q&A. During that time, the people just kept streaming into the store. From there, it was a solid two hours of signing books and visiting with good people. Take a look at the photo above….I made the grievous mistake of looking up from signing books and assuming the end of the line visible in the photo was the “end of the line.” Then someone informed me that the line wrapped behind the bookshelves, and kept going. Wow.




Huge thanks to Brad Bankston, Brandon, and all at Austin Books for putting this together. 1/3 of the store is under a major renovation and Bankston shrewdly housed the signing event in that space, while the other 2/3 of the store was the usual comics nirvana that makes it one of the finest comic-book stores in America.

Special shoutout to Eric (pictured above), who came all the way down from Minnesota just to attend this event and meet Mike and me. He flew in the day of the event, did it, dined with us afterwards, and then flew back home six short hours later. You’re an animal, man! That was impressive. Great to meet you….we’ll be in touch. Speaking of dinner, we all had dinner afterwards at the excellent Clay Pit, a nouveau-Indian restaurant near downtown Austin. Traci and I loved it, and we’re sure to return. Joining Traci and me, and Mike and his wife Linda, were my good friend Brian Farrens (who took the photos here….thanks, man.), Eric from Minnesota–and a terrific surprise–Allison Baker of MonkeyBrain Books fame. It was a great, great day….I’m ready to do it again! 🙂

World Fantasy Award-winning author Jeff Vandermeer is one of the featured columnists for Amazon.com’s blog Omnivoracious. His latest post there spotlights ELRIC: THE STEALER OF SOULS and quizzes me about my illustration work for the book. Check it out.

Also, check out RevolutionSF where the folks there are giving away free autographed copies of the new Elric book, and they also sport a nice gallery featuring some of my Elric interiors (scroll down this link). I dig all of it, but for some reason, seeing that big close-up banner of Elric on their front page really pumps me up. 🙂

Spotted on the shelves, shiny and new, at 3pm, Borders Books, Alamo Quarry, San Antonio, TX. According to Amazon.com, Michael Moorcock’s ELRIC: THE STEALER OF SOULS wasn’t supposed to release until tomorrow. However this weekend, Moorcock’s Miscellany said the book was selling at Forbidden Planet, London (thanks, Guy) and Barnes & Noble in Virginia (thanks, Blackwood Buzz). Today, Pyr’s Lou Anders saw the book at Books-A-Million in Birmingham and my pal Brian Farrens spotted it up in far northside SA (again, Borders). So the wait is now officially over. Elric’s back and he’s everywhere, at least across North America.

I’m thrilled to be a small part of this, and this weekend Mike and I will be celebrating with a book signing/launch party for the new Elric book. Details as follows:

Where:
Austin Books
5002 N. Lamar
Austin, TX
email: info@austinbooks.com
(512) 454-4197

When:
Sat. Feb. 23
4-7pm

I’ve said it before, but Austin Books is one of the finest comic-book emporiums in the country. It’s worth a trip just for its sheer comic-book goodness. For those who can’t make it (I’m looking at you, Moorcock fans in the UK), Austin Books has set up a convenient “buy it” button where you can reserve a signed copy of ELRIC: THE STEALER OF SOULS that Mike and I can sign and/or personalise for you this weekend. Scroll down to just below the Elric cover. Hope to see everyone on Saturday! 🙂

One more glimpse of the new Elric drawings….and then next week ELRIC: THE STEALER OF SOULS finally releases in bookstores across North America (and cyberspace). Also next week, I’ll have details on a cool gallery of new Elric drawings over at RevolutionSF.

“Elric and the Horn of Fate” — interior illustration from Michael Moorcock’s forthcoming ELRIC: THE STEALER OF SOULS, due out February 19 from Ballantine/Del Rey. Pencil on Crescent illustration board, 11″x14″.

Some talk soup about a few notable books that I’m proud to have done covers for:

* Congrats to Bruce McAllister and Golden Gryphon Press. McAllister’s THE GIRL WHO LOVED ANIMALS is amongst Graham Sleight’s Top Five Books of the Year, according to his Year-End Round-Up in the latest issue of Locus Magazine.

* Congrats to Lou Anders, Pyr and FAST FORWARD 1. An amazing FIVE stories from FF1 will appear in David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer’s YEAR’S BEST SF 13. Wow! More details here at Lou’s blog. In addition to several nods on this year’s Locus Recommended Reading List (including Nick Gevers selecting it as one of the very best anthos of ’06), Bookgasm.com says: “…so good that I suggest Pyr wait a year and republish it with the title BEST SCIENCE FICTION OF 2007. This is an important book that can move science fiction one step closer to the ‘literature’ shelf, if it so desires….Anders has coaxed such incredible goodness out of these writers that if you only read one or two stories a month, it’s better than a year’s subscription to most of the genre magazines out there…With a deep bench of talent and a perfectly paced setlist, Lou Anders has made a book that truly represents its own theme. FAST FORWARD has the potential to be the future of short-form science fiction.”

That’s good to hear, as I’m currently working on the cover for FAST FORWARD 2….

* In other news, Joseph Mallozzi’s super-popular blog announced today that discussion of Jeffrey Ford‘s THE EMPIRE OF ICE CREAM will begin April 21. (Even though EMPIRE is actually a 2006 release, I just wanted to pass it along.)

“Elric summons the Wind Giant” — interior illustration from Michael Moorcock’s forthcoming ELRIC: THE STEALER OF SOULS, due out February 19 from Ballantine/Del Rey. Pencil on Crescent illustration board, 11″x14″. (p.s. Happy Birthday, Mama. :))

Today it arrived. Traci’s holding it. Ballantine/Del Rey kindly sent me an advance copy of ELRIC: THE STEALER OF SOULS (thanks, Betsy!). Author Michael Moorcock raved about his yesterday. I’ve been anxious to see it ever since. This book’s different. A lot of my 2007 went into this one because I did so many interior illustrations for it, plus the cover. With the exception of my art book, it represents the most work I’ve ever invested in one project. So yeah, when the package arrived today, I was nervous to say the least.

I’m thrilled, proud, (and relieved) to report that the finished book looks awesome. When Traci arrived home, we celebrated with margaritas at Panchito’s and it was unveiled to her for the first time. It’ll take a few more examinations before it’ll feel real, but it is. It’s done, and on February 19th, it’ll be everywhere.
Huge thanks to Betsy Mitchell, editor-in-chief of Del Rey. She made this happen. Many thanks to Kaitlin Heller, Julie Schroeder (designer), and Dave Stevenson (Del Rey’s Chesley-nominated art director). Proud to be part of your team. Lastly, thanks to A for being a warrior and a true friend, and to Mike and my wife Traci for everything. Much more Elric in the coming days….

“Elric & Cymoril” — interior illustration from Michael Moorcock’s forthcoming ELRIC: THE STEALER OF SOULS, due out February 19 from Ballantine/Del Rey. Pencil on Crescent illustration board, 14″x11″.

“The Fire Giant” — another of my interior illustrations from Michael Moorcock’s forthcoming ELRIC: THE STEALER OF SOULS, due out February 19 from Ballantine/Del Rey. Pencil on Crescent illustration board, 6″x12″. Bonus — a short Elric music mix I looped for inspiration through the hours working on the Elric book.

1. “Carmina Burana: I. O Fortuna” / Carl Orff / London Symphony Orchestra & Richard Hickox

2. “Da Pacem Domine” / Arvo Part / The Hilliard Ensemble

3. “Mars, the Bringer of War” / Gustav Holst / London Symphony Orchestra & Sir Georg Solti

4. “Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age” / Gustav Holst / London Symphony Orchestra & Sir Georg Solti

5. “The Man Who Sold the World” (Live) / David Bowie

6. “The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell” / David Bowie

7. “Ace of Spades” / Motorhead

8. “The Call of Ktulu” / Metallica

Just heard this news from George Mann of Solaris….
SCIFI NOW, one of the UK’s major SF media mags, has released their list of the Best Books of 2007. Michael Moorcock’s THE METATEMPORAL DETECTIVE is amongst their top five. Congrats, Mike! Congrats to Pyr and Solaris as well!

The list:
1) HALTING STATE (Stross) / Orbit
2) STEALING LIGHT (Gibson) / Tor UK
3) BRASYL (McDonald) / Pyr/Gollancz
4) THE METATEMPORAL DETECTIVE (Moorcock) / Pyr
5) HELIX (Brown) / Solaris

Also here’s a conversation between Mike and SHRIEK author Jeff Vandermeer over at Amazon.com’s OMNIVORACIOUS blog.

Great days for Moorcock — he’s got a hit with THE METATEMPORAL DETECTIVE; talks continue regarding a major ELRIC motion picture; and the ELRIC series will launch next month. More on that Monday….