Publishers Weekly says my "obvious love for the form animates the volume." And I'll animate again! I'll never stop animating volumes.
The above quote has been my bio on Bluesky for the last few years. Finally, the time has come to make good on my promise: I'm animating another volume, folks.
I've signed a deal to produce an art collection that takes a broad look at the entire history of science fiction art. It'll be titled either The Art of the Future or The Art of Science Fiction – tbd – and it's coming out Fall 2027 from UK publisher Frances Lincoln.
It's a part of the "Art in the Margins" series, joining The Art of the Occult, The Art of Darkness, The Art of Fantasy, and The Art of the Unknown, all by my art book author friend S. Elizabeth (@ghoulnextdoor).
I'm excited! It's a lot of new territory for me: 1880s books, 1920s magazines, 1980s cyberpunk, 2000s video game concepts, and the coolest contemporary sci-fi artists of today, among a lot more.
Doug Andersen's 1991 cover to the Cyberpunk 2020 Night City Guide sourcebook will be in the book.
It's also a lot more work, so I'm restarting my two-issues-a-week schedule for my newsletter – On paid-tier Fridays, I'll publish something connected to the book. Sometimes I'll do my Book Notes series where I collect quotes and art from a specific art book I'm researching, and sometimes I'll highlight a bunch of art from a specific artist.
So, I'm discounting my paid tier for the next two weeks: It's normally $5/month, but if you use these exact links any time before June 16, you get my writing-a-book special of $3.50/month or $40/year for life (or until you cancel). If memory serves, that's the cheapest I've ever gone!
I'm going to try to get this 1961 illustration in to represent Syd Mead - not confirmed yet.
Want a sneak peek at what an art-book-behind-the-scenes email might look like? Check out my latest email for a grab-bag of cool art and fun facts.
One more week left on my paid newsletter's 30% off deal! Get the $3.50/month or $40/year deals here.
You can also check out today's free newsletter for an example of what I'm up to on the paid tier. We're looking at the history of '30s science fiction mags right now.
Angus McBride's 1966 "Legendary Beasts" series ran in the backs of the weekly magazine Finding Out. Daisy at Beautiful Books has collected all 36 of them over here - this is just half of them!
Hi! are you familliar with European comic series like "Storm", "the Trigan Empire", and especially "El Mercenario"? Those were the werid sci-fi/fantasy art i grew up with, and especially el mercenario is amazing because the entire comic is beautiful oil paintings instead of drawings.
Your posts often remind me of these series and if you don't know them i bet you would really enjoy them.
I haven't read any of them all the way through, but I have seen some of the art -- looks like Don Lawrence did the art for the first two and Vicente Segrelles did the third one. I should try reading through the first Storm book, it does sound fun.
