Tuesday, October 02, 2007

John Picacio: Son of Man Sketch

This is a first. And probably a last. John Picacio has posted his preliminary sketch for our upcoming reissue of Robert Silverberg's Son of Man (due out Spring, 08). Son of Man is one of my all time favorite science fiction works. In a field that ostensibly celebrates mind-expansion, alienation, estrangement, change, the impermanence of any social institution, the wonder and terror of the universe, the fundamental truth that today is not like yesterday and tomorrow will not be like today, Son of Man shines (even and especially today) as the vanguard of that perspective. John and I have been talking a lot about how to convey this in art, as well as how to convey certain other aspects of the book. In a totally unprecedented move, he's put the work in progress up on his blog, so please - go, see, comment!

4 comments:

DJK said...

I'm thrilled that you'll be putting this Silverberg classic back on the bookstore shelves.

I've always wished his Tower of Glass would make it back into print in the USA. Obviously, Silverberg has lots of worthy books that are currently had to find.

Lou Anders said...

Very glad to hear it. What do you make of John's sketch?

DJK said...

It captures the biological intensity of the story in a surprisingly fresh way. So much of cover illustration reminds you of something you've seen before, but John's image, here, looks new, sui genris!

Lou Anders said...

Oh, "the biological intensity" - I like that description.