For your viewing pleasure, the front cover of Adam Roberts’ upcoming book, Gradisil, a near-future tale of revenge and nation-building told across three generations, coming from Pyr in March of next year. Cover art is by the wonderful (and Hugo-nominated) Stephan Martiniere, with design by Jacqueline Cooke.
Gradisil has already drawn comparisons to “the best of Robert Heinlein” according to the Times, and SFX says, “Against the backdrop of Gradisil’s nation-building odyssey, Roberts impressively explores a variety of themes. It all adds up to proof, if any were really needed. That Roberts belongs in the front rank of hard SF writers.”
Slick!
For whatever reason, Roberts has never had the benefit of very good cover art on his British editions. This is a terrific contrast.
Well, I am a big fan of VG and particularly Adam’s editor Simon Spanton, so I don’t want to disparage the UK edition. I do think that their covers work for a literate audience already familiar with Adam’s work and looking for more of same, but over here, where Adams is still an unknown quality to the majority of readers who will encounter this book on the shelf, I needed something more dynamic. I also needed to get across the very near future aspect of this novel, which I think could be read by a mainstream audience just as well as an SFnal audience. And, with Adam’s wonderfully literate prose, probably a literate/McSweeney’s audience as well (though we aren’t aiming for this third demographic with the cover, natch). Once again, I love what Stephan has done. I also really like what Jackie has done with the type – the way “Adam Roberts” goes from opaque to translucent where the rocket exhaust passes through the A and M. Really love that!