Pics for Posterity.
So, here’s a nice surprise in my In-box: prototype cover for next year’s Finnish translation of Blindsight from Gummerus. The artist is Jussi Kaakinen, and I think he’s done a terrific job.
Oooh, and just after I finished posting this the first time, a courier showed up at my door with a box of these:
Fleuve Noir’s release of βehemoth, over in France. A clean, simple, evocative cover, and now that I look at it I’m surprised that nobody’s gone with the nanobe theme before. It seems really obvious in hindsight. (And notice the lack of Volume #? One story, one book, one price. That’s how you do it.)
And on my way out the door to the next con, here’s a picture from the last one: Maria Nygård’s candid shot of me and a sentient vacuum cleaner during the post-Kontrast wind-down (I’m on the right). I think I may like this one best of all, since it’s the first picture in recent memory that doesn’t make me look like a stoop-shouldered scarecrow. I like the WW2 propaganda eyes-to-the-horizon vibe. I may make this my new official author photo. At the very least, I’m going to make sure I’m never seen in public again without Henry by my side.
See (some of) you this weekend.
Dust bunnies beware!
Dude, you look positively *stalwart*!
That is a terrific Blindsight cover.
That Finnish cover is pretty fucking cool.
Concur. Cool cover for Blindsight Suomeksi, and what could charm the ladies better than a man who looks as if he’s about to start some housework?
I seriously love the Sokeanäkö cover. Makes Rorschach look more alien than ever.
You look so cute with that thing! You should carry it everywhere!
That is delightfully, epically creepy.
Rorschach, I mean, not the cute pink vacuum.
Which is cute. And totally not creepy at all.
At all.
Nice cover, though first impression is religious symbolism – looks like J’s crown of thorns flying over the clouds. Dunno if that’s a good or bad thing.
Love the cover, dude. I think that might be my fave so far. In its stark unearthly way, even better then the ones that Tor inexplicably failed to choose from those the artist sent ’em.
Damnit. I saw that cover with the Finnish title and thought there was a new Peter Watts novel out. You tease. =[
Poor little vacuum, he’s having his hose manipulated in an uninhibited fashion.
The art for the Behemoth cover is awesome.
That is not a “WW2 propaganda eyes-to-the-horizon vibe. ” That is an “I am a middle aged man holding the business end of this cute pink vacuum to my crotch vibe”.
That is exactly the lack of vision and imagination that I would expect from a professional planktonologist.
Besides, it’s the vacuum cleaner that’s smiling.
Peter Watts,
Peter, get it right. Tintinnidologist. I am one of the handful of experts in the country. Which is why I now work in the environmental lab industry.
And, yes, the vacuum cleaner is smiling. But so are you.
But only the vacuum cleaner’s smile is painted on. Your’s is just too realistic. Academy award material?
Actually, he looks a bit worrisomely like that opening shot in the lead credits for Dexter. You know, the bit with the mosquito and the grin.
BTW Peter, if you’re not a fan, there’s still time, and there was some pretty excellent writing in this last episode, “Argentina”.
Hmm, I wonder: do they have “Dexter” Cons, and does Our Humble Host occasionally attend and have fun talks with any of that show’s creative staff? Because if it hasn’t happened yet, probably it ought to, mostly because we’ve been getting a bit impatient for the End of Days to arrive. A Peter Watts written episode of “Dexter” should easily qualify as a Trump of Doom. 😉
Haven’t seen any of this season’s Dexter; we’ve been saving them up for a marathon. Didn’t like last season much, though, which was a shame because Edward Olmos was in it.
The John Lithgow season remains unsurpassed, IMHO.
Peter, it’s pretty hard to top John Lithgow in any context. Yet this season is pretty well done thus far. Yet I believe I can see some of the long-term story arc headed towards a wrap-up, maybe 2 or 3 seasons out. As good as the idea is, and as well done as production and writing have been, there’s only so much one can do with the notion before it gets stale or predictable.
Having read some of Robert K Ressler’s work on “profiling”, there are times when I wonder if maybe the show’s creative staff are using “Whoever Fights Monsters” as one of the show’s “bibles” and having Dexter sort of work his way through the chapters in “real” life. If you haven’t read that one yet, you might want to get a copy to park in your reference stack. And BTW: totally off-topic but while trying to search the phrase “disciplined sociopath”, I got 20 pages of links to reviews of Tom Cruise movies. Honestly, not kidding. 😉
I was cruising Kickstarter and I stumbled across this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOOVQYvu5dY&feature=plcp and my immediate reaction was hey, Blindsight! Something about the visual aesthetic, particularly the droid vision, just rang the same bell in my head. That and the premise of preventing the colonists from going mad and killing eachother I suppose.
Just thought I’d post for the hell of it.
No easy way to break this to you, so I’m just going to come right out with it: your newfound castored cleaning companion is not who he (or should I say, she?) says he is. Henry is in fact better known as Hetty – just one member of a crack team of globally reviled cutthroat cleansing commandos, more intel here: http://www.numatic.co.uk/products3.aspx?r=4&sr=1 Clearly, they have now evolved the ability to assume random head/body combos – grotesque but ingenious. You still have the element of surprise, so when you get the chance, disable her primary weapon with a small fluffy toy – the cat should be able to help out there. But until then, watch your back and just act normal…