With Great Power is now... Masked

My friend Lou Anders, who used to work for me on Star Trek Magazine and Babylon 5 Magazine, but these days is an award-winning editor for Pyr Books, and who very kindly introduced me to artist John Picacio whose work features in SciFi Art Now, has a new short story superhero anthology title on the way. One good turn deserves another, so I'm giving it a plug here.

To be published by Gallery Books, Masked features a cover by Trevor Hairsine, artist on such titles as 2000AD, Captain America, Wisdom, Ultimate Galactus, Black Panther and many other comics.

"I think the new title -- and title design -- works quite well," says Lou.

The stories in this 384 page collection are 'Cleansed and Set in Gold' by Matthew Sturges, 'Where their Worm Dieth Not' by James Maxey, 'Secret Identity' by Paul Cornell, 'The Non-Event' by Mike Carey, 'Avatar' by Mike Baron, 'Message from the Bubblegum Factory' by Daryl Gregory, 'Thug' by Gail Simone, 'Vacuum Lad' by Stephen Baxter, 'A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows' by Chris Roberson, 'Head Cases' by Peter David & Kathleen David, 'Downfall' by Joseph Mallozzi, 'By My Works You Shall Know Me' by Mark Chadbourn, 'Call Her Savage' by Marjorie M. Liu, 'Tonight we fly' by Ian McDonald and'A to Z in the Ultimate Big Company Superhero Universe (Villains Too)' by Bill Willingham.

A 2008/2007 Hugo Award nominee, 2007 Chesley Award nominee and 2006 World Fantasy Award nominee, Lou Anders is the editorial director of Prometheus Books' science fiction imprint Pyr, as well as the editor of anthologies Fast Forward 2, Sideways in Crime and more. In 2000, he served as the Executive Editor of Bookface.com, and before that he worked as the Los Angeles Liaison for Titan Publishing Group, writing a huge number of brilliant articles for me on STM and other Titan Magazines, as well as authoring The Making of Star Trek: First Contact.

Due for release in July, Masked looks to be another great collection from an editor who's a dab hand at assembling great anthologies (but never let him try and make you drink grass).

• Buy Masked from amazon.co.uk


• Buy Masked from amazon.com

ConceptArt launches Female Form Course

This coming Sunday, ace illustrators web site ConceptArt.Org, who kindly helped promote my original appeal for artists for SciFi Art Now, will begin a new round of live streaming classes with a very beautiful program on the art of the feminine form.

With three beautiful demonstrations by Massive Black Shanghai artist Zhanglu, and an in depth presentation by Jason Manley, you will hear and see the information you need to understand when painting the female figure.

"We are going to be exploring one of the most inspiring topics in art and that is the female figure, say the organisers. "With art demonstrations from the gifted ZhangLu and images ready to discuss and learn from by famous photographer Jaime Ibarra, this is not a class to miss. This is the good stuff. Join us. It is time for a great class from TAD here on ConceptArt."

When: Sunday May 2 2010 12PM - 4PM Central Daylight Time (Austin TX time). Four hours of beauty, instruction, and art are yours. An assignment will be included.
Where: Right here on ConceptArt.Org Live and On Demand (forums link to come!)
How: Just have an ok connection and we are good to go. We will be using TAD's technology which is stable, light on bandwidth, and extremely reliable. The login information will come with the email after tuition is covered.
How much: 50.00 USD.
How do I get it? Click the link for the store here (please note: semi-nude art): http://www.conceptartstore.com/femalefigure.html

IlluXcon Artists Line Up gathers pace

The third annual IlluXCon symposium whose guests include SciFi Art Now contributors Bob Eggleton and Patrick Jones, will take place in Altoona, Pennsylvania in the United States on November 11-14, 2010.

As the only convention exclusively dedicated to fantastic art, IlluXCon welcomes artists, students, collectors, and fans to a four-day celebration of the field.

IlluXCon features the largest gathering of fantastic art and artists in the world and this year's event will feature nearly 60 artists in the main exhibition, with many more included in the IlluXCon Showcase. These include Greg Hildebrandt, John Jude Palencar, Boris Vallejo, and SciFi Art Now contributors Scott Altmann, Bob Eggleton and Patrick Jones.

Several hundred original paintings and drawings will be on display at the show, along with demonstrations, lectures, round tables, art director portfolio reviews, and a live bronze pour.

IlluXCon 3 will also feature a special exhibition culled from the forthcoming Vanguard book A Century of Dragons. Dragons will feature the 100 best contemporary dragon paintings and artists, and roughly a quarter of those original works will be on display at the show.

• For the latest information on the show, visit: www.illuxcon.com