Karen Haber

Thalamus: The Art of Dave McKean, Dave McKean (Dark Horse 978-1-50672486-7 $149.99, 600pp, hc) November 2023. Cover by Dave McKean.

A giant of the fantastic art field deserves a huge print retrospective, and for British artist Dave McKean, one of the most ac­claimed and influential artists in the SF/F field and beyond, Thalamus fills the bill. A huge, slipcased, two-volume retrospective of McKean’s artwork, it’s a monument to one ...Read More

Visions of Beauty, Kinuko Y. Craft (Borsini-Burr Inc/Imaginary Realism 978-9-0784600-0-8, $225.00, 294pp, hc) January 2022. Cover by Kinuko Y. Craft

Kinuko Y. Craft: Visions of Beauty is massive with a capital M. You could use it for weight train­ing. This coffee table volume has enormous visual impact and impressive production value. It’s a statement-making career summation for a giant of fantasy art. From the dust jacket to the gilt-edged ...Read More

Creature: Paintings, Drawings, and Reflections, Shaun Tan (Levine Querido 978-1-64614-200-2, $35.00, 223pp, hc) November 2022. Cover by Shaun Tan.

Artists can make profound emotional state­ments through visual magic and show you things you’ve never seen before. Shaun Tan excels at this and has spent a career making unique emotional and artistic connections using various media. Creature, a handsome, full-color, self-curated survey of his work in picture books, comics, ...Read More

Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, Damian Duffy & John Jennings (Abrams Comic Arts 978-1-4197-5405-0. $16.99. 288pp, tp) January 2020. Cover by John Jennings.

Norse Tales: Stories from Across the Rain­bow Bridge, Kevin Crossley-Holland, illus­trated by Jeffrey Alan Love (Walker Studio UK 9781406391763, £16.99, 96pp, hc) September 2020. Cover by Jeffrey Alan Love. As Across the Rainbow Bridge: Stories of Norse Gods and ...Read More

The History of Science Fiction: A Graphic Novel Adventure, Xavier Dollo & Djibril Morissette-Phan (Humanoids 978-1-64337-914-2, $29.99, 216pp, hc) November 2021. Cover by Djibril Morissette-Phan.

The History of Science Fiction: A Graphic Novel is an ambitious book from the French publisher Humanoids, who – full disclosure – also publish graphic novels of my husband’s work, including Downward to the Earth (2018) and Robert Silverberg’s Colonies: Return to Belzagor (2019). ...Read More

Every Leaf a Hallelujah, Ben Okri, illustrated by Diana Ejaita (Apollo 978-1800241626, £14.99, 112pp, hc) October 2021. (Other Press 978-1-63542-270-2, $22.99, 97pp, hc) February 2022. Cover by Diana Ejaita.

Many science fiction and fantasy art books that were published in the past two years are only making their way to the shores of Locus now. Given the difficulties, challenges, and complications of printing, ship­ping, etc. during the pandemic years, ...Read More

Snow, Glass, Apples, Neil Gaiman & Colleen Doran (Dark Horse 978-1-50670-979-6, $17.99, unpaginated, hc) August 2019. Cover by Colleen Doran.

Tanith Lee’s The Silver Metal Lover, Trina Rob­bins (It’s Alive 978-1-7325915-2-3, $24.99, 80pp, hc) September 2019. Cover by Trina Robbins.

Nordic Tales: Folktales from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Denmark, Ulla Thynell (Chronicle Books, 978-1-4521-7447-1, $22.95, 160pp, hc) August 2019. Cover by Ulla Thynell.

Snow, Glass, Apples ...Read More

Art of Gary Gianni for George R.R. Martin’s Seven Kingdoms, Gary Gianni (Flesk Publica­tions 978-1-64041-022-0, $49.95, 303pp, hc) March 2020. Cover by Gary Gianni.

It’s easy to get lost in the expressive, romantic linework and painting of master artist Gary Gi­anni’s illustrations for George R.R. Martin’s Sev­en Kingdoms. Somehow the heroes and heroines of A Song of Ice and Fire look more heroic, the villains more dastardly, and the ...Read More

Middle-earth Journeys in Myth and Legend, Donato Giancola (Dark Horse 978-1-50671-086-0, $29.99, 199pp, hc) April 2019. Cover by Donato Giancola.

Much-awarded and acclaimed classical realist artist Donato Giancola has such technical mastery that he is able to depict powerful, memorable im­ages in both SF and fantasy throughout his career. From spacesuits to hobbits, he can and has done it all. Here he takes a deep, delicious dive into all ...Read More

The Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde: An Illuminated Edition, Oscar Wilde & Yuko Shimizu (Beehive Books 979-1-948886-01-7, $100.00, 140pp, hc) April 2020. Cover by Yuko Shimuzu.

Historically, small presses have been the refuge of non-mainstream writers and artists, whose work they have nurtured and promoted. In the SFnal field they have provided an important home for many award-winning writers (I’m looking at you, Tachyon). In addition to Tachyon Publications ...Read More

Leonardo 2, Stéphane Levallois (NBM/Louvre éditions 978-1-681122-64-9, $29.99, 96pp, hc) October 2020. Cover by Stéphane Levallois.

If we ever needed art, we need it now. Discuss­ing art books in a time of plague may seem frivolous, but there’s an argument to be made that any distraction becomes precious during times of extreme stress. Also valuable is the reminder of the sublime and ingenious ways humans can transmute powerful emotions ...Read More

Dracopedia Field Guide, William O’Connor (Impact 978-1-4403-5384-0, $26.99, 159pp, hc) May 2019. Cover by William O’Connor.

Over the course of William O’Connor’s 20-plus-year career, he won many industry awards, was nominated for a Chesley, and created over 3,000 illustrations for gaming and publishing businesses including Wizards of the Coast, Impact Books, Blizzard Entertainment, WhiteWolf/CCP, Lucas Films, and Activision. He also devoted his time to writing and illustrating the best-selling ...Read More

Stanislaw Lem’s The Seventh Voyage, Jon J. Muth (Graphix/Scholastic 978-0-545-00462-6, $19.99, 80pp, hc) October 2019. Cover by John J. Muth.

Imagine Buster Keaton in space, trying to fix his disabled craft while beset by a growing number of paradoxically created versions of himself, and you have an idea of the deadpan insanity that informs The Seventh Voyage, Stanislaw Lem’s droll, subversive tale of hapless Spaceman Tichy’s space-time dilemma. ...Read More

Starport, George R.R. Martin, adaptation and art by Raya Golden (Bantam 978-1-101-966504-7, $28.00, unpaginated, hc) March 2019. Cover by Raya Golden.

This time the intergalac­tic depot is in Chicago in George R.R. Martin’s Star­port, a hardcover graphic novel adapted by Hugo Award-nominated artist Raya Golden from an unproduced 1994 TV script by Martin. The result is a slick, expressive, at­tractive volume filled with delightful characters and funny bits ...Read More

The Handmaid’s Tale: The Graphic Novel, Margaret Atwood, adaptation and art by Renée Nault (Nan A. Talese 978-0-385-53924-1, $22.95, unpaginated, hc) March 2019. Cover by Renée Nault.

Just when you think you might have had enough of Offred and the twisted, rape-based Republic of Gilead, along comes the brilliant graphic novel adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s classic story The Handmaid’s Tale.

Artist Renee Nault, selected by fellow Canadi­an Atwood, ...Read More

LaGuardia, Nnedi Okorafor, adapted by Tana Ford & James Devlin (Berger Books/Dark Horse 979-1-50671-075-4, $19.99, unpaginated, tp) July 2019. Cover by Tana Ford.

So many graphic novels, so little time before deadline: Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Lo­cus award-winning writer and screenwriter Nnedi Okorafor’s LaGuardia, adapted by Hugo Award nominees Tana Ford & James Devlin, features some of the most appealing aliens I’ve seen in a graphic novel. ...Read More

Invented People: Vol. 1, Rick Berry (Donald M. Grant 978-1-880418-83-5, $24.95, 48pp, tp) July 2019. Cover by Rick Berry

Rick Berry has always been a fearless visionary artist. He was the first to utilize a computer to cre­ate a digital-art book cover for William Gibson’s Neuromancer in 1984. Much awarded and ac­claimed, Berry has a considerably broader reach than most artists associated with the fantastic art field. In addition ...Read More

The Time Machine, H.G. Wells, illustrated by Ale + Ale (Rockport 978-1-63159-728-2, $30.00, 208pp, hc) May 2019. Cover by Ale + Ale.

Yes, I know you, the reader, know all about H.G. Wells’s The Time Machine, one of the books that gave birth to the entire SF genre. But you need to know about a brilliant new illustrated edition issued as part of the Classics Reimagined series from ...Read More

Don Punchatz: A Retrospective, Don Punchatz (Centipede Press 978-1-61347-196-8, $50.00, 240pp, hc) March 2019. Cover by Don Punchatz.

Don Punchatz: A Retrospective is a long over­due and richly deserved retrospective of this master surrealist’s illustration work. A limited edition hardcover from Centipede Press’s Artist Series, the book punches well above its size and weight class.

Jam packed with art from its cover flaps to its endpapers, it is a ...Read More

DC Comics Super Heroines: 100 Greatest Moments, Robert Greenberger (Chartwell Books 978-0-7858-3618-6, $24.99, 312pp, hc) September 2018.

Occasionally a book comes along that I wish I could send through the time-travel mail to my 13-year-old self. DC Comics Super Heroines: 100 Greatest Moments is one of them. Yes, it’s got lots of women in tights – about 100 – but they are busy doing cool superhero stuff.

This wants ...Read More

Fantastic Worlds: The Art of William Stout, Ed Leimbacher (Insight Editions 978-1-60887-865-9, $75.00, 333pp, hc) November 2018. Cover by William Stout.

From the small to the large: Fantastic Worlds: The Art of William Stout is a great big book offering great big fun in 331 pages filled with colorful and varied artwork. It’s the kind of retrospective that any artist would dream about. The artwork is well reproduced in ...Read More

The Thousand Demon Tree, Jeffrey Alan Love (Flesk 978-1-64041-010-7, $29.95, 93pp, hc) Au­gust 2019. Cover by Jeffrey Alan Love.

In The Thousand Demon Tree, Jeffrey Alan Love follows up his popular Notes from the Shadowed City (Flesk, 2017) with a powerful 96-page wordless graphic novel.

Love has painted an eloquent tale whose haunt­ing silhouettes and strange atmospheric effects create a timeless eerie story in which the reader is ...Read More

Yoshitaka Amano: The Illustrated Biography/Beyond the Fantasy, Florent Gorges (Dark Horse 978-1-50670-753-2, $49.99, 336pp, hc) November 2018. Cover by Yoshitaka Amano.

The illustrated biography of Yoshitaka Amano is another hefty, handsome volume, so large that it seems to have required two sub-titles besides its main title. The 335-page retrospective pays homage to the revered Japanese fine artist, il­lustrator, character designer, and scenic and costume designer.

Amano began his remarkable ...Read More

The Electric State, Simon Stålenhag (Skybound 978-1-5011-8141-2, $35.00, 141pp, hc) September 2018. Cover by Simon Stålenhag.

The Electric State is a fascinating work, an il­lustrated novel in which the art carries the burden of the narrative. The tale is one of an alternative reality in the recent past in the western US where the accelerated development of AI and VR in the wake of a civil war has led ...Read More

Beyond Science Fiction: The Alternative Real­ism of Michael Whelan, Michael Whelan (Baby Tattoo 978-1-61404-018-7, $25.00, unpaginated, tp) July 2018. Cover by Michael Whelan.

“Here I Am”, Shaun Tan (I Feel Machine, Krent Able & Julian Hanshaw, eds., SelfMadeHero London 978-1-910593-55-4, $22.99, 128pp, tp) September 2018.

The Last Unicorn: The Lost Journey, Peter S. Beagle (Tachyon 978-1-61696-308-8, $19.95, 166pp, tp) November 2018. Cover by Thorsten Erdt.

In ...Read More

A Middle-earth Traveler: Sketches from Bag End to Mordor, John Howe (HMH 978-1-328-55751-3, $28.00, 193pp, hc) October 2018. Cover by John Howe.

Just when you thought another high quality tie-in book to the Tolkien Universe wasn’t possible, A Middle-earth Traveler shows up. This attractive volume, with wrap-around cover art, offers glossy paper stock, sewn-in binding, and first-rate image reproduction of the well-featured art, especially the linework. This is ...Read More

Spectrum 25: The Best In Contemporary Fantastic Art, John Fleskes, ed. (Flesk, 978-1-64041-007-7, $45.00, 304pp, hc) November 2018. Cover by Paul Bonner.

Spectrum 25 is up to its usual standard of excel­lent production values and varied, fascinating fantastic artwork from around the globe. Spec­trum honors artists in its respectful reproduction and placement of their work throughout the book. Art is crammed in every inch, including on jacket flaps ...Read More

The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition, Ursula K. Le Guin, illustrated by Charles Vess (Saga 9-781481-4655-88, $59.99, 993pp, hc) October 2018. Cover by Charles Vess.

The Books of Earthsea is a staggering achieve­ment, the first time the entire Earthsea cycle has appeared together in one illustrated omnibus. Saga has expended lavish production efforts on this statement-making book celebrating the late Ursula K. Le Guin’s beloved Earthsea ...Read More

Tales from the Inner City, Shaun Tan (Arthur A. Levine 978-1338298406, $29.99, 224pp, hc) September 2018. Cover by Shaun Tan.

Cicada, Shaun Tan (Arthur A. Levine Books 9-781-338-29839-0, $19.99, unpagi­nated, tp) June 2018. Cover by Shaun Tan.

It’s always exciting to open a new book by Shaun Tan – you never know what you’ll see. Recipient of many awards, including an Academy Award for the animated film The ...Read More