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Some big, big professional news: I’ll be writing a coffee table book on the history of retro science fiction art! It’s planned to be out in Fall 2021 from Abrams Books. (Big thanks to my literary agent, Sarah Bolling at The Gernert Agency, for making it all happen!) And there’s more news, too. Here’s the whole story.I’m super excited about it: It’s going to be a passion project packed with all the best jaw-dropping sci-fi art I’ve found over the years, and I’m doing plenty of original research to explain all the factors that came together to make the 60s-80s a unique explosion of cover art innovation. I’ll be interviewing experts and artists. And I’ll be personally tracking down the rights to every image that goes into the book — ie I’ll be putting together a lot of spreadsheets.I’ve got about eight months to write the draft. The book deal money is nice, but certainly not enough to quit my day job, so I’ll be working full time as well. And I’m a Forbes contributor. It’s a lot. A little extra would really help my budget, so here’s my plan: I’m launching a Substack email newsletter subscription. For the next year, I’ll be documenting the process of writing a nonfiction book exploring retro sci-fi art history. I’ll post a free update on the essential stuff every other week (it’ll basically be the same as my previous Tinyletter newsletter, so if you already follow me there, you pretty much know what those emails will be like). For $5/month paying subscribers, I’m posting a lot more – my notes and review of any art books I’m researching, my thought process behind compiling the book, my interviews with artists, and plenty of art. I know $5 a month can seem like a lot, so I’m including a special deal for the next month: From Jan 15 until Feb 15, everyone who signs up (and gets me their shipping address) will get a free signed copy of the book once it’s out, provided they’re still supporting me by the release date. Assuming the final price is something like $35, that’s like getting a free seven months. I’ve had a Patreon for a while, but my blog posts have been pretty sparse, and it’s because I never had the time to justify posting more. And, since I never posted, I never picked up a critical mass of patrons that might have justified it. Now that I have a big retro sci-fi art long-term research project, however, I’ll have all the material I need for blog posts, and you’ll be able to get them all as emails. What goes into researching, writing and editing an art book? I’m going to find out! If you want front row seats and a copy of the final product, sign up now.
Also, that image at the top is Bruce Pennington’s 1974 cover to The World of Null-A, by A. E. van Vogt. It’s possibly the ideal 70s sci-fi art: Colorful, complex, majestic, meditative.

Daniel Gill

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