RAVENHEART NOMINEE: LORD OF SILENCE - JOHN PICACIO

"Vidar is the protagonist of this novel, and I wanted to suggest who he was but still leave a bit of mystery. The cover is more about atmosphere and suggestion than about telling the reader how to see. I think I was originally thinking I'd do something a bit more abstract for this cover because I was doing that for Chadbourn's US Age of Misrule covers, but the pulp tone of the novel demanded a different approach. So I responded. Kudos to Solaris' Darius Hinks for the great cover border and typography treatment. I really like what he did there."
JOHN PICACIO

ABOUT THE ARTIST

John Picacio is an award-winning illustrator who has created covers for works by Harlan Ellison, Michael Moorcock, robert Silverberg, Neil Gaiman, Joe R Lansdale, Jeffrey Ford, Graham Joyce, Lucius Shepard, Charles De Lint, David Gemmell, LE Modesitt, Jr, Frederik Pohl, Hal Clement, and many, many more. In 1992, he earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the Unviersity of Texas at Austin. Four years later, he illustrated his first book - the 30th Anniversary Edition of Michael Moorcock's BEHOLD THE MAN. In May 2001, he chose a career in illustration over a career in architecture and devoted himself fulltime to the craft of illustrations.

His illustations have been selected numerous times for the SPECTRUM ANNUAL and in 2002, he received the International Horror Guild Award for Best Artist. In 2005, he received a Chesley Award (for best paperback Cover) and he was a finalist for the Hugo Award (Best Professional Artist.) Later the same year, he received the much-coveted World Fantasy Award (Artist).

He lives and works in San Antonio, Texas.