• Alan Pollack has his own site (the original art for Permanence can be seen there). Mr. Pollack's cover for Ventus was his first foray into stricly science-fictional themes for a cover; previously he had made his reputation doing fantasy cover art. (I'd like to think that Ventus was a breakthrough piece for him, but of course, that's just my own ego talking.) He continues to have great success; one of his covers was reprinted as the cover illustration for Spectrum 8, the latest in the annual series of highly-respected best-of fantastic art collections.
• Verne Busby is a professional illustrator, one of the partenrs at Totino-Busby. He produces artwork for corporate clients, and also creates fine art, some samples of which can be found on the website. I love the cover for The Claus Effect, it's very atmospheric and, somehow, nails the color-palette of the novel that David and I had in mind as we were writing.

Speaking of palettes, it's interesting to note that the covers for Ventus, The Claus Effect and Permanence share the same basic palette. Put the three side by side and their colors are harmonious, in other words. It's a small thing, perhaps, but very useful for creating a particular "look and feel" to my books.

• Acclaimed French artist Manchu has done book covers for many of the greats, including Philip K. Dick and Philip Jose Farmer. I'm honored to have him doing the cover for the French translation of Ventus.

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Recommended

Busting the mind-as-software metaphor wide open. Extropians, sci-fi dreamers and Hollywood have swallowed uncritically the idea that the brain is a computer and the mind is software. In Being There, Andy Clark shows why this is not true. The mind is fully embodied: not just contained in flesh and blood, but identical with it--and more, mind is distributed between the body and the environment in a way that doesn't permit it to be completely distinguished from its surroundings. The Matrix is fantasy: this is science. Read Being There if you have an interest in knowing what it is that you really are.