HOT SKY AT MIDNIGHT

Cover illustration for Robert Silverberg

Jan 24, 2025

An attractive woman with black hair holds her left arm up, and her cloak, black decorated with stars, extends like a wing over her head. She wears a tight x-shaped top with straps that cross over her shoulders. Her full-length black skirt hugs her hips and is decorated with ammonite fossils. The sky behind her swirls in an abstract pattern of orange and yellow, reminiscent of butterfly wings. A man is standing by her side in a defensive posture holding a shiv. There is smooth skin where his eyes would be. They are standing on a mound of jungle-like vegetation with water to their right and a futuristic cityscape skewing in a diagonal perspective to their left. The closest building is a hotel with a billboard that reads "The Gloam Inn." Two approaching figures look up. One shields his eyes from the bright halo behind the woman. The other is looking up reverently with his hand in a fist at his chest. Futuristic breathing masks cover their mouths and noses. Wires extend from pouches at their sides, forking like headphone cables where they loop around their necks. Wearing gray cloaks and rendered entirely monotone, they resemble statues. — HOT SKY AT MIDNIGHT (1994), Acrylic - 30" x 40"

Sometimes in the preliminary stages of an illustration I'll hit upon concepts that I find compelling but for whatever reason don't get the opportunity to explore. With Robert Silverberg's manuscripts, I've found there's never a shortage of ideas or inspiration.

LEFT: Sepia toned alternative preliminary concept for HOT SKY AT MIDNIGHT featuring a naked man with smooth skin where his eyes would be. On a stone path surrounding water, he sits with arms resting on his knees. The reflection in the water is of barren tree limbs. RIGHT: Tonal preliminary concept for HOT SKY AT MIDNIGHT featuring a scantily clad woman with black shoulder length hair. She wears bikini bottoms and a silky cape. With one arm back resting on stone behind her, the fabric slides nearly exposes her breasts. In her other hand, she wields a knife at her hip. Behind her are ruins made of concrete mixed with technology in a state overgrown with jungle vegetation. Through a break in the trees a skyscraper resembling the Transamerica Pyramid and another building can be seen. — Alternative preliminary concepts for HOT SKY AT MIDNIGHT

That was the case again with Hot Sky at Midnight, the third and last of the covers I illustrated for his books. Inevitably, the concepts have to be distilled down to one, and the final decision on the cover belongs to the art director.