A nice little treat
for me at CONtraflow Con was getting to meet Richard Hescox, who was the artist
guest of honor. Although he has done much wonderful work since, I’ll always
associate him with the covers for the Dray Prescot series of Sword and Planet novels
published by DAW between about 1972 and 1988. This would include A Sword for Kregen, #20 in the series, my
first exposure to the books, and still my favorite. Hescox didn’t do all the
covers. There were 37 books published originally
in that series in English, which was written by the British author Ken Bulmer. They
were definitely an influence on my own Talera series.
I chatted with Mr. Hescox several times and he was charming
and friendly, and very knowledgeable about art. I sat in on a panel where he showed images of some amazing fantasy art from around the world that has very seldom
been seen. Many of these would make great covers. Check out his webpage to see
what he is up to these days.
Here are some more of his covers for the Prescot series:
