TIME TRAVEL OR WHAT?! BOOK OF THE FUTURE RETURNS

After more than 40 years, UK publisher Usborne has decided to republish the hardback bindup version of three titles I wrote in 1979, with Kenneth Gatland as advisor and technical guru.

THE WORLD OF THE FUTURE (WOF) was created as three separate titles, ROBOTS, STAR TRAVEL and FUTURE CITIES, all available in paperback and hardback form. They were also bound together as a 3-in-1 hardback, and this BOOK OF THE FUTURE is what is now being republished.

It's certainly good to see WOF return after so long, even if many times over the years I have wondered why they let it go out of print.

Not that Usborne informed me of the new publishing plans: it was left for a friend and former Editor there to let me know. Hey ho, so many publishers have a rep for forgetting about their creatives, but I'll now take this as an opportunity to chat about the background of the books, and how they were made in a hilltop studio many miles from London.

Note too, the glorious art that the hugely talented, but now sadly late Brian Lewis, created for this jacket. The final illustration for publication was delivered to Usborne all those years ago, but I have some lovely UNPUBLISHED pieces from Brian and other illustrators who worked in my editorial team, and I'll be making some of these available as fine-art prints via the new VIDIarts gallery.

I'll base many of the upcoming blog entries on interviews I have given over the years, especially an in-depth feature that also features the WORLD OF THE UNKNOWN from before WOF, and my many FANTASTIC FUTURES crystal-ball art pieces, created before WOF was even thought about.