![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs4S7IYGUT3Yy7Fl2acWFxmcp1BPNZfSxbkOSYXeVnKeJbr0oEGFuUSAblrShLsWo4YBi3H0L8RiErnZ3vjAnh3b8K_eAmj1AiMgrHNxjszqJsksvo4X_FszEAfKEdJinVtESXz5SvEuE/s400/Phoenix_WO_Ashes_Gurney.jpg)
Science fiction book covers are a perfect setting for such images, because it’s fun to contemplate strange forms whose function is a mystery.
This wraparound book cover, which I painted in oil, has just been released from IDW Press. It presents a starship interior going back into space. Like a child looking at the adult world, I don't know the purpose of each of the forms. I imagined that the forms were not so much designed by humans, as “grown” according to crystal-like rules.
Some forms have luminous panels, but overall, the scene is lit from a warm inside source behind us to the left, along with a cool sun out there in space, half-hidden by the window.
Read more about this deluxe edition of the novel by Harlan Ellison at IDW, the publisher's website.