Ron Miller's Blog
April 1, 2016
Aliens
The text for "Aliens" has been completed and turned in to the publisher. The book, a heavily illustrated discussion about the possibility of intelligent life on other worlds, will be out next Spring from Watkins.
November 22, 2015
New book completed
"Spaceships" is now complete and in the hands of the publisher. It will be out from Smithsonian Books this coming year. I'll post the cover as soon as I get the final art.
October 19, 2015
The Art of Space
Just saw the French edition of The Art of Space for the first time! Tout l'art de l'espace
It is published by Huginn+Muninn
There is also a Japanese edition now (a copy is on its way to me) and a Chinese edition is forthcoming.
It is published by Huginn+Muninn
There is also a Japanese edition now (a copy is on its way to me) and a Chinese edition is forthcoming.
October 18, 2015
Time-Life pictorial
This was a pretty flattering piece about me that Time-Life ran. It's a year old, but I thought I'd still share it. Out of This World: Ron Miller’s Spectacular Space Art
The Art of Space
The Art of Space: The History of Space Art, from the Earliest Visions to the Graphics of the Modern Era will be a year old this coming November and is still selling steadily at Amazon. Air & Space/Smithsonian magazine has a full-page review of the book in this month's issue---including a mini interview with me---as well as a feature on the magazine's website.
October 17, 2015
Velda: Girl Detective
About 15 years ago I wrote a hard-boiled detective novel called "Velda" (now available as an ebook)
Since the book is set in the 1950s, I created a 4-page comic story for the website I had set up to promote the book. The premise was that the novel---which is written in the first person---was actually non-fiction and the comic story was something the book had inspired. I even did it in the style of the cheesy crime comics of the era. It was a lot of fun to do, so I did an entire "Velda" comic book. That was even more fun! There eventually wound up being nine complete comics. They were all done as though they had been originally published 60 years ago---right down to the ads.
These have all been gathered into three volumes by Caliber Comics, and include many extras along with the original comics, including a Velda pin-up calendar and a Velda paper doll kit!
There is a lot to the Velda universe---including four radio adaptions originally broadcast nationally by NPR. You can find out all about this and more here.
Since the book is set in the 1950s, I created a 4-page comic story for the website I had set up to promote the book. The premise was that the novel---which is written in the first person---was actually non-fiction and the comic story was something the book had inspired. I even did it in the style of the cheesy crime comics of the era. It was a lot of fun to do, so I did an entire "Velda" comic book. That was even more fun! There eventually wound up being nine complete comics. They were all done as though they had been originally published 60 years ago---right down to the ads.
These have all been gathered into three volumes by Caliber Comics, and include many extras along with the original comics, including a Velda pin-up calendar and a Velda paper doll kit!
There is a lot to the Velda universe---including four radio adaptions originally broadcast nationally by NPR. You can find out all about this and more here.
Return to Skull Island
This is an original for Baen Ebooks. It was written in collaboration with my brother-in-law, an ex-Marine, ex-police chief who provided most of the historic background against which the book is set.
The book begins in New York only moments after a giant ape crashes onto 34th Street, and filmmaker and entrepreneur Carl Denham finds himself on the run, with not only insurance companies hot on his heels but Thomas Dewey, the fiery District Attorney of New York City. It's a flight, however, that throws Denham squarely into the convoluted machinations of a mysterious, bronze-haired tigress named "Patricia Wildman," machinations that take the pair from running guns to a Central American revolutionary to finding themselves in Manchuria in the midst of the Chinese struggle against the Japanese. Carl and Patricia deal as best they can with prisons and firing squads, madmen and zealots---all to say nothing of the Japanese navy, a ruthlessly ambitious officer and the fate of the civilized world. But never did either of them think that the answer to their dilemma lay in leading a Japanese invasion of fabulous Skull Island and the mind-boggling secret that waited for them there.
The book begins in New York only moments after a giant ape crashes onto 34th Street, and filmmaker and entrepreneur Carl Denham finds himself on the run, with not only insurance companies hot on his heels but Thomas Dewey, the fiery District Attorney of New York City. It's a flight, however, that throws Denham squarely into the convoluted machinations of a mysterious, bronze-haired tigress named "Patricia Wildman," machinations that take the pair from running guns to a Central American revolutionary to finding themselves in Manchuria in the midst of the Chinese struggle against the Japanese. Carl and Patricia deal as best they can with prisons and firing squads, madmen and zealots---all to say nothing of the Japanese navy, a ruthlessly ambitious officer and the fate of the civilized world. But never did either of them think that the answer to their dilemma lay in leading a Japanese invasion of fabulous Skull Island and the mind-boggling secret that waited for them there.
The Iron Tempest
I recently revised my fantasy adventure, "Bradamant," as "The Iron Tempest" for release as an ebook from Baen.
It is based loosely on the great 16th century epic poem, "Orlando Furioso," and tells of the trials and tribulations of Lady Bradamant, one of Charlemagne's most formidable paladins, a fabulous woman knight who must face almost insurmountable odds in her quest for a love forbidden by her emperor, her family and her god. Odds that include such impediments as sorcerers and sorceresses, giants and hippogryphs, treachery and madness---all to say nothing of entire armies that have the misfortune of standing between Lady Bradamant and her heart's desire...even if she is not entirely sure what that desire really is.
The book is profusely illustrated by myself and also includes a special appendix.
An award-winning 16-hour-long dramatic audio adaptation of this book was created in 2001. I hope to get this online in the near future.
It is based loosely on the great 16th century epic poem, "Orlando Furioso," and tells of the trials and tribulations of Lady Bradamant, one of Charlemagne's most formidable paladins, a fabulous woman knight who must face almost insurmountable odds in her quest for a love forbidden by her emperor, her family and her god. Odds that include such impediments as sorcerers and sorceresses, giants and hippogryphs, treachery and madness---all to say nothing of entire armies that have the misfortune of standing between Lady Bradamant and her heart's desire...even if she is not entirely sure what that desire really is.
The book is profusely illustrated by myself and also includes a special appendix.
An award-winning 16-hour-long dramatic audio adaptation of this book was created in 2001. I hope to get this online in the near future.
The Company of Heroes
My old Bronwyn trilogy, originally published 25 years ago by Ace, has been completely rewritten as "The Company of Heroes" and republished by Baen Ebooks with two additional new titles added.
There was an initial panic when it was discovered that early rough drafts of the text for the first two books had been inadvertently uploaded (my bad!), but they were promptly replaced with the correct texts (though not before a couple of unhappy readers bought them, I'm sorry to say).
In addition to the revised and rewritten text, the books have new titles and new covers to reflect their reincarnation.
What are available now are, I think, the definitive "director's cut" of these books.
There was an initial panic when it was discovered that early rough drafts of the text for the first two books had been inadvertently uploaded (my bad!), but they were promptly replaced with the correct texts (though not before a couple of unhappy readers bought them, I'm sorry to say).
In addition to the revised and rewritten text, the books have new titles and new covers to reflect their reincarnation.
What are available now are, I think, the definitive "director's cut" of these books.
"Spaceships"
I am just wrapping up the final fiddly details on "Spaceships." This will be a large coffee table book in the same format as "The Art of Space."The Art of Space: The History of Space Art, from the Earliest Visions to the Graphics of the Modern Era It will be published next year by Smithsonian Books. It covers the history of the spaceship over the past 2000 years as both a concept and a reality. There are something like 400 illustrations, many of which have never been published before.
