THE ADVERSARY

Cover illustration for The Adversary (The Saga of the Pliocene Exile #4) by Julian May The last cover Michael Whelan illustrated for Julian May came at the height of his popularity in the 80s when he was on what would become an unprecedented run of Hugo awards. Michael was thrilled to work on the series and said that there was so much of interest in the Pliocene Exile that he was amazed at not finding more art derived from those books at SF convention art shows. The saga was a planned trilogy later split into four books, which is why he produced only three paintings. A work of science fiction, it contains a time travel element that takes the reader back 6 million years to an Earth unexpectedly populated not just by humans but also aliens that resembled races from Celtic myth. The painting is a rare instance when Michael placed real people into a cover illustration. His wife Audrey and daughter Alexa are in the lower right along with a few friends. In the lower left, there’s also an easter egg in the clever placement of the artist’s sigil.