Description

K.W. Jeter's novel "Farewell Horizontal" was originally intended to be the first book of a trilogy. The story takes place on and in a megastructure called Cylinder. We have no idea who built it nor why. The protagonist lives on the vertical surface, riding around on his Indian motorcycle and creating graphical branding for warring tribes who also live there. One mistake and you take "The Big Step" into the void. The story seemed an apt metaphor for freelance illustration. The figures in the background are "gas angels," one of whom plays an important role in the plot. My painting was the cover for the St. Martin's Press hardcover, published in 1989 and with some modifications to the sky, the reissue as a Signet paperback, the version you see here. Jeter used some of the material for the intended trilogy in his book "Madlands," published by St. Martins in 1991, for which I also did the cover.