Artist Ben Baldwin has posted the original artwork he created for my story "Into the Depths of Illuminated Seas," which appears in the new issue of Interzone. I love the art and am wondering how my family will react to a print hanging in our house (fingers are crossed for a positive reaction, because I plan to order one). If you want to see a larger version, click on the link above.
I should mention, though, that readers won't find a naked woman standing in ocean waves in the story. Ben used that oft-mentioned "artistic license" technique to great effect, as he aimed at capturing the story's essence instead of illustrating a particular scene.
And while there has been a lot of worthy debate recently about why so many naked women are featured in fantasy magazine art (especially on the covers), in this case I believe the subdued nudity is appropriate. My story deals with a woman cursed to have the names of dying sailors continually flow across her body. Without showing her skin, I don't see how anyone could illustrate this story. If a fantasy magazine plops a naked woman on every cover, yeah, I have major concerns about that. But when an artist illustrates a particular story where you have to see some skin to expose (pun intended) a major plot point, then such an illustration strikes me as appropriate. Especially when it's done as tastefully and artistically as Ben did. It'll be interesting to see what other people think.
Ben is an incredibly talented artist who has illustrated a number of books and magazines. You can check out more of his art on his website at www.benbaldwin.co.uk. For more on my story, please see this recent post.