Virtual World
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Cover Story
The cover of this issue is a design incorporating illustrations from four books illustrated by the subject of our Authorgraph, Ian Beck. The top left illustration is from Five Little Ducks (Orchard), the top right from Poppy and Pip's Picnic (to be published Autumn '97 by HarperCollins), the bottom left from The Owl and the Pussy-cat (Transworld) and the bottom right from Home Before Dark (to be published September '97 by Scholastic). Ian Beck's Picture Book (Hippo) is reviewed in this issue.
Beck talks to BfK's interviewer, Julia Eccleshare, also in this issue. His distinctive decorative style with its sensitive pen line and cross hatching has a nostalgic but sometimes also a surreal quality - he describes it as 'a look that is floating, strong and wistful all at the same time'.
Thanks to Orchard, HarperCollins, Transworld and Scholastic for their help in producing this composite cover.
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Send to friendVirtual World
In a slightly futuristic England, where rurality has all but vanished and reality is increasingly sought on the other side of the monitor screen, a group of friends explore the dazzling mysteries of Silicon Sphere, a computer game which draws them so deeply into the virtual world that some of them never return. At the heart of the literally absorbing game is the predictable mad inventor, but one of the many entertaining aspects of the story is that the reader cannot really decide whether or not he is evil. This is a great adventure yarn for nerds and novices alike; the cyberspeak gets a little dense at times, but this is more than compensated for by the visual spectaculars that erupt from almost every chapter.
