Summer Collection

Fiction

Fiction Bestsellers

Classic Fiction

Comics & Graphic Novels

Gothic & Horror

Humour

Modern Fiction

Myths & Fairytales

Poetry & Drama

Romance

Sci-Fi & Fantasy

New Sci Fi and Fantasy

Sci-Fi and Fantasy Bestsellers

Science Fiction

Fantasy

Romantasy

Crime & Thriller

New Crime and Thriller

Crime and Thriller Bestsellers

Crime

Thriller

Non-Fiction

New Non-Fiction

Non-Fiction Bestsellers

Ancient History

Art, Language & Essays

Biography & Memoir

Eyewitness & Reportage

Medieval & Renaissance

Miilitary History

Modern History

Philosophy & religion

Science and Natural History

Travel and Exploration

Children’s & Young Adults

New Children's

Children's Bestsellers

Classic Children's Stories

Children's Fiction

Young Adult

Low Stock

The Complete Collection

The Complete Collection

Fiction Bestsellers

Fiction Bestsellers

How can we help?

FAQs

Customer Service

Trending

Piranesi

The Neverending Story

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

 
Home
 
Fiction
 
Roadside Picnic
Trustpilot

Arkady & Boris Strugatsky

Roadside Picnic

£60

Illustrated by Dave McKean

Introduced By Dave McKean

Translated By Olena Bormashenko

Featuring the phenomenal work of award-winning illustrator Dave McKean, this Folio edition of Roadside Picnic is a design-led celebration of the Strugatsky Brothers’ sci-fi masterpiece, which also includes a fascinating new introduction by the artist.

Roadside Picnic

£60
Book Details
 
Presentation Box & BindingBound in blocked and printed textured paper
Blocked and printed slipcase
Printed endpapers
Digitally printed page edges
Dimensions10 inches x 6¼ inches
FontSet in PT Serif Pro and Filth of Icarus
Pages240 pages
AuthorArkady & Boris Strugatsky
Illustrated byDave McKean
Illustration7 double-page spread colour illustrations, including a double-sided fold-out
Printed in dark green ink with integrated illustrations
Publication Date14/03/2023
Editor's Notes
 
Years after the aliens have been and gone, six landing sites, or Zones, around the world still hold the mysterious remnants of the visitation. These include dangerous but valuable artefacts and, despite the unimaginable terror of these toxic wastelands, stalker Redrick Schuhart feels compelled to keep coming back, his life dominated by the illegal trade in alien products. An unsettling and unforgettable world, the Strugatsky Brothers’ mind-bending novel is a hugely influential twist on a ‘first-contact’ story and was the inspiration for the Andrei Tarkovsky film Stalker.

Every aspect of this remarkable edition radiates the shimmering, strangely compelling qualities of the Zones. Seven colour illustrations by award-winning illustrator Dave McKean visualise the Strugatsky Brothers’ masterful storytelling with startling effect, while the binding is blocked in silver and gold foils. Two-colour printing and McKean’s intricately drawn endpapers make this the ultimate collector’s edition for science-fiction aficionados.

An edition limited to 600 hand-numbered copies is also available here.

About the illustrator

Dave McKean

Illustrating Roadside Picnic was a long-cherished ambition for award-winning illustrator Dave McKean, who first visited the Zones in art school. In this edition, McKean imagines the topography of the Zones in his startling endpapers, printed in green and traced in blocked silver, while the chapter heads draw the reader further into the strange landscape and its enigmatic artefacts. Seven double-page illustrations, including a spectacular double-sided fold-out, bring McKean’s vision of the story into startling focus. Printed two-colour throughout, the ethereal green text is matched with green page edges to enhance the otherworldly qualities of this beguiling edition: the ultimate tribute to the Strugatsky Brothers’ science-fiction classic.

1 of 6

About the illustrator

Dave McKean

Illustrating Roadside Picnic was a long-cherished ambition for award-winning illustrator Dave McKean, who first visited the Zones in art school. In this edition, McKean imagines the topography of the Zones in his startling endpapers, printed in green and traced in blocked silver, while the chapter heads draw the reader further into the strange landscape and its enigmatic artefacts. Seven double-page illustrations, including a spectacular double-sided fold-out, bring McKean’s vision of the story into startling focus. Printed two-colour throughout, the ethereal green text is matched with green page edges to enhance the otherworldly qualities of this beguiling edition: the ultimate tribute to the Strugatsky Brothers’ science-fiction classic.

2 of 6

About the illustrator

Dave McKean

Illustrating Roadside Picnic was a long-cherished ambition for award-winning illustrator Dave McKean, who first visited the Zones in art school. In this edition, McKean imagines the topography of the Zones in his startling endpapers, printed in green and traced in blocked silver, while the chapter heads draw the reader further into the strange landscape and its enigmatic artefacts. Seven double-page illustrations, including a spectacular double-sided fold-out, bring McKean’s vision of the story into startling focus. Printed two-colour throughout, the ethereal green text is matched with green page edges to enhance the otherworldly qualities of this beguiling edition: the ultimate tribute to the Strugatsky Brothers’ science-fiction classic.

3 of 6

About the illustrator

Dave McKean

Illustrating Roadside Picnic was a long-cherished ambition for award-winning illustrator Dave McKean, who first visited the Zones in art school. In this edition, McKean imagines the topography of the Zones in his startling endpapers, printed in green and traced in blocked silver, while the chapter heads draw the reader further into the strange landscape and its enigmatic artefacts. Seven double-page illustrations, including a spectacular double-sided fold-out, bring McKean’s vision of the story into startling focus. Printed two-colour throughout, the ethereal green text is matched with green page edges to enhance the otherworldly qualities of this beguiling edition: the ultimate tribute to the Strugatsky Brothers’ science-fiction classic.

4 of 6

About the illustrator

Dave McKean

Illustrating Roadside Picnic was a long-cherished ambition for award-winning illustrator Dave McKean, who first visited the Zones in art school. In this edition, McKean imagines the topography of the Zones in his startling endpapers, printed in green and traced in blocked silver, while the chapter heads draw the reader further into the strange landscape and its enigmatic artefacts. Seven double-page illustrations, including a spectacular double-sided fold-out, bring McKean’s vision of the story into startling focus. Printed two-colour throughout, the ethereal green text is matched with green page edges to enhance the otherworldly qualities of this beguiling edition: the ultimate tribute to the Strugatsky Brothers’ science-fiction classic.

5 of 6

About the illustrator

Dave McKean

Illustrating Roadside Picnic was a long-cherished ambition for award-winning illustrator Dave McKean, who first visited the Zones in art school. In this edition, McKean imagines the topography of the Zones in his startling endpapers, printed in green and traced in blocked silver, while the chapter heads draw the reader further into the strange landscape and its enigmatic artefacts. Seven double-page illustrations, including a spectacular double-sided fold-out, bring McKean’s vision of the story into startling focus. Printed two-colour throughout, the ethereal green text is matched with green page edges to enhance the otherworldly qualities of this beguiling edition: the ultimate tribute to the Strugatsky Brothers’ science-fiction classic.

6 of 6

Arkady (1925–91) and Boris (1933–2012) Strugatsky were brothers who wrote some of the most highly acclaimed science fiction published in the Soviet Union. Arkady studied foreign languages and worked as a writer, editor and translator; Boris was an astronomer based near Leningrad before taking up writing full-time. Much of the brothers’ socially critical science fiction is set in the ‘Noon Universe’, a utopia in which communism has been victorious. It was steadily translated into English from the 1970s but the Strugatsky brothers are especially renowned in several Eastern European countries. Their works have often been adapted for film and TV, most notably Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker, based on Roadside Picnic.

Dave McKean has released 60 books as an illustrator, author, photographer and designer, including Cages (1990–6, winner of two Harvey Awards, the Ignatz Award, La Pantera Award, and the Alph-Art Award), Pictures That Tick (2009, V&A Illustrated Book of the Year), and Black Dog: The Dreams of Paul Nash (2016, a 14–18 NOW Foundation/Imperial War Museum/LICAF commission). He has collaborated with Neil Gaiman (Sandman, 1989–97; Coraline, 2002), John Cale (What’s Welsh for Zen, 1998; Sedition and Alchemy, 2003), David Almond (The Savage, 2008), Richard Dawkins (The Magic of Reality, 2011), Heston Blumenthal (as Director of Story at The Fat Duck), and others. He has worked in theatre, galleries, and the music industry, and has written and directed three feature films: MirrorMask (2005), The Gospel of Us (2012, winner of two Cymru BAFTAs), and Luna (2014, winner of the Raindance Award for Best Picture, BIFA). For the Folio Society he has illustrated Neil Gaiman’s American Gods (2017), Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend (2018), Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast (2022), Arkady & Boris Strugatsky’s Roadside Picnic (2023) and Invisible Cities (2023).

Trustpilot