Low Stock

Arkady & Boris Strugatsky

Roadside Picnic (Limited Edition)

£295

Illustrated By Dave McKean

Introduced By Dave McKean

Translated By Olena Bormashenko

The Strugatsky Brothers’ science fiction mastery meets David McKean’s phenomenal artistic talent in this new Folio limited edition. Introduced and signed by the artist, and limited to just 600 copies, this is a stunning issue of Roadside Picnic.

● Only 36 Left in Stock

Roadside Picnic (Limited Edition)

£295

● Only 36 Left in Stock

Book Details

Presentation Box & BindingBound in blocked and printed cloth
Blocked cloth slipcase with a printed lenticular panel in a die-cut shape
Cold-foiled and 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 one double-sided fold-out
Printed in dark green ink with integrated illustrations

Publication Date21/02/2023

PrintingLimited to 600 hand-numbered copies

Editor's Notes

Years after the aliens have been and gone, six landing sites, or Zones, around the world still contain the mysterious remnants of the visitation. Toxic wastelands of unimaginable terror, they hold dangerous artefacts and silvery threads of death that compel the straight-talking stalker, Redrick Shuhart, to keep coming back, his life dominated by the black-market trade in alien products. First published in 1972 from behind the Iron Curtain, the Strugatsky Brothers’ Roadside Picnic became a globally revered sci-fi classic and inspired the Andrei Tarkovsky film Stalker.
Award-winning illustrator Dave McKean describes the creative process in his exclusive new introduction: ‘Visualizing this place is in some ways like trying to bottle magnetism.’ Incredibly, this is precisely what McKean has achieved: from subtle nods to 1970s graphics and unnerving topographical renderings, to the arresting painterly illustrations of terrifying visits into the Zone, McKean’s arresting artwork is a startling vision of a bleak world.
Limited to just 600 hand-numbered copies, each signed by Dave McKean, this ultimate edition is a tribute to the Strugatskys’ masterpiece. Also included is an exclusive original print (created by McKean using elements from AI generated illustrations) and four prints with designs by the artist, as well as a spectacular lenticular slipcase that creates a mind-bending optical illusion as the book is removed, recalling the shimmering air of the Zone.
An edition that is not limited is available here.

About the Illustrator

Dave McKean

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).

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About the Illustrator

Dave McKean

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About the Illustrator

Dave McKean

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About the Illustrator

Dave McKean

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About the Illustrator

Dave McKean

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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).

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