The film tells the story of an expedition led by a figure known as the 'Stalker' ( Alexander Kaidanovsky), who guides his two clients-a melancholic writer ( Anatoly Solonitsyn) seeking inspiration, and a professor ( Nikolai Grinko) seeking scientific discovery-through a hazardous wasteland to a mysterious restricted site known simply as the 'Zone', where there supposedly exists a room which grants a person's innermost desires. For the Folio Society he has illustrated Neil Gaiman’s American Gods (2017), Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend(2018) and Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast (2022).Stalker (Russian: Сталкер, IPA: ) is a 1979 Soviet science fiction art film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky with a screenplay written by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, loosely based on their 1972 novel Roadside Picnic.

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). 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. Two-colour printing and McKean’s intricately drawn endpapers make this the ultimate collector’s edition for science-fiction aficionados.Īn edition limited to 600 hand-numbered copies is also available here.ĭave 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). 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.

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.Įvery aspect of this remarkable edition radiates the shimmering, strangely compelling qualities of the Zones. 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.

Years after the aliens have been and gone, six landing sites, or Zones, around the world still hold the mysterious remnants of the visitation.

Roadside picnic book