The Third Deadly Sin(From the book artist's book
"Affetti")By : Deborah Susan Jones : Editor
Valhalla Books in Hungary had
commissioned Peter on a number of books but this cover art
for Lawrence Sanderson's thriller novel "The Third Deadly
Sin" was a bit of a departure from his classic science
fiction imagery and an additional commission by Valhalla
for cover art for "Unholy Fire" by Whitley Streiber,
triggered a sub-theme of his fantasy art imagery in
which the principal focus is on expression of human
emotion through body gesture and pose.Lawrence Sanders
(March 15, 1920 – February 7, 1998) was an American
novelist and short story writer born in Brooklyn in New
York City. After public school he attended Wabash
College, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree,
the latter being one of two things the author and artist
have in common. He then returned to New York and worked
at Macy's Department Store (this being the second thing
they have in common as the artist also worked in a
department store while studying for his Bachelor of Arts
degree). In 1943 Sanders joined the United States
Marine Corps and was discharged in 1946.Here any similarities end. Whilst Sanders was
a journalist for over twenty years, working for such
publications as Mechanics Illustrated and Science and
Mechanics while beavering away at his real love of
writing fiction, the artist was propelled into working
at what he really wanted to do even before he left art
school.A series of short stories by Sanders
featuring hardboiled insurance investigator Wolf
Lannihan appeared in the pages of the Swank Magazine in
1968-69, but his real break came with the publication of
his first novel The Anderson Tapes in 1970 at the age of
50 and the subsequent hit 1972 film which dealt with a
plot by a group of criminals to rob a luxury apartment
building. In 1971, Sanders received an Edgar Award from
the Mystery Writers of America for best first novel.Eventually, he wrote "The Third Deadly Sin"
and here the author and artist crossed paths courtesy of
the go-between of Valhalla Books in Hungary.Valhalla, a small upstart
company in Hungary who were great admirers of Peter's well
known science fiction art came to his Wimbledon studio and
typical science fiction image requests eventually evolved
into requests for these thriller covers, with a twist.One thing soon leads to
another, and soon these images spawned ideas for a whole
series of images that concern themselves with emotions
expressed through the gestures and postures of the body.Deborah Susan Jones
