It is now, at last, time for the cover art for The Core War and Other Stories to be revealed (click through to see full-size version):

Beautiful, isn’t it? Now, click through here for more on the artist’s site.

Art credits:

Drake-class frigate illustrated by William Black more of whose brilliant work can be seen here: http://william-black.deviantart.com/ .

Drake-class crest by Zeynep Dilli.

Background image of the Carina Nebula:

Credit for Hubble Image: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA).
Credit for CTIO Image: N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley) and NOAO/AURA/NSF.