Your favorite book covers
Endy9
with a star on his forhead. B. The heorine talking to ghosts before a
fire. C. The Old Riddlemaster with his hands curled in.
2. The Thomas Covenant covers that everyone else seems to dislike. I only
picked up the books because of the illustration of the Word of Power on the
bridge on the cover of Lord Foul's Bane. I loved all the art work on both
Covenant series by the same illustrator. The Guardian of the forest on the
second book, Elena and others in Green with Covenant kneeling on the third.
The brother and sister on the One Tree. The Giant trapped in the floor on
White Gold Wielder. Only the Wounded Land cover was slightly less
impressive with the Sword rising out of the water to meet Covenant's hand.
3. I recently picked up Empty Cities of the Full Moon mainly because the
cover art was so impressive. Couldn't read the story (stopped after 100
pages) but the cover art is great.
--
Dennis/Endy
http://members.home.net/endymion91/index.htm
--
John Hua
heh.
Bought it because of the cover, but kept it because it was excellent.
John
Steve M.
Endy9 <endym...@home.com> wrote in message
news:Ub%B7.107743$P8.37...@news1.elmhst1.il.home.com...
I agree re the Covenant Illearth War cover (Caerroil Wildwood in front of
the forest). Runner up is probably the cover to Goodkind's newest book,
_Faith of the Fallen_, which captures my breath everytime I see it (more
than the book itself).
--
Stephen I. Miran
"Do not say that all the world is sad. Simple but strong joys _do_
exist.... To live is still bearable." --Peter Il'yich Tchaikovsky
P. Korda
Endy9 <endym...@home.com> wrote:
>1. The Riddlemaster of Hed series that showed A. The Young Riddlemaster
>with a star on his forhead. B. The heorine talking to ghosts before a
[...]
>2. The Thomas Covenant covers that everyone else seems to dislike. I only
>picked up the books because of the illustration of the Word of Power on the
>bridge on the cover of Lord Foul's Bane. I loved all the art work on both
>Covenant series by the same illustrator. The Guardian of the forest on the
[...]
You're a big Darrell Sweet fan, I see. I really don't like his work,
myself.
Cover art I like:
It may be cheating to pick a Whelan piece, but my favorite cover from
my book collection is _Black Sun Rising_. Not only is it a great piece
of art, it perfectly conveys the magnificent creepiness of Tarrant the
Hunter.
Other good ones:
Robert Gould's cover for the SF Book Club omnibus of the first 4 Elric
novels. I bought that volume _just_ for the cover art (I already owned
all the books individually).
Don Maitz's piece which appeared on the cover of Tor's Orb reprint
_Shadow and Claw_ (Omnibus of Wolfe's _Shadow of the Torturer_ and
_Claw of the Conciliator_). It's a kind of weird picture of a Torturer
in full regalia.
All of Kinuko Craft's recent covers for Patricia McKillip. They're all
beautiful, fairy-tale-esque pieces of art.
Thomas Canty's cover for Ellen Kushner's _Swordspoint_. Again, a
perfect match to the book, very swash-buckley.
I'm also oddly fond of the mid-80s cover of Zelazny's _Nine Princes in
Amber_. It's pretty low-key, but I really like the mix of blues,
purples, and greens used in the painting, and the picture itself-- a
rider looking over a magnificent city in the distance-- fits well with
Corwin's exile from his home.
--
Pam Korda
kor2 @ midway.uchicago.edu
David Eppstein
ko...@midway.uchicago.edu (P. Korda) wrote:
> All of Kinuko Craft's recent covers for Patricia McKillip. They're all
> beautiful, fairy-tale-esque pieces of art.
Her Sherri Tepper covers are nice too, with the possible exception of
_Marianne, The Matchbox, and the Malachite Mouse_ which seems too obvious
or plain or something. _The Flight of Mavin Manyshaped_ especially is one
I like. I also like the non-fantasy art she does (e.g. she's regularly in
the Society of Illustrators annual).
Of course all of her women look like Botticelli angels
(cue Picnic at Hanging Rock) but I don't mind...
--
David Eppstein UC Irvine Dept. of Information & Computer Science
epps...@ics.uci.edu http://www.ics.uci.edu/~eppstein/
Christopher Spring
> Cover art I like:
>
> It may be cheating to pick a Whelan piece, but my favorite cover from
> my book collection is _Black Sun Rising_. Not only is it a great piece
> of art, it perfectly conveys the magnificent creepiness of Tarrant the
> Hunter.
Whelan is hard not to pick. I love his covers for Julian May's Saga
of Pliocene Exile, particularly _The_Nonborn_King_: it's accurate from
the text, but fanciful and expressive enough to be appealing. The only
reason I can imagine that Del Rey replaced the Whelan cover art on the
series is that somehow it would be cheaper. I wonder if they factored
in the loss in sales from the eye-candy perspective...
--
........................................................................
::Christopher T Spring spr...@fishkill.ibm.com (914)894-0831
::IBM Microelectronics Hopewell Junction, NY t 533-0831
::......................................................................
::Give us your entire life or we won't allow you
:: to work on cool projects. - Douglas Coupland, _Microserfs_
Randy Money
Unknown Kadath_ (Gervardo? Gervasso? -- argh -- I used to know the
artist's name and I think I'm smushing his first and last name together;
he did other covers I liked, too).
2) The covers of the mass-market LOTR that I first read in the '70s that
I seem to recall were landscapes Tolkien himself painted. None of the
subsequent covers have seemed, to me as representative of the contents
as those, although the recent trade paperback edition (before the movie
covers) were good. (The three volume set, not the single volume.)
3) The old head series of Ballantine H. P. Lovecraft covers. Very
effective, even if you felt a bit odd about carrying them around in
public.
4) The original Ballantine covers for _Titus Groan_ and _Gormanghast_.
5) Almost anything by Thomas Canty or Mel Odom.
6) Still fond of Kelly Fress' (sp?) cover of Fred Brown's _Martians, Go
Home!_
Randy M.
Joe Morris
Phil Dick _A Scanner Darkly_ and
Barrington J Bayley _The Zen Gun_
--
Joe Morris, SysAdmin and Not Insane
Atlanta stories: http://www.olagrande.net/users/jolomo
Konrad Gaertner
except those showing Vlad (Yendi and Taltos), most (but not all) by
Stephen Hickman; also the Rakeland covers on the Khaavren books (anyone
know for certain if he's doing the Viscount covers too?).
I also really like the Foglio covers for the Starblaze editions of
Asprin's Myth series.
Can't think of any others right now.
--KG
Andrew Wheeler
>
> <implied question of thread title>
The covers I imprinted most strongly on were Ron Walotsky's for the
paperbacks of the Amber series (in the late '70s, I think). I think he
did a couple of other Zelazny titles (I know he also did _Creatures of
Light and Darkness_, since that's the edition I used to have) in the
same style, but it was the Amber books that really got to me.
Most of the rest of my formative years I seem to have spent reading
'80s Del Rey books, so I have fond memories of books found under
Darrell Sweet covers (even if none of those covers stick much in the
mind). I do remember liking the NAL covers for Robert Heinlein books
(those were by Vincent di Fate and, before him, I think Paul Lehr -- I
only have Vinnie ones at hand now) to the Sweet-covered Del Rey books.
These days, the things I can think of are mostly covers that I helped
commission (like Donato's jacket for _The Lord of the Rings_), which I
don't think is what the OP meant.
--
Andrew Wheeler
Editor, SF Book Club (USA) -- speaking only for myself
"Life is a god-damned, stinking, treacherous game and
nine hundred and ninety-nine men out of a thousand are
bastards." -- Theodore Dreiser
Aaron Bergman
_The Changeling Sea_, Patricia Mckillip: "Periwinkle", Michael Whelan.
Aaron
David Eppstein
Omixochitl <omixo...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> _Feersum Endjinn_ by Iain Banks, 1st US edition
That's with the "Red Steps" Whelan, right?
Endy9
news:9147BE2FD...@news.rcn.com...
> David Eppstein <epps...@ics.uci.edu> wrote in <eppstein-
> 264634.080...@news.service.uci.edu>:
>
> >In article <914770249...@news.rcn.com>,
> > Omixochitl <omixo...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> _Feersum Endjinn_ by Iain Banks, 1st US edition
> >
> >That's with the "Red Steps" Whelan, right?
>
>
> http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0553374591.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
Good one.
>
> Also, I just remembered another great cover! One of the MMPB editions of
> _Second Foundation_ by Isaac Asimov:
> http://www.glassonion.com/gallery/archive/authors/asimov/arkady.jpg
>
Umm. This one is just OK. :)
> Omixochitl
Endy9
seen the covers I was describing.
Here are the Thomas Covenant, Darrell Sweet covers I like.
http://www.wam.umd.edu/~resop/book1_2.jpg
http://www.wam.umd.edu/~resop/book2_2.jpg
http://www.wam.umd.edu/~resop/book3_2.jpg
http://www.wam.umd.edu/~resop/book4_2.jpg
http://www.wam.umd.edu/~resop/book5_2.jpg
http://www.wam.umd.edu/~resop/book6_2.jpg
David Given
"Endy9" <endym...@home.com> writes:
[...]
>> http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0553374591.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
>
> Good one.
Indeed.
(IIRC, that painting was actually a 'real art' painting he did, that was
later bought for the book. It is perfect for _FE_, though.)
>> Also, I just remembered another great cover! One of the MMPB editions of
>> _Second Foundation_ by Isaac Asimov:
>> http://www.glassonion.com/gallery/archive/authors/asimov/arkady.jpg
>>
> Umm. This one is just OK. :)
It works better if you see his other _Foundation_ paintings; the three are
linked:
Foundation:
http://www.michaelwhelan.com/gallery/archive/authors/asimov/found.jpg
Foundation & Empire:
http://www.michaelwhelan.com/gallery/archive/authors/asimov/mule.jpg
Second Foundation:
http://www.michaelwhelan.com/gallery/archive/authors/asimov/arkady.jpg
...
While they aren't cover paintings, I rather like these pictures of
Zelazny's _Amber_ series (by James Morrow? Sorry, the book I scanned them
from is at home):
http://www.cowlark.com/Personal/zelazny/zelazny.jpg
http://www.cowlark.com/Personal/zelazny/zelazny2.jpg
http://www.cowlark.com/Personal/zelazny/zelazny3.jpg
http://www.cowlark.com/Personal/zelazny/zelazny4.jpg
http://www.cowlark.com/Personal/zelazny/zelazny5.jpg
http://www.cowlark.com/Personal/zelazny/zelazny6.jpg
http://www.cowlark.com/Personal/zelazny/zelazny7.jpg
http://www.cowlark.com/Personal/zelazny/zelazny8.jpg
http://www.cowlark.com/Personal/zelazny/zelazny9.jpg
http://www.cowlark.com/Personal/zelazny/zelazny10.jpg
--
+- David Given --------McQ-+ "There is nothing in the world so dangerous ---
| Work: d...@tao-group.com | and I mean *nothing* --- as a children's story that
| Play: d...@cowlark.com | happens to be true." --- Master Li Kao, _The Bridge
+- http://www.cowlark.com -+ of Birds_
Endy9
news:bvujr9...@172.16.100.66...
> In article <UaQC7.113952$P8.39...@news1.elmhst1.il.home.com>,
> "Endy9" <endym...@home.com> writes:
> [...]
> >> http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0553374591.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
> >
> > Good one.
>
> Indeed.
>
> (IIRC, that painting was actually a 'real art' painting he did, that was
> later bought for the book. It is perfect for _FE_, though.)
>
> >> Also, I just remembered another great cover! One of the MMPB editions
of
> >> _Second Foundation_ by Isaac Asimov:
> >> http://www.glassonion.com/gallery/archive/authors/asimov/arkady.jpg
> >>
> > Umm. This one is just OK. :)
>
> It works better if you see his other _Foundation_ paintings; the three are
> linked:
I remember these covers and must say this one was better than any other 2nd
Foundation cover I have seen, but it still doesn't wow me (shrug).
>
> Foundation:
> http://www.michaelwhelan.com/gallery/archive/authors/asimov/found.jpg
>
> Foundation & Empire:
> http://www.michaelwhelan.com/gallery/archive/authors/asimov/mule.jpg
>
> Second Foundation:
> http://www.michaelwhelan.com/gallery/archive/authors/asimov/arkady.jpg
>
> ...
>
> While they aren't cover paintings, I rather like these pictures of
> Zelazny's _Amber_ series (by James Morrow? Sorry, the book I scanned them
> from is at home):
>
> http://www.cowlark.com/Personal/zelazny/zelazny.jpg
> http://www.cowlark.com/Personal/zelazny/zelazny2.jpg
> http://www.cowlark.com/Personal/zelazny/zelazny3.jpg
> http://www.cowlark.com/Personal/zelazny/zelazny4.jpg
> http://www.cowlark.com/Personal/zelazny/zelazny5.jpg
> http://www.cowlark.com/Personal/zelazny/zelazny6.jpg
> http://www.cowlark.com/Personal/zelazny/zelazny7.jpg
> http://www.cowlark.com/Personal/zelazny/zelazny8.jpg
> http://www.cowlark.com/Personal/zelazny/zelazny9.jpg
> http://www.cowlark.com/Personal/zelazny/zelazny10.jpg
>
Really nice! These remind me of something I'm looking for. There is a set
of Tarot cards with all the artwork based on the Amber series. I can only
find it sold in France and not available the internet but by snail mail. If
anyone comes across these sold by the Net in the US I would greatly
appreciate the link!
Andrew Wheeler
>
> While they aren't cover paintings, I rather like these
> pictures of Zelazny's _Amber_ series (by James Morrow? Sorry,
> the book I scanned them from is at home):
>
> http://www.cowlark.com/Personal/zelazny/zelazny.jpg
The art is by *Gray* Morrow, and was originally (most of it, at least)
from _The Illustrated Roger Zelazny_.
What book did you get it in? It looks like an odd format (color
insert in a mass-market paperback, maybe?)
David Eppstein
Omixochitl <omixo...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >> _Feersum Endjinn_ by Iain Banks, 1st US edition
> >
> >That's with the "Red Steps" Whelan, right?
>
> This one?
>
> http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0553374591.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
That's the one. As I understand it, it was originally painted as a
pure-art piece, but works very well for that book's cover.
aRJay
<andrew...@earthlink.com> writes
>David Given wrote:
>>
>> While they aren't cover paintings, I rather like these
>> pictures of Zelazny's _Amber_ series (by James Morrow? Sorry,
>> the book I scanned them from is at home):
>>
>> http://www.cowlark.com/Personal/zelazny/zelazny.jpg
>> <et cetera.>
>
>The art is by *Gray* Morrow, and was originally (most of it, at least)
>from _The Illustrated Roger Zelazny_.
>
>What book did you get it in? It looks like an odd format (color
>insert in a mass-market paperback, maybe?)
>
like the ones in my copy of _The Illustrated Roger Zelazny_ which is the
1979 Ace edition which by size would be a mass market edition but I
don't see the warning that you will burn in hell if the book doesn't
have a cover that I tend to associate with non trade editions.
--
aRJay
"In this great and creatorless universe, where so much beautiful has
come to be out of the chance interactions of the basic properties of
matter, it seems so important that we love one another,"
- Lucy Kemnitzer
Andrew Wheeler
>
> In article <3BDE119C...@earthlink.com>, Andrew Wheeler
> <andrew...@earthlink.com> writes
> >David Given wrote:
> >>
> >> While they aren't cover paintings, I rather like these
> >> pictures of Zelazny's _Amber_ series (by James Morrow?
> >> Sorry, the book I scanned them from is at home):
> >>
> >> http://www.cowlark.com/Personal/zelazny/zelazny.jpg
> >> <et cetera.>
> >
> >The art is by *Gray* Morrow, and was originally (most of it,
> >at least) from _The Illustrated Roger Zelazny_.
> >
> >What book did you get it in? It looks like an odd format
> >(color insert in a mass-market paperback, maybe?)
> >
> I don't know where David got them but the ones I looked at
> looked just like the ones in my copy of _The Illustrated
> Roger Zelazny_ which is the 1979 Ace edition which by size
> would be a mass market edition but I don't see the warning
> that you will burn in hell if the book doesn't have a cover
> that I tend to associate with non trade editions.
That's possible -- I have the Baronet large-format _Illustrated RZ_,
so it would be formatted differently from the Ace edition. Some of the
art is a little different in the Baronet book -- for example, Julian
is riding off of his Trump.
Rosy with a why
> I like the idea someone else used of presenting links, for those who haven't
> seen the covers I was describing.
> Here are the Thomas Covenant, Darrell Sweet covers I like.
>
> http://www.wam.umd.edu/~resop/book1_2.jpg
>
> http://www.wam.umd.edu/~resop/book2_2.jpg
>
> http://www.wam.umd.edu/~resop/book3_2.jpg
>
> http://www.wam.umd.edu/~resop/book4_2.jpg
>
> http://www.wam.umd.edu/~resop/book5_2.jpg
>
> http://www.wam.umd.edu/~resop/book6_2.jpg
Ugh! I hate covers that try to depict scenes from the book. They
almost never carry it off with dignity or with style, and I don't feel
these do.
Endy9
news:c509a1c.01103...@posting.google.com...
That's what I like about Sweet's work. So what do you want a cover to
illustrate? Something not related at all to the story??
Lois Tilton
> That's what I like about Sweet's work. So what do you want a cover to
> illustrate? Something not related at all to the story??
It might be nice if it wasn't butt-ugly.
--
LT
David Given
aRJay <aR...@escore.demon.co.uk> writes:
[...]
>>The art is by *Gray* Morrow, and was originally (most of it, at least)
>>from _The Illustrated Roger Zelazny_.
>>
>>What book did you get it in? It looks like an odd format (color
>>insert in a mass-market paperback, maybe?)
>>
> I don't know where David got them but the ones I looked at looked just
> like the ones in my copy of _The Illustrated Roger Zelazny_ which is the
> 1979 Ace edition which by size would be a mass market edition but I
> don't see the warning that you will burn in hell if the book doesn't
> have a cover that I tend to associate with non trade editions.
Yup, that's it. A rather nice book; although some of the stories are
abridged (I never realised that gur cebgntbavfg sebz _Qbbef, Ynzcf_ jnf
gur bevtvany ohvyqre bs Grafdhner until I read the original), the art's
good. Although Morrow *does* have a thing about spray-on clothes for
women.
Most of the 70s and 80s paperback science fiction I've read has Chris Foss
covers; you know, the huge, unlikely, mostly yellow spacecraft against
bizarrely coloured skies? I really like those from an abstract art point
of view. They're just so... strange.
And, for all those Chris Foss fans out there, one of the species in the
game _Homeworld_ has ships that were if not designed by him were at least
inspired by him. (He's mentioned as a Special Advisor in the credits.)
Lovely assymetric things.
--
+- David Given --------McQ-+ "Working with Unix is like wrestling a worthy
| Work: d...@tao-group.com | opponent. Working with Windows is like attacking a
| Play: d...@cowlark.com | small whining child who is carrying a .38." ---
+- http://www.cowlark.com -+ Nancy Lebovitz
Niall McAuley
>Most of the 70s and 80s paperback science fiction I've read has Chris Foss
>covers; you know, the huge, unlikely, mostly yellow spacecraft against
>bizarrely coloured skies? I really like those from an abstract art point
>of view. They're just so... strange.
One odd Foss cover I remember was an edition of _The Voyage of the Space
Beagle_ by A.E. Van Vogt, a book about a honking great interstellar ship,
with much of the story set in interstellar space. What did they use on the
cover?
A Chris Foss painting of a completely different honking great ship!
A google image search shows it as the tasteful Panther edition at
the top left of the gallery here:
http://www.mmedia.is/vanvogt/voyageof.htm
--
Niall [real address ends in se, not es.invalid]
Endy9
news:9rp0aj$a8v$4...@bob.news.rcn.net...
I guess this is just a YMMV case. As it has long been said "Beauty is in
the eye of the beholder."
Carl Burke
> "Lois Tilton" <lti...@shell-1.enteract.com> wrote in message
> news:9rp0aj$a8v$4...@bob.news.rcn.net...
> > Endy9 <endym...@home.com> wrote:
> >
> > > That's what I like about Sweet's work. So what do you want a cover to
> > > illustrate? Something not related at all to the story??
> >
> > It might be nice if it wasn't butt-ugly.
>
> the eye of the beholder."
FWIW, I think his work's OK. He's no Whelan, and I often feel like his
figures are too stiff (possibly due to Marvel poisoning on my part),
but it's otherwise solid enough.
Not exactly a rave review, is it?
--
Carl Burke
cbu...@mitre.org
Lois Tilton
> I guess this is just a YMMV case. As it has long been said "Beauty is in
> the eye of the beholder."
Maybeso, but you're the first person I've ever noticed saying they -like-
Sweet's stuff. Mostly, reactions are along the line of "ackptooi!"
--
LT
Rosy with a why
> >
> > Ugh! I hate covers that try to depict scenes from the book. They
> > almost never carry it off with dignity or with style, and I don't feel
> > these do.
>
>
> That's what I like about Sweet's work. So what do you want a cover to
> illustrate? Something not related at all to the story??
Yup! Something that carries off the theme of the story, though. The
trouble with fantasy/space-opera covers is that they seem to say,
"look! this book has sexy elves / scary monsters / sexy space-ships /
scary space-ships! Buy *me*....!"
For a really bad offender, look at this:
http://lookinside-images.amazon.com/Qffs+v35leqlzi03YVuaZgs2NRnPLWwaar8kjwvu/ua1x2xGOf2Eb42/EDOcisr6
For an example of what I like, that early one for Feersum Endjin is
wonderful.
Don't tell anyone, but I've always thought a great hobby would be to
make covers for books I like, Complete Lack Of Artistic Talent be
damned.
Endy9
I'd love to see examples of what you think should be represented on covers,
artistic or not.
I also like your idea. Maybe I'll play around and see what I would make
as a cover. :) Or at least describe the cover scene in words.
Andrew Wheeler
>
> Endy9 wrote:
> > "Lois Tilton" wrote:
> > > Endy9 <endym...@home.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > That's what I like about Sweet's work. So what do you
> > > > want a cover to illustrate? Something not related at
> > > > all to the story??
> > >
> > > It might be nice if it wasn't butt-ugly.
> >
> > I guess this is just a YMMV case. As it has long been said
> > "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
>
> FWIW, I think his work's OK. He's no Whelan, and I often feel
> like his figures are too stiff (possibly due to Marvel
> poisoning on my part), but it's otherwise solid enough.
>
> Not exactly a rave review, is it?
I'll go a little further. Sweet has a very nice sense of color that
occasionally blossoms into something really beautiful (his cover for
_The Grand Festival_ -- it's in his book, _Beyond Fantasy_ -- is
gorgeous). He also would have been a kick-ass painter of covers for
moody Westerns, if that were something one could make a living at.
(There's a few of those in _Beyond Fantasy_ as well.)
His people, though, usually look as if they have not only *not* moved
any time recently (even if they're in mid-sword-stroke), but are not
going to move in any time scheme less than the geological. He's not
the only one with that problem (Boris Vallejo's recent work springs to
mind), but he has a very bad case of it.
Andrew Wheeler
>
> The trouble with fantasy/space-opera covers is that they seem
> to say, "look! this book has sexy elves / scary monsters /
> sexy space-ships / scary space-ships! Buy *me*....!"
>
> For a really bad offender, look at this:
> http://lookinside-images.amazon.com/Qffs+
> v35leqlzi03YVuaZgs2NRnPLWwaar8kjwvu/ua1x2xGOf2Eb42/EDOcisr6
Ouch! Stiff *and* busy. It's hard to get both of those into one picture...
Gene Wirchenko
[snip]
>Yup! Something that carries off the theme of the story, though. The
>trouble with fantasy/space-opera covers is that they seem to say,
>"look! this book has sexy elves / scary monsters / sexy space-ships /
>scary space-ships! Buy *me*....!"
>
>For a really bad offender, look at this:
>http://lookinside-images.amazon.com/Qffs+v35leqlzi03YVuaZgs2NRnPLWwaar8kjwvu/ua1x2xGOf2Eb42/EDOcisr6
It's not a book on the bra industry? Pity. "The Uplift War" is
such a good title.
[snip]
Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko
Computerese Irregular Verb Conjugation:
I have preferences.
You have biases.
He/She has prejudices.
Nancy Lebovitz
>news:c509a1c.01103...@posting.google.com...
>> "Endy9" <endym...@home.com> wrote in message
>news:<01UC7.114556$P8.39...@news1.elmhst1.il.home.com>...
>> > I like the idea someone else used of presenting links, for those who
>haven't
>> > seen the covers I was describing.
>> > Here are the Thomas Covenant, Darrell Sweet covers I like.
>> >
>> > http://www.wam.umd.edu/~resop/book1_2.jpg
>> >
>> > http://www.wam.umd.edu/~resop/book2_2.jpg
>> >
>> > http://www.wam.umd.edu/~resop/book3_2.jpg
>> >
>> > http://www.wam.umd.edu/~resop/book4_2.jpg
>> >
>> > http://www.wam.umd.edu/~resop/book5_2.jpg
>> >
>> > http://www.wam.umd.edu/~resop/book6_2.jpg
>>
>> Ugh! I hate covers that try to depict scenes from the book. They
>> almost never carry it off with dignity or with style, and I don't feel
>> these do.
>
Maker_.....Stapledon frequently wrote about group minds, and the cover
is a picture of a live sponge.
--
Nancy Lebovitz na...@netaxs.com www.nancybuttons.com
Jordan S. Bassior
directly from the text, right? The strafing spaceship, hero with the bow, alien
babe, and sapient chimps were all present. And she didn't need a bra -- she had
a rather, um, _adaptive_ physiology :)
--
Sincerely Yours,
Jordan
--
Captain Button
Yes that artist clearly had read the book, or at least relevant sections.
But so did Michael Whelan, and he produced a cover which IMHO is far
better:
http://home.hiwaay.net/~ssloan/covers/uw.jpg
Including spaceships, human, armed chims and gorill^H^H^H^H^H^H
Garthlings and a much cuter Tymbrini babe.
Another case of throwing out the baby so you can replace it with
bathwater.
--
"We have to go forth and crush every world view that doesn't believe in
tolerance and free speech," - David Brin
Captain Button - but...@io.com
David Given
"Niall McAuley" <Niall....@eei.ericsson.es.invalid> writes:
[...]
> One odd Foss cover I remember was an edition of _The Voyage of the Space
> Beagle_ by A.E. Van Vogt, a book about a honking great interstellar ship,
> with much of the story set in interstellar space. What did they use on the
> cover?
>
> A Chris Foss painting of a completely different honking great ship!
Aha. A nice Chris Foss gallery:
http://www.deep-art.com/gallery/genre/index.php4?artist=2&page=1
> http://www.mmedia.is/vanvogt/voyageof.htm
The gallery doesn't have this one.
--
+- David Given --------McQ-+ "USER'S MANUAL VERSION 1.0: The information
| Work: d...@tao-group.com | presented in this publication has been carefully
| Play: d...@cowlark.com | for reliability." --- anonymous computer hardware
+- http://www.cowlark.com -+ manual
Endy9
news:prhE7.642341$Lw3.40...@news2.aus1.giganews.com...
> Wild-eyed conspiracy theorists insist that on 01 Nov 2001 18:43:56 GMT,
Jordan S. Bassior <jsba...@aol.com> wrote:
> > You do realize that the cover of that _Uplift War_ is a scene taken
almost
> > directly from the text, right? The strafing spaceship, hero with the
bow, alien
> > babe, and sapient chimps were all present. And she didn't need a bra --
she had
> > a rather, um, _adaptive_ physiology :)
>
> Yes that artist clearly had read the book, or at least relevant sections.
>
> But so did Michael Whelan, and he produced a cover which IMHO is far
> better:
>
> http://home.hiwaay.net/~ssloan/covers/uw.jpg
>
> Including spaceships, human, armed chims and gorill^H^H^H^H^H^H
> Garthlings and a much cuter Tymbrini babe.
>
> Another case of throwing out the baby so you can replace it with
> bathwater.
>
So comparing the two covers I can see why it might be said
that Whelan's is less cheesy, less posed, a more real life
view of apes and a jungle, but....
the other cover would catch my eye and interest me more just
from the colors and sharp contrast between the characters
and the jungle. Whelan's characters almost disappear into
the jungle. So if I was book shopping I might skip right over
the Whelan cover while the other might entice me to pick
the book up and read the cover blurb.
David Given
"Endy9" <endym...@home.com> writes:
[...]
> So comparing the two covers I can see why it might be said
> that Whelan's is less cheesy, less posed, a more real life
> view of apes and a jungle, but....
> the other cover would catch my eye and interest me more just
> from the colors and sharp contrast between the characters
> and the jungle. Whelan's characters almost disappear into
> the jungle. So if I was book shopping I might skip right over
> the Whelan cover while the other might entice me to pick
> the book up and read the cover blurb.
Partly it's a fairly feeble scan (the colour balance is all wrong). Here's
a better version from Whelan's own site:
http://www.glassonion.com/gallery/archive/qtoz/uplift.jpg
But I should admit that I don't like either cover very much, and I'm
usually quite fond of Whelan. Here's the UK cover, which is... different:
http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/1857233719.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
However, my copy has a rather nice blue-and green image of Fiben, just
crashed in the jungle, holding the remains of his fighter's joystick with
a rather shocked look on his face. Ah, here we go.
http://home.hiwaay.net/~ssloan/covers/ukupliftwar.jpg
But the Brin covers I like best are from the old Bantam versions. I think
these were the first paperback editions. Alas, I lost my copy of
_Sundiver_ in the Great Book Disaster, but here are some scans:
http://home.hiwaay.net/~ssloan/covers/uksundiver.jpg
http://home.hiwaay.net/~ssloan/covers/ukstartide.jpg
(Fairly complete Brin gallery at http://home.hiwaay.net/~ssloan/covers/.)
--
+- David Given --------McQ-+
| Work: d...@tao-group.com | "The only thing to prevent what's past is to put a
| Play: d...@cowlark.com | stop to it before it happens." --- Sir Boyle Roche
+- http://www.cowlark.com -+
Rosy with a why
> I'd love to see examples of what you think should be represented on covers,
> artistic or not.
Well, one of my favourite books is _Greg Egan's_ _Permutation City_,
as I love the Dust Theory. My idea for a cover: a Stuart
Kauffman-esque random graph, with some lines highlighted to form the
name, title and a picture of a brain (or face, or something similar).
Black background, of course. normal vertices & lines dark grey,
highlighted ones light grey. Hmm... mau=ybe it would be a good idea to
suggest other pictures in there, too.
Or, instead of a graph, you could do it on TV-style snow.
> I also like your idea. Maybe I'll play around and see what I would make
> as a cover. :) Or at least describe the cover scene in words.
I think too many covers try to be like those awful posed band-photos
you get....
Rosy with a why
Yes, but... you may as well have a cover of Lord Of The Rings with
Gandalf wearing a robe with silver stars'n'moons'glitter.
Rosy with a why
> crashed in the jungle, holding the remains of his fighter's joystick with
> a rather shocked look on his face. Ah, here we go.
>
> http://home.hiwaay.net/~ssloan/covers/ukupliftwar.jpg
Nice cover. It's a pity it reminds me of the new Planet Of The Apes.
Get... Out... Of... My... Head...! Aaargh!
Paul David John Andinach
> One odd Foss cover I remember was an edition of _The Voyage of the
> Space Beagle_ by A.E. Van Vogt, a book about a honking great
> interstellar ship, with much of the story set in interstellar
> space. What did they use on the cover?
>
> A Chris Foss painting of a completely different honking great ship!
How can you tell?
Paul
--
The Pink Pedanther
Niall McAuley
>How can you tell?
The _Space Beagle_ was huge but spherical, which is a plot
point in _Black Destroyer_.
I doubt if Foss ever drew anything spherical in his life:
he preferred angular, and in this case, asymmetrical. You
can tell that the odd looking ship on the cover is huge
from the visible detail.
Brian McGuinness
series. One features a character standing among ruins
with a spiral galaxy in the background. This conveys a
sense of the immensity of space and time, and I always
did love grand design spiral galaxies. The other shows
Trevize and Pelorat in spacesuits examining a statue of
Giskard.
2. The Dean Ellis cover for Ringworld. The idea of such a
structure was so cool that I was immediately drawn to the
book.
3. A flourescent Paul Lehr cover -- I believe it was for
World of Null-A by Van Vogt. It's just pleasingly
colorful.
4. A Red Sonja cover ("Invictus"?) by Boris Vallejo. I just
like amazons.
--- Brian
Brian McGuinness
an interesting display by Donato Giancola, another
excellent artist, showing the different steps
involved in creating a painting for a book cover.
There was a lot more involved than I had imagined;
I wouldn't have the patience to do it myself.
--- Brian
James Nicoll
Brian McGuinness <brian.b.m...@lmco.com> wrote:
>1. Two of Michael Whelan's covers for Asimov's Foundation
> series. One features a character standing among ruins
> with a spiral galaxy in the background. This conveys a
> sense of the immensity of space and time, and I always
> did love grand design spiral galaxies. The other shows
> Trevize and Pelorat in spacesuits examining a statue of
> Giskard.
I think one of Anderson's was published with a similar cover,
the one set in intergalactic space.
Unfortunately, I don't think galaxies are actually bright enough
to be so obvious in the night sky. Eg: the Andromeda galaxy (OTOH,
both the LMG and SMG caught my eye as a kid).
Lee DeRaud
McGuinness) wrote:
>2. The Dean Ellis cover for Ringworld. The idea of such a
> structure was so cool that I was immediately drawn to the
> book.
If it's the one I'm thinking of, the problem was that as soon as you
read the first third of the book, you realized that the scale of the
cover picture was *completely* wrong.
Lee
David Tate
1. The title, in large print
2. The author's name, in large print
3. The price: "10 cents"
4. Nothing else
I find most cover art to be useless at best, more often actively
annoying. I object even more to blurbs and review snippets, which are
either downright spoilers, or merely asinine.
But then, I'm a Junior Curmudgeon of America.
David Tate
Brian McGuinness
True, but I was looking at this from a purely artistic standpoint.
Despite the technical flaws, I find the picture very effective at
instilling the sense of wonder associated with science fiction.
--- Brian
James Nicoll
I agree it's a striking image. Just one of the many ways
the real world fails to measure up to art, I guess.
Lonnie Courtney Clay
> 1. The Riddlemaster of Hed series that showed A. The Young Riddlemaster
> with a star on his forhead. B. The heorine talking to ghosts before a
> fire. C. The Old Riddlemaster with his hands curled in.
>
> 2. The Thomas Covenant covers that everyone else seems to dislike. I only
> picked up the books because of the illustration of the Word of Power on the
> bridge on the cover of Lord Foul's Bane. I loved all the art work on both
> Covenant series by the same illustrator. The Guardian of the forest on the
> second book, Elena and others in Green with Covenant kneeling on the third.
> The brother and sister on the One Tree. The Giant trapped in the floor on
> White Gold Wielder. Only the Wounded Land cover was slightly less
> impressive with the Sword rising out of the water to meet Covenant's hand.
>
> 3. I recently picked up Empty Cities of the Full Moon mainly because the
> cover art was so impressive. Couldn't read the story (stopped after 100
> pages) but the cover art is great.
******************************************************************
See http://www.kellyfreas.com/
The Freas cover to "The Light That Never Was" by LLoyd Biggle is my
favorite. His site sells it as a postcard under Catalog, Post cards,
titled "The Art Critics". The illustration tells it all. A couple of
really ugly critics look upon a statue of (Michalangelo's ? ) David
and dare to criticize. Unable to create beauty themselves, they preen
their egos by cutting down the works of their betters.......
LCC
Mike Simone
<snip>
>
> Partly it's a fairly feeble scan (the colour balance is all wrong). Here's
> a better version from Whelan's own site:
>
> http://www.glassonion.com/gallery/archive/qtoz/uplift.jpg
>
I always liked this cover, but...
> But I should admit that I don't like either cover very much, and I'm
> usually quite fond of Whelan. Here's the UK cover, which is... different:
>
> http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/1857233719.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
>
> However, my copy has a rather nice blue-and green image of Fiben, just
> crashed in the jungle, holding the remains of his fighter's joystick with
> a rather shocked look on his face. Ah, here we go.
>
> http://home.hiwaay.net/~ssloan/covers/ukupliftwar.jpg
>
This one is great. How can you not like a perplexed chimp?
> But the Brin covers I like best are from the old Bantam versions. I think
> these were the first paperback editions. Alas, I lost my copy of
> _Sundiver_ in the Great Book Disaster, but here are some scans:
>
> http://home.hiwaay.net/~ssloan/covers/uksundiver.jpg
> http://home.hiwaay.net/~ssloan/covers/ukstartide.jpg
These strike e as pretty bland, mileage varies, etc.
<snip>
William December Starr
andrew...@earthlink.com said:
[ re Darrel K. Sweet ]
> His people, though, usually look as if they have not only *not*
> moved any time recently (even if they're in mid-sword-stroke), but
> are not going to move in any time scheme less than the geological.
> He's not the only one with that problem (Boris Vallejo's recent work
> springs to mind), but he has a very bad case of it.
I've always felt that the Brothers Hildebrant were also chronically
guilty of painting everything as still-lifes, even their sword, gun
or blaster fights...
-- William December Starr <wds...@panix.com>
b
like this one (though I always thought that bombs would be better
than cherries)
http://vance.hw.nl/vance/covers/german/jpg/sterde.jpg
more scans at:
http://vance.hw.nl/vance/covers/german/covers.html
b
Nancy Lebovitz
Nancy Lebovitz <na...@unix1.netaxs.com> wrote:
>In article <3BEE2CDA...@alumni.princeton.edu>, b <b@h.c> wrote:
>>Those Germans do some really cool Jack Vance covers. I especially
>>like this one (though I always thought that bombs would be better
>>than cherries)
>>
>> http://vance.hw.nl/vance/covers/german/jpg/sterde.jpg
>>
>make me put the book back on the shelf because if they did, I wouldn't
>have much to read in these decadent days, but I still wish to register
>an objection.
To be fair, it was a better-than-average photocollage, but I hate that
feeling of the parts not fitting together when I start looking at the
details.
Nancy Lebovitz
>like this one (though I always thought that bombs would be better
>than cherries)
>
> http://vance.hw.nl/vance/covers/german/jpg/sterde.jpg
>
make me put the book back on the shelf because if they did, I wouldn't
have much to read in these decadent days, but I still wish to register
an objection.
Endy9
news:3BEE2CDA...@alumni.princeton.edu...
I like these.
Endy9
news:9sm1l9$r...@netaxs.com...
Hmm. Maybe that's why I like Sweet and others that most don't. I don't
look for the details. I look for the cover art to give me a general idea of
the characters and setting, but then I fill in the details while reading
from my imagination.
David Given
b <bruc...@alumni.princeton.edu> writes:
> Those Germans do some really cool Jack Vance covers. I especially
> like this one (though I always thought that bombs would be better
> than cherries)
>
> http://vance.hw.nl/vance/covers/german/jpg/sterde.jpg
That's good. Very good.
> more scans at:
>
> http://vance.hw.nl/vance/covers/german/covers.html
_The Asutra_ on this page is the same cover as the UK edition (I have).
It's worth pointing out that if you put the three books in the series
side-by-side, in the right order, you end up with one continuous scene.
--
+- David Given --------McQ-+ "We must go out and utterly crush every other
| Work: d...@tao-group.com | worldview that does not believe in tolerance and
| Play: d...@cowlark.com | free speech!" --- David Brin, paraphrased
+- http://www.cowlark.com -+
Nyrath the nearly wise
Lensman and Skylark series.
Both the oil painting and the watercolor versions.
mstemper - emis . com
Does "oil painting" refer to the fairly realistic ones for the mid-1960's
Pyramid publication, and "watercolor" refer to the abstract ones that he
did for the (circa) 1970 Pyramid publication? If not, what do you mean?
The realistic, mid-1960's covers have always been my favorite covers
(of anything). It could be because those were the covers between which
I first discovered the Lensmen.
I didn't even realize until two or three years ago that the abstract,
1970 covers were also by him.
--
Michael F. Stemper
Disclaimer: My employer has no opinion on Jack Gaughan's work.
"Writing about jazz is like dancing about architecture" - Thelonius Monk
Nyrath the nearly wise
> Does "oil painting" refer to the fairly realistic ones for the mid-1960's
> Pyramid publication, and "watercolor" refer to the abstract ones that he
> did for the (circa) 1970 Pyramid publication? If not, what do you mean?
>
> The realistic, mid-1960's covers have always been my favorite covers
> (of anything). It could be because those were the covers between which
> I first discovered the Lensmen.
>
> I didn't even realize until two or three years ago that the abstract,
> 1970 covers were also by him.
Yes, that's what I ment.
The big swooping curve of the realistic over of
"First Lensman" (?) always impressed me.
(the one with the two space suited men at
the control planel, while starships coruscate
overhead)
I was wondering how one would go about
contacting Mr. Gaughan estate so as to
license use of that artwork?