Cover of the Week
July 2005
Go to the Online Forum to vote for the best cover of the week.
The winner will be named Cover of the Month for August.
31 July 2005
Alphabet of Thorn. By Patricia A. McKillip. ISBN: 0-441-01130-6
Cover art by: Kinuko Y. Craft
Published in hardback (pictured above) and trade paperback by Ace Books in 2004 and 2005.
What an enchanting cover! Searching recently for eye-catching cover art I was quickly drawn to the covers on a number of Patricia McKillip books - all done by the phenomenal artists Kinuko Craft. Craft has a very distinctive style, and her fantasy cover art conveys a fairytale atmosphere. I particularly like this cover Alphabet of Thorns which faithfully and exquisitely portrays a number of characters and themes from the book. The scan above does not do the cover justice, as there are so many little details which contribute to the overall greatness of the painting which just don't show up on a small scan. "Hidden" in the painting are representations of the cliff side city in which the story takes place, the library in which the main character resides, the sorceress of the tale, the meeting of the main character and her love interest, the deadly thorns of the book's title, and more. There are so many things from the book woven into this amazing painting which resembles in many ways an elaborate medieval tapestry. I love it!
How about the book? I thought the book was great. It's a rather short tale and a quick read. Those looking for great and extensive detail will be disappointed, as battles and politics are glossed over. The focus is on the main characters, their romance, and the mystery of the thorns. I enjoyed McKillip's prose and her poetic use of language. Being a book lover, one whose second home is the local library, I especially enjoyed the library setting of the story. And the use of magic was well balanced, not too much, not too little. I will definitely be reading more of McKillip's novels. Final verdict - this is certainly a great cover to an excellent book
24 July 2005
Friday. By Robert Heinlein. ISBN: 0-345-30988-X
Cover art by: Michael Whelan
Published by Del Rey Books in 1983 and currently available in mass market paperback (pictured above).
This has to be one of the most recognized science fiction book covers ever. I picked this as the cover of the week for a number of reasons. Number one, it's simply a great cover - simple, yet beautiful, even sexy. This mesmerizing painting of an alluring woman posed in front a space ship portal with planet and emerging sun in the background grabs your attention; it makes you want to pick up the book and check it out. Number two, I remember being enchanted by this cover as a kid browsing the sci-fi aisle of the local Waldenbooks. Yet for some reason I never bought it. Recently after becoming enamored by the art of Michael Whelan and beginning to collect books with his cover art (a Whelan checklist has recently been added to this website), I purchased Friday and thought, "After all these years, I should finally read this book." Number three, I hesitate to use the word perfect, but this just might be a perfect book cover. Graphically and symbolically, Whelan's painting faithfully represents the title character; her appearance, her strength, her sensuality - even the evolution and maturation of the character. About this cover Whelan himself has said,
"Not even halfway through this book I had a nearly photographic image of Friday in my mind. By the time I was finished reading a felt confident about the substance and approach my painting would have. It is Friday's character that dominates the story; I felt then, that Friday front and center should dominate the cover. The attendant details support her and hint at these other aspects: The planet where she settles down in the end (the center of which is her heart), the egg-shaped window (motherhood), and, of course, the zipper pulls (her vibrant sexuality) (Michael Whelan's Works of Wonder, pg. 2).
The book itself sucked me in and kept me guessing. I was immediately captivated by the opening paragraph:
"As I left the Kenya Beanstalk capsule he was right on my heels. He followed my through the door leading to Customs, Health and Immigration. As the door contracted behind him I killed him."
An author has about one paragraph to grab my attention, and this certainly did. I was intrigued by the snappy and witty dialogue, which I thought at times had a hint of Raymond Chandler or James Elroy. This combined with the action impelled me to keep reading, and I was hooked. Somewhere around the middle third of the book I felt the story rambled a bit, without a clear direction. But the character of Friday was so thoroughly intriguing and endowed with life-like substance that I had to keep reading to see what would happen to her. The book found direction by the last third and came to a rewarding conclusion. What I found so wonderful about the story was Friday's journey - her search for home - and her final discovery; as well as the social commentary and critique of human culture along the way. Definitely a fun, enjoyable and rewarding read. Bottom line - an awesome cover, to a great book.
17 July 2005
Elminster's Daughter. By Ed Greenwood. ISBN: 0-7869-3199-X
Cover Art by: J. P. Targete
Published in hardback (pictured above) and mass market paperback by Wizards of the Coast in 2004 and 2005
This cover grabbed my attention with the bold, brutal and thrilling action which it depicts - the figure dressed in black, ferociously yet stealthily leaping with knife in hand, poised to strike her intended target. The action is furious - and makes an excellent cover that, as any good book cover should, forms many questions in the mind of the viewer: Who is this leaping assassin? Who is her target? Why does she want to kill him? Will she? Thus I was impelled to purchase a copy of this book to find the answers to my questions. I was doubly thrilled to see that this cover is by J. P. Targete. Targete is quickly becoming one of my favorite fantasy artists. His style seems to vary from cover to cover - sometimes Royo-like, other times similar to the art of Kinuko Craft, and other times in the style of the old masters (like Rembrandt). With Targete you never know what he's going to come up with next.
Unfortunately I can not offer much in the way of praise for the book Elminster's Daughter. The cover does not depict a scene from the book. One could say that it represents the powerful rage that the character Narnra feels because of her broken relationship with her father, the great wizard Elminster. However, the cover, and even the plugs on the back cover and inside flaps, are quite misleading. The characters Narnra and Elminster really are not central to the plot which is made up of many strands involving the deadly-doings of a host of knights and nobles, wizards and thieves, even dragons, most of which seemed to have no greater depth than a band of non-player characters from a D&D campaign. Even the attempt to deepen the character Narnra through explorations of feelings of abandonment seemed forced and trite. Now I have to admit, this is the first Forgotten Realms book that I have read, so perhaps the characters would have seemed more real to me had I read other books in the Elminster Series. Regardless, the novel is simply heavy on action but light on plot and character.
To make matters worse I found Greenwoods writing style quite irritating at times. In some passages the use of alliteration was so thick that sentences became tongue twisters. And Greenwood has this annoying habit of inserting second thoughts and commentary within his prose - creating what in my opinion were distracting and meandering run-on sentences. For example:
"Painted coats of arms - wooden plaques as large as a stable door, each of them, and these were the old, fully-gilded sort with real helms and crossed spears affixed to them, not the simply carved false adornments more in favor, for some inexplicable reason, these days - adorned the walls above the balcony, and there were many tall, dark, closed doors between them."
After a while, reading one after another of these rambles became extremely annoying. Long story short...Targete has created a very cool (albeit, misleading) cover to Greenwood's lukewarm (at best) book.
10 July 2005
Monument. By Ian Graham. ISBN: 0-441-01135-7
Cover Art by Jerry Vandersteldt.
Published in hardback by Orbit Books in 2002, trade paperback (pictured above) and mass market paperback by Ace in 2004 and 2005 respectively.
This cover by Jerry Vandersteldt is rather simple really, yet I find myself drawn to it, or into it, rather; drawn into the mysteries that it presents...who is this mysterious priestly character? Where is he, in a library, a temple, a monastery? What is the significance of the magical blue light that he is conjuring? What depths of knowledge are contained within the mysterious tomes and parchments cluttered upon the table and shelves. What about that skull on the top shelf in the background? Is there some significance to it? This painting presents many mysteries - and impels the viewer to dive into the book, searching for answers.
Stylistically, I love the Rembrandt-like use of light - the light from the magical blue light reflecting off the man's face and hand, the candlelight reflecting off the parchment on the table and off the man's robe, the moonlight filtering in through the window and illuminating the book shelf and stone archways. Very nice - and quite hypnotizing.
Ironically, light is something that for the most part is absent from the book itself. The scene depicted in the cover painting is not a scene straight out of book. However, It does illustrate a number of elements from the book; mysteries that end up being central to the books conclusion. That being said - readers beware. The majestic mood conjured by the cover is not representative of the book as a whole. Monument is a very dark, brutally violent, action packed fantasy adventure. There are magical priests like the cover character in the novel, but they are not the main characters. In fact magic itself plays a minor role in the book, for in the world that Ian Graham depicts magic is outlawed. The main character of the novel is in fact a rather revolting unlikable brute with few (if any) redeeming qualities. Regardless, Graham has written an engaging adventure tale that will suck you in. Even with my strong dislike for the main character early on, I was engrossed by the the unfolding tale and couldn't put the book down. My only complaint would be that few clues about the true nature of what's going on are revealed throughout the course of the story. Thus from one perspective it may seem as if there is no point to the action of the tale until the final chapter or two when all is revealed in one extended "so-that's-what-that-it-all-meant" dialogue.
Regardless, I'd have to say that this is a great cover to a great book.
3 July 2005
Quest for the Well of the Souls. By Jack Chalker. ISBN: 0-7434-7153-9
Cover art by Clyde Caldwell.
Published in a mass market paperback by Baen.
Sure this cover by Clyde Caldwell is a pretty obvious copy of Boris' style, but I love it! Who can resist a little GGA? Surely an homage to The Master, this cover reminds me of Boris' similar painting of a topless winged "butterfly woman" in his book Mirage. I especially love how Caldwell has harkened back to Boris' early period in this cover; painting the woman as beautifully fit, yet soft. I like this, as opposed to the "hard curves" style that Boris and Julie Bell usually paint today.
As far as I can tell, the cover does not represent an actual scene from the book. Although, that shouldn't stop you from reading it (or buying it; who can resist that cover). This is a great cover to a good book. Chalker has spun an exciting sci-fi tale set on a strange world made up of an endless number of hex-shaped zones, each one containing a totally different species. While the numerous descriptions of each succeeding alien race might get a little dizzying, even monotonous at times, the action speeds along at a furious pace to an exciting conclusion. There are cliffhangers-a-plenty and after I got past the first chapter or two (which contained a lot catch-up info intended for those who don't read the first book) I couldn't put the book down. As inferred, this is the second book in a two-part novel, and while it's not entirely necessary, I would suggest reading the first book (Exile at the well of Souls) first. I didn't, and often wished I had.