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Sep 29

HEY! She has the same boots as me...Click for full image

Don’s Art Direction: It has dragons. People ride them. Put the woman in a swimsuit even though she’d freeze to death at that altitude. Make the guy look like some kind of alien elf, just to cover both the SF and fantasy genres. And it’s written by a chick, so do the main coloring in shades of lavender and rotting-orchid pink.
Published 1980 (maybe)

Many thanks to the Don!

Actually, that cover IS a classical work of art!I would touch it without protective gloves.I've seen worse. Far, far, worse.Interesting, but I would still read it in public.Middlng: Neither awful nor awfully goodWould not like to be seen reading that!Awful... just awful...That belongs in a gold-lame picture frame!Gah... my eyes are burning! Feels so good!Good Show Sir! (Average: 5.62 out of 10)
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22 Responses to “The Dragonriders of Pern”

  1. Phil Says:

    It takes a lot of hair gel to it it stick out like that.

    I rather like the steering wheel on the foreground dragon.

  2. SI Says:

    Pern is a registered trademark? A household name.

    I’m also enjoying Don’s shelves! Teasing me with what might lay below.

  3. A.R.Yngve Says:

    The dragon rider holding the steering wheel is making “Vrrooom, vrrooom” noises…

  4. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:

    Tell me…do the dragons pull their necks back on the upstroke, and stick their necks out on the downstroke? What about their legs?

  5. Herm Says:

    I’m quite sure Anne McLawyerHappy imagined her dragons to be a lot more silky and graceful. I prefer these, though. They seem to have character.

  6. NGpm Says:

    @ Dead Stuff

    Have you ever seen the old Warner Bros. cartoon with the vulture (I believe his name was killer) who mixed it up with Bugs Bunny a time or two?
    That’s the effect I imagine after your post … and now I hear them singing “I’m bringing home a baby bumblebee.”

  7. DrStrngeluv Says:

    For the love of… I have this abomination in a box in my basement. It’s the old SF book club edition, and it was one of the 5 books for a buck or whatever I got when I joined 25 some years ago. Come to think of it, all of those books I got from them are probably candidates for here.

  8. Jen Says:

    “The Dragonriders of PERM?” Heh, nice one.

  9. Kristin Says:

    @A.R.Yngve: I thought the exact same thing.

  10. anon Says:

    The dragon farther back is eyeing the closer rider quite hungrily.

  11. admin Says:

    @Jen! Wish I could say I meant that as a joke…. Coffee first… posting second. I’ll remember from now on 🙂

  12. Don Hilliard Says:

    @SI: Be careful what you ask for.

    @NGpm: That was Beaky Buzzard. And damn you, I think I just hurt myself laughing.

    @DrStrngeluv: SFBC is still publishing it, and still using this jacket art to this day and hour. Fear.

  13. Milly Says:

    Probably my favourite book series of all time, but it certainly has some of the worst cover art. They can never seem to get the dragons looking pretty enough.

  14. Tom Noir Says:

    Dragons are hard to draw. Have you ever tried to get one to sit still for a portrait?

  15. Terry Says:

    This artist so totally kicks Michael Whelan’s butt, I mean even though he did the original Pern book covers, the switchover to this guy was genius, sheer genius. Makes me feel brown and yellow and pink all over.

  16. Mark Worthen Says:

    When I asked Anne McCaffrey to sign my copy of this book, she said, “A dragon with a steering wheel? Oh, Lord, what next?”

    Says it all.

  17. Emster Says:

    Gosh, I’ve got a “Pile o’ Perns” in my collection and I’ve never seen this before. Thanks, @Don for sharin’! I would proudly display this one in a gold lame picture frame – it’s kooky good.

  18. GSS ex-noob Says:

    @Emster: Just goes to show you didn’t have an SFBC membership at the time. Because this is the cover I have.

  19. Emster Says:

    @GSS ex-noob – true! At the time, my hometown library had an unusually well stocked SF section, so I rarely bought my own. Found most of my current used/mismatched set at the local thrift, and occasionally get tricked by cover art switcheroo.

  20. GSS ex-noob Says:

    This is a set of the first 3, which I read all separately in my high school library, in covers which did NOT feature dragons with steering wheels. I think they were the Whelan covers.

  21. JJYoyo Says:

    “Say, does this dragon come with automatic transmission?”

  22. GSS ex-noob Says:

    I don’t see a stick shift, so I guess it does.

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