May 19
Click for full imageMatt’s Art Direction: Fabric! I want to see lots of fabric. And hands, lots of dramatically posed hands. And least one bare breast, only you’ll have to conceal the nipple with something. How about a cross?
Published 1994
(Average: 7.09 out of 10)
Loading...
(9.25 out of 10)
Lastest Tweet
May 19th, 2011 at 8:49 am
“Scroo-ooge! I am the Ghost of Christmas Baen!”
Ah Baen, Baen, Baen. Don’t ever change!
May 19th, 2011 at 10:02 am
I’m guessing the robin doesn’t last very long with a kestrel about. Unless it’s a can of Kestrel?
May 19th, 2011 at 10:54 am
Do you think they were singing ”dude looks like a lady”
that could even be steven tyler on the right
May 19th, 2011 at 12:21 pm
PHOOOARRRRR… Would you look at that knee!
May 19th, 2011 at 12:51 pm
That city in the background looks like Petra, but that isn’t enough to save this cover. I’m still trying to read the little white letters beneath the author’s name.
May 19th, 2011 at 1:07 pm
Baen, you are SO close to getting sued by the American Midget Society.
May 19th, 2011 at 1:08 pm
“A New Novel in the World of Bardic Voices!”
Now, who can resist salesmanship of that caliber? People must’ve been lining up in the streets to buy a book with that blurb.
May 19th, 2011 at 2:34 pm
Nice pants.
May 19th, 2011 at 4:26 pm
No, don’t shake his hand, you spoony bard!
May 19th, 2011 at 5:39 pm
Then the Pale Spectre of Rhinoplasty appeared and Alphonso’s third and final wish was granted.
May 19th, 2011 at 9:56 pm
Midget: “How do you do Mr. Wraith, my name is…”
Wraith: “GIMME FIVE!!”
May 20th, 2011 at 3:15 am
I don’t see a robin or a kestrel…?
May 20th, 2011 at 5:19 am
What is that brown thing under the title?
May 20th, 2011 at 9:02 am
The robin and the kestrel flew away. And who can blame them!
May 23rd, 2011 at 6:28 pm
O Baen… notoriously atrocious in cover selection….
May 25th, 2011 at 12:07 am
Is the guy on the right about to sing “You’ve got to pick a pocket or two, boys…”
May 29th, 2011 at 11:26 pm
And the monster will be played by… AWW! The title blocked it!
January 6th, 2012 at 9:33 pm
That *is* Petra. Does that make this the Middle East? Good heavens, does that make these people middle easterners?
Errrr, I guess that would explain the electric blue harem pants and the sort of veily thing behind the man’s bright red Renaissance fair cap. Not to mention their, er, stereotyped features.
But nothing explains their huge heads and short legs, their awkward poses, or that eyewateringly brighly colored jester’s outfit, or why the woman’s sleeves are straight out of Snow White. Or why the karate kid is present.
January 28th, 2012 at 4:20 pm
The only thing on the cover that bears the slightest resemblance to the book is the ghostly cowled figure.
There is a female gypsy in the story, but she’s not dressed anything like that. It doesn’t take place in the middle east. I have no idea who the men on the cover might even vaguely be intended to be. And while pseudo-christian religion is a major part of the story it doesn’t use traditional crosses – a chunk of the plot revolves around them making God’s Eyes ( http://crafts.kaboose.com/gods-eyes.html ) which are very clearly described!
(‘Robin’ and ‘Kestrel’ are the stage-names of two characters, not actual birds.)
January 29th, 2012 at 4:39 pm
I am coming to the uneasy conclusion that this cover artist, Darrell K. Sweet, never, ever, ever shows women alone on the cover. Ever. Even if they’re the main characters (http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/2012/01/to-ride-pegasus/ ). Even if there’s no explanation for the guy’s presence (http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/2011/02/the-one-tree/ ).
He frequently shows men alone, but I haven’t yet found an example of his cover art which shows a woman without a man present.
NB: On Piers Anthony’s “Dragon on a Pedestal” there’s an adorable little toddler girl and a dragon. Not sure I’d count that one.
January 25th, 2014 at 7:28 pm
I HAVE COME FOR YOU, MORTALS THREE.
‘But…we can’t die…we’re meeting with the estate agent about a sub-let.’
I AM THE ESTATE AGENT, MORTAL. MY NAME IS DEATH…AND I AM HERE TO SHOW YOU ROUND. CHARMED TO MEET YOU ALL.
January 26th, 2014 at 8:02 pm
Now that was low… comparing real estate agents to the grim reaper.
What did the Grim Reaper ever do to you??
BA-DA-BUM!
January 11th, 2017 at 2:05 am
Before scrolling down, I only saw the author and title and said “Baen”.
What’s the red blortch splatted atop Petra under the K? It’s semi-transparent, so presumably not a ketchup stain by the owner.
And are the characters all supposed to be little persons of the dwarf type? Is Peter Dinklage thanking his lucky stars that GoT was the big hit and not this?
Finally, mightn’t a kestrel kill and eat a robin?
May 6th, 2022 at 5:32 pm
Amongst all that is horrid, he remembered to give her a belly button. The sign of a true professional.
May 6th, 2022 at 11:52 pm
I am thinking that the brown thing above Petra is supposed to be part of the rock face from which Petra is carved. But I can’t rule out that it is the barbecue-flavored potato chip … OF THE GODS!
May 6th, 2022 at 11:53 pm
“Look out! It’s a New York Times theater critic!”
May 7th, 2022 at 12:42 am
The Robin, the Kestrel, Some Dude In Olive Drab, and a Giant Wraith Hand.
@Tor: Could be a Lay’s Flamin’ Hot chip too. As this also has a Canadian price, it might be a ketchup potato chip of the Gods, eh?
In any case, maybe the Wraith was peacefully hanging out eating a potato chip when suddenly these bozos showed up to disturb snack time.
May 7th, 2022 at 12:45 am
Harry Shearer pleads for forgiveness over the whole Apu thing.
May 7th, 2022 at 2:19 am
This is what happens when an actor says the name “MacBeth” in the theatre. Apparently dress rehearsal’s don’t count as a live performance.
May 7th, 2022 at 2:22 am
A decade after its appearance on GSS, we’ve given up trying to figure out the Big Hand and the dorky costumes, and are still working on the mystery of the flying red blotch.
Liking the ketchup chip theory, eh? They get lost on their way to Medieval Times dinner and tourney?
May 7th, 2022 at 3:36 pm
Ketchup chip? Isn’t that just the interior of the theater critic’s hood? Or are you folks just being snarky? 🙂
May 8th, 2022 at 12:54 am
@Bruce: The way it’s (not) shaded, it damn well looks like a red potato chip hanging in mid-air more than it looks like anything else.
@Tat: Well spotted! Harry’s not above wearing daft costumes, too.
May 8th, 2022 at 3:42 am
@GSS ex-noob: to me it looks more like a hole in the cover than it does a potato chip, but to each their own. Like bible scholarship, bad cover analysis will produce many different interpretations.
May 8th, 2022 at 2:16 pm
@Bruce: The giant potato chip puzzled me so much that I googled the cover. It’s on all images of them, so it’s part of the cover.
Now I’m starting to think that this blotch is covering up a bird that had been painted there. The shape is roughly similar to a pair of wings.
What if the artist originally painted in a kestrel? And then someone said “Kestrel is the name of a character, not a real bird.” And the kestrel was roughly painted out, with touch-ups never made.
Or maybe the gods just dropped their snack.
It also bugs me that the hands don’t line up. The left one appears out of nowhere and cannot be connected to the same set of shoulders.
May 8th, 2022 at 11:08 pm
@Tor: The wraith arm looks like it’s reaching around from the other side of Petra, with the wraith head behind “& THE”. And the potato chip is in mid-air. Maybe the wraith is sharing its snacks with the people — “here, this will be enough for all of you!”
The woman’s left arm is very tiny indeed.