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Aug 24

Whatever happened to the shoulder pad... It used to be sci-fi's champion!Click for full image

Art Direction: We’ll have some guy looking like he’s in a furtistic space disco being attacked by a giant man with a glowing forehead. Why, you ask? Well, we all know psychic powers are clearly symbolised by a lens flare. Just like every sword is reflecting a magical light from somewhere making it go… TING!
Published 1983

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: 7.74 out of 10)
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27 Responses to “Web of the Witch World”

  1. THX 1138 Says:

    “Ah, there’s nothing I like better than playing with my action figures!”

  2. Smith Says:

    “… I lost my heart to a starship trooper…”

  3. Tom Noir Says:

    This is one of those great titles where you can rearrange it anyway you like and it will make the same amount of sense:

    “Witch of the Web World”
    “World of the Web Witch”
    “Web of the World Witch”
    etc.

  4. Tom Noir Says:

    By the way, does anyone else see hallucinogenic rainbow colors when they look at that cover, or am I having another flashback?!?

  5. Herm Says:

    That looks a little like one of those oldschool red-green 3D images.

  6. Scott B Says:

    I think that might be the legendary “One TING To Rule Them All.”

  7. Phil Says:

    BNC cables connected directly to the brain. Now there’s a novel idea. Good to see a TING! and a lens flare working in combo.

    Judging by the metre-long list of WITCH WORLD books on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_World), there must be plenty more dodgy covers where that came from.

  8. fred Says:

    He’s got two laser blasters but only one holster.

  9. SI Says:

    No no he’s give those giant hands a space manicure!

  10. Jami Says:

    Why is it that psychic flares are always cross shaped? Are they trying to make some sort of comment about religion? Why no psychic flares that look like a Star Of David?

  11. Anne Packrat Says:

    Oh, poor Andre, you have so many bad covers. Would you believe this is actually a fantasy novel?

  12. Smith Says:

    @fred: he’s got a sword (major TING) and a gun. But its still all wrong. He’s got the sword in his right hand with scabbard on left hip – all fine – but his gun is in his left hand, with the holster on his right hip. He’d have to draw across his body, unlike any cowboy film I’ve ever seen. Or cop show. Or, indeed, anything.

  13. drlemaster Says:

    Ms. Norton was writing back in the day when fantasy and sci-fi weren’t clearly delineated. See also http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/2010/10/witch-world/ .

  14. Claire Says:

    @Tom. I don’t see the colours but the giant head seems to float in towards me.

  15. Joachim Says:

    Let me touch you with my mildew hands!!

  16. Tat Wood Says:

    To inanity – AND BEYOND!

  17. Bruce A Munro Says:

    NITE-LIGHT MAN VS THE COLOSSAL CHROMATIC ABERRATION

  18. B. Chiclitz Says:

    Which world?

  19. fred Says:

    This probably looks 1000% more amazing if viewed through 3D glasses under a black light.

  20. THX 1139 Says:

    Black velvet – the connoisseur’s canvas.

  21. Bibliomancer Says:

    Blast ’em in the pinkie. PEW PEW

  22. Outis Says:

    Really, I kind of like this one. If there are witches/warlocks in it, they must be up to date and properly technological, as the many head-cables (and flares) show. And the lil’ fellow just swatting at the big hands is rather cute. No, no, bad hands! Go away!

  23. Bruce A Munro Says:

    Head-cables tend to make me think the person is hooked up to something, a computer or a virtual reality device of some sort. Is he pestering the lil’ guy by remote control? Is the Witch World actually a VR game with this “web” of which the title speaks being some sort of, I dunno, networked arrangement of computers? Is he the Dungeon Master messing with one of the players? [1]

    @Outis: any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from technology?

    @Bibliomancer: if you look at the expanded pic, the little guy is stabbing the pinkie, not blasting it. That’s a very ting!-y sword.

    [1] Probably reading in things here the author didn’t intend. But the author is dead, so according to literary theory we can assume whatever we want! That’s how it works, right?

  24. B. Chiclitz Says:

    If you shake the big guy’s head, it snows inside.

  25. Verylatetotheparty Says:

    @B.C.: The whole cover is so disco-tastic, I think it would have to be full of glitter with a colour changing light underneath. Or maybe if you touch his head it’s a giant plasma globe.

  26. A.R.Yngve Says:

    “Foolish rebel! No employee defies the Great and Powerful Bezos and lives to brag about it…”

  27. GSS ex-noob Says:

    The rare Ting!Flare.

    As the “Witch World” books are basically sword and sorcery, I’ve no idea why Giant Head is plugged into cables.

    Right on a level with the guy with the bird hat on the first volume, just differently awful. You all remember him:
    http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/?p=3352

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