Good Show Sir

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Alessandra’s Art Direction: I want the main characters looking soulful, or at least sulky.  I want the woman on the left missing her frontal lobes, but balance it out with piles of sausage curls on the woman below.  Give the woman on the right a freakishly small body and no flesh on her arms, no ribcage, in fact no anatomy at all.  Dress them in brightly colored Renaissance fair castoff costumes — don’t forget the purple!  Oh, and put in a horse because you do them so well.  Make its wings as sloppy as you like; we’re going to cover them with the title anyway.
Published 1978

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I’m sure there are a good few of you who have read a fine novel by Anne and if not, you really should. Thanks for the books and in our case here, especially the wonderful covers that graced them!

Madelyn Comments: She does appear to be teaching the dragon to play, “fetch.” I always thought, what I now realize is a red squeak-toy, was the satellite that periodically dropped lethal spoor over all of Pern.

Alessandra Comments: ‘Cause nothing says, “Lessa of Pern,” like a swingin’ naked chick in a flimsy, filmy fannabaroo riding a dragon sidesaddle with cutey goldy sandals.
Both Published in 1976

More great McCaffrey Covers Here

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Eleanor Comments: A book with the awesome title ‘Get Off the Unicorn’ features a . . . dragon?
Published 1977

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Art Direction: Lets get this done with, I have a squash game to get to! Right, got it! Half women, the topless half I might add and half… I don’t know… Golden retriever?
Published 1977

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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!

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Shelley’s Art Direction: We’re looking for a sort of lion-centaur. And a spaceship. And gore. And…could you do something with foreshortened perspective? Thanks.
Published 1977

That is… awesome.
Many thanks to Shelley!

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Bookworm Bas Comments: A 1978 PAN edition. I like the play on words with the title submitting ‘sex’ for ‘things’ in reference to H.G.Wells. I also like the artwork. After all who doesn’t like naked women? No relation to any of the stories of course. At least I don’t recall any flying platform jetting away from a mountain range while a nude women, her decency protected only by her exceptionally long brunette hair, is overcome with emotion. Still I bet they sold a few and I reckon the hair extensions were painted in later (which is a shame I think).

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Throw out this idea of a whole picture and think in terms of layers. Just concentrate on four of them, a women with a bad hair cut firing a laser, a tiny women in a floating tea cup, a huge bald guy about to attack and some people in an arena watching. Slap it all together and we’re sorted!

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Guy sits uncomfortably on the tail of a space shuttle. Don’t forget huge shiny text. And we’ll have to quote another one of her books, something that will really appeal to those hardcore Sci-Fi readers. Oh oh! I know. Dragons of Pern. Ace!

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I’m speachless. I asked you for a mermaid, riding a merhorse on an ocean wave with a rainbow coming out of her back. But this… this is so much more. A picture like this should be kept in the Louvre.