Maybe if the author’s name had been Maurice Omigosh, or Maurice HolyCriminy, or Maurice Amazeballs, the artist would have colored pencil-sketched some more enthusiastic looking kids.
Children looking and touching grey slime with vaguely repulsed facial expressions. The girl, holding a flashlight, uses it all wrong. And are those eggs?
@Anna T.—No, no mountains anywhere, but in embiggened view I seem to detect some sort of shadowy stone gate or archway in the background, just to the left of the “U” in the title. What’s up with that?
I also seem to see a left-facing squirrel formed out of foliage blobs just beneath it. So what’s up with that?
Why are there shadows under “Under” and “Mountain” but not under “The”? Is this an allegory? I’d ask “What’s up with that” but I don’t want to steal DeadStuff’s signature line. 😛
I don’t think puffins can fart. Puffin was the beloved children’s arm of the famed British publisher Penguin. Most of my childhood books are from Puffin or Armada. Then I discovered Fighting Fantasy!
@THX: I don’t know about puffins, but the ring-necked pheasant certainly can. Although as the former is a charadriform and the latter is a galliform, they’re not the most closely related.
DSWBigT—Thanks for the article. Very informative. Poor pheasant fella. But I admire your scholarship and direct you to the following journal. Perhaps you know of it as the state of the art in fowl research?
November 27th, 2017 at 1:51 pm
Maybe if the author’s name had been Maurice Omigosh, or Maurice HolyCriminy, or Maurice Amazeballs, the artist would have colored pencil-sketched some more enthusiastic looking kids.
November 27th, 2017 at 2:01 pm
“If you knew how to hold a flashlight right I wouldn’t have gotten my hand stuck in this mess.”
November 27th, 2017 at 2:19 pm
The devastating effects of opioid abuse among the inbred children of Maine.
November 27th, 2017 at 2:24 pm
Anglo-French cuisine fails: Moules Frites meets Jellied Eels and Mash.
November 27th, 2017 at 2:34 pm
Amazingly this cover was made into a movie starring Sam Neill and also a TV mini-series.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_the_Mountain_(film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_the_Mountain_(TV_miniseries)
November 27th, 2017 at 2:58 pm
I’m curious as to how the Bobbsey Twins stumbled upon the throne of Ubbo-Sathla the Unbegotten Source. So points for promotion, I suppose.
November 27th, 2017 at 3:00 pm
Goodness, I got in one try.
November 27th, 2017 at 3:00 pm
Children looking and touching grey slime with vaguely repulsed facial expressions. The girl, holding a flashlight, uses it all wrong. And are those eggs?
In short, there are no mountains anywhere.
November 27th, 2017 at 3:12 pm
@Anna T.—No, no mountains anywhere, but in embiggened view I seem to detect some sort of shadowy stone gate or archway in the background, just to the left of the “U” in the title. What’s up with that?
I also seem to see a left-facing squirrel formed out of foliage blobs just beneath it. So what’s up with that?
November 27th, 2017 at 3:24 pm
Papa John’s Pizza really sucks.
November 27th, 2017 at 3:25 pm
Good to see the “sticky fingers” tag is getting more use.
November 27th, 2017 at 3:37 pm
@Anna, BC: and someone switched my mescaline with vitamin pills, what’s up with that? 😉
As for the mountains, of course they’re not visible. They’re off the cover. The story is set under the mountains.
November 27th, 2017 at 3:50 pm
She got some on her flashlight, now it’s stuck to her face.
November 27th, 2017 at 4:54 pm
Question: What’s worse than biting into a mountain and finding a worm?
Answer: Finding half a worm.
November 27th, 2017 at 4:55 pm
The X-ray view in the lower right shows that the eggs are going to hatch into puffins.
(Actually, I wonder what the cover artist was puffin.)
November 27th, 2017 at 5:29 pm
Why are there shadows under “Under” and “Mountain” but not under “The”? Is this an allegory? I’d ask “What’s up with that” but I don’t want to steal DeadStuff’s signature line. 😛
November 27th, 2017 at 6:15 pm
“Lousy torch! When you’re under a mountain, you can’t get a signal to make outgoing calls.”
November 27th, 2017 at 8:57 pm
“And lashings and lashings of Ambrosia Rice Pudding!”
November 27th, 2017 at 8:57 pm
@B. Chiclitz: “Gettin’ high on your own pizza pie.”
November 28th, 2017 at 7:29 am
I thought this was something self-published recently.
Imagine my surprise upon seeing the date and an actual publisher name.
I was almost as surprised as these kids are excited.
Much less sticky, though.
November 28th, 2017 at 6:23 pm
The puffin looks like its fart is propelling it upwards.
November 28th, 2017 at 7:53 pm
I don’t think puffins can fart. Puffin was the beloved children’s arm of the famed British publisher Penguin. Most of my childhood books are from Puffin or Armada. Then I discovered Fighting Fantasy!
November 28th, 2017 at 8:47 pm
@THX: I don’t know about puffins, but the ring-necked pheasant certainly can. Although as the former is a charadriform and the latter is a galliform, they’re not the most closely related.
November 28th, 2017 at 9:30 pm
DSWBigT—Thanks for the article. Very informative. Poor pheasant fella. But I admire your scholarship and direct you to the following journal. Perhaps you know of it as the state of the art in fowl research?
November 28th, 2017 at 10:36 pm
It is fantasy. Perhaps the puffin has magic levitating farts.
I’m certain that never before in my life, have I said, read, or heard the line “Perhaps the puffin has magic levitating farts.”
Look what madness this terrible cover has driven me to.
Good Show, Unknown Sir!
November 29th, 2017 at 12:29 am
One way or another, it’s a’puffin.
December 2nd, 2017 at 7:48 pm
The two kids just look so… disinterested in whatever they’re doing.
September 5th, 2019 at 8:37 pm
“Trudy and Billy, you step away from that Steve Bannon right now! You don’t know where he’s been!”
January 30th, 2020 at 7:16 am
The author is from New Zealand, and the story is set there. As John Oliver has showcased, we put terrible things on pizza.