Feb 27
Emster comments: Publisher: I need an sf airplane for this cover
Artist: But I just learned how to draw feet, may I put some feet in there somewhere?
Publisher: (sigh) Fine…
Published 1982
(Average: 8.42 out of 10)
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February 27th, 2023 at 11:56 am
Every time a new Moorcock book cover is published a Champion Eternal gets his wings.
February 27th, 2023 at 12:36 pm
When your artist takes the economy class.
February 27th, 2023 at 12:54 pm
You can tell this was published by Fontana not Mayflower/Grafton, can’t you?
(I love that his shoelaces are tied together…)
February 27th, 2023 at 2:26 pm
In a little-known but charming incident in ancient history, Pescennius Niger escapes Septimius Severus’s siege of Byzantium using a somewhat updated version of Daedalus’s original scheme.
February 27th, 2023 at 3:07 pm
That cover looks. . . edible. But what it has to do with Russia enduring the throes of revolution?
Now if it were one of Moorcock’s Dancers at the End of Time books it might have been appropriate. I can just about imagine Jherek Carnelian getting about in a confectionary based biplane*.
*Any rumours to the effect that this was Jefferson Airplane’s original name were entirely made up by me.
February 27th, 2023 at 3:28 pm
Someone was watching one of the many interviews Beryl Cook did around then and thought ‘how hard can it be?’
February 27th, 2023 at 4:57 pm
it’s always good when Moorcock is straight in the front ranks.
@Admin—GSS on the scroll over text!
February 27th, 2023 at 5:11 pm
@Francis Boyle
The protagonist (and villain, though there’s a lot of dramatic irony going on) of the novel is an Edison wannabe genius boy inventor Tom Swift-type who builds an personal flying machine (which doesn’t work) before getting involved in the change of management in Russia towards the end of the first world war.
February 27th, 2023 at 6:29 pm
There are many ways a cover artist can take the piss out of a writer – this is one of them.
February 27th, 2023 at 7:26 pm
Candyland endures.
February 28th, 2023 at 1:42 am
@Emster: This is indeed GSS-worthy. Where are you finding these gems? Perfectly OK if it’s your own home. Sometimes the bad art is coming from inside of the house.
We don’t know if the artist can draw feet — we know how hard that is for UAI students — but the guy’s got a good eye for shoe soles. Although with the laces tied together, the landing’s going to be tricky. Not to mention the threat of shoulder separations.
The wings remind me of that multi-color striped chewing gum. I’m not ruling out any other sort of confectionary, maybe that Haribo stuff. Particularly as the crowd seems to be made up of Gummibären. Or maybe it’s a gummy Kremlin.
@Admin and/or Tag: perfect mouseover text!
@Fred, @NomadUK: GSS!
@Max: What this has to do with the changeover from Tsar to the USSR is… nothing. Were they going to put it on something sci-fi of his and instead decided, “eh, it’s good enough for this”? Or is there a wacky aircraft book with a picture of Eastern Europeans looking glum and revolutionary?
The dust jacket of the hardback had an appropriate photo. It is a measure of his talent that he’s had such a good reputation for decades despite so many bad covers. It’s like publishers read his surname and approve WTF they’ve got lying around while they’re sniggering like 11 year olds.
February 28th, 2023 at 2:23 am
…but what about the yarn bows on the leading and trailing edges of the wings? I know that you can use yarn to show airflow, but that’s usually in a wind tunnel *before* the planeman makes a first flight….
March 1st, 2023 at 12:31 am
@GSS x-n: I found this particular beauty and a coupla others at a new quirky coffee shop/book nook. Pre-GSS I’d think, “well, that’s a weird cover” and now I appreciate (nay, thoroughly enjoy) covers through GSS tinted glasses.