May 10
Click for full imageJaouad’s Art Direction: We’re going a bit more classy for this one. Everyone always only looks at the boobs, right? Well, not this time! This cover is going to be about ears. Elf ears. On a lion.
Published 2012
(Average: 6.14 out of 10)
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(9.27 out of 10)
May 10th, 2013 at 10:35 am
“Strikingly weird and wonderful”? I can’t believe my ears! Well, I can’t believe somebody’s ears.
May 10th, 2013 at 11:21 am
This one is particularly annoying to the author, because the character on the cover is specifically flat-chested. And the cat-thing is blind, having had its eyes burned out.
May 10th, 2013 at 12:34 pm
She is wearing quite a sexy costume. All the princes in the realm of Kencyrath speak approvingly of this damsel’s jerkin …
… but it is a left-handed compliment.
May 10th, 2013 at 12:44 pm
“Stay here while I go change into my best lion fighting outfit!”
May 10th, 2013 at 1:00 pm
“I like the way you are holding that tree branch….I don’t like the way you are holding that knife.”
May 10th, 2013 at 1:27 pm
There’s either some wild perspective issues here, or that’s a really big Elf-Lion.
May 10th, 2013 at 1:36 pm
Wasn’t that a hit for the Eagles? “You can’t hide…Your lion ears…”
May 10th, 2013 at 2:03 pm
‘What time does it say on the Scary Lionface Clock, children?’ ‘It says ten past ten … no, ten past seven … no twenty to eleven … wait, I’m confused …’
May 10th, 2013 at 2:16 pm
I really like these books. Didn’t know there was a new one. I heard there were issues with the last pub.
May 10th, 2013 at 2:21 pm
@Phil—beautiful. ouch.
Are there enough phallic symbols on this cover? Maybe not; let’s lightly pencil in some elven lion yarbles at just the right horizontal sight line.
May 10th, 2013 at 2:37 pm
BEHIND YOU!!
May 10th, 2013 at 2:43 pm
To the Admin: What is with the Anglicized title? It is Honor’s Paradox — not Honour’s. Is this an attempt to co-opt our proud American heritage of heroic fantasy literature? What’s next? The Lourd of the Rings? Zed Zed Top?
May 10th, 2013 at 3:22 pm
Look as fierce as you want, elf-lion, that cleavage is making you all but invisible.
May 10th, 2013 at 3:25 pm
To the Admin: Thanks for doing me the favor of doing the labor to honor my request. I feel in much better humor and will try to not let my furor color my behavior or demeanor.
May 10th, 2013 at 3:29 pm
@Bibliomancer: Hah! I was just going to propose a US-spelling-issues tag. (And shouldn’t that be “prod American heritage”?)
May 10th, 2013 at 3:46 pm
Heh. I think we can judge the admin’s troulling a success.
Anyway, isn’t the main character called Jame? Who’s this Honor everyone’s talking about?
May 10th, 2013 at 4:00 pm
@Jaoad. Thnk f th kystrks svd f w drppd nt jst th “U”s bt ll f th vwls!
May 10th, 2013 at 4:07 pm
@Bilbomancer – What can I say… I’m Sourry. 😛
If I had REALISED someone might take OFFENCE, I would have not used that particular brand of HUMOUR!
I APOLOGISE and now I am off for a cup of Earl Grey with dearest MUM!
May 10th, 2013 at 4:21 pm
@GSS Admin: It’s Biblio-mancer; not Bilbo-mancer. I ain’t no Hobbit. 🙂
Tell your MUM I would like to knock her up some time next week. 😉
May 10th, 2013 at 4:27 pm
@Bibliomancer – Well I say… Good Show… Good show indeed sir! 😀
May 10th, 2013 at 4:30 pm
Yes, I’d expect to run across someone wearing Caribbean-pirate-style clothing in terrain that looks like the Alps.
May 10th, 2013 at 5:15 pm
Werelion? There lion!
May 10th, 2013 at 5:17 pm
The blue-and-orangeness just keeps on coming.
May 10th, 2013 at 6:28 pm
Myself I think it’s wonderful that between dealing with ruffians, soccer hooligans, and what not, P.C. Hodgell has had time to write fantasy fiction. Ignore yhe mockery of your fellows, Hodgell. You are no poncey poofster. You sir, are an AUTHOR.
May 10th, 2013 at 8:05 pm
@Bibliomancer: Not the Bagginses? He lies to us, precious. We thinks he lies, yesssss.
Precioussss…
May 10th, 2013 at 8:49 pm
Who is this Ken C. Rath fellow?
May 10th, 2013 at 8:57 pm
Elfy-Lion” “Just what were you gonna do with that petrified woody lady Jame?”
Jame: “Huh?!! Wha….nothing, just leave me alone…stop judging me with your eyes!!!!!”
May 10th, 2013 at 9:26 pm
Such an entertaining thread keeps me looking back at the cover. It is so disorienting. What law of physics would allow her cloak to hang at that angle relative to her body posture? Are we in—another dimension? Or is it just more good bad art?
May 10th, 2013 at 9:26 pm
We’ve snuck a spy onto the cover, and she’s going to stab it RIGHT IN THE BAEN SYMBOL!
May 10th, 2013 at 9:34 pm
@B.Chiclitz. Methinks the damsel is fighting a stiff breeze blowing from right to left across the cover (also note her hair) … and speaking of stiff, that’s quite a woody she’s holding in her left hand (in my best Groucho voice!)
May 10th, 2013 at 11:57 pm
@B.Chiclitz: I get the impression the ground beneath herr (but not that under Glorsimbadel the elven lion) has begun abruptly to move to the right. Thus necessitating the grab for wood and the over the shoulder glance back of surprise from Lionelf. Or perhaps the artist just said ‘whatever’ to cause/effect.
‘Boobies, cleavage, lions with elf ears. Who’s gonna look at the cloak?’
May 11th, 2013 at 1:25 pm
‘Snarl! Hiss! Hot death to the Ilona Andrews cover off to my right! Phwoar!!
‘Lady, look. Just…forget it. Breathe in, breathe out…take in the scenery…and let go of the branch.’
May 11th, 2013 at 4:02 pm
Grrrr. So what if I have big ears? I’m a lion. Grrrr.
More powerful than my more civilised cousin (http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/2012/04/beasts/).
Less bemused than my Italian cousin (http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/2010/09/sleepwalkers-world/).
So leave me alone with my ears. Grrrrr.
May 11th, 2013 at 8:18 pm
@FoM—I like your theory better. B’mancer may be the maven of GSS, but he’s no meteorologist. That wind theory won’t hold water. Her hair would be plastered to her face, not puffing out.
Speaking of Glorsimbadel, seems that the “I’ve just been goosed” look on his face might hint at what she’s been doing with that woody thing.
May 11th, 2013 at 9:46 pm
“A New Kencyrath Novel”
Well, that just rolls off the tongue…
“Kensy Rath”?
“Kenky Rath”?
“Ken Syrath”?
“Ken Kyrath”?
“Kencyr Ath”?
“Kency Rah-Rah-Rah”?
Or maybe it’s French: “Kensireh”?
May 13th, 2013 at 4:18 pm
“Lady Jame has the most strikingly weird and wonderful boobies in epic fantasy today!”
– Charles Stross
May 13th, 2013 at 10:14 pm
They were on a quest to grab the Lowest Common Denominator by the gonads! They were artists cursed by…
BAEN’S PARADOX
“Baen prints the most strikingly schizoid and retrograde covers in F & SF today.”
-Name Withheld
May 15th, 2013 at 2:30 am
I am disappointed that the artist didn’t give those boobs elf ears too. Or the landscape. Or the knife. Elf ears for everything!
May 15th, 2013 at 8:04 pm
Lion: “Roaaarrr!”
Jame: “Peeew….Ok, you may be able to cover the sound with your roar, but you can’t mask the smell!”
May 16th, 2013 at 6:48 am
Fantasy damsels often suffer from chest frostbite.
March 8th, 2014 at 9:45 am
Who’d win in a fight between Elf-Lion and ElvenBane?
June 27th, 2015 at 6:29 pm
@Bibliomancer. I wasn’t aware that The Lord of the Rings was written by an American. Did anyone inform JRR Tolkien?
June 27th, 2015 at 7:39 pm
If this were an English book, I’d suspect the author was an off-duty plod.
June 29th, 2015 at 11:35 am
@Tag Wizard: Honor Blackman? The paradox something about Pussy Galore?
The woman on the cover sure looks like she could be named Pussy Galore.
August 25th, 2015 at 3:40 am
@Tag Wizard: Harrington, maybe? The title is something I would associate more with the aforementioned Weber series.
And maybe the woman on the cover is actually impersonating the non-endowed heroine. It’s a possible explanation for the gratuitous and inaccurate bosom.
January 26th, 2017 at 5:15 am
@DSWBT: She does seem to be offended and disgusted by the BAEN! symbol, doesn’t she?
As are we all, dear, as are we all. At least you got a free boob job out of it.
You know that one Monty Python sketch where they come outside and (I think) Chapman says “Good Lord. I’m on film” with some surprise? This expression is the equivalent when you and your elf-lion see that symbol and realize “Good Lord. I’m on BAEN!”
March 10th, 2017 at 2:01 am
I am reading the first in this series, and my image of the heroine is not quite this.