Rich Comments: One of my favouite books of all time. If I had judged by the cover, I wouldn’t have ever touched it.
Published 1966
Many thanks to Rich!
Rich Comments: One of my favouite books of all time. If I had judged by the cover, I wouldn’t have ever touched it.
Published 1966
Many thanks to Rich!
Click for full UNCENSORED image
Terry’s Art Direction: The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about a cure for cancer is – naked chicks! I want you to put in 4 naked women and have their heads blowing up and an Albino man’s corpse emerging from them. Think you can do that? I know it’s a stretch, but . . .
Published 1976
I give this one Michael Crawford!
Many thanks to Terry!
Sonya’s Art Direction: Instead of two views of wonder, how about a riot of color and image? Perhaps a plant for every short story in the collection? Oh, and throw in a Frida Kahlo lookalike holding a skull ala Hamlet to show that these are serious stories…
Published 1974
Many thanks to Sonya!
Ashton Comments: Uh, no comment.
Published 1982
Amazing find! Thanks to Ashton!
Carolyn Comments: You can probably analyze this better than I! I assume the artist just read the jacket blurb.
Published 1977
“Imagine: Gorilla-shaped bismuth junkies who stack their dead ancestors like cordwood in the living room; gentle souls who can touch with a touch or a thought. A throwback fiefdom on a planet where huge poisonous bats rule the night sky, where serpents the size of semi-trailers slither though the rotting jungle. A sarcastic mansized beetle that’s a Talmudic scholar and swears like a longshoreman. And claims to be immortal. All in a life’s work for Otto McGavin: Prime Operator for the TBII, undercover guardian of the rights of aliens and humans under the Confederacion.”
Mmm… uhh… seriously? That snake doesn’t look too happy.
Outstanding! Good Show Carolyn!
Brian’s Art Direction: What makes vampires scary? Exactly: it’s their lack of proportion. It’s their slightly big heads and taste for late-80s haircuts. Imagine a vampiress Bonnie Tyler. Get to it.
Published 1989
Many thanks to Brian!
Jen Comments: A warlock and his robotic horse battle a carnivorous tree who collects stuffed animals and leprechauns, while farting evil smoke into the mouth of a nearby menacing castle. Meanwhile, a knight and his lady ride past, oblivious. Sadly, a surprisingly accurate depiction of the book. And yes, I paid $5 for it.
Insane thanks to Jen!
And now for the real cover:
You might remember seeing this previously on Good Show Sir: Sunrunner’s Fire
Stutzman comments: So here is the Australia cover for that very same book (found in a used bookstore in the US), which is hideous beyond words. Same general elements: dragon, wizardly dude in robes, rocks. The execution, however… oh, my eyes.
Thanks very much to Stutzman!
Eighties cartoons are just fantastic, aren’t they. Wait a second… What if we go for that eighties look? Musclebound guy wearing strange straps which have no benefit and gold bracelets. Holding aloft his magic glowing scepter. No one is going to forget this cover anytime soon!
BONUS Hi-Res Image!
Suitable for framing to hang in your man-cave.
Good Show Sir Art Direction: You know what type of reader suffers in the world of sci-fi/fantasy? Men! We need something for the men! So just put a redhead vampire chick with a huge rack right there on the front cover, holding her shotgun. It’s about time that we have something men can enjoy unlike those, dragons, swords, guns, lasers…….space ships…..oh…
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