Book covers and artists

[GRWelsh]

When I brought up Darrell K. Sweet's cover of DARK IS THE SUN (1979), it got me to thinking about the wonderful diversity and quality of art that was on the covers of SF&F books, especially paperbacks (i.e. what was price-accessible for us young people) in the mid to late 20th century. We didn't have online reviews or Amazon ratings back then. Often the art was the impetus to try out a new writer, and sometimes would be better than the writing itself. Darrell K. Sweet's covers were fantastic, but I didn't appreciate them or take note of who the artist was back in the 70's, 80's and 90's. He did new covers for THE LORD OF THE RINGS in the early 80's, which I actually did NOT like because I preferred the traditional Tolkien art (and still do) -- but that was the exception. His art graced the covers of many books that I read, and some that I didn't but was familiar with because other kids I knew read them... like THE CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT, SHANNARA, DERYNI, XANTH, and GUARDIANS OF THE FLAME series (still haven't read those, except for the first Deryni book). Sweet was also the artist for the cover of the first Ballantine paperback edition (1983) of HIERO'S JOURNEY (1973). He got his start doing the cover for GATHER, DARKNESS! by Fritz Leiber (1975), for Del Rey. In later years, he did the covers for THE WHEEL OF TIME and THE RUNELORDS books. I don't know why I felt like posting about this artist... He died in 2011 at the age of 77, and his artwork has been all around me for nearly my entire life. I'm glad artists get more credit now than they used to, and sometimes I just wonder: how many people got started on a journey of reading because of a great cover? The cover of DARK IS THE SUN is interesting because it is such an unconventional framing of the characters -- we're viewing them from behind, as if we're looking over their shoulders and following them on their journey.

[geneweigel]

Yeah, as I mentioned previously, my family "country house" upstate's library was so jam-packed with fantasy like you wouldn't believe. No electricity, and was board up at the end of the Summer and opened in late Spring, its like looking back I remember the 70's being this time that was lit with all this awesome fantasy artwork and looking through the mothball smelling tomb with a flickering oil lamp at night and the 80's being this yawning void of searching for that missing coolness with a high-powered flashlight.

[davegibsongreyhawkdm]

So what's on your guys SF&F reading list from the 1970's?

Here's some of my favorites that I read then:

Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C. Clarke
The Chronicles of Amber - Roger Zelazny (first five books)
Children of Dune - Frank Herbert
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant - Stephen R. Donaldson (first trilogy)
The Cronicles of the Deryni - Katherine Kurtz
The Legends of Camber of Culdi - Katherine Kurtz (first two books)
The Silmarillion - JRR Tolkein
The Sword of Shannara - Terry Brooks
A Spell for Chameleon - Piers Anthony
Elric of Melnibone - Michael Moorcock
The Riddle-Master Trilogy - Patricia A. McKillip
Alien - Alan Dean Foster (film novelization)
The Earthsea Trilogy - Ursula K. Le Guin
Watership Down - Richard Adams
A Wind in the Door & A Swiftly Tilting Planet - Madeleine L'Engle
I Will Fear No Evil - Robert A. Heinlein

These are the ones from the 1970's that I remember reading in the late 70's and early 80's...

[davegibsongreyhawkdm]

Also worthwhile to consider are evocative LP album covers - there are some great ones that could be evocative dungeon encounters or even module settings...?

[GRWelsh]

Remember the Terran Trade Authority books from the late 70's, by Stewart Cowley? I had SPACECRAFT 2000-2100 (1978). I believe the premise was to take sf book cover art and recycle it with a fictional history to tie all of the paintings together into some sort of narrative whole. Same thing with ALIEN WORLD: THE COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED GUIDE (1980) by Steven Eisler. I have a real fondness for those books.

Hey writing the text to fit the art... that's the Marvel Method!