Wonderworks

by Michael Whelan, Polly Freas (Editor), Frank Kelly Freas (Editor)

Hardback. No dust Jacket.

Genres: Art, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

119 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1979

About the author

There is more than one author with this name in the database. Not all of the books on this profile belong to the same person.

Michael Whelan is one of the most important contemporary science fiction and fantasy artists, and certainly the most popular. His work was a dominant force in the transition of genre book covers away from the surrealism introduced in the 1950s and 1960s back to realism.

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to say that of all the science fiction and fantasy artists Michael Whelan is one of my favourite - partly due to the fact he has illustrated some of my favourite books and authors but also just by the sheer quality and amazing realism he puts in to each and every one of them.

Yes some of them can be incredibly fantastic but there is something so captivating with them - to give you an example he did the first set of illustrations for Stephen Kings Gunslinger series which includes the portrait of Roland himself (you know the one I mean).

So all in all I cannot get enough of his work and I will happily collect each and every edition of his work that has been published which I have to say is woefully small but I keep looking - yes I am gushing but I guess we are all allowed to do that over at least one author surely.

[Tobin Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Whelan's an incredible artist, and it's incredible how much of his work I own on old paperbacks.

But as others have said, this is his earlier stuff and, while much of it is very good, it is after this period that he became even better (though he I will always believe he did one of the best Elrics ever).

The printing of this book is not as good as it should be to truly showcase the art, but it was also published way back in 1979, and printing has improved greatly since then.

So, this is a good introduction to the early days of Whelan, but like I said, it was only upward from here.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been a Michael Whelan fan for a long time. Probably the first covers I recognized as particularly awesome would have been the Elric books which for me appeared out of nowhere in 1981. I have at least two Michael Whelan books, I don't take the time to look at my art books nearly enough. This one was for his earliest work - and I'm not sure I realized that. And it's kind of what I want in an art book. First of all it has fantastic art. But also most pictures have a bit of a story with them, sort of like you'd get from Asimov introduced short story. And the bits my other people on the artist actually add something. It helps that this book also covers such a short amount of time that it ends up having a point of view. And I ended up knowing who Micheal Whelan is, just a little bit more.

[Alessandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michael Whelan is a good artist, but this is not his best collection. It includes most of his earliest, weakest published works from before he had found his distinctive style. While there are some excellent paintings here, there are also some problematic ones (including the unfortunate "horse catapulted backwards" cover of C. J. Cherryh's Well of Shiuan).

The color reproduction is grainy and problematic. A number of images have subtle moiré effects suggesting they were shot from already-printed reproductions rather than the original art.

This is not a bad book by any means, but it is not the best showcase of Whelan's work.

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderworks was published before Michael Whelan won his first Hugo or World Fantasy Award. This book clearly shows why he came to dominate science fiction, fantasy, and (to a lesser extent) horror cover illustrations. For cover you need a compelling image, but you also need to leave room for for the book's information. What set Whelan apart from so many artists is he took the time to read the books he illustrated. He captured the characters, their world, and the mood of the book. There are so many iconic images (for me): Anne McCaffrey's dragons, Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone, C.J. Cherryh's Morgaine, and H. Beam Piper's Fuzzies. Long out of print, it is worth having.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whelan's first collection features a good deal of early work, which of course isn't as good as it would be in years to follow, but it is still interesting to see the evolution of style. And, quality aside, it is nice to go back to a time when book covers weren't all stock photography. The book is divided into genre sections for science fiction, sword & sorcery, horror, etc. and has introductions for each by Poul Anderson, Anne McCaffrey, Alan Dean Foster, C.J. Cherryh, and Gerald W. Page. Most of the cover art (there are a few personal pieces as well) I have never seen on books in hand.

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

When it comes to renderings of Moorcock's Elric Whelan is the Man

[Avis Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who spent a lot of time in her teens buying books with Michael Whelan covers, this volume is a real pleasure to peruse, if somewhat nostalgic at this point.

[Jim Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another favorite sf art collection by one of my favorites.