Fantasy Book Club discussion

Which edition do you have, and what did you think of the cover?

For the US and London editions, and many of the foreign translations, (notably the German) as an established professional illustrator, I was granted the privilege of becoming my own cover artist. The book in its various editions, has been issued with a character portrait, a landscape treatment, and most lately, a graphic design (my own concept and execution, also). Publishers in various locales have reasons for wanting a look to a cover, and I, as the artist, had to adapt.

I did not do the very lovely artwork for the French edition, the Hungarian, or the Polish - all of the local artists assigned to the book did a splendid job with the assignment. (Most of these covers are displayed under the books header on my website if you are curious - http://www.paravia.com/JannyWurts).

Readers tend to have lively views of what style they prefer on a book - post your personal opinion, or ask why the images evolved in partnership with the publisher's need - I will freely answer questions on the result.

I have the out of print American edition, #8 at
http://www.paravia.com/JannyWurts/web...

I liked the French cover too. Who was the artist for that?

I read this one:

I have this one:

I love it. It has a great feel to it. I plan to get the remaining books with the matching covers...

I have the new cover. I think I like it much better than the old cover in comparison.

I got the copy I'll be reading at the library. It has the same cover as Jon's copy.

Jim wrote: "I have the out of print American edition, #8 at
http://www.paravia.com/JannyWurts/web...

I liked the French cover too. Who was the artist for that?"

The French artist was Amandine Labarre, and I thought they did a brilliant job...read the story, too, by all appearances.

Jon wrote: "I read this one: "

This painting was done for the US release, in the style for fantasy covers at that time. Publishers then felt that character driven images were best suited to the going market.

The original painting was done in oils on hardboard (masonite) and measures thirty six inches by twenty three and a half high. I use a very unusual (for these times) medium, which lends itself to the blended tones of the background mist. There were no models. I painted the characters as I saw them, without a preliminary sketch. The pencil line drawing was done full size, transferred to a gray toned board, then underpainted in warm brown for the darks, in the style of the old masters.

The image is loaded with symbolism, both in its graphic design and in the content. You can guess for the meanings, or ask, as you wish.

Chris wrote: "I have this one:

I love it. It has a great feel to it. I plan to get the remaining books with the matching covers..."

The new graphic covers came about as the "look" of fantasy titles matured. My editor in London advocated the change, in belief that the books would reach a wider readership if they had a more sophisticated appearance. Up until then, the British covers for fantasy were done in a panoramic landscape style. (Nobody has shown that edition, yet).

When the shift away from pictorial to graphics occurred, I was taken by surprise by my standalone, To Ride Hell's Chasm - a piece of the panoramic cover was lifted and placed against white, with brown type. I only saw the final, when the book cover itself was sent to me.

When the London editor informed me that the series would be repackaged in a graphic style, I was told they would be assigning it to another artist. Why another artist, I asked. The issue was time, a much smaller fee for a reprint cover, and, of course, "you don't do graphics."

Well, I did, for a living, before I did paintings...so I told the editor, if your meeting is Tuesday, (this being Friday) let me shoot off some sketches and show you. If you don't like them, you can, of course, proceed as planned and get somebody else.

I looked at what covers were being done...and knew to my bones nobody doing a graphic at short notice would ever read a huge book - and that, whatever went, it would set the "look" of the series for the foreseeable future. Too much was at stake not to drop everything on my plate, roll up my sleeves, and plunge in.

The weekend became a fast and furious crash course in photoshop. My husband jumped in. We had the desk computer and the laptop running 24 hours on end. Every piece of art I had EVER done for the series got cannibalized...out came the Paravia sketchbook, with drawings of scenes and places. Bits of tracings of graphic patterns, transparencies of covers got scanned...the Paravian sword, in its multiple angles - all that got amalgamated into some eighteen graphic designs. These were put into jpegs and sent, with type style suggestions, everything - so the Tuesday meeting got bombarded.

The funny thing was, they went straight for the first design that came out!

The image itself is composed of four paintings all done in oils on hardboard:

The sword and entwined rose, done 32 inches high, against white.

The "background" image, taken from the back cover of the US edition, mist with broken arch and seardluin gargoyles.

The "center" image in the stone ring, an oil done from the initial black and white pencil image of Rockfell Peak, in the Paravia sketchbook (and visible on the website gallery).

And the stone ring, pulled out of yet another painting, since the graphics for Ships of Merior and Warhost of Vastmark were designed in the same fell sweep.

The most brilliant touch came from the graphic designer at HarperCollins, who bled the background images to white to let the type come forward. This gave the ultimate finishing touch to an image designed to leap to the eye from the shelf.

I've noticed, lately, that more and more books have shifted toward a light background - when these occurred, they stood quite alone in their class. My hat's off to that brilliant designer.

It is very eye-catching and looks great on my nightstand....thanks for sharing that background story of how the covers were designed....

Chris wrote: "I have this one:

I love it. It has a great feel to it. I plan to get the remaining books with the matching covers..."

I have this edition as well and love the cover.I have ordered the other available books in the same edition. Personally, I prefer this type of graphic cover or landscape covers. I like to envision the characters myself so I generally avoid editions with characters on the front - just personal preference.

I have the US edition, the same that Jon has. I love it that you painted your guys straight from your mind's eye to the canvas. Though I do enjoy 'casting' characters myself in my mind, it is nice to see how the writer envisions her/his characters.

Okay--let's get a bit off-color, here. I'd definitely date both these guys--at the same time, heheheh!!!

I have the original American paperback edition, Jon's photo, that as been sitting on my shelf for, what, 14 or so years now. I liked the cover originally(although covers don't have much influence on my purchasing decisions); I do like knowing that the art contains specific meaning and symbolism.

I'm going to throw in a question that has more to do with the production and less with the cover. Is the print any easier to read in the new edition? I tried to start this book last night and the print was just way too difficult to read, even with my glasses. I don't think I can make it through 700 pages if I have to struggle so much to make out the words on the page.

Janny wrote: "Chris wrote: "I have this one:

I love it. It has a great feel to it. I plan to get the remaining books with the matching covers..."

The new graphic covers came about as the "look" of fantasy titles matured..."

SPOILER QUESTIONS (some blank lines follow)






One presumes that the sword in this cover is Alithiel, hereditary to the s'Ffalenn line. What's the symbolism of the rose intertwined with the sword? Is that from the Black Rose prophecy of Dakar? Also, I'm trying to recall the significance of the stone ring, and am drawing a blank.

In the other cover with Lysaer and Arithon, it looks like they're in the ruins of Ithamon, right? Is there any hint of the upcoming ambush by the Mistwraith catching them by surprise on the cover? What's the broken arch supposed to be?

Suman wrote: "Janny wrote: "Chris wrote: "I have this one:

I love it. It has a great feel to it. I plan to get the remaining books with the matching covers..."

The..."

Suman - the sword is indeed Alithiel.

The rose has significance on several counts, both actual and symbolic; if I were to reveal all the points of significance, that would spoil several threads of the action, so here, you'll have to be patient. Remember to ask me again, in a later volume's discussion (and there are folders open for all of the books at the Fantasy Book Club Series group).

The ruin is Ithamon, the scene in question exactly the one you pinpointed. The broken arch is one of the Paravian built gates, and the fact it is half broken indicates that half of the balance of the mysteries is jeopardized. That cover is the US edition (original) and it has a lot more symbolic content. Even the small details count. (The briars, the triaxial seal, and the interlaced snake in the stone work) Even the placement of Lysaer's sword and Arithon's lyranthe has meaning, as does the orientation of the characters depicted.

Here is the cover in question, if anyone is curious:


The stone ring was simply a graphic border to set off the picture view, into the world, in this case, Rockfell Peak at the time the Fellowship of Seven set up the wardings.

I have all of the hardbacks, except for Stormed Fortress which is a TPB.

I find it interesting that Mistwraith is the only one showing Lysaer and Arithon, with Lysaer in profile. In my experience a profile does not show a true face. All of the other HC covers show Arithon alone with his Lyranthe. I wonder if this is significant?

That Arithon was always shown with his Lyranthe caused me to predict that he would indeed become Halliron's apprentice, despite his perceived duty and Asandir's requirements. More power to Arithon! But I guess I looked ahead.

I have a lot of questions about the Mistwraith cover. What do the leonine creatures represent? Do they mean something other than being similar to the English lions? The abstract, Celtic-like or Teutonic-like 'knots' which has a snake or dragon head at one end remind be of the ancient non-GrecoRoman 'fringe' myths. Is that significant? And there are the 3 interlaced circles, all within a circle, again very Celtic or Teutonic: an encircled, abstract triskeles. Does that mean something? The broken arch I assume is a Paravian ruin, probably Ithamon, since that is the ruin of this book. The dead looking plants are likely related to the Mistwraith's solar occlusion.

The clothing is interesting, though I know little about the history of clothes, especially all of the technical jargon. I do notice the buckle/Pin on Arithon's leather belt is a pennanular buckle which were used as long ago as 400 BCE in bronze, silver and gold. His looks silver. The belt which looks like a sword belt goes to the left, like Lysaer's,which means both are right-handed. I wonder what the design on the back of Lysaer's jerkin/tunic represents/

There is an abstracted fleur-de-lis on Ariton's boot tops, and on Lysaer's sword pommel. Lysaer's sword looks like a Renaissance rapier, not my idea of what the swords would be like. Are we in a Renaissance world rather than a Medieval world?

Both Princes wear rings, Lysaer's looks like 2 rings of gold and Arithon's looks like something entwined in silver, but the resolution is not sufficient fro me to say more. But, I bet they mean something!

Kernos wrote: "I have all of the hardbacks, except for Stormed Fortress which is a TPB.

I find it interesting that Mistwraith is the only one showing Lysaer and Arithon, with Lysaer in profile. In my experience..."

Keros, wow, you do know how to ask all the right questions.

YES. Everything has significance. The amount of symbolism incorporated in Mistwraith's cover is a very long list! The US covers in general are loaded, frontwards and backwards, with imagery that ties into everything.

Some of your questions can't be answered without spoilers (like the gargoyles, you will see in due time).

More, I know there was (somewhere) a full, indepth dissection of this cover - I went looking, but could not find it. Jon? You were part of that, can you recall where it occurred? (If she finds it, careful of spoilers!)

The tri-axial design on the wall and on the chapter head, yes, is significant; as is the snake in the knotwork (are you ever observant!). I would not try to tie them into Earth based cultures - look to the cultures on Athera...And yes, the design on Lysaer's tunic foreshadows something more. So does the fact the characters are presented profile and full face, and their postures, too.

I can tell you, yes, the broken arch and wall is a locale within Ithamon; and that Arithon's ring is mentioned in the story (see the first chapter).

The difference in the swords is explained also; likely that detail was overshadowed by the main action at the time. If another reader does not chime in, look at the subchapter Alithiel's Story in chapter set III. The sword Arithon carries is a longsword, which precedes a rapier only by a little - it was a transitional weapon, and you are correct, Lysaer carries a rapier.

I could, if you like, reopen a discussion on the symbolism of the covers in the Series group discussion. More may come clear as you read on.

Yes there postures, they quite relate to how I see the Princes.

Kernos wrote: "Yes there postures, they quite relate to how I see the Princes."

Watch their hands....that, too, is significant.

Lysaer in Mistwraith has left hand clenched and right reaching for his sword. His only thought being to find and kill Arithon.

Arithon is embracing/protecting his Lyranthe. This is of particular interest to me, since I just read Masque in Ships, a most remarkable chapter in all fantasy literature. I really grok the magical effect of music and the power of real Bards as described on ancient Irish literature.

What I find interesting too is that the Mistwrath cover becomes more meaningful as I get into Ships. Arithon's gaze can have many meanings. Lysaer's at this point seems to be single minded.

Kernos wrote: "Lysaer in Mistwraith has left hand clenched and right reaching for his sword. His only thought being to find and kill Arithon.

Arithon is embracing/protecting his Lyranthe. This is of particular ..."

There is symbolism in that cover I can't reveal as it would constitute a spoiler...you are, at this stage, just cracking the surface...it's great fun to see a reader take such an interest in the nuance of the imagery.

What's is fun is being able to talk about what I read with others excited about the books. So much of my reading has been solitary. And, this is even better than reading for school (IIRC).