(urth) Wolfe covers

[Gerry Quinn]

I think IGJ is the one I would be most embarrassed to be seen reading on the train - I'd sooner have a sexy mermaid on the cover than that ridiculous Neighbour falling over his feet!   RTTW is fine IMO.  The Knight/Wizard covers are at least fairly monotone and don't jump out.

I admit I would also prefer something more abstract or less exotic.

Still, I think it's an interesting point that we are apt to consider these images terribly naff in visual form and yet they are pretty much exactly what is described in the text.  Perhaps we should not be so precious about them.

Anyway, embarrassment at SF covers has a long and honourable history, though perhaps the advent of e-readers will before long bring it to an end...

- Gerry Quinn


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Daniel Petersen 
  To: The Urth Mailing List 
  Sent: Saturday, January 01, 2011 5:30 PM
  Subject: Re: (urth) Wolfe covers


  Gerry Quinn <gerryq at indigo.ie> wrote:

    On the other hand, people have objected to the Short Sun covers - but are they not, essentially, very faithful and literal representations of the contents of the books?


  Em, not so sure about that.  Is Seawrack's hair colour wrong?  Horn's hair doesn't look balding at all.  Babbie and the Neighbour would require much speculation on the part of the artist and these are not particularly impressive.  And the godling looks more giant than I remember him being described when he's holding Silk-Horn.


  But that aside, even if they depict accurate content from the stories, they are terrible 'unicorns and rainbows' fantasy drawing styles, not particularly skillful or tasteful or interesting.  They're some of the worst and most embarrassing fantasy kitsch I've ever seen.  (RttW is not as painful as the others - OBW is the worst.)   Is it even a good idea to try to depict some of the most pulp-fantastic elements of Wolfe's stories on his covers?  That can be so susceptible to misapprehending the literary excellence and subtlety of the writing that simultaneously celebrates, subverts, and transfigures the subgenre(s) Wolfe is drawing from (alongside his 'mainstream' influences).  Why not try something more subtle or quite clearly 'beautiful'?  If it has to be straightforward representational figurative paintings of events in the stories, then AT LEAST GET AN ARTIST WHO HAS A CLUE ABOUT GOOD REALISTIC PAINTING.


  These paperback covers for The Knight:  http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/gene+wolfe/the+knight+28ebook29/6515022/


  and The Wizard:  http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/gene+wolfe/the+wizard/5596395/


  are just the worst!  Looks like they would be the Twilight of heroic fantasy!  Yech!

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