A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin Bantam, 1975 (originally published 1968) [Challenge # 49: A book you loved as a child.] Oh Earthsea, Earthsea, how little I knew thee! For my childhood revisit read for this years’ challenge, I chose Ursula K. LeGuin’s A Wizard of Earthsea. I had read it way back …
Tag: Book covers
Apr 29
Dreamsnakes
A selection of covers for Vonda McIntyre’s dystopic SF novel Dreamsnake. RIP Vonda.
Apr 22
Space Oddity
Todd Alcott re-creates old SF pulp covers into homages to David Bowie songs. You can buy his work on etsy.com.
Sep 13
The Pernese Dragon
Anne McCaffrey’s Pern series put dragons on the map in the science fiction and fantasy world as both plausible alien creatures and the brand-spanking-new fantasy trope of the all-knowing, intelligent animal companion. The first two stories, “Weyr Search” and “Dragonrider” were published in Analog magazine in 1967; they later were incorporated into the first Pern …
Jun 27
Worldbuilding Wednesday 6/27/18: Harry Potter Books
There’s no doubt the Harry Potter series of books is one of the world’s most popular fantasy epics, transcending age, nationality, and socioeconomic status. Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl, which I reviewed here, features a similar series called Simon Snow as a plot element, Simon Snow being a boy wizard at an English boarding school for magic. …
Mar 26
Tolkien in Bengali
A Bengali edition of The Fellowship of the Ring, published in the Indian subcontinent. (Hindi and English are the official languages government-wise, but there are many, many others including Tamil, Urdu, and Punjabi.) The artwork looks to be a crib from the 2001 movie, done in the style of Bollywood cinema posters. Look closely at …
Mar 25
The Worm Ouroboros
[Reading Challenge 2018]
The Worm Ouroboros by E. R. Eddison Ballantine Books, New York, 1967 [Challenge # 48: A high fantasy] The Worm Ouroboros is one of the great granddaddies of fantasy, sandwiched between Lord Dunsany, who was an influence, and J.R.R. Tolkien, who received its influence. As such, it’s a kind of a bridge, but one that …
Mar 21
Worldbuilding Wednesday 3/21/18: The Lord of the Things, Part III
One of the important differences between Lord of the Rings and earlier fantasies is in Tolkien’s protagonists. Frodo, Merry, Pippin, and Sam are not high-powered warriors like those in Germanic and Norse legend, exemplified by Lord Juss and Brandoch Daha in E.R. Eddison’s The Worm Ouroboros, which I’m reading now. Neither do they fit the …
Mar 19
Three Editions Through Time
Three editions of the trilogy over the years. The top one is the first, unauthorized paperback version. Note that the Nazgul on the cover of The Two Towers is a pegasus and not the reptilian creature that was actually in the book. The artist got other details right, like the black-robed, faceless Nazgul, and others …
Mar 16
Plagiarism, Hobbit Style
Looking through my Pinterest feed for Tolkien images, I found this cover for a French edition of The Hobbit. It looked awfully familiar to me. Then I figured out where I had seen it before. Now, I wish the artist had been just a little more creative and not cribbed what is obvious, particularly as …
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