cover art

Hurm, I still like the Pennington (original UK) covers best. But why is it so hard for artists to draw a fuligin cloak? You'd think it would be easy, but these artists always insist on making it look like it's made of something shiny and reflective. And they can't seem to resist putting a shirt on him. I'm not looking for a Frazetta Conan here, but the first impression should be of the "classic torturer", usually depicted topless (see "The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins" by Dr. Seuss for a good example of the type, and come to think of it, an early example of the "compassionate torturer" (urgh, that sounds a bit like GWB, sorry)). I have yet to see any artist really do Wolfe's vision justice. The US covers for the Long Sun books are probably the most accurate, especially since Wolfe claims no knowledge of how big the Whorl is supposed to actually be, so no one can really complain if the skylands seem too close or too far. Lex