Judging a Book by Its Cover, or Artists Who Made Me Buy Books

I know we're never supposed to judge a book by its cover, but who doesn't really?  If you don't know the author or what the book's already about, it's the first thing you see, right?  It's what makes you pick it up to read the back of it.  Just to prove the point, haven't you seen an edition of your favorite book or bought a book based on an author or recommendation and thought to yourself "what a crappy cover !"  Covers are important, and a good cover means sales.  I've purchased many a book based on the cover, for better and for worse.  More importantly, I've been introduced to some of my all-time favorite authors solely based on the covers of three artists: Frank Frazetta, Michael Whelan, and Darrell K. Sweet.  There was a time when nearly every cover in the SF & F section of a bookstore had a cover by one of these three gentlemen.  They didn't make me want to buy these books; they made me have to buy them.

Frank Frazetta

Frazetta introduced me to Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs.  No painter, to me, has caputured the savagery and sensuality of barbaric worlds the way Frazetta did with the covers for Ace’s editions of Howard’s Conan stories and Burroughs Pellucidar series.  When I picked up my first Burroughs at the Magic Mart way back – it was At the Earth’s Core – I couldn’t get over everything that was going on in that cover.   Dian the Beautiful grabs your eye first; she’s the brightest object on the cover, which is mostly browns and muted colors.  Then, suddenly you realize there’s some kind of dinosaur thing rising up right in front of you.  It’s amazing.  And once I finished with Hyperborea and Pellucidar, I met King Kull, Solomon Kane, and John Carter.  And these are books I revisit time and again.

Michael Whelan

Whelan is responsible for my first crush on a fictional character.  Her name was Friday, and she was created by the late, great Robert Heinlein.  Her eyes were what caught me as I was walking by the books in a department store.  When I ours locked, she just drew me inside the world that Whelan had created on the cover.  No much to go on.  She dominated the scene, but there was a port – like an eye – looking over the Earth.  I had to find out who she was and what was going on.  After Friday, it was more Heinlein with The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Starship Troopers, and oodles of others.  Later, I discovered Lessa riding Ramoth on the Whelan's cover of Dragonflight.  The colors mesmerized me.  I bought it, then every Pern book by Anne McCaffrey I could find.  Those books have remained a favorite, and tThis past year I began rereading the series.  Whelan not only breathes life into characters but can also make the alien appear real.  Ace reissued all of H. Beam Piper’s works in the eighties, all with Whelan covers.  I picked up Little Fuzzy first, then Federation, then all of them.   This list here would be way too long, but other authors I picked up because of Whelan include Michael Moorcock, C.J. Cherryh, and Larry Niven.       

                               

Darrell K. Sweet

Sweet holds a special place in my heart.  The first copies of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings I read bore his covers.   His work on Paul O. Williams’s Peblar Cycle held me spellbound the first time I saw them – they’re just these huge mysterious scenes.  Seeing the cover to The Sword of Forbearance gave me chills.  I guess the biggies he introduced me to, though, would be the world of Stephen R. Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever and Katherine Kurtz’s Deryni series.  This is another long list which includes the likes of Piers Anthony , Terry Brooks, and Lawrence Watt-Evans.  Sweet’s covers told stories to me, just enough of a story that I had to buy the book to see what happened around the snap-shot of a tale on the front.  His covers were always so grand and majestic. 

I must mention two more artists simply because the did get me to buy particular books solely by the art of the cover.

Jim Burns

This gementleman is responsible for me buying what turned out to be two favorite books: Robert Silverberg’s Lord Valentine’s Castle and Startid Rising by David Brin.  Haven’t read much more than the series tied to these titles, but I was not disappointed.  I frequently recommend these books.

James Bama

Doc Savage.  ‘Nuff said.

A lot of the art I see today is nice and all, but it’s just not as disntinctive as the artist who truly compelled me to buy certain books.  The art doesn’t move me the way Frazetta or Whelan or Sweet did – or continue to do.  These artists made the books practically leap off the shelves into my hands, they brought the books to life in a way the blurb on the back covers never could, and when I began reading the fantastic stories, their images shaped how I saw those characters and those worlds. 

So, how about you guys?  Who put books into your hands or introduced you to your favorite author?  Feel free to add a picture of that special cover to share with the rest of us.