11 Comments
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Paul Stone's avatar

Spell for Chamelion - Monticore on the cover was one of the first fantasy books my son pulled off my shelf. Just because of the cover.

J.Q. Graziano's avatar

Excellent artwork on that one by Michael Whelan!

Kveto's avatar

Well, I already own My Lord Barbarian (with a different cover) and Pegasus grail, I'd go for Daffyd. Even if its poor, you'd still have that great Elmore cover.

J.Q. Graziano's avatar

Right on, Kveto! That's awesome you already have 2/5 of the books listed here. How was My Lord Barbarian? Worth the read?

Kveto's avatar

Sorry to say, I couldn't finish it. Got bored 80 pgs in.

Whistling in the Dark - aka Ty's avatar

I miss book cover art.

What passes as cover these days is passable to utter dreck. And don’t get me started on those beige MS Paint charisma free zones that most of the major publishers crap out these days. They removed Josh Kirby and Paul Kidby's evocative work from Sir Terry Pratchett's discworld novels, replacing them with bland garbage.

So yeah, I judge a book by its cover. If tge publishers want to entice a potential buyer, put artwork that reflects the story on it, dammit!

J.Q. Graziano's avatar

Boy am I with you, Ty. One example for me is the mostly geometric adornments on many modern fantasy book covers that can be pretty, but they can't give you any indication of the tone of the book, types of characters, personality, fantasy genre (except for maybe Romantasy!), on and on. I love having some pivotal scene displayed with fleshed out characters, monsters & magic in full imaginative glory. We can always make our own mental images later when we read the books, but to make everything so bland is a disservice to current generations of (potential) readers.

Heavy Cavalry's avatar

In the thumbnail picture of Heroing, I thought it was Ronnie James Dio as the subject

J.Q. Graziano's avatar

LMAO! That's funny. I may be wrong, but I'm thinking he may have used his wife, Betty, as the model, as he would sometimes do for a similar style of woman he occasionally portrayed in earlier AD&D works. Again, I may be wrong, but she looks familiar. But for now, I've "gotta get away, holy diver"!

Jim Jaeger's avatar

I have not read any on this list, but they would have caught my eye as I prowled the fantasy/sci fi section at my local Waldenbooks as a kid. I was always searching for Joe Dever Lone Wolf books, but I remember being intrigued by many covers. They always inspired the images in my mind's eye.

J.Q. Graziano's avatar

Walden for the win!