61
votes
Accepted
What does the image on the back of the LotR discs represent?
It's a depiction of the badge of the House of Elrond from the LotR films.
This art piece depicting the badge comes from Weta Workshop designer Daniel Falconer.
Image courtesy of The Lord of the Rings:...
- 67.2k
46
votes
Accepted
Is the cover art on this faux paperback graphic "The Omicron Variant" on Seth Meyers' "A Closer Look" borrowed from a real SciFi novel's cover?
It appears to be an artwork by graphic artist Tithi Luadthong. It was used as the cover for this obscure Italian science fiction e-book novel: I tre stati dell'acqua [The Three States of Water] by ...
- 102k
34
votes
Is the cover art on this faux paperback graphic "The Omicron Variant" on Seth Meyers' "A Closer Look" borrowed from a real SciFi novel's cover?
Seems like a stock image as seen here; the title is “spaceman standing on the futuristic stairs and looking at the light at the end, digital art style, illustration painting”
- 1,157
31
votes
Accepted
Vintage book cover showing humanoid astronauts in upper body EVA suits but a "pod" or "monopant" lower half?
This is the type of suit described in "Islands in the Sky", a novel by Arthur C. Clarke. Published in 1952, I guess this counts as "vintage" sci-fi. Similarly to the remarks given ...
31
votes
Accepted
How many different versions of cover art has Frank Herbert's Dune had since 1965?
P.S This answer does not deserve any upvotes! It is very deficient regarding non-English publications. Namely, in my haste, I only searched under the title "Dune" and neglected to search ...
30
votes
Accepted
Who is in the middle of the Marvel's Avengers Vol. 3 #38 cover?
Evident from his glowing eyes and silvery hair, it's Simon Williams aka Wonder-Man
Avengers Vol. 3, Issue 38 cover; click image to enlarge
He appears later as well in the same issue:
Avengers Vol....
- 26.9k
26
votes
Accepted
Who is this robot from the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction?
This robot is named "the last man" by the artist, Mel Hunter, as noted in the December 1959 issue:
Mel Hunter's cover this month is the third in his series for F&SF concerning the ...
- 143k
24
votes
Accepted
Why would "'Barbie and Skipper Go to War' in front of an organic beachball with a Bic" sort of work as a cover for "Sabre and Shadow"?
It's a reference to the original cover art from its publication as The Sharpest Edge:
Note that we have a taller woman with long hair (Barbie), and a shorter, black-haired woman (Skipper) and a giant ...
- 143k
23
votes
Accepted
Who are these characters on the Russian cover of A Wizard of Earthsea?
This cover art is for a Russian version of the first three Earthsea books, published in two volumes. This is the second volume, and contains only The Farthest Shore - hence these characters are all ...
- 9,947
22
votes
Does Mary Stone have a beard?
She has a beard
No way in heck was I going to admit that my prospective date had
canceled the exact second he found out that the profile pictures
hadn’t been some strange practical joke. It’s the ...
- 718k
14
votes
Accepted
What is the red animal depicted on this cover of "The Opal Deception"?
This is a troll, as described in the novel. Note the tusks, dreadlocks and glowing eyes, all of which are clearly visible in the picture above.
Artemis was beyond amazement at this point, but even so,...
- 718k
14
votes
Accepted
Who are all the characters from the UK book covers of The Witcher series?
It's all the protagonists (Geralt, Ciri, Yennefer, Dandelion) and other prominent characters from Geralt's party in the series. Plus Lytta Neyd on the cover of the stand-alone book Season of Storms.
...
- 5,709
13
votes
Accepted
Is this iconic Wrinkle cover art still uncredited?
There is such a thing as an artist.
Artist: Known — Illustrator for 'A Wrinkle in Time' gets long-overdue credit
Richard Bober is being credited for this cover art based on his related artwork, what ...
- 837
11
votes
Accepted
Who are the characters on this book cover for Return of the King (French edition)?
The cover art is credited to Philippe Munch and Jame's Prunier, who have also collaborated on other book covers. Munch is a longstanding illustrator of fantasy works (among other projects) and ...
- 126
10
votes
Accepted
Fantasy novel with cover image of a dragon rider wearing a gas mask
Could it be Harry Turtledove's Out of the Darkness? The cover seems to match your description. It was published in 2005.
THE CLIMACTIC CONCLUSION OF A WORLD WAR
As the Derlavian War rages into its ...
- 42.4k
10
votes
Accepted
Who are these people on the cover of Knife of Dreams?
Unlike a lot of book covers that are just loosely based on a general idea of what happens in the book, this is a specific scene from the book's prologue.
In general, this is Galina talking to Perrin ...
- 5,084
10
votes
Is this Eshonai or Dalinar on the cover of The Way of Kings?
It is Dalinar in the foreground, and Eshonai in the background.
From a reading that Brandon Sanderson did way back when:
I’ve been reading from the viewpoint of someone named Eshonai at other ...
- 7,923
9
votes
What is the Speaker for the Dead cover depicting?
Spaceships doing generic spaceshippy stuff
But I also hated the cover on my bestselling book, because the art came from a game sold in the UK and it depicted spaceships doing generic spaceshippy ...
- 96.1k
8
votes
Accepted
Is this Eshonai or Dalinar on the cover of The Way of Kings?
Apparently Michael Whelan's assistant tweeted recently to set the record straight that it's not Dalinar:
Just to clarify some misconceptions I've seen in Stormlight Archive discussions. That's not ...
- 2,080
7
votes
Accepted
Was the painting “In the Ring of Saturn” by artist Andrei Sokolov used as a book cover?
The ISFDb page for Andrei Konstantinovich Sokolov (Андрей Константинович Соколов) does not list "In the Ring of Saturn" as one of the works that have been published as cover art.
- 143k
7
votes
Who were the recurring characters depicted on the Thieves' World covers?
I believe that the characters are (from left to right on the original cover) Lythande, Hanse Shadowspawn, and (perhaps surprisingly) Prince Kadakithis.
Since the three of them are present right from ...
- 102k
6
votes
Dragon with orange and black butterfly wings - mass market paperback fantasy short stories
The City of the Singing Flame by Clark Ashton Smith
- 13.3k
5
votes
Accepted
Looking for supernatural romance novel about woman at mental institution with mysterious power, has variation of "witch" in title
Thanks to Joe L. I found the name of the book. It's Witchlight by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
Winter Musgrave's past is largely blank, her memories missing or tissue-thin. She seem to be possessed--...
- 369
5
votes
Complicated story identification from book cover
Sounds a bit like Fourth Mansions by RA Lafferty - does the idea of a toad with a jewel in its head and a character who has to soak his head in a bucket ring any bells? It certainly sounds like it ...
- 179
5
votes
What happened to Eric Ladd, illustrator of the 70s?
His brother is a potter in Wakefield, Rhode Island on High St., named Thomas Ladd. I spoke to him about his brother, Eric, a couple of years ago. He said he was a worker for the Department of Public ...
- 51
5
votes
Who is depicted in the front cover of Beyonders: A World Without Heroes?
The artist of that cover is Antonio Caparo. In a Blogspot post from 2011 he mentions the work he did on the cover.
Apparently, the image was supposed to depict "the evil king", so that ...
- 8,572
4
votes
What is the origin of the visually complex space ship motif in cover art?
I don't think there's a particularly simple answer to this. By the late 40s, the rocket ship -- usually based on the shape of the V2 -- was ubiquitous, to the point that by around 1960, some libraries ...
- 42.4k
4
votes
Fantasy book cover with tree trunk and boy with skin like tree bark
I know this is super old,but I was also looking for this book and I think I finally found it! It’s The Stranger by Caroline B. Cooney
From the first moment she sees him in class, Nicoletta is drawn ...
- 41
3
votes
What are all these items from the Narnia books?
The apples are from Prince Caspian. The four Pevensie children land in overgrown ancient Cair Paravel and the apple orchard has overgrown. Apples are all they have to eat for several meals.
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible