Discussion:
Cover art mixup
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Lee Gleason
2024-06-22 18:28:09 UTC
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It the late 70s, early 80s, there was an SF paperback published that
mistakenly used the cover art intended for a different novel from the
same publisher. Does anyone recall the name of the book? It was pretty
widely discussed at the time.

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Lee K. Gleason N5ZMR
Control-G Consultants
***@comcast.net
Robert Woodward
2024-06-23 04:54:42 UTC
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Post by Lee Gleason
It the late 70s, early 80s, there was an SF paperback published that
mistakenly used the cover art intended for a different novel from the
same publisher. Does anyone recall the name of the book? It was pretty
widely discussed at the time.
Publishers have used inappropriate cover art that they had on hand for
decades. It is possible that you are referring to the first edition of
Lawrence Watt-Evans's _The Unwilling Warlord_ (1989) that used Darrell
Sweet art that was originally done for a Lloyd Arthur Eshbach title
(IIRC, _The Scroll of Lucifer_, released in 1990). This is later than
you specified.
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James Nicoll
2024-06-23 12:55:28 UTC
Permalink
Post by Robert Woodward
Post by Lee Gleason
It the late 70s, early 80s, there was an SF paperback published that
mistakenly used the cover art intended for a different novel from the
same publisher. Does anyone recall the name of the book? It was pretty
widely discussed at the time.
Publishers have used inappropriate cover art that they had on hand for
decades. It is possible that you are referring to the first edition of
Lawrence Watt-Evans's _The Unwilling Warlord_ (1989) that used Darrell
Sweet art that was originally done for a Lloyd Arthur Eshbach title
(IIRC, _The Scroll of Lucifer_, released in 1990). This is later than
you specified.
I wonder if Lee is not referring to a famous story about Jack Vance
complaining about his book cover. This inspired, iirc, an artist to
take special care with the cover he was working on for a non-Vance
book. The result was so good the published decided it was perfect
to replace the cover Jack Vance was bitching about.

I think the Vance was Araminta Station.
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Lee Gleason
2024-06-23 21:46:39 UTC
Permalink
Post by James Nicoll
Post by Robert Woodward
Post by Lee Gleason
It the late 70s, early 80s, there was an SF paperback published that
mistakenly used the cover art intended for a different novel from the
same publisher. Does anyone recall the name of the book? It was pretty
widely discussed at the time.
Publishers have used inappropriate cover art that they had on hand for
decades. It is possible that you are referring to the first edition of
Lawrence Watt-Evans's _The Unwilling Warlord_ (1989) that used Darrell
Sweet art that was originally done for a Lloyd Arthur Eshbach title
(IIRC, _The Scroll of Lucifer_, released in 1990). This is later than
you specified.
I wonder if Lee is not referring to a famous story about Jack Vance
complaining about his book cover. This inspired, iirc, an artist to
take special care with the cover he was working on for a non-Vance
book. The result was so good the published decided it was perfect
to replace the cover Jack Vance was bitching about.
I think the Vance was Araminta Station.
These sound interesting, but not what I was looking for. I dimly
recall that one of the covers had a woman on it, holding a small
creature like it was a baby. The book it was affixed to had nothing to
do with that, but another book from the same publisher around the same
time had a plot it fit perfectly.
--
Lee K. Gleason N5ZMR
Control-G Consultants
***@comcast.net
John Savard
2024-06-24 01:58:16 UTC
Permalink
On Sun, 23 Jun 2024 16:46:39 -0500, Lee Gleason
Post by Lee Gleason
Post by James Nicoll
Post by Robert Woodward
Post by Lee Gleason
It the late 70s, early 80s, there was an SF paperback published that
mistakenly used the cover art intended for a different novel from the
same publisher. Does anyone recall the name of the book? It was pretty
widely discussed at the time.
Publishers have used inappropriate cover art that they had on hand for
decades. It is possible that you are referring to the first edition of
Lawrence Watt-Evans's _The Unwilling Warlord_ (1989) that used Darrell
Sweet art that was originally done for a Lloyd Arthur Eshbach title
(IIRC, _The Scroll of Lucifer_, released in 1990). This is later than
you specified.
I wonder if Lee is not referring to a famous story about Jack Vance
complaining about his book cover. This inspired, iirc, an artist to
take special care with the cover he was working on for a non-Vance
book. The result was so good the published decided it was perfect
to replace the cover Jack Vance was bitching about.
I think the Vance was Araminta Station.
These sound interesting, but not what I was looking for. I dimly
recall that one of the covers had a woman on it, holding a small
creature like it was a baby. The book it was affixed to had nothing to
do with that, but another book from the same publisher around the same
time had a plot it fit perfectly.
This piqued my curiosity enough to lead me to attempt a Google search.

I found an interesting page not directly related to your query:

https://sciencefictionruminations.com/2011/12/25/adventures-in-science-fiction-cover-art-reusing-cover-art/

John Savard

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