(Cover for The Robots of Dawn by Issac Asimov, 1984)

Michael Whelan’s Works of Wonder ~Michael Whelan

–Copyright 1987
–a Del Rey Book (Ballantine Books)
–106 pages
–8/10

About a week ago Jim Black posted a review of a book entitled Wonderworks featuring the art of Michael Whelan (review here). My blog friend Susan and I commented over there and she let me know that she might have an extra one of those books, which she then offered to me as a gift. It turned out not to be the exact same book, but you will hear no complaints from me. I came home Friday to find this in my mailbox and it was an awesome surprise. Not only is it a very nice quality hardback book of one of my favorite (since childhood) SF/F illustrators, but it contains several of the illustrations which sparked the flame of fandom in the first place.

In addition to fantastic full-page illustrations printed in gorgeous color on high-quality paper, each image has a facing page with text about the image, written by Michael Whelan, and smaller images of sketches, thumbnails and alternate ideas. One of the things I was thrilled to discover is that Michael Whelan is an artist who actually reads the manuscripts (twice, at least) before beginning work on the illustration. And you can tell by some of the comments that he is a fan of the genre.

Before I take you behind the scenes to see a small sampling of the images in this volume, here are a couple of program notes:

1. The picture at the top of this post is the actual cover image for Michael Whelan’s World of Wonder, but the title text is not original. I couldn’t find a quality image of the cover so I just picked a couple of fonts somewhat near the actual book and did what I could for a mock up.

2. Each image is followed by the book title and author that the illustration graces as well as a date. The date is the release date for this version of the book, not necessarily the first publication of the story.

Okay, let’s see some art!

(Cover for Foundation’s Edge by Isaac Asimov, 1983)

Isaac Asimov provides the introduction for Michael Whelan’s Works of Wonder. In it he points out that for the majority of his writing life cover images were something he was not particularly cognizant of. Until he saw the cover image for Foundation’s Edge, that is. I can see why.

The nexus of my science fiction universe in childhood was my Uncle Dean’s science fiction library, a location of great power and influence humbly disguised as a three foot tall bookshelf in a farmhouse in northeastern Nebraska. Of the books that lived on his shelves, no remembered image burns so brightly as the cover of Foundation’s Edge. Every visit to my grandmother’s house prompted a visit to this temple of SF glory, and I doubt a time went by when I did not pull this book off the shelf, gaze at its glowing light and fee the embossed texture of the image. This picture and the book’s description convinced me that Isaac Asimov was too difficult for my younger self to tackle, a fact I mentioned in my review of the three books that make up the original Foundation trilogy when I read them for the first time a few years ago. That was step one in overcoming my insecurities about certain works of science fiction. Step two will be finally getting down to reading this one! But first I think I’ll re-read the trilogy, just to set the mood.

(Cover for Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov, 1986)

As much as I was in awe of the illustration for Foundation’s Edge, awed to the point of being intimidated to read the book, it was this Michael Whelan image for the third book in the trilogy, Second Foundation, that finally convinced me that it was time to get down to the business of reading this much-lauded trilogy. The moment I first saw it I knew I wanted to find out who that cute redheaded was. Please keep in mind that I was a teenager at the time, so it wasn’t so creepy that my imagination was aroused by Whelan’s imagining of fourteen year old Arcadia “Arkady” Darell. Decades later it was this image that recalled that curiosity and I sat down and proved through a virtually non-stop tear through Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation that these books are not inaccessible at all.

(Cover for Foundation and Earth by Isaac Asimov, 1987)

Before moving on from Whelan’s work for Asimov I wanted to include the cover illustration for Foundation and Earth, another Asimov Foundation novel that I have yet to read. Michael Whelan’s comments about his inspiration for this work and how it ties into other works of Isaac Asimov has me very curious about this story.

(Cover image for Friday by Robert A. Heinlein, 1983)

I was fourteen years old when this book showed up on my uncle’s bookshelf, and while it may be hard to believe that it is the Foundation’s Edge cover that most stands out in my recollection, this cover comes in a very close second, for obvious reasons. There is no denying that Michael Whelan had (and still possesses) the ability to kick-start the male libido. It should come as no surprise that when I finally decided to find out who this Robert A. Heinlein was, that I turned to Friday for my introduction.

This image is one of the first in the Works of Wonder collection and Whelan establishes in the text some of the ways that he incorporates symbolism, inspired by the author’s manuscript, into the painting. This image includes an egg-shape referencing motherhood, planet positions and symbols that tie into the story, and zipper pulls that make obvious reference to sexuality. As embarrassing as this is to admit, it wasn’t until this past week when I stumbled across a post discussing this work, that I even noticed the phallic shapes of the zipper pulls.

(Cover for Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey, 1978)

While reading Jo Walton’s latest, Among Others, I was repeatedly reminded that I have not read the Pern novels (nor any other work by Anne McCaffrey). But I have counted this as a favorite Whelan image since the first time I laid eyes on it. Above you see it cropped down from its beautiful wrap around cover illustration. You can see the image as it appears in Works of Wonder, and on Dragonflight, by clicking here.

(Cover for Being a Green Mother by Piers Anthony, 1987)

Look at that lush forest! It is the kind of place I imagine whenever I am reading books with a fantasy or fairy tale element. You can practically smell the earth and the leaves and the flowers. And of course the girl is beautifully rendered as well.

(Cover for Killashandra by Anne McCaffrey, 1985)

Like Second Foundation and Friday, Michael Whelan has captivated my imagination for years with his cover illustration for Anne McCaffrey’s novel, Killashandra. There is something so intriguing about her pose and I have always found her to be quite attractive. I finally purchased a copy of this book about a year ago. I have also been kicking myself for a little over a year because I had a chance to buy a very nice hardback copy of this book at a bookstore closeout sale and I chose not to spend the money. Doh! Hopefully I will find another copy of it in a similar condition someday. Even if I never get around to reading it (and I hope I will) it is something I’d like to own.

(Cover for With a Tangled Skien by Piers Anthony, 1985)

Another example of the symbolism that Michael Whelan works into his paintings is this image. In addition to the more obvious web behind her and spider design across her chest, there are spider and web designs in the rug and the death’s head in her scissors.

(Cover for Daughter of Regals and Other Tales by Stephen R. Donaldson, 1984)

Whelan points out that Donaldson’s description of his protagonist as ‘drab and uninteresting’ made for an interesting conundrum when it came time to paint the cover image. As he was smart enough to realize that a pretty girl is more likely to sell a book than one you wouldn’t look twice at, he went this direction. I imagine Mr. Donaldson found it in his heart to forgive Michael Whelan.

(Cover for A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, 1979)

The John Carter of Mars books by Edgar Rice Burroughs are one of many examples I can give in my lifetime where a cover image compelled me to read the book. This was certainly the case with Michael Whelan’s illustration for A Princess of Mars, a book I picked up and took home after the cover image led me to reading the back of the book when they re-released these several years back. I have read the first three books in this eleven book series and they are a great, guilty pleasure. They are dated and very male-fantasy oriented (what male wouldn’t want to be translated to a Mars inhabited by, among other things, beautiful topless women), and filled with what are now well-worn cliches, but they are also great fun, very tame and clean despite the nudity, and they have that sense of wonder present in the best nostalgia-inducing classics.

(Cover for The Smoke Ring by Larry Niven, 1987)

I have been a fan of Larry Niven since my youth and yet the number of books and short stories written by him that I have not read far outweigh those which I have read. The Smoke Ring is a sequel to The Integral Trees, and both are books with wonderful Whelan covers that are on my list of books to be read. The full image (seen here) gives me a delicious feeling of vertigo. I made sure not to make the same mistake I made with Killashandra when I found a nicely preserved first edition hardback of The Smoke Ring at a store recently. It is happily resting in my basement, knowing its day will come.

(Cover for The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke, 1986)

It seemed fitting to close this review with an illustration featuring the setting sun, or in this case the demise of Earth. I picked up a hardback and paperback version of this book recently because they were both in nice shape for the price and I cannot help adding to my collection of books with cover illustrations by Michael Whelan. It is the kind of cover that makes me want to read the story, a trait I have mentioned before which points out quite clearly why Michael Whelan has won numerous awards and continues to be a much-used illustrator for science fiction and fantasy novels and short story collections.

This was a lovely gift and I thank you so much Susan for your generosity. I have often lamented the lack of a definitive, high-quality collection of Michael Whelan’s work, despite having another Michael Whelan art book besides this one. Each of those these two volumes contain different works and yet together they only scratch the surface of the wonderful work Michael Whelan has done. I am keeping my fingers crossed that Cathy and Arnie Fenner will put together a multi-volume art collection on the works of Michael Whelan, including interviews and personal input from Whelan, like they did in their three-volume set of Frank Frazetta books. In the meantime, this wonderful volume by Del Rey is a must-have for any Whelan fan. It contains many more images than I featured here and the commentary makes this book extra special. It is just beautiful.

All images in this post, and many other beautiful Michael Whelan illustrations, can be found here.