Wonderworks: Science Fiction and Fantasy Art

Michael Whelan's an incredible artist, and it's incredible how much of his work I own on old paperbacks.

But as others have said, this is his earlier stuff and, while much of it is very good, it is after this period that he became even better (though he I will always believe he did one of the best Elrics ever).

The printing of this book is not as good as it should be to truly showcase the art, but it was also published way back in 1979, and printing has improved greatly since then.

So, this is a good introduction to the early days of Whelan, but like I said, it was only upward from here.

Wonderworks was published before Michael Whelan won his first Hugo or World Fantasy Award. This book clearly shows why he came to dominate science fiction, fantasy, and (to a lesser extent) horror cover illustrations. For cover you need a compelling image, but you also need to leave room for for the book's information. What set Whelan apart from so many artists is he took the time to read the books he illustrated. He captured the characters, their world, and the mood of the book. There are so many iconic images (for me): Anne McCaffrey's dragons, Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone, C.J. Cherryh's Morgaine, and H. Beam Piper's Fuzzies. Long out of print, it is worth having.

Whelan's first collection features a good deal of early work, which of course isn't as good as it would be in years to follow, but it is still interesting to see the evolution of style. And, quality aside, it is nice to go back to a time when book covers weren't all stock photography. The book is divided into genre sections for science fiction, sword & sorcery, horror, etc. and has introductions for each by Poul Anderson, Anne McCaffrey, Alan Dean Foster, C.J. Cherryh, and Gerald W. Page. Most of the cover art (there are a few personal pieces as well) I have never seen on books in hand.