Friday, 30 January 2026

Seven Covers

It has occurred to me how well the seven covers of Baen Books' The Technic Civilization Saga summarize Poul Anderson's History of Technic Civilization:

The Van Rijn Method names Nicholas van Rijn in its title and shows van Rijn in its cover illustration;

David Falkayn: Star Trader names Falkayn in its title and shows him on the cover;

Rise Of The Terran Empire names the Empire and shows Ythrians;

Young Flandry names and shows Flandry;

Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire stays with Flandry and explicitates his relationship to the Empire;

Sir Dominic Flandry: The Last Knight Of Terra stays with Flandry and continues to refer to his advancing career;

Flandry's Legacy shows an older Flandry with his daughter and refers also to his legacy.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kaor, Paul!

I still don't like the Baen Books covers, some of which are truly abominable. The least objectionable covers being DAVID FALKAN: STAR TRADER and FLANDRY'S LEGACY.

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,

I like RISE OF THE TERRAN EMPIRE.

Paul.

Anonymous said...

Kaor, Paul!

The problem with the cover for RISE OF THE TERRAN EMPIRE is its inaccurate description of a Ythrian. E.g., the mouth looks too much like a beak.

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,

I think that that cover is accurate. I don't think that that mouth is very beak-like. I agree that Ythrians should be shown as mouthed, not beaked.

Paul.

Anonymous said...

Kaor, Paul!

The cover for RISE OF THE TERRAN EMPIRE still dissatisfied me. The head is still too bird like and the arms reminds me too much of legs.

By contrast the illustrations for the Ace Books edition of A STONE IN HEAVEN were far more satisfactory. Accurate, convincing depictions of Flandry, the other human characters and non-humans like Chives. The artist read the story before he started drawing!

Ad astra! Sean

S.M. Stirling said...

The ones with Flandry are... ghastly.

Anonymous said...

Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!

Paul: I'm also dissatisfied with the cover for THE VAN RIJN METHOD. Old Nick should look bigger and fatter.

Mr. Stirling: Absolutely! Albeit the cover for FLANDRY'S LEGACY is tolerable.

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Too true.