[Traveller]

I think they have a brief synopsis, which then gets poorly translated.

I like the lightning cover as it's the first one I got.

It has a wizard outside a city with a moon over it. Job done!

This post has been edited by Traveller: 05 November 2013 - 04:31 PM

[Kaamos]

They commonly don't read the books. One of my pet peeve cover arts emerges from the Thomas Covenant series. The author saw a draft of the cover of White Gold Wielder, and this was his reaction:

Quote

You may be interested to know that Darrel K. Sweet's original cover for WGW depicted Marie Antoinette, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and a rhinoceros confronting Hawkman. First I wept. Then I screamed. Fortunately the success of TOT gave me the clout to insist on changes.

I won't applaud the "fixed" version that went into print either. Terrible perspective, the main character looks like a wax statue, and Grimmand Honninscrave "the Rhino" is naked and suffers from some significant head deformations. Not that I'm bothered by naked giants, but according to canon, he wears a granite scale mail sark, leggings (winingas?) and at least some kind of pants. He never joined The Scandinavian Hunks, posed for a Tom of Finland catalog, nor performed a private show in front of the villain.







Here's my own blithering fangirl take on the same character screaming with a selection of problems of its own, but at least wearing accurate-ish garments. Now I wonder if I should have drawn him naked instead. ;-D It's canon according to the cover picture!

This post has been edited by Kaamos: 05 November 2013 - 01:37 PM

[nacht]

Wow! This is probably the worst cover I have seen.

[Kruppe's snacky cakes]

It's covers like that one that kept me away from fantasy for many years (other than LOTR and Narnia)... Of course, Donaldson may not have been appropriate reading for an 11 year old kid anyway...

[king in chains]

Kruppe, on 06 November 2013 - 06:50 AM, said:

It's covers like that one that kept me away from fantasy for many years (other than LOTR and Narnia)... Of course, Donaldson may not have been appropriate reading for an 11 year old kid anyway...

upon looking back on the narnia series im amazed by the ridiculous amount of religious innuendo in it

[Spoilsport Stonny]

I'd hardly call it innuendo. CS Lewis was an unabashed believer in Christianity and wrote many volumes as a Christian apologist. The books were written to promote his beliefs in a way that was accessible to young readers of the times. Not being critical of you in any way, though. I just really like the guy's work and want to keep things clear.

[Kruppe's snacky cakes]

Yes, it's not at all subtle. Of course, I suppose the target audience of preteens could easily miss it if they've played hooky from Sunday School too many times.

 _AslanJesusWEB.2.jpg (18.92K)
Number of downloads: 0

[Grief]

I think you'd have to try pretty hard to miss it.

By the last book anyhow, the earlier ones are a little less blatant.

I'd call them undertones/themes rather than innuendo though.

[worry]

I think when I was a kid I realized it during The Silver Chair -- that's the one where good-Eustace and his friend get warped from their schoolyard after "praying" to Aslan. I don't even know specifically what did it, but it was like a baby version of what happens with MBOTF, when the light bulbs go off. I felt really proud of myself, and then I remembered Santa Claus was in the first book, and went back to feeling dumb again.

[king in chains]

Spoilsport Stonny, on 06 November 2013 - 06:29 PM, said:

I'd hardly call it innuendo. CS Lewis was an unabashed believer in Christianity and wrote many volumes as a Christian apologist. The books were written to promote his beliefs in a way that was accessible to young readers of the times. Not being critical of you in any way, though. I just really like the guy's work and want to keep things clear.

look i was only 8 on reading the series

[Grief]

Eustace and Jill.

I don't know why they were so damn annoying, considering the original four share pretty much all their annoying characteristics, but they managed. Shame, because I felt the Silver Chair had a lot going for it otherwise.

Honestly not sure when it clicked for me, I read them very young. Might have just realised it later when considering the end (speaking of which, I always felt Susan got really vindictively shafted there, iirc). The Santa cameo is a bit odd, considering the later tone of the books. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a bit like that though.

Also, doesn't Aslan pretty much flat out admit to being God somewhere around The Voyage of the Dawn Treader? Towards the end I think? My memory is very hazy here.

[king in chains]

just thought i should say the horse and his boy rocked and also susan WAS a a bitch

[Stormcat]

Growing up with no Christian teachings I didn't get it at all. It wasn't until I read it again as an adult.
I just put Thomas Covenant on my read list. I have no idea how this series has escaped my attention.

[Khazduk]

Stormcat, on 07 November 2013 - 05:00 AM, said:

Growing up with no Christian teachings I didn't get it at all. It wasn't until I read it again as an adult.
I just put Thomas Covenant on my read list. I have no idea how this series has escaped my attention.

I would probably have missed out on SE if it hadn't been for Steve D's blurb on GotM (lightning sword cover).

[Kaamos]

Khazduk, on 07 November 2013 - 10:12 AM, said:

Stormcat, on 07 November 2013 - 05:00 AM, said:

Growing up with no Christian teachings I didn't get it at all. It wasn't until I read it again as an adult.
I just put Thomas Covenant on my read list. I have no idea how this series has escaped my attention.

I would probably have missed out on SE if it hadn't been for Steve D's blurb on GotM (lightning sword cover).

That, and I found a link referring to SE on Donaldson's website. If he praises it, must be something stellar! ;-D

[Felisin Fatter]

Stormcat, on 07 November 2013 - 05:00 AM, said:

Growing up with no Christian teachings I didn't get it at all. It wasn't until I read it again as an adult.
I just put Thomas Covenant on my read list. I have no idea how this series has escaped my attention.

Same for me. I was raised atheist and read a lot of fairytales and myths as a young child. So with the Lion creator (yes he flat out names himself the creator, which kinda clashes with the Aslan=Jesus thing, doesn't it?), the fauns and the talking animals and the kids saying 'by Jove' (I'm not English, so to me that sounds kinda... pagan?), it felt more like Greek myth to me actually. And the famous Aslan sacrifice was no sacrifice at all, but a trick. Aslan knew he'd come back to life. He just didn't tell the girls as some kind of weird moral lesson (is that Jesus' style?). He also claws a child as a punishment (not really turn the other cheek style). I think it was only the last book, with jack and jill or something, where it was suddenly about praying and stuff.

Yeah, I loved those books as a child and they didn't cause any religious tendencies in me ( I did look for the door to Narnia and would gladly have worshiped Aslan if he'd let me in (and promised that he'd not kick me out like Susan, that was just not right). )

[Usher]

Felisin Fatter, on 07 November 2013 - 10:53 AM, said:

Same for me. I was raised atheist and read a lot of fairytales and myths as a young child. So with the Lion creator (yes he flat out names himself the creator, which kinda clashes with the Aslan=Jesus thing, doesn't it?), the fauns and the talking animals and the kids saying 'by Jove' (I'm not English, so to me that sounds kinda... pagan?), it felt more like Greek myth to me actually. And the famous Aslan sacrifice was no sacrifice at all, but a trick. Aslan knew he'd come back to life. He just didn't tell the girls as some kind of weird moral lesson (is that Jesus' style?). He also claws a child as a punishment (not really turn the other cheek style). I think it was only the last book, with jack and jill or something, where it was suddenly about praying and stuff.

Yeah, I loved those books as a child and they didn't cause any religious tendencies in me ( I did look for the door to Narnia and would gladly have worshiped Aslan if he'd let me in (and promised that he'd not kick me out like Susan, that was just not right). )

I don't think that you necessarily have to get references to be influenced by them, especially if you're young. The similarities between the story and certain christian traditions will make children familiar with concepts, such as the christian interpretation of ethics, praying, sacrifice, and creation; that familiarity might, in turn, make children more susceptible to certain religious practices, even if the connection is not consciously or explicitly made.

[Spoilsport Stonny]

The thing with CS Lewis is that he wasn't always a Christian. In fact, his whole reason for exploring Christianity was to prove it wrong, so to speak. It was in this exploration where he came to be a believer and converted. After that, his apologetic writings examined the religion from the point of view of the skeptic. Its interesting stuff, at least to me. My youth was a bit different, and I was raised by a pretty strict Christian father, who allowed me to read The Narnia books because of Lewis' faith. It was those books that opened me to fantasy and sci-fi, so in a way, I guess it was a good thing. As the years went by, my dad kind of loosened up, and I was reading Stephen King and Conan and Lovecraft and of course Tolkein. I also had a Piers Anthony phase. Then I got into Vonnegut, the Beat Poets and, ultimately, Pink Floyd and acid. Where was I going with this? Holy shit there's ants everywhere!

[Fiddler]

So you're saying Anomander Rake is Jesus for Mother Dark?

Stonny you cad!

[paran falcon]

Spoilsport Stonny, on 07 November 2013 - 02:43 PM, said:

The thing with CS Lewis is that he wasn't always a Christian. In fact, his whole reason for exploring Christianity was to prove it wrong, so to speak. It was in this exploration where he came to be a believer and converted. After that, his apologetic writings examined the religion from the point of view of the skeptic. Its interesting stuff, at least to me. My youth was a bit different, and I was raised by a pretty strict Christian father, who allowed me to read The Narnia books because of Lewis' faith. It was those books that opened me to fantasy and sci-fi, so in a way, I guess it was a good thing. As the years went by, my dad kind of loosened up, and I was reading Stephen King and Conan and Lovecraft and of course Tolkein. I also had a Piers Anthony phase. Then I got into Vonnegut, the Beat Poets and, ultimately, Pink Floyd and acid. Where was I going with this? Holy shit there's ants everywhere!

I know exactly where you're coming from. I was raised in a Christian household as well, although my parents changed denominations several times, and The Chronicles of Narnia were definitely my introduction to fantasy at around age 10 or 11. My parents fully endorsed the series for me and my younger siblings. I recognized the parallels when Aslan "sacrificed" himself for Edmund, the wretched traitor, in the 1st book. Within 2 years, though, I was reading Brooks' Shannara, Tolkien, T.H. White's Once and Future King, McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern (I never seem to run into much comment on these books...?), Donaldson's 2 Covenant series and Piers Anthony's Xanth series, among many others. I recall another Lewis book my parents had called The Screwtape Letters. Though I never actually read it, I'm almost positive he wrote it from the perspective of a minion of Satan (Screwtape) writing letters back and forth with Satan about his mission of tempting humans into evil, thus making them "Satan's". Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that was the gist of it.