BIBLIOGRAPHY OF COVERS
In the early 70s, artists the likes of Jeffrey Jones and Michael Kaluta congregated at Neal Adams’ studio in New York City. There they would speculate about some theoretical kid walking in off the street, fresh from who knows where, and blowing them all away with a style they’d never seen before.
That was the background chatter when Michael Whelan arrived from California in late 1974 to show Neal his portfolio, and indeed Whelan went on to transform the landscape of illustration for decades to come.
He accepted his first paperback cover assignment, The Enchantress of World’s End, from Donald A. Wollheim of DAW Books. He would soon add ACE and Del Rey to his list of clients making the ’70s busy years.
By the turn of the decade, Whelan was churning out iconic images: the consummate anti-hero Elric, the majestic dragons of Pern, and the vibrant landscapes of John Carter’s Mars. The early ’80s continued that trend in Sir Arthur C. Clarke’s 2010, Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series, and the first volume of Stephen King’s Dark Tower opus.
Whelan’s ascent was meteoric, earning him a Hugo by 1980. It would be the first of 13, not including a SuperHugo for the Best Artist of the Last 50 Years in 1992. Readers of Locus Magazine voted him Best Artist a staggering 21 years in a row. In 2009, his induction in the Science Fiction Hall of Fame was the first for a living artist.
But awards alone fail to convey Michael Whelan’s impact on the publishing industry. Whelan advanced illustration through a vibrant palette, a masterful grasp of anatomy, and an uncanny sense of wonder deeply grounded in realism. His influence can be seen in the work of so many fine illustrators today.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Many thanks to The Internet Speculative Fiction Database for their exhaustive list of publications. Book covers that sprang from secondary right sales are not listed here, but likely can be found on ISFDB. Goodreads has also been an excellent resource.
If you’re interested in reading any of these books (and really that’s the best way to fully appreciate Michael’s illustrations), please check out your local library or bookstore. Or if you prefer, we’ve included links to these online retailers:
2020
RHYTHM OF WAR (The Stormlight Archive #4)
FAHRENHEIT 451
2019
EMPIRE OF GRASS (The Last King of Osten Ard #2)
2018
BEYOND SCIENCE FICTION: THE ALTERNATIVE REALISM OF MICHAEL WHELAN
2017
THE HEART OF WHAT WAS LOST
OATHBRINGER (Stormlight Archives #3)
THE WITCHWOOD CROWN (The Last King of Osten Ard #1)
2016
LAST TRAIN FROM PERDITION
2015
THE SKIN BAGS (Mutant Hunter #4)
2014
WORDS OF RADIANCE (Stormlight Archives #2)
2013
DRAGONWRITER – A TRIBUTE TO ANNE MCCAFFREY AND PERN
I TRAVEL BY NIGHT
A MEMORY OF LIGHT (The Wheel of Time #14)
2012
THE SLICKS (Mutant Hunter #2)
SPLINTERLAND (Mutant Hunter #3)
2011
LEGENDS OF THE FALLOUT (Mutant Hunter #1)
2010
THE WAY OF KINGS (Stormlight Archives #1)
- It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.
2009
THE COLLECTED STORIES OF ROGER ZELAZNY:
THRESHOLD (Vol. 1)
POWER AND LIGHT (Vol. 2)
THIS MORTAL MOUNTAIN (Vol. 3)
LAST EXIT TO BABYLON (Vol. 4)
NINE BLACK DOVES (Vol. 5)
THE ROAD TO AMBER (Vol. 6)
THE LITTLE SISTERS OF ELURIA
2005
THE DARK TOWER (Dark Tower #7)
- Roland Deschain and his ka-tet have journeyed together and apart, scattered far and wide across multilayered worlds of wheres and whens. The destinies of Roland, Susannah, Jake, Father Callahan, Oy, and Eddie are bound in the Dark Tower itself, which now pulls them ever closer to their own endings and beginnings…and into a maelstrom of emotion, violence, and discovery.
DESTROYER (Foreigner #7)
FEAST OF SOULS (Magisters #1)
2004
THE RUNES OF THE EARTH (Thomas Covenant #7)
SHADOWMARCH
- Southmarch, commonly called “Shadowmarch”, lies directly on the edge of the mysterious Shadowline, a shroud of endless mist that marks the entrance to the realm of the fairy-folk, the Qar. Crossing the Shadowline is said to drive any human mad, but, as far as anyone knows, the line has not moved any further south for centuries. Now, inexplicably, it has begun to creep slowly but surely deeper into the lands of Southmarch, bringing an unknown menace with it.
THE WILDING
2003
WAR OF THE FLOWERS
- Theo Vilmos is a thirty-year-old lead singer in a marginally successful rock band. Hitting an all-time low, he seeks refuge in an isolated cabin in the woods and reads an odd memoir written by a dead relative who believed he had visited the magical world of Faerie. Before Theo can disregard the account as nonsense, he too is drawn into a place beyond his wildest dreams.
WILD MAGIC (Fool’s Gold #2)
2001
EXPLORER (Foreigner #6)
SORCERY RISING (Fool’s Gold #1)
2000
TANGLED UP IN BLUE (Snow Queen #4)
- BZ Gundhalinu is a by-the-book “Blue” on the trail of high corruption within the force. When a police raid goes horribly awry, BZ finds himself teamed up with Nyx LaisTree, a hard-nosed cop with no respect for the rules, and Devony Seaward, a beautiful hooker with a heart of gold. Together these three must fight the corruption of Tiamat and try to expose it before they all end up dead.This novel marks the exciting return to the much-loved Snow Queen Universe. While taking place during events in The Snow Queen, this novel is a stand-alone masterpiece of noir suspense–taking a story you think you know, and showing you just how deep and vast the waters really run.
1999
LEGENDS
- Acclaimed writer and editor Robert Silverberg gathered eleven of the finest writers in Fantasy to contribute to this collection of short novels. Each of the writers was asked to write a new story based on one of his or her most famous series: from Stephen King’s opening piece set in his popular Gunslinger universe to Robert Jordan’s early look at his famed Wheel of Time saga, these stories are exceptionally well written and universally well told.
MOUNTAIN OF BLACK GLASS (Otherland #3)
1998
RIVER OF BLUE FIRE (Otherland #2)
THIS ALIEN SHORE
- It is the second stage of human colonization–the first age, humanity’s initial attempt to people the stars, ended in disaster when it was discovered that Earth’s original superluminal drive did permanent genetic damage to all who used it–mutating Earth’s far-flung colonists in mind and body. Now, one of Earth’s first colonies has given humanity back the stars, but at a high price–a monopoly over all human commerce.
1997
DESTINY’S ROAD
THE MAGEBORN TRAITOR (Exiles #2)
1996
DREAMFALL (Cat #3)
THE GOLDEN KEY
CITY OF GOLDEN SHADOWS(Otherland #1)
ROYAL ASSASSIN (Farseer #2)
SOMETHING IN MY EYE
1995
ASSASSIN’S APPRENTICE (Farseer #1)
Young Fitz is the bastard son of the noble Prince Chivalry, raised in the shadow of the royal court by his father’s gruff stableman. He is treated as an outcast by all the royalty except the devious King Shrewd, who has him secretly tutored in the arts of the assassin. For in Fitz’s blood runs the magic Skill—and the darker knowledge of a child raised with the stable hounds and rejected by his family.
As barbarous raiders ravage the coasts, Fitz is growing to manhood. Soon he will face his first dangerous, soul-shattering mission. And though some regard him as a threat to the throne, he may just be the key to the survival of the kingdom.
BEOWULF’S CHILDREN
BRIGHTNESS REEF (Uplift Storm #1)
CROWN OF SHADOWS (Coldfire #3)
INVADER (Foreigner #2)
1994
THE RUINS OF AMBRAI (Exiles #1)
FOREIGNER (Foreigner #1)
THE GIRL WHO HEARD DRAGONS
HOT SKY AT MIDNIGHT
SHADOW’S END
1993
THE ART OF MICHAEL WHELAN
SKYBOWL (Dragon Star #3)
TO GREEN ANGEL TOWER (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn #3)
WHEN TRUE NIGHT FALLS (Coldfire #2)
1992
CHANUR’S LEGACY (Chanur #5)
THE DRAGON TOKEN (Dragon Star #2)
ILLUSION
- For two hundred years the Exalted classes have used their dazzling magical abilities to rule Vonahr. Now, their powers grown slack from disuse and their attention turned to decadent pleasures, they ignore the misery of the lower classes until the red tide of revolution sweeps across the land.Thrust into the center of the conflict is the beautiful Eliste vo Derrivalle, spirited daughter of a provincial landowner, who must scramble for bread in the teeming streets of the capital. With the key to her magical abilities an elusive secret, she must suddenly find a way to survive in a world gone mad…with liberty.
1991
ALL THE WEYRS OF PERN (Chronicles of Pern #11)
BLACK SUN RISING (Coldfire #1)
THE INITIATE BROTHER (Initiate Brother #1)
THE SINGERS OF TIME
STRONGHOLD (Dragon Star #1)
THE SUMMER QUEEN (Snow Queen #3)
- A story that spans millennia, from the ruins of an ancient interstellar empire to the planets of the Hegemony that rules human space, The Summer Queen is the multi-layered story of Tiamat, a world where the dolphin-like mers are harvested for the youth-prolonging serum extracted from their blood. But Tiamat is much more, for beneath Carbuncle, its capital, lies the old empire’s greatest secret: an enormous forgotten technology which, though decaying, continues to affect the fates of the fallen empire’s remnant cultures via the sybil-network–a data bank that binds the past and the future in its web of knowledge, As the Smith, genius mastermind of the hidden interstellar Brotherhood, tries feverishly to unlock its secrets, BZ Gundhalinu desperately strives to save the Hegemony, while the Summer Queen herself dares to create a new future for her people and her planet. And though each is acting alone, their fates will entwine in an astonishing climax that will change the universe forever.
CHESLEY AWARD 1992
Best Monochrome Work, Unpublished: All the Weyrs of Pern
CHESLEY AWARD 1992
Best Cover Illustration (HC): The Summer Queen
HUGO AWARD 1992
Best Professional Artist
LOCUS AWARD 1992
Best Professional Artist
CHESLEY AWARD 1991
Artistic Achievement
CHESLEY AWARD 1991
Best Cover Illustration (PB) The Madness Season (tie)
HUGO AWARD 1991
Best Professional Artist
LOCUS AWARD 1991
Best Professional Artist
1990
GRUMBLES FROM THE GRAVE
THE MADNESS SEASON
THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES
THE NEW SPRINGTIME (New Springtime #2)
PEGASUS IN FLIGHT (Talent #2)
STONE OF FAREWELL (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn #2)
SUNRUNNER’S FIRE (Dragon Prince #3)
TALES FROM PLANET EARTH
1989
THE CHANGELING SEA
CHILDREN OF THE THUNDER
THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE
EMPIRE’S HORIZON
PARADISE
THE RENEGADES OF PERN (Chronicles of Pern #10)
THE SNOW QUEEN (Snow Queen #1)
THE STAR SCROLL (Dragon Prince #2)
1988
2061 ODYSSEY THREE
AT WINTER’S END
CATSPAW
DRAGON PRINCE (Dragon Prince #1)
THE DRAGONBONE CHAIR (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn #1)
DRAGONSDAWN (Chronicles of Pern #9)
EXILE’S GATE (Morgaine #4)
THE GUNSLINGER (Dark Tower #1)
IVORY
THE SILICON MAGE (Windrose Chronicles #2)
1987
BEING A GREEN MOTHER (Incarnation of Immortality #5)
CHANUR’S HOMECOMING (Chanur #4)
THE ENEMY STARS
FOOL’S RUN
FOUNDATION AND EARTH (Foundation #5)
IN CONQUEST BORN
A MAN RIDES THROUGH (Mordant’s Need #2)
MICHAEL WHELAN’S WORKS OF WONDER
THE SMOKE RING (The State #3)
TREKMASTER
THE UPLIFT WAR (Uplift Saga #3)
THE YEAR’S BEST HORROR STORIES XV
1986
THE CAVES OF STEEL (Robot #2)
DELIRIUM’S MISTRESS
DRAGONSBANE (Winterlands #1)
FOUNDATION (Foundation #1)
FOUNDATION AND EMPIRE (Foundation #2)
THE MIRROR OF HER DREAMS (Mordant’s Need #1)
THE NAKED SUN (Robot #3)
QUESTER’S ENDGAME (Diadem #9)
ROBOTS AND EMPIRE (Robot #5)
SANTIAGO
SECOND FOUNDATION (Foundation #3)
THE SONGS OF A DISTANT EARTH
WIELDING A RED SWORD (Incarnations of Immortality #4)
THE YEAR’S BEST HORROR STORIES XIV
1985
THE ADVERSARY (Pliocene Exiles #4)
BLACK STAR RISING
THE CAT WHO WALKED THROUGH WALLS
CHANUR’S VENTURE (Chanur #2)
CUCKOO’S EGG
DAYS OF GRASS
DEATH’S MASTER
ELRIC AT THE END OF TIME
FOOTFALL
KILLASHANDRA (Crystal Singer #2)
WITH A TANGLED SKEIN (Incarnations of Immortality #3)
THE YEAR’S BEST HORROR STORIES: SERIES XIII
1984
BEARING AN HOURGLASS (Incarnations of Immortality #2)
BIRDS OF PREY
DAUGHTER OF REGALS
THE FINAL ENCYCLOPEDIA (Childe Cycle #7)
FUZZIES AND OTHER PEOPLE
GOLDEN WITCHBREED
THE INTEGRAL TREES
JOB: A COMEDY OF JUSTICE
THE MAN OF GOLD
NIGHT’S SORCERIES
THE ROBOTS OF DAWN (Robot #4)
1983
THE ADVENTURES OF LITTLE FUZZY (Fuzzy Sapiens #6)
ANACKIRE
THE FLOATING GODS (Viriconium #3)
FOR LOVE OF MOTHER NOT
FOUNDATION’S EDGE (Foundation #4)
FRIDAY
FROM THE HEART OF DARKNESS
THE GOLDEN TORC (Pliocene #2)
HOKA!
THE MANY COLORED LAND (Pliocene #1)
MORETA: DRAGONLADY OF PERN (Chronicles of Pern #7)
THE NONBORN KING (Pliocene #3)
ON A PALE HORSE (Incarnations of Immortality #1)
RED AS BLOOD
TRANSFORMER
THE TREE OF SWORDS AND JEWELS
THE WINDS OF DARKOVER (Darkover #16)
THE YEAR’S BEST HORROR STORIES: SERIES XI
1982
2010: ODYSSEY TWO
AMAZONS 2
THE CASE OF CHARLES DEXTER WARD
CENTAUR AISLE (Xanth #4)
CRYSTAL SINGER (Crystal Singer #1)
THE DARK TOWER: THE GUNSLINGER (Dark Tower #1)
THE DOOM THAT CAME TO SARNATH
THE DREAM QUEST OF UNKNOWN KADATH
THE GODS LAUGHED
HECATE’S CAULDRON
JOURNEY BEHIND THE WIND
THE LURKING FEAR
THE MEN FROM ARIEL
NIFFT THE LEAN
NOR CRYSTAL TEARS
THE PRIDE OF CHANUR (Chanur #1)
SPECIAL DELIVERANCE
STORM OF WINGS (Viriconium #2)
WHERE EVIL DWELLS
THE YEAR’S BEST HORROR STORIES: SERIES X
1981
AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS
DARK BRIGHT WATER (Book of Wirrun #2)
THE DECEIVERS
DISTANT STARS
DREAM PARK
EMPIRE (Federation #6)
FEDERATION (Federation #5)
FUZZY BONES
HORN CROWN
THE ICE IS COMING (Book of Wirrun #1)
THE MORPHODITE
PARATIME
THE PASTEL CITY (Viriconium #1)
PLANET OF NO RETURN
SUNFALL
TALES FROM THE NIGHTSIDE
THE TOMB
THE VANISHING TOWER (Elric #4)
WINNERS
THE YEAR’S BEST HORROR STORIES: SERIES IX
1980
AGENT OF THE TERRAN EMPIRE (Dominic Flandry #5)
ALIENS
THE CATALYST
DRAGONS OF LIGHT
FIRESTARTER
HEROES AND HORRORS
KUTATH (Faded Sun #3)
LORE OF THE WITCH WORLD (Witch World #12)
THE SINFUL ONES
THE WORLD WRECKERS (Darkover #22)
YEAR’S BEST HORROR STORIES: SERIES VIII
1979
AMAZONS
THE BLOODY SUN (Darkover #17)
THE CHESSMEN OF MARS (Barsoom #5)
DAY OF THE KLESH
THE DEMON OF SCATTERY
ENSIGN FLANDRY (Dominic Flandry #1)
A FIGHTING MAN OF MARS (Barsoom #7)
FIRES OF AZEROTH (Morgaine #3)
FLANDRY OF TERRA (Dominic Flandry #6)
FOUR DAY PLANET (Federation #2)
THE GODS OF MARS (Barsoom #2)
JOHN CARTER OF MARS (Barsoom #11)
LLANA OF GATHOL (Barsoom #10)
THE MASTER MIND OF MARS (Barsoom #6)
A PRINCESS OF MARS (Barsoom #1)
SPELL OF THE WITCH WORLD (Witch World #8)
A STONE IN HEAVEN (Dominic Flandry #8)
SWORDS OF MARS (Barsoom #8)
SYNTHETIC MEN OF MARS (Barsoom #9)
THUVIA, MAID OF MARS (Barsoom #4)
THE ULTIMATE ENEMY
THE WARLORD OF MARS (Barsoom #3)
WONDERWORKS
THE YEAR’S BEST HORROR STORIES: SERIES VII
1978
ALL MY SINS REMEMBERED
BROTHER ASSASSIN (Berserker Saga #2)
DRAGONFLIGHT (Chronicles of Pern #1)
DRAGONQUEST (Chronicles of Pern #2)
DYING FOR TOMORROW
THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE TALISMAN
THE ILLUSTRATED HARLAN ELLISON
LAMARCHOS (Diadem #2)
THE LONG WAY HOME
THE MAN WHO COUNTS (Polesotechnic League #1)
THE NIGHT FACE
THE PEREGRINE (Psychotechnic League #1)
QUESTION AND ANSWER
STORMQUEEN (Darkover #2)
STUDY WAR NO MORE
TRAITOR TO THE LIVING
WELL OF SHIUAN (Morgain #2)
WHETTED BRONZE
THE WHITE DRAGON (Chronicles of Pern #3)
WORLD WITHOUT STARS
THE YEAR’S BEST HORROR STORIES: SERIES VI
1977
THE BANE OF THE BLACK SWORD (Elric #5)
THE COSMIC COMPUTER
DIADEM FROM THE STARS (Diadem #1)
EARTHCHILD
THE GAMEPLAYERS OF ZAN
LORD KALVAN OF OTHERWHEN (Lord Kalvan #1)
SPACE VIKING
A SPELL FOR CHAMELEON (Xanth #1)
STORMBRINGER (Elric #6)
SWORDS AND ICE MAGIC (Fafhrd and Gray Mouser #6)
THE VANISHING TOWER (Elric #4)
VOLKHAVAAR
THE WEIRD OF THE WHITE WOLF (Elric #3)
WILDEBLOOD’S EMPIRE (Daedalus Mission #3)
WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE
THE YEAR OF THE QUIET SUN
THE YEAR’S BEST HORROR STORIES: SERIES V
1976
ARAMADA OF ANTARES (Day Prescott #11)
BUNDUKI
CITY
DAY AFTER TOMORROW
ELRIC OF MELNIBONE (Elric #1)
THE FLORIANS
FUZZY SAPIENS (Fuzzies #2)
GATE OF IVREL (Morgaine #1)
THE IMMORTAL OF WORLD’S END (Gondwane Epic #3)
IN THE GREEN STAR’S GLOW (Green Star #5)
THE LAND LEVIATHAN
LITTLE FUZZY (Fuzzies #1)
THE PLANET SAVERS (Darkover #1)
RENEGADE OF KREGEN (Day Prescott #13)
THE SAILOR ON THE SEAS OF FATE (Elric #2)
THE TIDES OF KREGEN (Day Prescott #12)
TIME AND AGAIN
THE TROUBLE WITH TYCHO
THE YEAR’S BEST HORROR STORIES: SERIES IV