I love a great cover!
The one for the forthcoming Brandon Sanderson novel, The Way of Kings, is gorgeous! Why? Because it is a Michael Whelan cover.
When The Gathering Storm was released, I had Brandon Sanderson in my home for an online signing. It was the first time I met Brandon. It was obvious right from the start that we both share a love for the fantasy genre. Despite hundreds of copies of the new Wheel of Time novel sitting on the floor waiting for him to sign, the first thing Brandon noticed when he walked into the room was my framed Michael Whelan Dark Tower signed and limited prints. He had to look at both, and close up.
It’s not the first time an author has been at The Signed Page and done the same thing.
It became immediately different though.
Brandon turned to me and said, “I’m getting a Whelan cover for The Way of Kings. How cool is that, Shawn?”
I was fairly surprised. He knew I would understand. Michael has been absent from the fantasy cover field, his last effort I believe the cover for Runes of the Earth by Stephen R. Donaldson some five or six years ago. The Hugo Award-winning artist has been busy with his own painting, his success allowing him to pursue his own visions and dreams. He is in a wonderful position; many artists don’t have that opportunity.
How did Brandon get the Whelan cover?
It was a fun conversation.
When I asked Brandon about how he was able to get a Whelan cover, he laughed, said he got lucky, and that Michael had agreed to do a Tom Doherty / Tor Books cover years back and hadn’t been approached with the right book yet. Mr. Doherty, wanting to pull out all stops for Brandon’s next great series, spent no expense for the cover and asked Michael to do it.
Michael agreed, upon reading the manuscript.
Brandon and I talked at length about some of our favorite Whelan covers and how much the artist means to the genre as a whole—how much writers and artists today owe a debt to Michael.
At the end of the conversation, Brandon looked down and at the copies of The Gathering Storm for the first time.
He still hadn’t seen them.
“The hardest thing I have to figure out is, do I buy the original painting from Michael?” Brandon thought out loud. “They can be quite expensive.”
“Yes. Yes, they can be,” I said. “And yes you should buy it. It’s a once in a life time opportunity and you have to do it, Brandon. Have to.”
By the excited gleam in his eyes, I could tell Brandon more than likely would.
Today marks the release of that cover.
Visit the Tor.com website and learn how art director Irene Gallo and artist Michael Whelan brought Brandon’s vision to life for this beautiful cover! Michael talks about his work, shows us all a few concepts, and describes why he chose to portray one of the massive hurricane-like storms from The Way of Kings.
Nice job, Irene and Michael!
And Brandon, you are a lucky, lucky man!
