Spoiler: Dragon's Time Cover Art

[GinnyStar]

The artwork for Dragon's Time, the new Pern novel by Anne and Todd McCaffrey is now in the Fantasy Gallery. You'll recognise it because it features a great big dragon
"Pern Alert" Les has just finished the artwork for Dragon's Time by Anne and Todd McCaffrey. This will be published by Del Rey in the US and by Bantam in the UK. The original concept came from Art director David Stevenson of Del Rey and it's turned out to be a very dramatic piece. Let's hope tha the legions of Pern fans like it. "Oh the pressure!"

from his News section
http://www.lesedwards.com/showpic.php?id=1&pid=725
Dragon's Time Finished
Dragon's Time
Copyright © Les Edwards 2010, All Rights Reserved
Les's Notes:

Cover for the Anne & Todd McCaffrey novel due out in 2011. Commissioned by Del Rey in the USA and also to be used on the UK cover for Bantam.

I had a lot fun with this addition to the Pern series. I spent a lot of time trying to paint the reflections from the snowy ground on the dragon's skin. I was trying to create the effect of a Jumbo Jet lifting off.
---
http://www.lesedwards.com/showpic.php?id=&pid=731
Dragon Time


Medium: pencil on paper

Les's Notes:

Preliminary sketch for the novel by Anne and Todd McCaffrey, due out in 2011 Commissioned by Del rey in the USA and also used on the UK cover for Bantam
Dragon's Time
Copyright © Les Edwards 2010, All Rights Reserved
I can see the top of the Hold much better in this sketch then finished one
@Staff feel free to remove when time right, its just the images via his site, they got done up date it, GinnyStar
I was right this cover was done by him!

[jube]

Check your web addresses Ginny, it won't connect through! Typo mistakes perhaps. Please try again.

[jube]

I think you mean this.....

http://www.lesedwards.com/showpic.php?id=1&pid=725

I realise you're partially blind but please check your typo mistakes carefully as it will and often causes confusion amongst the rest of us. Thank you!

[Golden Talisath]

Ahh... very nice! I like the details of the Hold in the back.

[P'ter]

He wanted to effect of a JUMBO-jet taking off?

Where do they store the life-rafts on that?

[Greenrider Tresa]

Nice...

[James]

Beautiful cover!

[Samsara]

I like it a lot!

[GinnyStar]

Originally Posted by jube

I think you mean this.....

http://www.lesedwards.com/showpic.php?id=1&pid=725

I realise you're partially blind but please check your typo mistakes carefully as it will and often causes confusion amongst the rest of us. Thank you!

Thanks I shall fix it. system acting up not as much.

[GinnyStar]

Originally Posted by P'ter

He wanted to effect of a JUMBO-jet taking off?

Where do they store the life-rafts on that?

:rofl2: you are something there P'ter, but that was what I was thinking. Or trying to take off at the shortest runway, which ends at a cliff over looking the sea, crossed with the highest one on Earth. something I've recalled seeing on the History Channel.

[r2005]

I agree that's a very nice cover, and I also really like the details with the Hold in the back.

[jube]

Ginny sorry if it sounded like I was taking my frustrations out but I honestly spent several minutes trying to work it out and then eventually I said "stuff it" to myself and looked it up. Think you did a good job for bringing it to our attention though Well done.

[GinnyStar]

Originally Posted by jube

Ginny sorry if it sounded like I was taking my frustrations out but I honestly spent several minutes trying to work it out and then eventually I said "stuff it" to myself and looked it up. Think you did a good job for bringing it to our attention though Well done.

No problem mate, there is something about click on tumbnails, but I didn't quite get it, over at Les site but I've said before, I'm a user not a tech person.

[Golden Talisath]

I haven't read any of Todd's books, but I'm asking those who did: which Hold is this? It reminds me of a picture of Ruatha from, I think, Moreta that I saw on Amazon.

[Eriflor]

Originally Posted by Golden Talisath

I haven't read any of Todd's books, but I'm asking those who did: which Hold is this? It reminds me of a picture of Ruatha from, I think, Moreta that I saw on Amazon.

I just looked through the Atlas of Pern, which has the most Hold-maps that can be considered canon, and none of those depicted (Fort, Ruatha, Nabol, Telgar, Half Circle, Igen, Southern, Cove) has that outer building with the high viaduct (arch with a roadway on top) leading back into the cliff-hold.

Most if not all the major northern holds were initially built into a cliff with caves behind it, wings being built outward as needed when the population outgrew the original installation. That viaduct would be more decorative than useful during a Pass. Nice-looking, though.

Of course, there may have been other hold designs during the intervals, especially during the second half of the first Long Interval, when people probably thought Thread was gone for good. And the Atlas of Pern doesn't show all the Holds.

[Golden Talisath]

Strange. I'm SURE I saw it somewhere (my head, perhaps). Thank you, Eriflor.

[Eriflor]

Maybe it was on another of Todd's covers. Or a cover published outside UK/USA, some of which have improbable artwork (like scantily-clad weyrwomen riding dragons during Threadfall).

[P'ter]

Nasty in a high wind with that little protection.

The big square tower would make a good dragon landing-pad though. All it needs is a wind-sock.

But I thought flat roofs were a Pernese no-no: most descriptions give steep pitched ones to throw off the thread.

[Eriflor]

It might have been built midway between 2 Passes, with plans to add the Thread-shedding roof before the next Pass. Does anyone know when Dragon's Time takes place, or whether it flips back into a previous Interval?

[GinnyStar]

Well we haven't seen anything about Crom, or Bita Hold, good telling of that Hold in Dragonseye/Red Star Rising, Some about Crom and a few other in the co-written ones, It remind me of another book. Can't recall which one.

[GinnyStar]

Originally Posted by P'ter

Nasty in a high wind with that little protection.

The big square tower would make a good dragon landing-pad though. All it needs is a wind-sock. <snip>

But I thought flat roofs were a Pernese no-no: most descriptions give steep pitched ones to throw off the thread.

Not the towers that lead into a courtyard. Or those who in the constuction phase, Healer Hall in Moreta.

[Eriflor]

Originally Posted by GinnyStar

Well we haven't seen anything about Crom, or Bita Hold, good telling of that Hold in Dragonseye/Red Star Rising, Some about Crom and a few other in the co-written ones, It remind me of another book. Can't recall which one.

Well, Bitra Hold WAS built during the First Interval (if I remember correctly), so it may have infringed a few of the rules for Hold-building. But looking through Red Star Rising/DragonsEye, I don't see any reference to a building outside the cliff, and the planning session for the invasion of Chalkin's domain only mentions the various levels within the Hold.

I suspect the cover art was done by someone who'd seen pictures of all those holds that look like cliffs with lots of windows, thought they looked boring, and just added on a mediaeval fort in front.

[GinnyStar]

Originally Posted by Eriflor

Well, Bitra Hold WAS built during the First Interval (if I remember correctly), so it may have infringed a few of the rules for Hold-building. But looking through Red Star Rising/DragonsEye, I don't see any reference to a building outside the cliff, and the planning session for the invasion of Chalkin's domain only mentions the various levels within the Hold.

I suspect the cover art was done by someone who'd seen pictures of all those holds that look like cliffs with lots of windows, thought they looked boring, and just added on a mediaeval fort in front.

There was the re-visit on the outside of it, from Fort's Weyrleder, and the change between the two. No more dead vines, weed trees, and no one coming in from the outer holds.

Benden is shown from above DLGP.

[mawra]

Beautiful cover.

[Samsara]

My feeling is that it must be Fort hold, because it's the only one I remember actually being carved out of the mountain like that. Plus which, isn't Fiona from Fort Hold, and currently the Fort Weyrwoman?

Does Fort get snow though?

[semantre]

Originally Posted by Samsara

My feeling is that it must be Fort hold, because it's the only one I remember actually being carved out of the mountain like that. Plus which, isn't Fiona from Fort Hold, and currently the Fort Weyrwoman?

Does Fort get snow though?

I'm pretty sure Fort gets snow - wasn't the colder weather part of the argument against it as the initial landing site in Dragonsdawn?

[Eriflor]

Originally Posted by semantre

I'm pretty sure Fort gets snow - wasn't the colder weather part of the argument against it as the initial landing site in Dragonsdawn?

No, the northern hemisphere was in the middle of winter when they arrived, and the settlers needed to get their agriculture started as soon as possible. They looked at 3 sites in the south --- one was water-logged and the other was far enough south to be near freezing, so they chose the one near the volcanoes.

[James]

Originally Posted by P'ter

Nasty in a high wind with that little protection.

The big square tower would make a good dragon landing-pad though. All it needs is a wind-sock.

But I thought flat roofs were a Pernese no-no: most descriptions give steep pitched ones to throw off the thread.

That's what I thought about the roofs. I've been collecting references on Viking architecture for when I attempt some pern buildings. Many of the Viking structures have steep pitched roofs.

[Eriflor]

The slope of the roofs on exposed buildings doesn't appear unusually steep in the available pictures (in DLG and the Atlas of Pern), but they all seem to have sloping roofs. Just not the ultra-steep ones you get in very snowy areas (maybe High Reaches has this style).

The cliff-tops above the cliff-holds generally have a network of gutters cut into the rock, filled with pitch (a.k.a. tar) which is ignited before Threadfall to burn any Thread that might land on top and slither down the cliff-face or get carried away by the wind to where it can do some damage. Hence the term 'fire-heights'.

[Eriflor]

I just found Dragon's Fire at my local library and signed it out. It may a while before I can start reading it, but according to the blurb, the action seems to be based on Camp Natalon (somewhere near Crom Hold?).

OOPS --- wrong book --- NOT Dragons time. So long since I read it, I thought it was a new one.

Eriflor.

[GinnyStar]

For the first time in more than three years, bestselling authors Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey, mother and son, have teamed up again to do what they do best: add a fresh chapter to the most beloved science fiction series of all time, the Dragonriders of Pern.

Even though Lorana cured the plague that was killing the dragons of Pern, sacrificing her queen dragon in the process, the effects of the disease were so devastating that there are no longer enough dragons available to fight the fall of deadly Thread. And as the situation grows more dire, a pregnant Lorana decides that she must take drastic steps in the quest for help. Meanwhile, back at Telgar Weyr, Weyrwoman Fiona, herself pregnant, and the harper Kindan must somehow keep morale from fading altogether in the face of the steadily mounting losses of dragons and their riders. But time weighs heavily against them - until Lorana finds a way to use time itself in their favor. It's a plan fraught with risk, however. For attempting time travel means tampering with the natural laws of the universe, which could drastically alter history - and destiny - forever. Or so it has always been thought. But Lorana discovers that if the laws of time can't be broken without consequences, it may still be possible to bend them. To ensure the future of Pern, she's willing to take the fateful chance - even if it demands another, even greater, sacrifice

http://http://www.fantasticfiction.c...gon-s-time.htm

[Dragon Fan]

Nice Art, the colors remind me of some of the Micheal Whelan works for PERN book covers.

[GinnyStar]

Originally Posted by Eriflor

I just found Dragon's Fire at my local library and signed it out. It may a while before I can start reading it, but according to the blurb, the action seems to be based on Camp Natalon (somewhere near Crom Hold?).

OOPS --- wrong book --- NOT Dragons time. So long since I read it, I thought it was a new one.

Eriflor.

That OK, its still a Camp but by the time the begining of Third Pass its Mine Natalon its one severday via trader caravan north of Crom Hold.

[Kugai]

Nice artwork, but odd.

Kinda looks like a mashup of Ruatha/Fort/Telgar/Helms Deep.

[GinnyStar]

Originally Posted by Kugai

Nice artwork, but odd.

Kinda looks like a mashup of Ruatha/Fort/Telgar/Helms Deep.

What is Helms Deep?

[Kugai]

"Let this be the hour that we draw Swords together"

[GinnyStar]

Originally Posted by Kugai

"Let this be the hour that we draw Swords together"

Thanks, I never seen Lord of the Rings, so I didn't have a clue.

[Kugai]

You've never . . . . . .

*sputter*

[Kat]

Originally Posted by GinnyStar

That OK, its still a Camp but by the time the begining of Third Pass its Mine Natalon its one severday via trader caravan north of Crom Hold.

Where's it say that Ginny?

[GinnyStar]

Originally Posted by Kugai

You've never . . . . . .

*sputter*

I might later, that clip was hard to see to me, all black and shades of gray outside of the torch, and a person face.