From our in the studio feature from last summer

Illustrations by Michael Whelan for The Heart of What Was Lost by Tad Williams.

When you peel back the layers of the cover, you’ll see a winter landscape faded in the background. I found that background illustration while digging around in the studio, and I had no idea what it was until Michael clued me in.

The updated editions of the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy featured the legendary swords (newly painted!) set against backgrounds from their original cover illustrations. DAW Books carried that style forward with the novella that would bridge the original books with the new trilogy. Since there wasn’t an existing cover, Michael painted a landscape in full at 16" x 22".

I didn’t see THE HEART DAGGER (2016) in studio, but I’m including it here because it’s the focal point of the cover. The wraparound is a digital mockup provided by the publisher before release.