This is topic Please be nice to the newbie and answer my question(possible spoiler) in forum Discussions About Orson Scott Card at Hatrack River Forum.
Who do you think exactly is on the cover of sotg? Before i read the book, i thought it was bean and petra on a starship looking out into space. But now that i've read the book, i see that didn't actually happen, so maybe its someone else? whats you're take on the cover pic?
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Firstly, welcome to Hatrack.
Second, that's a good question! I wondered when I started the book, but forgot to revisit the question after I was done. Now my copy is lent out . . .
I hope someone else can figure it out. Posted by AntiCool (Member # 7386) on :
I think we decided that it was a stargate. Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Would that be the Giza or the Antarctic Stargate?
Posted by beatnix19 (Member # 5836) on :
That was the first thing I thought too.
SPOILER . . . . .
The only possibility I could come up with is that it is, oh, I'm drawing a blank, but the lady with Bean and Petra's baby. The baby is all grown and with mama going back to Earth or someother planet to cause some trouble in Achille's name. A little bit of foreshadowing. I thought is was bean and petra at first too but it can't be because they never left. It could also be bean and one of the kids but then where are the others? Hmmm... I'm grasping here.
Posted by LilBee91 (Member # 7475) on :
Maybe it is just symbolic to Bean and Petra looking to the stars for escape. The artist may not have read the book either, but I don't really know how those things work.
Posted by GiantBeanGirl (Member # 7608) on :
Thanks for your help, and thanks for welcoming me. What exactly is a stargate? sorry, i've only read EG,Speaker, and the shadow series.
Posted by Emily W (Member # 7504) on :
I think he was talking about the movie Stargate. There are these huge circles that rotate and act as a means for time travel.
That's a really bad explination. I hope someone else can elaborate on it.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Stargate SG-1 is a show currently on television. It has nothing to do with OSC -- as far as I know, anyway.
(I mean, I'm assuming his confession that he plans to take over the world is not an indication that he's a Go'auld. He's not, right? )
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Not time travel. Planet-hopping.
(The time travel is all accidental, and a result of doing things the gate was not designed for. Definitely in violation of the user agreement! )
Posted by Emily W (Member # 7504) on :
Planet hopping! I forgot all about that! Thanks.
After reading the book I thought the two people on the cover were Petra and Peter. I don't think the man is tall enough to be Bean.
I also thought, at first, that they were in space, looking out through a window in a space station/star ship. Then I thought they could possibly be in a really tall building; possibly even one on a tall hill.
Posted by Agnes Bean (Member # 7614) on :
quote:After reading the book I thought the two people on the cover were Petra and Peter. I don't think the man is tall enough to be Bean.
I also thought, at first, that they were in space, looking out through a window in a space station/star ship. Then I thought they could possibly be in a really tall building; possibly even one on a tall hill.
That makes sense. I agree that the man really doesn’t seem tall enough to be Bean, and I can’t think of any other characters that would be on a starship/space station, so a tall building could be the explanation. Or…maybe it’s Mr. and Ms. Wiggen on the space station? I forget how much taller than his spouse John Paul is supposed to be. Or maybe it’s just two random colonists *shrug*
Posted by Jasmine (Member # 7370) on :
SPOILERS
I pretty sure it's Bean and Petra's first two children. At first i thought it was Bean and Petra but then i thought that Bean was too short. But then I read that Bella also had Petra's traits and Ender had Bean's traits so it made sense. Plus they were sent into space, and they are the shadows of the giant.
ok kinda the same question as GiantBeanGirl BUT: Who's on the cover of shadow puppets(paperback) thinking it's bean(kinda short) and Achilles but who are they the shadow's of?
Posted by PeterTheHegemon (Member # 7620) on :
I thought it was just Bean and Petra, since the cover flap makes it sound like they both go out on the ship with their kids.
For Shadow Puppets, I've been wondering for a while. One looks like a scientist kinda, so they could be Achilles and Volescu, because they make Bean and Petra their puppets... until Bean kills Achilles. I also wondered what that starship thingy in the background was.
[ March 21, 2005, 07:22 PM: Message edited by: PeterTheHegemon ]
Posted by neo-dragon (Member # 7168) on :
You know guys, I'm pretty sure that they're both just generic sci-fi pictures that the publisher chose. That was the case with all of the original Ender quartet covers as I understand it. In fact, the American paperback cover of Shadow Puppets was already used as the U.K. cover of Ender's Shadow.Look familiar? The publishers just don't give it any thought.
[ March 21, 2005, 07:51 PM: Message edited by: neo-dragon ]
Posted by GiantBeanGirl (Member # 7608) on :
SPIOLER*****
I think I'm starting to lean toward the idea that it could be bean and petra's first two kids, that seems to make more sense. I also noticed that when i read the summary on the back flap of sotg, it says that bean and petra have too many enemies on earth so they follow in ender's footsteps and look to the stars. that could be what the cover's about, because maybe they just thought up a pic from the summary, because when you think about it, that summary doesn't really apply to the storyline either. I too wondered about the shadow puppets cover. I wish OSC would help us out here and tell us what the pictures meant.
Posted by AntiCool (Member # 7386) on :
I think that it was painted by somebody who had neer read the book.
Posted by neo-dragon (Member # 7168) on :
Exactly what I'm saying, AntiCool.
quote:I wish OSC would help us out here and tell us what the pictures meant.
OSC doesn't have any control over what they put on the covers of his books. Your guess may very well be as good as his!
[ March 21, 2005, 09:04 PM: Message edited by: neo-dragon ]
Posted by PeterTheHegemon (Member # 7620) on :
That's kind of funny that they use the U.K. Shadow cover for the U.S Puppets one. Until now, I never did get why the covers had nothing to to with the books, so I was looking and looking for a connection. Throughout all of CotM, I was waiting for a giant starship to crash into a planet...
Thanks for correction, neo-dragon.
[ March 22, 2005, 04:26 PM: Message edited by: PeterTheHegemon ]
Posted by neo-dragon (Member # 7168) on :
Actually, it's the other way around. They used the U.K. ES cover for the U.S. SP cover. Or maybe that's what you meant. Anyway, wouldn't it be cool if they released brand new hardvover editions of each book with new cover art? Then again, I couldn't afford to buy so many hardcovers anyway, but it would be nice to look at them in the store.
Posted by James Tiberius Kirk (Member # 2832) on :
Sort of offtopic here, but now that we're speaking about the cover itself...
Anyone else think that the SOTG cover was done using some sort of 3D software? That was the first thing that came to mind when I saw it.
--j_k
Posted by GiantBeanGirl (Member # 7608) on :
I know now that the pic has very little to do with the book, but if it has anything at all, notice that on the back of the girl's jacket it seems to say WPA or something. this may be nothing, but what would it mean if it had somethin to do with the book? Also,did anyone else who's read sotg notice that OSC actually described bean and alai? In all the shadow books i don't think he's ever described anyone, and when he did, i changed my whole perception of bean. You know, with the African looks thing. I don't think i've ever seen OSC describe anyone, but its probably because he wants us to form our own perception of the people. oh well, i just thought it was interesting.
Posted by Quimby2999 (Member # 7044) on :
Take the book, hold it under water for 24 hours. Turn it upside down. Scan it onto a computer and blow it up to 6000%. Shine a blacklight on the exact center of the book. Turn off the blacklight. Return the image back to 100%. Take the book out of the scanner. Turn it right-side up. Dry it off. Gaze in wonder.
[ March 23, 2005, 03:46 PM: Message edited by: Quimby2999 ]
Posted by Jasmine (Member # 7370) on :
quote: Anyone else think that the SOTG cover was done using some sort of 3D software
Yep! i was thinking about the software people use final fantasy..
quote: but if it has anything at all, notice that on the back of the girl's jacket it seems to say WPA or something
yea i saw that too. *sigh* thinking about what it means... world power something?? Wiggin Petra Association
quote:In all the shadow books i don't think he's ever described anyone,
He did say something about Bean and African traits somewhere in SP. don't remember where but i think it was when they first met Volescu
[ March 23, 2005, 05:05 PM: Message edited by: Jasmine ]
Posted by GiantBeanGirl (Member # 7608) on :
SPOILER
Well the fact that in sotg OSC said that Bean's hair is black made me change my whole perception of him, though i did notice the African traits comment in SP, i just didn't want to bother with it then. Oh well, i'm weird. But i guess part of the reason i started this topic about the cover is because i had recently finished sotg, and had been shocked about bean leaving. even when i heard about his plans earlier in the book, i looked at the cover pic and assumed he wouldn't leave her, because i believed the cover.It just really annoyed me, even tho i still loved the book. Posted by Suri-cool (Member # 7599) on :
I was studying the back and I thought I read WD on the baclk of Petra. So it could be Wiggin Delpheki, her two last names in the book... And the other person could be Peter showing they were looking to the stars maybe either watching bean. Or it could be like you know deep that they unified earth so they are looking to the stars.
Posted by Jasmine (Member # 7370) on :
i don't know, it just doesn't seem right for the cover to be Petra looking at the stars from a (possibly) starship. It doesn't really look like there on earth. If you look at where the main stream of light is coming from, it looks like they're not on earth or any kinda planet. I may be wrong about it, but i've seen pics. It wouldn't make sense for man to be Bean either. He's too short.
As for the writing on her jacket, we know for sure there's a W then either a P or D then maybe an A. Can anyone make a scan and post it up or something? i would but i don't have a scanner Does anyone wonder why the man's jacket doesnt have the writing?
Posted by accio (Member # 3040) on :
quote: He did say something about Bean and African traits somewhere in SP. don't remember where but i think it was when they first met Volescu
It’s in Chapter 4, Page 48 of hard cover. “Supposedly I’m Greek, but my mother’s mother was an Ibo diplomat, so… when I go to Africa I look quite Greek, and when I go to Greek I look rather African. In my heart I couldn’t care less about either”.
Posted by Diko (Member # 6060) on :
There's the possibility that -if- the artist made this image for this specific book, it could be Ender and Valentine?
Bear with me, I just woke up, so my sentences may not be completely coherent...
At the end they talk about Ender writing Peter's story, this could be them out travelling together, looking out over the universe?
Otherwise I'm inclined to agree that it's Bean and Petra, and it was based entirely on the flap. As for the height, if the artist hadn't read the book, they probably -would- just make him look like he were -tall-, but not necessarily freakishly so, since the flap doesn't say anything about his giantism, and he or she would have simply asked for a quick description of the characters.
Posted by GiantBeanGirl (Member # 7608) on :
Well i looked at the girl's jacket on the cover and if her jacket says WDA instead of WPA, i figured out what wda could mean. it could stand for petra's three last names. Wiggin, Delphiki, Arkanian. Anyway, it could be nothing, but i'm very proud of myself for thinking of it. Posted by Jasmine (Member # 7370) on :
YAY! what diko said and the WDA thing does make a lot of sense(can't really see the A. o well) but how did the artist know about her last names if they didn't read it? OSC's request?
Posted by neo-dragon (Member # 7168) on :
Okay, in an attempt to settle this thing once and for all, I looked up Bob Warner, the man who did the cover. Unfortunately I couldn't find his email address anywhere on his site, but do feel free to look in case I just missed it.
Posted by GiantBeanGirl (Member # 7608) on :
Sorry if I'm annoying you with this whole topic neo-dragon. I've pretty much given up on the whole thing since I got an email from OSC's assistant, saying they have no clue either! I should probably have closed down this whole topic days ago, since we've pretty much exhausted every possibility, and it's probably just some random sci-fi picture. I'm probably just so proud of actually starting a topic that I don't want to close it yet. Please someone tell me if I should close this topic now.
Posted by Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged (Member # 7476) on :
OK, I emailed the cover designer. If he doesn't know, you'll never know.
Posted by neo-dragon (Member # 7168) on :
Don't worry, GBG. The topic doesn't annoy me at all. Now that you've gotten me thinking about it, I just want a definitive answer. Don't try to kill the thread now that someone has actually emailed the one person who can give us that. I hope he replies soon.
Posted by Jasmine (Member # 7370) on :
i love this thread. don't kill it. ever since i got my copy, i looked at the cover wondering who the two people were every chance i could. I kept it like a holy book! i didnt post anything because i was scared to ask what people thought. you have lots of courage. hats of to you! Posted by Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged (Member # 7476) on :
OK, I got a response from the cover designer
quote:Hi, It's Bean and petra looking out to space From the observation deck of the space station.
bob
And thus another question is answered.
Posted by neo-dragon (Member # 7168) on :
But as is often the case it life, it leaves us with more questions. What space station?! Petra was never in space in the entire novel. And I figured that Bean would be taller. He doesn't look big enough to be in danger of dying from his heart giving out in a matter of months. Not unless Petra is fairly tall herself.
Posted by Jasmine (Member # 7370) on :
no! petra can't be tall, cuz i'm short and i want to somehow be qualified to get her part in the movie!!! And what about the initials on the back of her jacket? If it really is WDA, what does the W stand for? She wouldn't have married Peter if Bean didn't leave
actually i'm thinking World Domination A....
[ March 27, 2005, 03:39 PM: Message edited by: Jasmine ]
Posted by GiantBeanGirl (Member # 7608) on :
quote
But as is often the case it life, it leaves us with more questions. What space station?! Petra was never in space in the entire novel. [Confused] And I figured that Bean would be taller. He doesn't look big enough to be in danger of dying from his heart giving out in a matter of months. Not unless Petra is fairly tall herself. SPOILER Yes, i wondered about that too, and one of my conclusions, though hopefully highly unlikely,is that the book is missing pages. because really, bean and petra never said goodbye. one minute they were on the plane with the babies, and the next, bean was alone with rackham, the normals, and getting into a van, and the next chapter he was in space without having said goodbye to petra that i could see. It just made me wonder.
i agree with you jasmine, petra can't be too tall, because if they ever made soth,or any of the others, i would love to be in it. but by the time they would start filming, i'd be too old. oh well, they still need to make those movies.
Posted by Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged (Member # 7476) on :
I think the cover designer made the cover based on the book description. This is the book description I got from amazon.com
quote: Bean's past was a battle just to survive. He first appeared on the streets of Rotterdam, a tiny child with a mind leagues beyond anyone else. He knew he could not survive through strength; he used his tactical genius to gain acceptance into a children's gang, and then to help make that gang a template for success for all the others. He civilized them, and lived to grow older. Then he was discovered by the recruiters for the Battle School.
For Earth was at war - a terrible war with an inscrutable alien enemy. A war that humanity was near to losing. But the long distances of interstellar space has given hope to the defenders of Earth - they had time to train military geniuses up from childhood, forging them into an irresistible force in the high-orbital facility called the Battle School. That story is told in two books, the beloved classic ENDER'S GAME, and its parallel, ENDER'S SHADOW.
Bean was the smallest student at the Battle School, but he became Ender Wiggins' right hand, Since then he has grown to be a power on Earth. He served the Hegemon as strategist and general in the terrible wars that followed Ender's defeat of the alien empire attacking Earth. Now he and his wife Petra yearn for a safe place to build a family - something he has never known - but there is nowhere on Earth that does not harbor his enemies - old enemies from the days in Ender's Jeesh, new enemies from the wars on Earth. To find security, Bean and Petra must once again follow in Ender's footsteps. They must leave Earth behind, in the control of the Hegemon, and look to the stars.
Nowhere does it get mentioned that Bean is now a literal giant. It doesn't mention that Bean is greek/african. So based on what little scraps of info he had he made the cover, for better or worse.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Yeah - I really doubt the artist got a chance to actually READ the book before he did the cover art. So basically he drew something that doesn't exist anywhere in the novel itself..
Farmgirl
Posted by Jasmine (Member # 7370) on :
ok fine. i can understand that. but what's really really bugging me are the initials. You know what, i'm just gonna try and forget about it. so how was your easter? Posted by GiantBeanGirl (Member # 7608) on :
I still think that if the initials are WDA than they could stand for Petra's three last names. Wiggin,,,Delphiki,,,Arkanian. If the cover was drawn specifically for the book, thats the only logical initials I can come up with, but if anyone thinks up anything else, post it.
Posted by Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged (Member # 7476) on :
I'll email the designer if you like.
Posted by neo-dragon (Member # 7168) on :
If you email him again, he'll probably think that you're weird. But if you don't, we'll never know for sure... It's up to you.
Posted by Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged (Member # 7476) on :
Somethings are best left up to the imagination.
Posted by neo-dragon (Member # 7168) on :
True. It is mysterious though. It's probably correct that he designed the cover based only on the dust jacket summary. In fact, come to think of it, I first saw the cover art online before Card even finished writing the book. So I don't see any way that the cover designer could have known that Petra would end up with the name Wiggin.
Posted by Orson Scott Card (Member # 209) on :
The cover is not an illustration of the book. The cover is the billboard used to sell the book. While the artist was assigned a concept that was derived from the book, the primary concern was to have "a male and female in a high-tech setting with the words 'Orson Scott Card' and 'Shadow of the Giant' really big all around them."
However, to help clarify, I've asked the webwright for Hatrack to put up the original art. In fact, he's probably already done so - the art without the title and my name, so you can see what is actually depicted. I think you'll quickly realize that it has absolutely nothing to do with the storyline, and was never intended to. What does the cover of Ender's Game have to do with the story? Or Speaker, or Xenocide, or Children of the Mind?
Posted by accio (Member # 3040) on :
Welcome back!! Posted by AntiCool (Member # 7386) on :
quote:What does the cover of Ender's Game have to do with the story? Or Speaker, or Xenocide, or Children of the Mind?
Um... Space ships!
Yeah, that will distinguish it from the rest of the genre. Posted by GiantBeanGirl (Member # 7608) on :
wow i'm so glad OSC answered!Thanks so much! well, now that that question is answered, do i shut this topic down, or do we think up other amazing questions to debate? if anyone has any ideas, post them please.
Posted by Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged (Member # 7476) on :
As a rule we do not shut down threads. What if someone has the same question later? This thread will be a handy guide later on.
Posted by Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged (Member # 7476) on :
Also, never judge a book by its cover.
Posted by GiantBeanGirl (Member # 7608) on :
oh i see, thanks wowbagger what did u mean about not judging a book by its cover? i know what that means, but what did u mean by it?
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
quote:The cover is not an illustration of the book. The cover is the billboard used to sell the book. While the artist was assigned a concept that was derived from the book, the primary concern was to have "a male and female in a high-tech setting with the words 'Orson Scott Card' and 'Shadow of the Giant' really big all around them."
I think I would feel really weird if putting my name in big letters on a cover would boost sales of a book. o_O
Hobbes Posted by Jasmine (Member # 7370) on :
quote: I think I would feel really weird if putting my name in big letters on a cover would boost sales of a book. o_O
But it pops up! and it's shiny!
[ March 31, 2005, 09:18 PM: Message edited by: Jasmine ]
Posted by Agnes Bean (Member # 7614) on :
quote:But it pops up! and it's shiny!
Yeah. In fact, the fact that it's OSC's name really has nothing to do with the sales. It's all about the shiny
Nice to know the cover wasn't meant to mean anything. If you don't worry about that, it's quite a nice looking cover.
Posted by GiantBeanGirl (Member # 7608) on :
yes, thats a weight off my mind, but there are still other questions, like who the third kid's name is that bean has with him in space. Bella, Ender, ???. oh ya, in case why you are wondering why i have posted this about two weeks later, i was on vacation in florida Posted by Jasmine (Member # 7370) on :
GRR... up in Boston where the weather changes from warm to bloody freezing! We kinda thought of some stuff in another thread
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Does anyone wonder why the man's jacket doesnt have the writing?
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