In a bizarre move, Penguin Random House has decided to go with a different cover artist for future Tad Williams books, apparently being unwilling to stump up the money for further covers from acclaimed artist Michael Whelan.
Whelan is one of the highest-regarded artists working in science fiction and fantasy, and his critically-acclaimed cover art has adorned all of Tad Williams's Memory, Sorrow and Thorn books so far, as well as the first two volumes of the Last King of Osten Ard sequel series. Whelan's artwork adorned The Witchwood Crown and Empire of Grass, but the remaining two books in the series, Into the Narrowdark and The Navigator's Children, will have new cover art from an as-yet unannounced artist.
Whelan has also created artwork for the likes of Brandon Sanderson, Melanie Rawn, Anne McCaffrey, C.S. Friedman, Robin Hobb, C.J. Cherryh and Tanith Lee. When Darrell K. Sweet passed away whilst working on the final Wheel of Time cover, Whelan was the only choice to step in and replace him.
The books are published by DAW Books, who are editorially independent but distributed by Penguin Random House, who also have a say in the company's financial affairs. Similar financial restrictions meant that DAW were forced to drop Michelle West's Essalieyan universe series in August. The author will now be completing that series with the help of her fans via Patreon. Seeing the same penny-pinching attitude applied to one of DAW's historically biggest-selling authors (Williams has sold over 17 million books) is quite strange.
Into the Narrowdark is currently scheduled for publication on 12 July 2022. The Navigator's Children is expected to follow in late 2022 or early 2023 (the two books were originally one volume but have been split in two for publication due to length).
