NOR CRYSTAL TEARS

Cover illustration for Alan Dean Foster

May 27, 2026

A woman with short dark hair reaches out to a mantis-like alien. The fingers of her hand match the long slender digits of the alien as they touch. There is an embossed gold star on the alien’s shoulder, and it wears a furry covering overs its lower legs. Traces of snow can be seen on that fur as well as on the cuff of her green puffer jacket and branches of vegetation barely seen in the lower right foreground. The background of the painting, however, is loosely painted in greens and yellows, populated with silhouettes of branches and tree trunks. A barely visible structure resembling an alien city can be seen on the distant horizon as framed by the alien’s cautiously extended appendage and the woman’s arm. — NOR CRYSTAL TEARS (1981), Acrylic - 30” x 19”

A favorite theme of mine is the depiction of human-alien interactions. This book deals with the subject so wonderfully that I wanted to make it the focus of attention for the cover painting.

Several of my other concepts for the cover involve relationships between human children and the Thranx, the intelligent, insect-like species of Foster's imagination. I’ve long thought about developing one of the alternate concepts as a finished painting.

LEFT: Alternate preliminary concept for NOR CRYSTAL TEARS featuring a mantis-like alien holds up a human infant as the baby glances at its face curiously. RIGHT: Alternate preliminary concept for NOR CRYSTAL TEARS featuring human children sitting casually in front of a mantis-like alien. It cradles a human infant in one appendage and gestures with another as if telling the children a story. — Alternative preliminary concepts for NOR CRYSTAL TEARS

At any rate, months after delivering the final painting to Don Munson, I was chagrined to note a similar approach for the E.T. movie poster. A coincidence I'm certain, but frustrating!

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Additional images from NOR CRYSTAL TEARS

LEFT: Close detail from NOR CRYSTAL TEARS featuring the mantis-like alien with large compound eye. Its green carapace is spotted with yellow. Its antennae have wispy threads fanning at the ends. RIGHT: Close detail from NOR CRYSTAL TEARS featuring the human female wearing a green puffer jacket with a patch of the cloudy planet Earth on the shoulder. The name on her jacket reads B. Delyer. — Details from NOR CRYSTAL TEARS

Paperback cover for NOR CRYSTAL TEARS by Alan Dean Foster, published by Del Rey — *Nor Crystal Tears* by Alan Dean Foster (Del Rey)

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Joe Scheuer

For fans of Alan Dean Foster’s Commonwealth books, this is one of the best of that series. The MW painting captures perfectly a key element of the story. I had an opportunity to meet Mr Foster at a long ago DragonCon and he told me how much he liked this particular cover art. While my preferences for MW art generally tend towards his personal works, I do note that he always nails it when doing book covers. For many artists I shake my head after finishing a book and wondering what the cover art was meant to convey. For Michael’s art however, I feel like his images have been pulled straight out of my thoughts because he captures perfectly the characters and settings.

Tom Grant

One of my favorites of your works. It really evokes a delicate and profound moment. Plus, love the colors.

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