THE CAT WHO WALKS THROUGH WALLS
Cover illustration for Robert Heinlein
Sometime after the book was published, I hung the painting at a convention and a fan came up to me and said, "The girl is great and I love the cat, but you know the guy is supposed to be black?"
I was flabbergasted. I usually read a manuscript through the first time for storyline and make notes along the way, but I skim through it a second and often third as I write detailed notes and sketches. For this assignment, I did all that and then submitted a detailed comp and nobody ever said anything about the hero being black.
I did the painting, the book company loved it and printed the book. But when they printed the reissue, someone in the art department retouched the guy with the patch and made him darker. He looks a bit ridiculous, but that's the story. Somehow the editors, the art director, and I all missed that important detail. 🤦
Additional images from THE CAT WHO WALKS THROUGH WALLS
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This is an absolutely "wait what?" post for me, ive been looking at this book cover art when i was reading Hienlein and this was the best cover of all other books in the Heinlein series, and i have bought and read the antology series of 15 books, but the fun fact is that this was published back in my home country in another language, when i started buying original publications in english i almost never saw the cover art matching the ones i remember from my home, but this here is the one exact image that just brings so much memories and how much i enjoyed reading Heinlein books.
I have moved to another country but this is the antology that travelled with me. In my version the area above the window is cut and the cat is in the shade somehow, but the tone of the skin matches the original art. I just can't add a photo to the comment to show this.
My personal favorite of all the RAH covers that Michael has done!