Looking for classic SF/F novel with cover of large white dog

B

BurtonGuster

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This is a novel I read probably twenty years ago in hardcover (dont' know the title or author), acquired from being in the "science fiction book club" in the US but I expect its still available in some form because it was by one of the big name authors. I don't recall but it was someone like Alan Dean Foster, Robert Heinlein etc... It could be considered "fantasy" but I recall it as science fiction as it involved life on an alien planet...

The main thing I'm looking for is the hardcover edition of this novel with the cover featuring a large white hunting type dog standing next to a woman in an aggressive pose. The dog was larger than say a Siberian tiger would be, immense, menacing, but a companion to the woman - a protector. I remember it being all white and showing its fangs and the woman may have had long red hair... The dog was of the type you could say was modeled on the hound of the Baskervilles type breed featured in the Sherlock Holmes story for an example of how it looked, but much bigger than any terrestrial dog would be.

I believe the cover background was also an arctic type world setting. (At first I thought this was an edtion of Mission to Moulokin by Alan Dean Foster but I emailed him and he didn't think so).

If anyone has any inkling of the author/title of this book, if you remember seeing it, I'd greatly appreciate it. I've done internet searches on large white dogs in fantasy and science fiction and have come up with nothing except wolf type animals in more recent novels...

Thanks!
 
It would be more helpful if you had something of the plot and characters to add to the look of the cover. (Some of us claim not to look at the cover before we buy a book. --- Not sure I believe that, but....)
 
Parson: The best I can do for plot and characters is probably a misdirection as I remember it as Mission to Moulokin, but AD Foster said no. I think I am pretty sure it was a plot about a human character/s possibly a male and female, on an arctic type planet. The enormous dog like creature was a native companion animal specifically to the woman I believe was featured on the cover to the left of the dog, which was slightly in the foreground to her position. The dog was showing its fangs and you could see claws on its paws. It may have had red eyes... The memory of the cover is vivid but I've confused the plot with others over the years I believe. This was when I was a teen and in the SFBC and getting hardcovers every month, so decades ago... Thanks for any suggestions.
 
Ray McCarthy said:
The book covers change.
a) with re-issues
b) often North America / UK-Ireland
c) HP series even had "adult cover" versions!
Click to expand...

Ray, I know the covers change. That's why I thought it might be a hardcover early edition of Mission to Moulokin but Mr. Foster suggested perhaps The Day of Dissonance. I don't have any memory of actually ever reading DofD so I'm pretty sure that's not it. I looked up covers for DofD and nothing comes close.

The book had a bit of a crossover feel between fantasy and SF but I believe technically it was SF - it may have dealth with a more primitive society on another planet hence fantasy elements (but again I'm probably just confusing that with the Icerigger trilogy)...
 
The Hounds of Skaith, and series by Leigh Bracket, comes to mind.

As Ray says, these have been issued under myriad covers.

Here's the cover from the SFBC omnibus edition:

Leigh-Brackett-The-Book-of-Skaith.jpg
 
Alex The G and T said:
The Hounds of Skaith, and series by Leigh Bracket, comes to mind.

As Ray says, these have been issued under myriad covers.

Here's the cover from the SFBC omnibus edition:

Leigh-Brackett-The-Book-of-Skaith.jpg
Click to expand...

That is it!!!! Thanks Alex. I remember the woman and the dog very well now though I had them on opposite sides of the page and the dog is not a companion animal here at least for the male figure. Thank you very much for clearing this up for me. I will try to obtain this in hardcover with this cover if I can. Much appreciated!!!
 
Alex The G and T said:
I'm so excited to be able to help. I'm usually terrible at remembering these sorts of things.

This series is a lifetime favorite of mine, though. Telepathic, vicious War Hounds. How can you go wrong?
Click to expand...

Yeah, you know Alex, when my mother got me a membership in the SFBC when I was a preteen, it was the greatest thing in the world to get books like this in the mail. I was always so thrilled, and this one series made a lasting impression on me like the Icerigger trilogy did. But with moving so many times over the years, I have long since lost the book. I see that its still available on Amazon with the original cover, some in new or like new condition, so it will be great to get this back as a memory of my childhood. Reviewers rate the series highly as well so it will be fun to read again.

Thanks again and thanks to everyone else that searched and thought about this query for me. SFF Chronicles is always a great place to go to find answers like this!
 
Thanks for the links Ray. I bookmarked the Leigh Brackett books you pointed me to and will check them out soon. Appreciate it!
 
Wow, way to go Alex! Glad you found your book, BG! I too was a SFBC member for many years throughout the 70s...I think into the 80s. Now that I see this cover again I remember it so well! I was a pure SF guy back then (Tolkein changed that), and never purchased this Brackett, but I seem to recall this book being offered for sale a number of times...I always found the cover intriguing. Wow, do you all remember how poor the paper quality was for many of the books...and how unevenly cut the paper edges were? But honestly, the books were perfect, and had more character because of these small flaws. The SFBC brought me a universe of possibilities at a time when I had no bookstore close by that provided a decent selection of SF&F.
I'm going on too long here. Nice find Alex! :)
 
Cat's Cradle said:
Wow, way to go Alex! Glad you found your book, BG! I too was a SFBC member for many years throughout the 70s...I think into the 80s. Now that I see this cover again I remember it so well! I was a pure SF guy back then (Tolkein changed that), and never purchased this Brackett, but I seem to recall this book being offered for sale a number of times...I always found the cover intriguing. Wow, do you all remember how poor the paper quality was for many of the books...and how unevenly cut the paper edges were? But honestly, the books were perfect, and had more character because of these small flaws. The SFBC brought me a universe of possibilities at a time when I had no bookstore close by that provided a decent selection of SF&F.
I'm going on too long here. Nice find Alex! :)
Click to expand...

I was in the SFBC around the same time. Back before the Internet existed and we only had three channels on TV (and no such thing as DVDs either), it was such a thrill to get SF hardcover novels in the mail and the cover of this one always stuck with me in a corner of my mind, so very happy to find it again... =)
 
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