The Book of Sea Monsters

by Bob Eggleton

For millennia, mankind has been fascinated by the awesome power of the sea and the creatures sheltered by its depths. In the past, oceanic crossings toward new horizons were not just challenges of the physical elements, but defiance of the perils the human imagination projects onto the unknown. In The Book of Sea Monsters, these mythical creatures of the deep are vividly brought back to life by award-winning artist Bob Eggleton. Exploring the myth, legend, scientific documentation, and fiction inspired by the creatures like the serpent of Midgard, the Biblical Leviathan, the Kraken, and the infamous monster of Loch Ness, The Book of Sea Monsters will fascinate all lovers of mythology, legend, and the many secrets of the sea. Bob Eggleton is one of the most sought-after fantasy artists in the business. His work has earned him seven Chelsey Awards (given by the Association of SF/Fantasy Artists) and three Hugo Awards.

Genres: Fantasy, Art, Mythology, Cryptozoology, Folklore

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Bob Eggleton is a science fiction, fantasy, and horror artist. Eggleton has been honored with the Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist eight times, first winning in 1994. He has also won the Chesley Award for Artistic Achievement in 1999 and was the guest of honor at Chicon 2000.

Eggleton's drawing and paintings cover a wide range of science fiction, fantasy, and horror topics, depicting space ships, alien worlds and inhabitants, dragons, vampires, and other fantasy creatures. His view on space ships were that they should look organic, and claimed that as a child, he was disappointed with the space shuttles and rockets NASA produced; they were nothing like fantasy artists of the twenties and thirties had promised. His fascination with dragons originated with his childhood interest of dinosaurs, which can be seen in the book Greetings From Earth. His paintings are commissioned and bought at sci-fi conventions, and used as book covers.

Eggleton received massive encouragement from his father, in the form of books, supplies, visits to museums of space and aeronautics and support during the career choices he made. Eggleton dropped out of his art college, because he felt it was not for him.

Eggleton is a fan of Godzilla and worked as a creative consultant on the 1998 film Godzilla and while in Japan appeared as an extra in one of the more recent films.

Asteroid 13562 was named Bobeggleton in his honor.

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

IF you had not had guess from my previous entry on a book by Bob Eggleton here is the second of this Paper Tiger books, I have. This one is on the subject of sea monsters and has some fabulous pieces in it.

Again, there is supporting text - this time by Nigel Suckling (who has worked on a number of Paper Tiger titles) this time on the historical and fantastic monsters of the sea (with a few lakes thrown in for good measure too).

The real area of interest was the text from Bob Eggleton though explaining that is book actually captures two of his interests - the first is the sea and all its mysteries and the second is that this book allows him to explore different painting techniques and styles. Something he feels passionately about as he does not want to become "pigeon-holed" in to anyone style or technique.

This is a great book you just have to remember that regardless of the sincerity of the text it is first and foremost an artbook of Bob Eggleton's work

[Tym · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful art and fun profiles a great resource for those who are interested in the legends through the ages.

[Travis · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book that I picked up some time ago on sale from a used book store and finally got around to reading. I've always liked Eggleton's art and especially his dragons (such as on A Familiar Dragon, a book that maintains a soft spot in my heart) and I probably read or even own another of his art collection books. The art in this book does not disappoint, though I think maybe he leans too much into his dragonish style, which is gorgeous but more full of frills and horns and spikes than I think really fits with most sea monsters. These slight misgivings aside, I did find the book overall a bit disappointing, though not for the art directly. My main issues were that the writing was rather lackluster, a fairly generic and entirely credulous presentation of accounts and legends of sea and lake monsters and the usual speculation of prehistoric survivals (for me the writing loses major points for the all too common inability to distinguish between dinosaurs and the ancient marine reptiles that lived alongside them). I would have far preferred to hear from the artist, telling less about the legends and more what interested him in them and why he chose to depict the creatures the way he did. Though this might be hard to do in places since it often feels like the art has little to no direct connection with the writing, like the production of art and the writing were two entirely independent strains of creations that overlapped only from constraint to a common topic, and not through meaningful communication and coordination.

My takeaway: the art is enjoyable to look at, but the more extensive writing is a bog that not only fails to add to the art, but actually detracts from it.

[Spencer Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic fine art and fun descriptions of many mythological (and perhaps some real) sea monsters!

[GoldGato · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whoa, it was always cool as a child to listen to the fishermen down the street talk about the seas and what lay beneath. They were from the Old World and they spoke with respect of the ocean that was their livelihood. I thought of them when I read this book, thinking of all the tales they used to tell me and how I bloody well believed them.

The Kraken is here and Nessie and the Giant Squid, along with Merhorses and Mermaids. Everything is brightly illustrated with a historical overview, with chapters divided by different types of monsters of the depths.

We really don't know what truly lives down below, perhaps dinosaurs that never really left us. Enjoyable read all the way through.


Book Season = Spring (time to boat)

[Pete Bylone · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up in a museum gift shop because the illustrations looked intriguing, and I'm a sucker for mythology. This combines both, art and background for a host of sea monsters. It gives historical examples of sightings of each, and some possible ways to explain it away. The art is fantastic. Worth a look if the subject interests you.