To Cover Art or Not...

I love great SF art on book jackets. But I would rather read a book with no art than bad art.

Based on the cover, I wouldn't read this:
85ddb51afcff60d8a5add3de017b386d.jpg
 
Onyx said:
I love great SF art on book jackets. But I would rather read a book with no art than bad art.

Based on the cover, I wouldn't read this:
85ddb51afcff60d8a5add3de017b386d.jpg
Click to expand...

That must be the most thoroughgoing awful cover I've ever seen. That grin: "Yeah, I'm the guy who will save the world or die tryin'...another photo? Sure!" The contrived pose of the two protagonists: her stereotype combat stance - if she's in danger why is she pointing her gun one way and looking another? (and what kind of gun is that anyway?) Can't she stop admiring his tailored trousers long enough to save her life? And if they are in a combat situation why is he standing unarmed like a goon? And the desperation of that one liner hook - "humanity's last hope. Start praying..." - like an emphysemic gaffer trying to reel in a blue whale. And "aversion to martinis" - eh? And that awful title, and "laundry piles" - euh, files. This guy won a Hugo? Well I suppose he didn't get it for his choice of cover designer.

Of course...I remember now. That grinning face - it's Digby!

digby.jpg
 
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Yeah, it is hard to believe that someone with that little taste could actually write something people would want to read. I tried Neptune's Blood and thought it was awful (but it had a better cover).

Here's another stinker:
220px-Saturn%27s_Children%281stEd%29.jpg


With self published books there's a lot of incredibly bad computer art, but a certain amount of it is forgivable because of budget constraints. Which is why Stross's covers are especially egregious.

Self published cover junk:
71Fqc0CxqIL.__BG0,0,0,0_FMpng_AC_UL320_SR200,320_.jpg
 
Thanks, Bert, I have an inconvenient question about "to raze a fallen star". Do you mean—

raze, verb (third-person singular simple present razes, present participle razing, simple past and past participle razed):
1.(transitive) To demolish; to level to the ground.

—or do you mean:

raise (third-person singular simple present raises, present participle raising, simple past and past participle raised)
1.(physical) To cause to rise; to lift or elevate.

with an option on "(figuratively) to cause (a dead person) to live again, to cause to be undead"? Because these are two quite different things, and your average automated spellchecker couldn't pour p!ss from a boot if the instructions were printed on the sole.
 
See, those covers are the reason I really wanted Patrick Woodroffe to illustrate the cover for Effluent Society. But he's dead, and I'm not settling for the kind of cacky shown above! So I'm simply going to have to remember how to draw for myself. That, or I should contact Ron Cobb.
 
ZlodeyVolk said:
See, those covers are the reason I really wanted Patrick Woodroffe to illustrate the cover for Effluent Society. But he's dead, and I'm not settling for the kind of cacky shown above! So I'm simply going to have to remember how to draw for myself. That, or I should contact Ron Cobb.
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There are so many deviantart and pinterest SF illustrators - how hard could it be to find someone?
 
You're assuming that a) I know their work; b) I like their work; and c) anyone is going to publish this trash fire. :lol:

… And by "trash fire", I mean Effluent Society. I would not say it about anything @-K2- has written/is writing, because I know nothing about it.
 
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ZlodeyVolk said:
You're assuming that a) I know their work; b) I like their work; and c) anyone is going to publish this trash fire. :lol:

… And by "trash fire", I mean Effluent Society. I would not say it about anything @-K2- has written/is writing, because I know nothing about it.
Click to expand...
"They" are legion. Just do a google image search for "android art" or whatever and you'll find a bunch of really talented artists.

You know, for when someone publishes that abomination you wrote. ;)
 
ZlodeyVolk said:
Thanks, Bert, I have an inconvenient question about "to raze a fallen star". Do you mean—

raze, verb (third-person singular simple present razes, present participle razing, simple past and past participle razed):
1.(transitive) To demolish; to level to the ground.
Click to expand...

"Raze," on many levels. Fallen Star, Columbia and so on in my series refers to the United States. The nation has become extremely oppressive after it fell internally. So, with revolution brewing, the intent it to 'raze the fallen star (the new government) and help Liberty rise again.'

That said, it applies to many things in the first novel, just as in the second (2029) there are many incarnations of the 'Tiger fighting the Dragon, Reaping the Harvest and so on.'

I like a lot of hidden meanings that reveal themselves as you work through the story. Seemingly inconsequential things which become very important later on, often, in many ways.

K2
 
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ZlodeyVolk said:
… And by "trash fire", I mean Effluent Society. I would not say it about anything @-K2- has written/is writing, because I know nothing about it.
Click to expand...

That is a good thing. I suspect, that reading my work is like drinking a poor grade of scotch when you really-really need a drink. So you have a sip, and recoil in horror, but, because you need that drink, you slam it down. You then realize you need a little more to get where you want to be, so you slam another down real quick and it hits you... 'it wasn't as bad on the second glass.'

So you have another and though past your limit, another. Never realizing, that the reason it keeps tasting better and you keep drinking more is that with each sip/word, brain-cells are dying by the hundreds each swig. Come morning, having halved your I.Q., and with a hangover beyond all imagination... naturally having forgotten all you drank/read the night before, you decide "just a little hair of the dog to get me past the hump."

And so it goes. Next thing you know you're a drooling sub-moron, and when asked how my novel was you reply; "muwfa hallya nitomla gweat!" Actually not able to remember.

Thus...

I will eventually through word of mouth and alcohol/word poisoning, eventually, rule the world.

K2
 
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I usually make my covers myself, but for my first fantasy novel I decided to contact Dale Halvorsen (aka JoeyHifi). He read the book and then created a cover that he felt would convey the feel of the story (one of redemption, of a man seeking the lost pieces of an amulet to help rid himself of a curse). I couldn't be happier with the result:

reveal.jpg


It does make me want to have all my covers now professionally recreated!
 
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