Book Cover Smackdown! Harsh Oases vs. The Evil in Pemberley House vs. Open Your Eyes
By John DeNardo |
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 at
12:22 am
Here’s another trio of nice looking book covers.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Tell us what you like about these covers…
Book shown here:
- Harsh Oases by Paul Di Filippo (Cover Artist: Henri J.F. Rousseau)
- The Evil in Pemberley House By Philip Jose Farmer and Win Scott Eckert (Cover Artist: Glen Orbik)
- Open Your Eyes by Paul Jessup (Cover Artist: Daniele Cascone)
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- RIP: Philip José Farmer
- Judging a Book by Its Cover
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Having an Orbik cover in one of these is just unfair. Always amazing work.
Yes, but they are all so good! Tough choices again, eh?
I like all three but I think the Farmer/Eckert cover looks the best. Looks more Gothic and you can’t go wrong with a redhead on the cover to boot
Well she looks like a redhead.
I don’t like any of them.
All three are swell, but I’d give my nomination to the Pemberley book even if Win Eckert weren’t a good friend of mine.
The other two have their merits, but the Orbik cover is by far the best.
It looks like EVIL wins this time.
Pemberley House wins it for me. Even with the dark tones, the figure pops out at you, giving the cover depth while invoking a sense of mystery. The others just don’t grab your attention that way.
The “Harsh Oases” cover was used for the Anne Rice novel “Merrick” several years ago. I have never been a fan of the distorted perspective collage in “Open Your Eyes.” It reminds me of the weird (and forgetable) covers they used to do in the 1970s.
Hands down, I like Orbik’s cover for “Pemberely House” the best.
No contest: Orbik’s cover for “Pemberley House” is by far the best.
The other two aren’t bad – certainly more worthy of comment other than “I don’t like any of them” – but they pale next to Orbik’s work.
What I liked about all the artwork was that they were all unconventional. They’re different styles, sure, but all are attractive examples of the styles they employ.
Open Your Eyes is certainly evocative, but i’ve burnt out on the ‘Dave McKean Sandman cover Photoshop overdose’ look for the timde being.
The Evil in Pemberley House wins it for me. I like the retro-romance novel cover look, and the lush blue-grey & bronzish hues.. which are certainly strong signifiers that you’re in wold Newton territory.
And please excuse my atrocious typos. I guess a new Farmer Wold Newton book gets me a bit over-anxious..
Yeah, I thought that the Harsh Oases cover looked familiar. I like the style of the art, but am not especially thrilled with it. I’ve never liked the Open Your Eyes cover style, and frankly, the half-elf/half-alien being on the cover terrifies me in a ‘gray alien/medieval alien’ primoridal fear. There’s also something disturbing about the creature on Harsh Oases, a cross between the Greek deity Pan and the Lovecraftian mythology. (But since it was originally an Anne Rice cover, that’s not too surprising.)
Orbik’s cover is quite excellent. In addition to the throwback style to classic Gothic horror/romance novel covers, there’s a beautiful gal on the front who is in need of some desperate assistance. Both her beauty and her terror just activate a desire to help her (or find out what the heck is going on). And I’m a new convert to Orbik’s work.
I’ll also admit to not being a fan of Anne Rice, which prejudices me against the recycled cover, and admit to being a HUGE fan of Win Eckert and Philip Jose Farmer. But on purely artistic grounds, I much prefer Orbik’s cover for The Evil in Pemberley House.
Been loving Orbik’s work on the Hard Case Crime books. Continue to love it here.
The Evil At cover for me too, but the Harsh Oases one comes a close second. I think mainly because the Pemberley House cover is bolder than the others.
Definately The Evil at Pemberley House.
The Orbik cover is just…stirring.
Absolute winner.
One vote for Open Your Eyes.
I’ve got to go with the Orbik. Also, I must confess that this a book I’ve been waiting a long time to read.
As I look at the covers again, there’s something appealing about Harsh Oases. I’m having a hard time explaining it to myself even, but it just looks like the kind of book with some serious content.
I’m surprised so many people favor The Evil. It’s not that the art is bad, just that I’d feel like I was carrying around a romance novel.
The Orbik cover has an interesting clash of color in the yellow type and the purple clouds and the pale blue dress. That’s a cover that’ll draw attention from a few paces away from the shelf–and that’s what a cover should do. Frazetta taught us that.
I must admit I much prefer the cover to ‘Open Your Eyes’. The Orbik cover is really far too retro for its own good; like something by Barbara Cartland or Mills and Boon. ‘Open Your Eyes’ is wierd and open to interpretation – you can allow it to generate fear or revel in its ethereal beauty. Now Frazetta also taught us that!