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Your Mission (should you choose to accept it): Tell us which cover you like best and why. Go!
Books shown here:
- Project ULF: Acquisition by Stuart Clark (Artist: Henning Ludvigsen; Designer: Stuart Clark)
- Last Drink Bird Head edited by Jeff VanderMeer and Ann VanderMeer (Artist: Scott Eagle; cover design by Jacob McMurray)
- WWW: Watch by Robert J. Sawyer (Artist: Tony Mauro; Design by Rita Frangie)
NOTE: Bigger, better cover art images are available by clicking the images or title links...
Comments (10)
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| Category: Art, Books
Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 16, 2009 at 12:25 AM
© 2009 SF Signal
Three this time, John? O-kay...
PROJECT ULF. Thumbs down for 2 reasons. For a start, the cover is too murky...and not in a good way! Secondly, the figures look way too artificial. Like an amateur artist trying to do his/her first cover. The postures are stiff and the expressions are wooden, what you can see of them. "Paintball Mannequins on the Run!"
LAST DRINK BIRD HEAD. Certainly eye-catching. I had to read that this was a collection of flash fiction, however, before I warmed to the cover. Little, bite-sized pieces of this and that. Mmm, appetising. That smile on the, er, thing's face is sly and beguiling and what's going on at the other end lends an edge of frivolous obscentiy. Yep, I'd buy it.
WWW: WATCH. To me -- and this is an entirely personal opinion -- I feel that the young lady is either sulking or about to throw up. The fuzzy-wuzzy stuff going on around her head doesn't help. Use of typeface, though, is lovely and striking. But the pub crawl element is too strong for me. Sorry.
Posted by Kaz Augustin on Tuesday June 16, 2009 at 1:16 AM
>>Three this time, John?
Sure! You can handle it!
And...No need to apologize for giving an honest opinion.
Posted by John D. on Tuesday June 16, 2009 at 7:08 AM
What Kaz said. All of it strikes me as 100% dead on.
Really like the Last Drink Bird Head cover. Incredibly bizarre, in a good way.
Posted by Anonymice on Tuesday June 16, 2009 at 9:45 AM
Project ULF: Acquisition just doesn't work for me, a little too generic and doesn't quite stand out.
Last Drink Bird Head is interesting and creepy. It looks like the bird is crapping on the mouth head of the thing out of which it is stepping. Reminds my of Hieronymus Bosch especially the art work on the label of Tillburg's Dutch Brown Ale (http://www.tdba.nl/home.asp). (I think Jeff would appreciate the beer reference).
WWW: Watch is very eye-catching and works very well as a companion/continuation of the theme of the first (very good) book in the trilogy WWW: Wake. A quick glance at the cover made me think of Eliza Dushku, too. 
Posted by Rob B on Tuesday June 16, 2009 at 2:20 PM
Jesus. What is that stuff coming out of the Last Drink Bird Head? Liquid gold? I think it's liquid gold. Somebody ought to put a tap on that--it's valuable!
Posted by Jeff VanderMeer on Tuesday June 16, 2009 at 7:57 PM
Wake, hands down even though its a different cover then the signed copy I have
Posted by Jim on Tuesday June 16, 2009 at 11:31 PM
Sorry, I meant to say that the cover is very simmilar to Wake. Its also very consistant cover art not found in most trilogies these days. I'm looking forward to Wonder when it comes out next
Posted by Jim on Tuesday June 16, 2009 at 11:38 PM