The Great US/UK Book Cover Debate
Feb. 11th, 2004 12:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coalescentIt is a truth universally acknowledged that american book covers suck, and UK book covers rock.
However, I think I may have found an exception.
[Poll #247029]
EDIT: The second one is the US edition. Retro-futurism wins!
However, I think I may have found an exception.
[Poll #247029]
EDIT: The second one is the US edition. Retro-futurism wins!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-02-11 05:20 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2004-02-11 06:48 am (UTC)I hadn't thought of that. Poor designers, forced to produce substandard covers to accomodate american tastes. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2004-02-11 05:42 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2004-02-11 06:50 am (UTC)(You know about Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, right?)
Re:
Date: 2004-02-11 06:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-12 06:19 am (UTC)american book covers suck, and UK book covers rock
Date: 2004-02-11 05:43 am (UTC)Sure, they have a bit of a habit of over-cluttering covers with screechy quotes and bits of gold foil, but the artwork is often streeeeeeeets better, and they suffer a lot less from the invasion of out-of-focus pretentious murky wank.
Plus, they're cheaper and far more often likely to fit into your jacket pocket.
American paperbacks rock.
no subject
Date: 2004-02-11 06:40 am (UTC)That could be because American SF book covers use British artists almost as much as American artists. Try Jim Burns, Chris Moore, Les Edwards, Fred Gambino... It's not the artwork, which is 9 times out of 10 always of a high standard whoever did it, it's the surrounding design and typography that is often poorly thought out. Tor Books are generally good, DAW books are usually just average at best, and Baen Books are the absolute worst. And if you want out of focus pretentious murky wank, just look at US publisher Vintage's covers for their current reprints of Samuel R. Delany's books. Pretentious murky wank and boring, and they don't fit in your pocket either. :-)
Re:
Date: 2004-02-11 06:52 am (UTC)OK, that's a fair comment. Although I still say that some of those fantasy covers are just bad.
reprints of Samuel R. Delany's books.
I quite liked those...
no subject
Date: 2004-02-12 06:06 am (UTC)I was posting about this yesterday, but stupidly lost the post. Publishers like NYRB and Four Walls Eight Windows produce beautiful paperbacks, in the £8-£12 bracket, that are far better than comparably priced UK paperbacks...
And Vintage International do some good paperbacks - their editions of The Hunters by James Salter and The Stories of John Cheevor are very good; and because they're so good, you don't resent paying a bit more for them...
O - here is a good cover from Four Walls Eight Windows:
It's the Mass Market US stuff that has the bad reputation - my US paperback of Declare is horrendously tacky... But it only costs something like £4.50 - you get what you pay for!
Re:
Date: 2004-02-12 06:13 am (UTC)It is not uncommon for me to buy a book that I already own if I see it again in a particularly nice edition. :)
no subject
Date: 2004-02-12 06:35 am (UTC)Well, there's a dodgy jpeg here of the good cover... Sadly, I can't find the really bad jacket art...
That Breathmoss cover is good, but I'm not sure about the typeface... :o)
Re:
Date: 2004-02-13 09:07 am (UTC)Yes, the "Stepehen Baxter" on the spine of Riding The Rock was rather unforgivable...
hmmm
Date: 2004-02-12 03:51 am (UTC)The obsession with being taken seriously in the UK produces dull, samey, over-produced, tedious-booking covered with out-of-focus photos and Neil Gaiman's favourite fonts.
And Vintage are bad offenders, yes.
(will stop ranting now, sorry)
(still dreaming of finding somewhere the beautiful Daw edition of Ballard's Vermillin Sands, which has a gigantic jewelled crab on the cover)
no subject
Date: 2004-02-12 06:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-12 06:39 am (UTC)Yeah
Speaking of Delany ... notice how apalling some of these 'sci fi classics' coverart reprints are? (thinking of Stands on Zanzibar, some Delany or other, plus more examples...)
Just wait for Newton's Wake...
Date: 2004-02-11 10:28 am (UTC)american cover
On the other hand, I can buy a a copy of the cover as a poster which looks nifty!
uk cover (with grinning fool)
Started reading it today, pretty good, both Morgan and Ken are nailing that killer first chapter marvellously in their new releases. In fact, time to read some more.
Re: Just wait for Newton's Wake...
Date: 2004-02-11 11:39 am (UTC)Re: Just wait for Newton's Wake...
Date: 2004-02-11 02:08 pm (UTC)Here's the UK cover photographed without a fool.
And here's the two from locus in black and white with text.
no subject
Date: 2004-02-11 02:10 pm (UTC)Also, you're all crazy, the only US cover for Macleod that beats the UK is Newton's Wake. Perhaps there's something in the water up (and/or over) here...
Re:
Date: 2004-02-12 01:04 am (UTC)Do we know what the UK cover for Singularity Sky is going to be like, yet?
no subject
Date: 2004-02-12 06:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-12 01:02 pm (UTC)Re: Just wait for Newton's Wake...
Date: 2004-02-12 01:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-12 06:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-12 11:10 am (UTC)-- Tom
no subject
Date: 2004-02-12 03:30 pm (UTC)So, that's why I don't like the UK font. Not sure, however, that I like anything about the UK art, whether subject or composition :o)
Oh well!
;o)
Anon,
G.
Re:
Date: 2004-02-13 12:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-13 03:04 pm (UTC)Where did all this 'Fall Revolution' stuff come from? I don't remember it being called that when I read The Star Fraction, many, many years ago...
no subject
Date: 2004-02-13 03:05 pm (UTC)And where did all this 'Fall Revolution' stuff come from? I don't remember it when I first read The Star Fraction, many, many years ago...
no subject
Date: 2004-02-11 11:18 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2004-02-12 01:03 am (UTC)Am I imagining it, or did they use the US cover for the UK paperback edition?
Re: Coraline
Date: 2004-02-15 09:38 am (UTC)However, the UK paperback cover is much more similar to the US cover than it is to the UK hardcover image. It has Coraline and the cat on it (I would be more descriptive, but Paul has my copy ATM) while the US cover is Coraline carrying a candle IIRC.
Gail
no subject
Date: 2004-02-11 11:52 am (UTC)Also, I remember the US cover of Cosmonaut Keep being far more attractive than its UK counterpart...
Here they are, the UK and the US.
I really like the way the water is disturbed by the craft in the US cover...
Re:
Date: 2004-02-12 01:00 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2004-02-12 01:04 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2004-02-12 01:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-12 06:06 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2004-02-13 12:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-11 02:53 pm (UTC)I hope this clarifies things.
-- Tom
Re:
Date: 2004-02-11 04:22 pm (UTC)Silly of me to ask you, but...
Re: Silly of me to ask you, but...
Date: 2004-02-12 01:02 am (UTC)Newton's Wake is a standalone novel set in a different milieu again. The Locus review made it sound a bit lightweight, but quite fun; I'm going to give it a go, but I'm either going to borrow the hardback or wait for the paperback.
Re: Silly of me to ask you, but...
Date: 2004-02-12 01:04 am (UTC)You go to hell. You go to hell when you die!
Re: Silly of me to ask you, but...
Date: 2004-02-12 07:20 am (UTC)Still, I just couldn't find any gripping romance drama in the poorly conceived love triangle of the first two books, and was quite happy to see it given up on in the 2nd book.