Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Short Story Cover Extravaganza
Spent today working, working on covers for the coming short stories. Way more fun than cleaning my closet. You've got vampires, zombies in two flavors, and a contract killer trying to do a good deed. Just shows what you can do with $12 worth of artwork and seven hours of free time. Yay! Please let me know what looks good and what sucks!
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Love all 4.
ReplyDeleteWell, I owe you a cake. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteSome of this is going to be unkind. Are you ready for me to be unkind? Someone has to be, and I think you should trust me to be when necessary.
ReplyDeleteLilith is particularly awesome. That kind of heavy detail makes people gut react 'this must be good art'. Dead Girls And Other Stories has a very specific and distinctive look. Nice and eye catching. Jewel On The Backroads' cover is very pretty, but it's also generic. I can't tell what kind of book it is from the cover. Wetwork's cover does make it clear it's a thriller or mystery or at least something actiony, but it's by far the least detailed and least original. It doesn't look crude, but it looks like one of those generic book covers when you think the publisher didn't bother to read the book.
That is my review. You may hate me now.
Aw, I would never hate you. Pete, on the other hand, can hold a grudge. The Jewel cover, I want people to be surprised by the story. So I want them to not know what to expect. I suppose the story is most like Dan Simmon's "The River Lethe is Full of Tears," which if you've never read, you should. It, like this story, is about the resurrection of the dead, but in a very evocative, sentimental way.
ReplyDeleteAs for the the "Wetwork" cover, I get what you're saying. I kind of want something like the retro "gentleman's adventure" kind of vibe. The story is about a hitman who tries to do a good deed, and it all goes haywire. it's rather unlike my usual stories, I think, and so I'm not quite sure how to approach presenting it. Think "Human Target" meets "No Country for Old Man." Because I'm all about the high concept, baby.
Now what kind of cake do you prefer?
Pete is a pseudoorganism engineered by Them using Their unnatural technology, driven not by breath or blood but by hate and, thankfully, sloth.
ReplyDeleteSee, that sounds about right for the Jewel story, so while I couldn't see the purpose once you can claim the cover truly represents the story, you're good. Whoever's looking for it will find it.
This DOES have the Retro Gentleman's Adventure vibe. The problem is, that's the same as the Pulp Spy Thriller vibe.
Pete, I think, is mostly driven by the promise of cream cheese. He can no longer get through the side of the dog gate, and regularly gets stuck, maoing pitifully. I think, actually, Pete is most like the long-dead Martians from "Quatermass and the Pit," which is a reference lost on 99.999% of the population. But that's what makes me weirdly special.
ReplyDeleteI trust you will be willing to be merciless when I throw these short stories your way... I want them all squared away and chained to the wall in a month's time, because despite my pessimism, I am still oddly optimistic.
Cream cheese is basically liquid sloth.
ReplyDelete