Comments on: Even the Animals Look Abashed http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/10/02/even-the-animals-look-abashed/ WE PRIDE OURSELVES ON OUR HUMILITY Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:59:00 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Donald J. Bingle http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/10/02/even-the-animals-look-abashed/#comment-168486 Donald J. Bingle Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:14:48 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=8693#comment-168486 Sigh. One-hundred twenty-one comments here so far (and more on some of the sites referenced in the comments above) and not one review of the contents yet posted on Amazon. I confess, as author of "BunRabs," the second story in the anthology and a story which was very well-received when I read it at GenCon in 2008), I have an interest in the book being well-received and read. I, too, find the cover ghastly, but even my own wife's reaction was "What do you expect for an anthology called 'Zombie Raccoons and Killer Bunnies'?" Rather than talking about the cover in a vacuum, why not all read the book and chat up how the stories deserved a better cover? Donald J. Bingle Sigh.

One-hundred twenty-one comments here so far (and more on some of the sites referenced in the comments above) and not one review of the contents yet posted on Amazon.

I confess, as author of “BunRabs,” the second story in the anthology and a story which was very well-received when I read it at GenCon in 2008), I have an interest in the book being well-received and read. I, too, find the cover ghastly, but even my own wife’s reaction was “What do you expect for an anthology called ‘Zombie Raccoons and Killer Bunnies’?”

Rather than talking about the cover in a vacuum, why not all read the book and chat up how the stories deserved a better cover?

Donald J. Bingle

]]> By: Nebuchadnezzar http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/10/02/even-the-animals-look-abashed/#comment-168386 Nebuchadnezzar Tue, 06 Oct 2009 05:21:44 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=8693#comment-168386 Sorry. I think it's a great cover, especially for an anthology of 15 stories about zombie raccoons and killer bunnies. Kind of in the same way that the covers of Chaosium's Cthulhu Mythos reprints are at once awful and at the same time the best possible for the material. If you're reading an anthology about zombie raccoons and killer bunnies, this is what the cover *must* look like. Boris Vallejo doesn't quite get it done here. The people who are sneering at it wouldn't be reading the material anyway. Yeah, yeah, "Old Man's War", Hugo, Campbell, whatever. Wouldn't be reading the material anyway. Sorry. I think it’s a great cover, especially for an anthology of 15 stories about zombie raccoons and killer bunnies. Kind of in the same way that the covers of Chaosium’s Cthulhu Mythos reprints are at once awful and at the same time the best possible for the material.

If you’re reading an anthology about zombie raccoons and killer bunnies, this is what the cover *must* look like. Boris Vallejo doesn’t quite get it done here.

The people who are sneering at it wouldn’t be reading the material anyway. Yeah, yeah, “Old Man’s War”, Hugo, Campbell, whatever. Wouldn’t be reading the material anyway.

]]> By: Ken Marable http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/10/02/even-the-animals-look-abashed/#comment-168204 Ken Marable Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:34:33 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=8693#comment-168204 John Scalzi @17: Late reply (hardly check the net on the weekends), but just to clear the air, I'm fully aware that the authors had no hand in the cover and are the ones getting shafted the most. I was just trying to follow the original warning text close and "Neither the author nor publisher..." has a more poetic official-sounding flow than just "The publisher...", but fair enough calling me out on it. Perhaps I should have gone with "Neither the publisher nor their 5 year old kid who knows how to use MS Paint...", but that's not fair to the kid either. :) John Scalzi @17:
Late reply (hardly check the net on the weekends), but just to clear the air, I’m fully aware that the authors had no hand in the cover and are the ones getting shafted the most. I was just trying to follow the original warning text close and “Neither the author nor publisher…” has a more poetic official-sounding flow than just “The publisher…”, but fair enough calling me out on it.

Perhaps I should have gone with “Neither the publisher nor their 5 year old kid who knows how to use MS Paint…”, but that’s not fair to the kid either. :)

]]> By: dilettanteinkslinger http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/10/02/even-the-animals-look-abashed/#comment-168173 dilettanteinkslinger Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:20:14 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=8693#comment-168173 Proof that you should always judge a book by its cover Proof that you should always judge a book by its cover

]]> By: Arachne Jericho http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/10/02/even-the-animals-look-abashed/#comment-168144 Arachne Jericho Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:30:29 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=8693#comment-168144 The thing is, all the other bad covers mentioned look like someone put effort into them. Even the clip-arty covers for the Discworld paperbacks in the US have more executed flair. Even your average DAW monthly anthology has covers where someone spent some modicum of brain power. So indeed, the other covers look bad, but the difference is that it appears someone with art training actually tried. This cover looks unprofessionally lazy, and I think that's where a large part of the "WTF" comes from. If it looks like it was put together in Powerpoint by interns---actually, I would argue <em>drunk</em> interns---this is not a good sign. Actually, I think they should've just gone with the cartoony background thing. The pstde-on-yay! raccoon and rabbit seem kind of... insulting, actually, to whoever did the background. The thing is, all the other bad covers mentioned look like someone put effort into them. Even the clip-arty covers for the Discworld paperbacks in the US have more executed flair. Even your average DAW monthly anthology has covers where someone spent some modicum of brain power.

So indeed, the other covers look bad, but the difference is that it appears someone with art training actually tried. This cover looks unprofessionally lazy, and I think that’s where a large part of the “WTF” comes from.

If it looks like it was put together in Powerpoint by interns—actually, I would argue drunk interns—this is not a good sign. Actually, I think they should’ve just gone with the cartoony background thing. The pstde-on-yay! raccoon and rabbit seem kind of… insulting, actually, to whoever did the background.

]]> By: Katryna Wade http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/10/02/even-the-animals-look-abashed/#comment-168133 Katryna Wade Sun, 04 Oct 2009 20:31:25 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=8693#comment-168133 Clearly the publisher either did this on a budget that was way too low, or the folks in charge have never heard of a kill fee. Clearly the publisher either did this on a budget that was way too low, or the folks in charge have never heard of a kill fee.

]]> By: PixelFish http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/10/02/even-the-animals-look-abashed/#comment-168130 PixelFish Sun, 04 Oct 2009 20:13:18 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=8693#comment-168130 My favourite bad cover is the German version of Lois Bujold's The Warrior's Apprentice: <a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51J58M82JDL._SS500_.jpg" rel="nofollow">Der Kadett.</a> The rictus grin on the main character is the frosting on top. My favourite bad cover is the German version of Lois Bujold’s The Warrior’s Apprentice: Der Kadett. The rictus grin on the main character is the frosting on top.

]]> By: Ben Payne http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/10/02/even-the-animals-look-abashed/#comment-168083 Ben Payne Sun, 04 Oct 2009 12:41:11 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=8693#comment-168083 PS. The racoon's eyes are *totally* the best bit! I still laugh whenever I look at them. PS. The racoon’s eyes are *totally* the best bit! I still laugh whenever I look at them.

]]> By: Ben Payne http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/10/02/even-the-animals-look-abashed/#comment-168082 Ben Payne Sun, 04 Oct 2009 12:31:41 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=8693#comment-168082 Oh wow! I'd totally pick that book up! *Much* more interesting than the usual genre cover, no matter what the compositional crimes it may or may not have committed. Oh wow! I’d totally pick that book up!

*Much* more interesting than the usual genre cover, no matter what the compositional crimes it may or may not have committed.

]]> By: Alan Kellogg http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/10/02/even-the-animals-look-abashed/#comment-168071 Alan Kellogg Sun, 04 Oct 2009 08:43:39 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=8693#comment-168071 You want bad? The Sphere edition of Poul Anderson's <a href="http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/a/poul-anderson/people-of-wind.htm" rel="nofollow">The People of the Wind</a> isn't half bad, but the American cover is a travesty of a hexapedal tetrapod, complete with arms, legs, wings, and a beak instead of the lips and teeth the race actually had. I don't recall who did the cover for <a href="http://www.analogsf.com/0911/issue_11.shtml" rel="nofollow"><i>Analog</i></a>, I can say that the Sphere cover comes a damn sight closer. You want bad? The Sphere edition of Poul Anderson’s The People of the Wind isn’t half bad, but the American cover is a travesty of a hexapedal tetrapod, complete with arms, legs, wings, and a beak instead of the lips and teeth the race actually had.

I don’t recall who did the cover for Analog, I can say that the Sphere cover comes a damn sight closer.

]]>