So, I thought you folks might like a look at the cover to the upcoming Subterranean Press limited edition of Zoe’s Tale, created by the estimable Vincent Chong, who has done the cover and interior art for all the SubPress editions of the Old Man’s War books so far. I’m quite pleased with this one: it’s nice to have Hickory and Dickory in there, looking all alien and stuff. Why Vincent Chong has no Best Artist Hugo nomination at this point is really beyond me; he’s doing great work, and not just for me (he’s won three British Fantasy Awards, you know).
For those of you who follow the link above to the SubPress order page for the Zoe’s Tale limited edition, I’ll note to you a small update, which is that the publishing date is likely Spring of 2011 (it currently says it’ll be published in “fall”). Whenever you get it, however, it will look fantastic.
Oooh, pretty! Congrats, John! I’m sure I’ve told you this already, but I loved this book. Fantastic character and an exciting story.
Wow. You would not believe how much that looks like my sister at that age. It’s actually kind of spooky. I am–if for no other reason–ordering this one fer sure.
This is pretty good, I like that she has all her clothes on. I adore the cover art for OMW series. It evokes the starships and space stations feel of classic sci-fi cover art while not feeling dated. The rainbow colored airbrushed art of a lot of modern sci-fi covers sets my teeth on edge (Baen books being the most frequent offenders).
I like it.
Mostly because I just finished rereading The Last Colony again and had extreme problems trying to visualize the Obin. Now I know!
I had a hell of a time working out in my head what the Obin were supposed to look like. I like what Vincent Chong has done here.
Just…WOW! That’s an awesome cover!
wow, this is like seeing a radio DJ in person, not what I imagined at all.
it’s better, I like it.
This is all kinds of awesome. I like very much.
@Marcus Whitman – Um…why would you be expecting her to NOT be wearing all her clothes?
Love it.
Awesome! I’m reading Zoe’s Tale now and this will definitely help me visualize the Obin.
Woah! Niiiice.
Marvelous looking cover, and congratulations on landing yet another special edition version of your books. Somebody seems like their doing quite well at this whole book writing thing. Pssst. . . it’s you.
I just discovered that without my glasses, “Obin” and “Ohio” look identical.
Hickory and Dickory are rather intimidating in that great artwork. This cover is great!
Would I be correct if I guessed that SubPress is contractually only able to sell limited editions of your Tor novels? This cover would be a lot easier to sell* to YA readers.
*Metaphorically. My wife’s a 7th-grade English teacher.
@GL2814 – Because all too often Sci-fi covers look something like this:
Sir Dominic Flandry – Poul Anderson
or this:
Sister Time – John Ringo & Chochrane
Doesn’t matter if its a good book or not, a person feels a bit silly reading one of these in public.
that zoe looks so old, she looks like a 40 year old.
I agree with many other posters here… the Obin have always been difficult for me to picture what they might look like… this gives a much better “visual” to hold in mind while following the storyline… and Zoe looks slightly mysterious with a touch of “hotness”… nice!
wicked artwork! that’s kinda how i imagined hickory and dickory… but a little spookier. zoe looks totally relate-able.
Ah. A cover with the actual protagonist of the book on it. See, Tor? It’s not so hard.
They certainly look way more badass than I had imagined them.
This will be my third copy of Zoe’s tale, it is so much *prettier* than the other two.
I’m glad they put Hickory and Dickory on the cover. I kept picturing giant Alfs for some reason, despite the descriptions.
However, Zoe looks awfully familiar. Am I seeing things?
COOOL!!!
Is that seriously what the Obin look like? Not what I pictured.
That’s an amazing cover. I totally pictured the Obin like that. Though clearly I spend too much time reading Whatever because I pictured Zoe to look more like Athena!
For some reason, I always imagined the Obin as being shaped vaguely like Alice the Goon from the Popeye cartoons.
That Zoe might just be the creepiest looking girl I have ever seen.
Based on the cover, I’d file that one under Horror…
So, is this the canonical Obin then?
Hmm… not how I pictured the Obin either. Much more menacing though. I like it!
Is it okay to judge a book by its cover if you already own it, but want the new one for the pretty picture? Its amazing Zoe ever got a date. Some fathers wish for guns to keep the boys away. Obin are so much better.
It… hasn’t got… laser-shooting spaceships! Is this science fiction at all?
More seriously, someone send this to that german publisher.
Probably busted their covers budget for the century on 10001 laser shooting spaceships, and they don’t want to waste any of their sunk cost.