My writing day is a little turned upside-down today because the Oscar nominations come out and I have to write my Filmcritic.com column about them before noon, so today I’ll be hiding from the Internets in the afternoon. Which gives me an excellent excuse to show you this right now: The French cover to Agent to the Stars, commissioned by my French publisher from Paul Kidby, who is perhaps best known to readers as the fellow who gives Terry Pratchett such delightfully whimsical covers.
How do I feel about this cover? ZOMG I LOVE IT SO HARD. I think it very well captures the book, and I really appreciate Kidby’s attention to detail. Agent has been fortunate to get a series of pretty damn awesome covers — first by Mike Krahulik for the Subterranean Press edition, then by Pascal Blanchet for the Tor editions — and this one continues the book’s lucky streak of talented cover artists. All books and authors should be so lucky.
Here’s my French publisher’s page on the book, in case you’re French and/or just want a copy of this book with this cover. The book itself will come out on March 24.
I was just thinking “ZOMG Kidby”
of course he’d be a frog.
“Agent of the Third Kind”? That’s hilarious.
If German covers are required to have spaceships and lasers, what are the requirements for French covers?
Not knowing anything about this book, I want to read it now. Cover successful. Good job, Kidby.
LOVE it. Congrats on scoring an excellent cover!
Ben @2: That’s not a frog! That’s the GEICO gecko!
#4 by Captain Button:
“If German covers are required to have spaceships and lasers, what are the requirements for French covers?”
Frogs, of course.
Er, oops. No offense meant.
So that’s what Imprésario means.
Coincidence, I was looking on the Kinokuniya (biggest foreign bookstore in Bangkok) website last night to find a book for a friend living there, and Agent to the Stars was right there at the #2 position on their front page of English books for this month. It’s also where I bought OMW when I was living there, remember taking it home and polishing it off by the end of the day #scalzinbangkokmemories
I like the cover, but the dog’s facial expression is the best.
Wow, that facial expression really nails it. Somebody actually read the book before they made that illustration. Well done!
But now, after seeing that frog’s pose, I’m going to have “Hello My Baby” stuck in my head all day.
For those of you who have not read the book, there is in fact a dancing frog in it.
I now also have a Looney Tunes toon in my head. And am impressed by both Kibdy’s work and the fact that he did your cover. Well done, you!
I read the book two weeks ago and enjoyed it hugely. Many parts of it had me laughing like a toddler. It also has a great deal of heart. I’m very jealous of the French. That is a great cover.
I love Kidby’s work. And now I wish that cover were available on the English-language version.
Haha, that cover really encapsulates some of the most entertaining characters / moments in the book.
That’s a fantastic cover. I love the look on his face – well captured!
Agent of the Third Kind is a brilliant title. Hope the rest of the translation is as good.
@Captain Button — By all evidence presented here, I would say that the major requirement for French covers is awesomeness.
That’s a great cover, although I would say that as a Paul Kidby fan.
Fantastic score!
The number of printings/audiobooks/ebooks/foreign releases is respectable for any book. But it’s even more impressive for a story that started out (and still is) freely downloadable from your website. Well done, sir!
Huh. I did not know my copy of AttS had a Krahulik cover. I started reading PA a few years later and never made the connection. Sweet!
I’ve always loved Kidby, it’s like he uses latent psychic powers to draw characters and situations exactly as I imagined them.
“Manager of the Third Kind”
First laugh of the day. Thank you.
do you get different percentages of sales for foreign issues ?
Wow, he is so FRENCH-looking in that cover! And he definitely looks like a French film agent, to boot.
Fabulous cover, and a great title.
I really like the cover, I thought the style looked familiar (I’m a fan of Kidby’s art to the point i’ve got several of his signed prints and the art of the discworld book), although I’d forgotten the dancing frog :)
I’m tempted to order the french version of Agent just for the cover now.
LOVE the cover. He’s a great artist. And it does sum up the book.
I love the little half smile – the cover captures the book very well . I just read “Agent to the Stars” last weekend. Had a B&N gift card to use, and said to myself, “You know, I’ve liked all of his other stuff – why haven’t I bought this one yet?”
I took it home, broke it out during the wee one’s nap, and absolutely DEVOURED it. Finished it that night. Thanks so much for another entertaining, snarky, smart read.
I’m using my Border’s gift card to re-buy all my OMW books, as I loaned them to a friend and they have seem to have moved to another country. More new-book smell for me, more royalties for you.
Thank you for your work, and your blog. I enjoy them both immensely.