Tor’s Agent to the Stars Cover (and Spine)

Here it is:

Words are not sufficient to describe how much I like this cover. I was curious how Tor was going to handle it, and I totally wouldn’t have expected this take. But now that I see it, I think it’s awesome. Can’t wait to actually hold it in my hands. Hats off to Irene Gallo at Tor (she’s the art director) and also to illustrator Pascal Blanchet.

Incidentally, the pre-order page for Tor’s trade paperback edition of A2S is now up at Amazon, and it says it has a release date of October 28, 2008. It doesn’t have the cover art up yet. But I imagine it will soon.

Damn, I love being an author!

40 Comments on “Tor’s Agent to the Stars Cover (and Spine)”

  1. I love the cover art. Was special permission necessary to use the Hollywood sign logo image thingy? (Please forgive the legal jargon.)

  2. That’s an excellent cover. The colors and use of textures, overlapping shapes and type usage, just fargin’ excellent. I hope they aren’t using the standard gloss cover and using one with a high rag content.

  3. OK, let me reiterate how much that cover rocks. I own a copy of ATTS in the original. I’m actually sitting here thinking about buying it again just to have that cover on my shelves.

    Yeah. Nobody buys books because of the cover art.

  4. First thing I thought of was “My Favorite Martian”…

    I agree – on the strength of that cover I’ll probably pick up a copy, even though I have the SubPress version. Safer to loan out to friends, too…

  5. I am in awe. Beautiful retro design and illustration that perfectly capture the spirit of the book. This cover should also have good cross-over appeal.

  6. ::applause::

    Well played. Everyone, check out the link to Blanchet’s portfolio. Illustration geeks, this guy is the unholy lovechild of Jim Flora and Maurice Noble.

    And, Scalzi. Your name above the title! Can’t beat that with a stick.

  7. That cover is FABULOUS! I now have to, HAVE TO, buy it because that cover needs to be in my house.

  8. First thing I thought of was “Did James Lileks put this together?”

    LOVE. IT. Can’t wait to buy it!

  9. That is the sort of Esquivelicious cover I would pick up with my heart (and backing chorus) going zum, zum, zum!

  10. Damn, if there was only a way to produce new dust jackets for older editions.

  11. Man, that thing is like Saul Bass awesome, but better. Looking at it, I feel like it’s a snap shot of the opening credits for the movie. I can almost hear the crazy (as in good crazy) jazz track that would playing along with it and can only imagine what the next few frames would look like. Nice.

  12. Pretty, pretty. Wants to pets the precioussss.

    Chris G @ #28: That comment was so wrong, it’s right.

    Coffee through the nose: best way to start your morning.

  13. Wow. I’m really impressed. Kudos to Tor. I wouldn’t have expected this of them either.

  14. That’s gawjus. I hope it will inspire a whole spate of retro covers.

    Oh, and huge sales of the book, too, of course!

  15. Is it just me, or was the AD trying to make a subtle point about the alien-ness of Hollywood? You get three flying saucers, and then another shape that’s virtually identical, only in place of where the aliens would be peeking out (or the alien dogs would be lolling their alien tongues), you’ve got Hollywood.

    I’m probably overanalyzing, but I like the cover a great deal.

  16. I love that cover beyond words. It’s reminiscent of some artwork my oldest son gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago. Now I’m even more excited about the release of the book. Whoop!

  17. That cover art is made of WIN. I will have it on my shelf soonest!

    Well…at least the release date falls outside my just-imposed “I will not buy another book until I clear my shelves and tables and desk and more tables of the sad books that will never get read” period.

    (For the record, no Scalzi books will be liquidated in the pending purge…)

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