22 Comments on “The Japanese Cover of The Android’s Dream”

1. It’s hard to imagine how it could match the tone of the book less than it does. That said, it is a really cool picture.

2. Android’s Sheep Dreams! Love it.

3. It’s missing something…ah! Got it.

   I love seeing your work filtered through the sensibilities of another culture. The anime cover illos you posted a while back are a great example.

4. Reminds me of the Blade Runner movie with the dark, rainy/hazy, and cramped streets.

5. Very Ghost in the Shell, or Blade Runner as someone else said. Apropos.

6. that looks pretty awesome though

7. And, of course, the source, the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

8. Woah. That’s an awesome cover.

9. It looks an awful lot like the seat of House Harkonnen in the Lynch version of Dune. What was that, Guidi Prime?

10. (Let’s see if I can land this in the right place this time…)

    So very Blade Runner. …And not at all resonant with what I remember of your book. *scratches head*

11. Thats the kind of cover that would make me buy a book .. I’d love to see a larger print of it .. it would be Office Decoration worthy.

12. Well! The DC-Baltimore Parkway has certainly built up in the future!

13. Oooh, dark, very dark ….

14. So, vaguely on-topic, but I wonder why Japanese (in this case) and other Asian countries put English and (in this case) Japanese on book covers?

15. Having lived in Japan for a long time previously, and being married to a Japanese woman I might be able to answer this. In Japan, English is popular among the younger generations, and advertisers often use it in an effort to reach this market. It is common to see it on clothing (often not really saying anything) or on a variety or products. It is really not much different that people here having clothing, tattoos etc. in Chinese or Japanese.

16. Joshua – thanks!

17. gritty…
    Man, you should write that book.

18. People in developing nations like to have things with English words on them, too.
    I once had a conversation with a young Nigerian man who was wearing a light blue t-shirt that had the words “Disco Baby” printed in gold glitter. To him, it was very fashionable t-shirt, sort of like American kids wearing “Abercrombie” t-shirts.

19. In this case I think the English is useful for ensuring people of who the author is. For example, in Katakana they write John Scalzi as ジョンスコルジー. Which is literally phonetically written as Jyon Sukoruzii. Which is somewhat phonetically similar to his name in English, but Japanese doesn’t have a way to write Scalzi with all of those consonants together. The English in this case helps to to know that it is indeed the John Scalzi I know from Science Fiction writing. Probably more along the lines of what the publisher was looking for in this case. Translation is not always exact!

20. That book was such a fun read! Not sure why, but I wound up enjoying it even more than OMW and friends :)
    The book cover is no worse than anything we might see in the states — the artists latch on to some aspect of the title or (with luck) the story, and works with that. The relevance to the story doesn’t seem to be an important criterion :) Here at least it seems like a nod to Bladerunner, as others already pointed out. So at least it’s clear where it came from.
    (hey, they could’ve illustrated the scene from the first page instead… :)

21. I think if they had read the first paragraph it would look very different. Best opening line ever!

22. That is an absolutely stunning, eye-catching cover design. If I saw that book on the shelves at a book store I’d buy it without even reading the back. Lovely.