CONTEST: I See a Cover, and I Want it Painted Black.

You may have noticed that I've had D.M. Cornish's Monster Blood Tattoo¹ on the brain lately.

More specifically, I've had the utter awesomosity of said series on the brain, and expanding on that, the utter ridiculosity that it isn't getting/hasn't received more attention.

That frustration led to a conversation with a few like-minded bloggers -- who feel exactly the same way about the series, as well as Jenny Davidson's The Explosionist and Ysabeau Wilce's Flora Segunda.

Long story short, for the entire week of December 13^th, we're going to celebrate and discuss -- and we, of course, invite and encourage you to do the same -- Alt History and Steampunk novels. (We're mostly focusing on the YAs, but I suspect we'll do some branching out -- there're a TON of adult titles, and loads of those have insanely excellent crossover potential.) While the discussion and celebration definitely won't be confined to the three series I've mentioned in this post, these are the books that inspired the concept, so these are the books we're using for the contest.

Right, right, the contest! Back to that!

Credit where credit is due: The contest was actually Josh's idea. If he doesn't like cover art, he generally won't pick up the book. (Seriously. I know he would dig The Explosionist, but IT LOOKS TOO GENERIC AND GIRLY, even though I've explained that the cover art doesn't even remotely reflect the story. Same goes for Flora Segunda, except in that case, it apparently looks TOO YOUNG AND NEW AGE-Y FLOATY FANTASY. (His words. Sigh.)) On the rare occasions that his desire for the book supersedes his stubbornness, he SPRAYPAINTS THE COVER BLACK. (I am so not exaggerating about this. I unearthed piles of them during my search the other day.)

So, the contest: Create a book cover -- something that would attract you (or an audience that you think is missing out on the series) WHILE ALSO reflecting the contents and tone of the story -- for one of D.M. Cornish's books², for either Jenny Davidson's The Explosionist or Invisible Things, or for one of Ysabeau Wilce's Flora Segunda books. (Just one! You don't have to do one of each! I mean, unless you want to, obvs.)

Post it on your blog, and either email me the link or post it in the comments here.

The deadline: December 15^th, and we'll announce the winner on the 17^th, at the end of the Week of Alt History/Steampunk Celebration.

Judges are TBA.

THE PRIZE? Three books, one by Cornish, one by Davidson, and one by Wilce: Winner's choice as to the specific titles!

_____________________________________

¹Well, technically, now it's The Foundling's Tale, which I actually do think is a better series title -- and not only because it suggests that there may be more to come -- but it is, nevertheless, a tad confusing for those of us who've been following the series from the get-go.

²I actually do love the new covers -- I think they reflect the tone of the books, and that they'll work better to attract the crossover audience that the series SHOULD attract. But, since the Cornish books are what sparked the idea, they had to be included -- and just because I like the new covers doesn't mean that you necessarily do!

Comments

[Emily]

After reading your review of the latest book I went about trying to order the set from Penguin publishing for my library. The second book is only available in ebook format right now! I'm beyond aggravated.

[Leila]

That's odd -- the paperback of Book Two is available at Amazon, so I don't know why the publisher wouldn't have it...

[Anastasia]

Oooh, I actually like those new covers for Cornish's books! Normally I hate when a series gets a new cover (like with Stephen Hunt's Jackelian books, or Scott Westerfeld's steampunk series), but I really like those news ones a lot more than the old ones! (I will admit that the old covers are what's kept me from reading the series. Now I don't have that excuse anymore, so!)

It's weird that Josh spray paints the covers, though. because it ruins the books! Why not just cover them with one of those book sock things? Or maybe book socks aren't manly enough. Hm.

[Brooke Shirts]

I'm guessing he doesn't spray paint the spine, right? Because otherwise, how would he tell them apart?

Or why not just cover them with brown paper? That's the classic 1960s underground-publishing technique. (Which I employed whenever I was embarassed to take a gaudy fantasy cover into my undergraduate courses on Narrative Theory and the like. Silly 19-year-old me.)

[Leila]

Yeah, I think the new Cornish covers are LOVELY, as well! (Though it's sad that there wasn't a way to incorporate his illustrations somehow.)

Brooke: Sometimes the spines get painted, sometimes not -- and sometimes, HE JUST RIPS THE COVER RIGHT OFF. Maybe I can convince him that a brown-bag cover would be wicked punk rock.

Anastasia: I welcome you to try to give him a book sock. Actually, I double-dog dare you to try. If you can get him to use one, I will bow down to you in COMPLETE AWE!

[Kaethe]

I'm not so interested in cover art, I just wanted to thank you for your decision to show Flora some love.

[Colleen]

Flora = "floaty"!! That's exactly what I was thinking but couldn't find the words. It's like a book about fairies or something (not that there's anything wrong with fairies but that is ssooooo not what Flora is about!)

I might be loving Josh a little bit over all this. Seriously.

[:paula]

Josh is onto something. I swear, if I could spray-paint all the covers of Michael Owen Carroll's Quantum Prophecy trilogy, I might actually get a kid to read it. Those covers are THE WORST.

I liked the original Monster Blood Tattoo covers, AND I liked the original series title, but paradoxically, I did not like the books! By the middle of the second book I thought there was too much world and not enough story. While you're at it, re-do the cover of Hamburger Halpin. Nobody can figure out what that book is from looking at the cover, it's not doing the book any favors.

Happy weekend!

[Leila]

Oh heck, Colleen, now Josh is walking around the house saying that the two of you have a secret lurrrve and that no one understands it.

Sigh.

I am a saint.

[aquafortis]

This whole conversation just cracked me up, I swear.

I did like the original Monster Blood Tattoo series name, if only because it was so attention-grabbing. The Foundling's Tale seems more generic to me, somehow. I have liked both sets of cover art. Just finished Factotum, by the way, and will be posting a review of that and giving it some love.

The best thing I can say for the Flora Segunda cover is that I like the title font. Other than that...it really doesn't do the book justice!

(Eagerly awaiting my copies of Explosionist and its sequel...)

[tanita]

Meanwhile, I'm trying to get D. to read The Dark Days of Hamburger Halprin because I thought it was cute.

"The cover looks too... I dunno, Middle Gradey," is today's whinge.

::SIGH::

[Liz B]

Flora's cover looks like an eight year old is about to discover a magical land of sparkly fairies. Which, if Flora was such a book would be great. But..... it isn't.

[Doret]

Are the Quantum Prophecy books good? I've never actually looked at them because the covers didn't do it for me.

I also like the original series name of Cornish's novels. But at least the publisher is trying to do something new to sell this series to more American readers.

[Gail Gauthier]

I liked the Monster Blood Tattoo/Foundling series, too, and wrote about Factotum last month http://blog.gailgauthier.com/2010/10/story-of-boy-and-woman-who-loves-him.html. The books are demanding, though, if they aren't getting as much attention as some of feel they should, that might be a factor. While I like the new covers very much, I don't know that renaming a trilogy with the last book's publication is doing it any favors.