I originally posted this as a comment over on John Scalzi’s blog, but it’s kinda fun and I thought I’d post it again here. ‘Cos, you know. When you write something decent, you want everyone to see.:
Cover art is weird.
I say this with the confidence of someone who cannot draw an apple with a stencil. And (watch closely) I shall say it again:
Cover art is weird.
And you know what else? SF cover art is particularly weird.
I feel this way because – and you all know this as well as I do – in many cases, the cover of an SF novel has absolutely nothing to do with what’s in the book, a tradition inherited from pulps and comic books in the middle of the 20th century. Slam a nice cover on it, and the kids may not notice the inside is in mono and has a story about a mutant bunny instead of a story about robots.
There have been some classy efforts to do something a bit more interesting (and sane) recently – I like the covers on Jeff Somers’ books, kinda Old Penguin meets pulp meets… etc. – but basically the process seems to be: SF novel = space + raygun + explosion + Darth Vader/Luke Skywalker kinda shapes in the background.
On the other hand, there are some more ‘grown-up style’ editions kicking around for some lucky authors, and I thought the UK cover for Glass Books of the Dream Eaters was actually sexy. I wanted to buy it cocktails and put my hand on its knee. I bought the book itself instead; not something I would normally do in the course of a sexual relationship, but you have to make allowances when the object of your affection is non-sentient and entirely covered in transparent blue polyvinyl chloride.
Although now that I think about it I did once go on a date with someone who matches that description all too well. Er.
But for the most part, it’s like all those Miles Vorkosigan novels I like so much: why does a story about a guy who was damaged in the womb and never tops five foot one, whose face is sorta square-lookin’ and who uses his personality and his brain to take on the universe have a picture of a six foot three inch tall, handsome blonde guy with a raygun on the front? Or am I being dumb?
It’s mysterious. Then again, you could ask why my book is pink. People have. I do not know. I do know I think my cover rocks, but I am also aware of people who find it stinky. Stinky is in the nose of the beholder, it seems. But even so…
Thus, I return to my theme:
cover art is weird.
