Cover Art to Avoid

KitFoster · Oct 29, 2011

What a wonderful post - these made me smile : ) I must confess, I actually quite like the cover for 'Breed To Come'. I love all the old 60's sci-fi covers.

I'm actually a cover designer myself - If anyone would like to stop by my site (www.kitfosterdesign.com) and offer me some feedback on my work it would be very much appreciated (hopefully none of mine will make it on to the next list!).

Thanks again - great post!

Mclesh · Oct 29, 2011

Becky Black said:
I like the two women just standing there watching in a terribly disinterested fashion. Like any minute now they're going to decide that watching a nearly naked man sword fighting a squid is boring and go get a latte. And the fighting doesn't exactly look like a desperate battle to the death either. More like street theatre. They'll split the take at the end of the day and go for a couple of beers together.

(What were they thinking?)

Soccer Mom · Oct 29, 2011

I had to google the Blazing Embers book. Apparently it is erotica for those over sixty. Both people on the cover are supposed to be grandparents. No, I'm not joking.

I used to enjoy a blog called Judge a Book by its Cover. The blogger is not longer very active due to real life, but there are four years worth of goodies there. Very funny stuff in that blog if you are looking for ways to procrastinate.

Creative_Solitude · Oct 29, 2011

Oh God, those are awful...really bad. lol

Margarita Skies · Oct 29, 2011

The only thing I can possibly comment after seeing those book covers is this...

:ROFL:

Nuff said.

Drachen Jager · Oct 29, 2011

Soccer Mom said:
I had to google the Blazing Embers book. Apparently it is erotica for those over sixty. Both people on the cover are supposed to be grandparents. No, I'm not joking.

Someone's taking the label 'sexagenarian' too literally.

Seriously though, do even people in their '60s want to read erotica about people in their '60s?

IceCreamEmpress · Oct 30, 2011

Drachen Jager said:
Seriously though, do even people in their '60s want to read erotica about people in their '60s?

Oh, absolutely. But nobody wants to read erotica with covers like that--total mood-killer.

That's also so creepy, that they drew the 60+ woman to look like a young hottie and the 60+ man to look like a lecherous Methuselah.

CrastersBabies · Oct 30, 2011

Every time I see a "near realistic" romance cover with some guy's oily chest or an edgy girl in leathers holding a weapon I wonder how that will look in 20 years. I think people would be able to say, "yep, 2010's."

Shadow_Ferret · Oct 30, 2011

thothguard51 said:
I think perhaps you are a little to harsh with covers from another era...

The Andre Norton one is from the late sixties or early seventies . SF&F back then was just taking off and while some books had Frank Frazetta covers, most did not. There is also the fact that in the fifties and sixties, space was still pretty unknown, thus you got a lot of green men and flying saucers on covers. The readers from back then would not have been turned off as it was pretty common.

That's what my thoughts were. I still see nothing wrong with the cover. In fact, late 60s/early 70s was a time for psychedelic art, artists like Peter Max and such.

Oh, and here's a synopsis of the story.

bettielee · Oct 30, 2011

I couldn't remember the Blazing Embers cover, so I googled, and got this gem from 1987:

"As Rook's strength and lusty manhood returned, Cassie was helpless against the power of her own awakened desire. When he hungrily took her in his arms, his warm lips trailing fire down her neck, her shoulders..."

ah, 80's hysterical romance....

bettielee · Oct 30, 2011

CrastersBabies said:
Every time I see a "near realistic" romance cover with some guy's oily chest or an edgy girl in leathers holding a weapon I wonder how that will look in 20 years. I think people would be able to say, "yep, 2010's."

I meant to quote this in my post...

Atlantis · Oct 30, 2011

I love Cooking with Pooh. I should get that for my nephews. Hehehe.

shaldna · Oct 31, 2011

I'm going to avoid showing up on threads like this by insisting that all of my covers are slightly blurry home-photoshopped images with a handsome papyrus font. in red. natch.

Phaeal · Oct 31, 2011

Becky Black said:
I like the two women just standing there watching in a terribly disinterested fashion. Like any minute now they're going to decide that watching a nearly naked man sword fighting a squid is boring and go get a latte.

If it had been a SQUID, they'd have been all HOLY CRAP! PULL UP A CHAIR, SALLY!

Sadly, it's an octopus. Yawn. The only reason they're still there is that Aqua-Starbucks is closed.

Storm Surge · Oct 31, 2011

Shadow_Ferret said:
That's what my thoughts were. I still see nothing wrong with the cover. In fact, late 60s/early 70s was a time for psychedelic art, artists like Peter Max and such.

I have to agree with thothguard51 and Shadow Ferret.

My parents have an enormous collection of SF/F paperbacks from the 60s and 70s. This what I grew up reading so it seems perfectly normal to me. The Breed to Come cover is actually fairly normal compared to some that I've seen. I'm kind of curious why you picked that particular cover out of so many possible from that era.

Cover Art to Avoid

KitFoster

Mclesh

It's too hot

Soccer Mom

Crypto-fascist

Creative_Solitude

All the world's a stage...

Margarita Skies

Drachen Jager

Professor of applied misanthropy

IceCreamEmpress

Hapless Virago

CrastersBabies

Burninator!

Shadow_Ferret

Court Jester

bettielee

I'm a sparkly fairy princess!

bettielee

I'm a sparkly fairy princess!

Atlantis

shaldna

The cake is a lie. But still cake.

Phaeal

Whatever I did, I didn't do it.

Storm Surge

Surfin'