Book Covers

[Lady of Winterfell]

Similar thing happened with Tennage Mutant Ninja Turtles which, in the US the Mutant got changed to Hero!

I don't know about that...I remember it as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Indeed. Even in those dark, ignorant days I'm pretty sure Americans were capable of using Google.

Thank you, this cracked me up. Man oh man, what did we do before Google?

 

[AE35Unit]

The slightly saucy cover of a book I just got from Bookmooch. Has to be Heinlein

 

[thatollie]

This Fantasy Masterworks cover of MJH's Viriconium is fairly imposing.

 

[Glisterspeck]

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

Good book, Lord Valentine's Castle. That is the same cover on my edition as well.

 

[Glisterspeck]

Silverberg was one of my fave's in high school. My favorite of his was Nightwings though. I reread it a few years ago. Still loved it.

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

I will have to look that one up. So far I have only read his Majipoor books, but I enjoyed them so I wouldn't be against picking up something else of his.

 

[J-Sun]

I think it had something to do with the meaning of the word. Scholastic thought Americans wouldn't know philosophers stone, and thought sorcerors stone made more sense. As Southern Geologist put it, they apparently think Americans are stupid.

Being American, I don't agree with that of course. If JK Rowling titled it The Philosophers Stone, than that is what it should have been called.

Well, in all fairness to dumb Americans and the publisher, if this was the first one and it wasn't yet famous "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" could sound like a musty historical book or something, even to those who did know what it meant, rather than the fantasy it's supposed to be. The name change would better stamp it generically. But then they should have just changed it altogether because "sorceror's stone" just sounds weird. "Harry the Wizard" or whatever.

I don't know about that...I remember it as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Same here and, really, how are you going to dumb something like that down? You're already pretty much in the basement. A mutant is nowhere near as high falutin' as a philosopher.

I will have to look that one up. So far I have only read his Majipoor books, but I enjoyed them so I wouldn't be against picking up something else of his.

I'd recommend doing that but be warned that the Majipoor stuff is pretty different from his earlier classics and even his post-Majipoor stuff and I think even more different from his early "pre-classic" stuff.

I feel cheated. I can't remember if my Lord Valentine's Castle ever had a cover but it sure hasn't for a long time. That said, while I somehow like the cover it also somehow doesn't look like something I'd want to read. Still, it's a lot more interesting than my blue boards.

The best cover on a book I've read this year is The Line of Polity - which is handy as the novel is in the top four of the thirteen candidates as well. And it's just my second favorite Asher this year!

 

[Ian Whates]

I've always adored great book covers. Now I'm running my own small press, it enables me to work very closely with both artists and designers to get the covers just how I want them -- often going through dozens of different layouts and title fonts before I'm happy. I'm really proud of every cover NewCon Press has produced, but I genuinely believe they're improving all the time.

Three books being launched this Easter (by Nina Allan, Chris Beckett, and Mercurio D Rivera), and I think the covers of all three may well rank among the best yet.

Here's one of them, cover art by Edward Miller (aka Les Edwards), layout by Kris Dikeman:

 

[Glisterspeck]

I feel cheated. I can't remember if my Lord Valentine's Castle ever had a cover but it sure hasn't for a long time. That said, while I somehow like the cover it also somehow doesn't look like something I'd want to read. Still, it's a lot more interesting than my blue boards.

Ah. You're also missing the super snazzy photo of Silverberg talking on the phone on the dust cover... which I may just have to scan and post because it's apparently not on the interwebs anywhere.

The book I had in high school was the Robert Silverberg Omnibus, which included Nightwings, Downward to Earth, and Man in the Maze. They all had a certain psychedelic quality to them.

 

[AE35Unit]

Well I mooched Glory Road thinking it was SF but it seems its fantasy! Please let it not be like Number of the Beast!

 

[J-Sun]

Well, it's not like Number of the Beast but that's generally considered SF (in that it's connected to his other SF (as well as everything else). Either way, I didn't like Glory Road but maybe it'll suit you better. His best fantasies are his fantasy short stories. The only book-length fantasies I can recall are Glory Road and Job and, while I didn't like either, I seem to recall liking Job more, late though it is. (It's all relative.)

 

[AE35Unit]

Well, it's not like Number of the Beast but that's generally considered SF (in that it's connected to his other SF (as well as everything else). Either way, I didn't like Glory Road but maybe it'll suit you better. His best fantasies are his fantasy short stories. The only book-length fantasies I can recall are Glory Road and Job and, while I didn't like either, I seem to recall liking Job more, late though it is. (It's all relative.)

I enjoyed 'Job' and 'The Cat who walks through Walls'. But it seems, for me anyway, Heinlein can be very hit and miss!

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

Well, in all fairness to dumb Americans and the publisher, if this was the first one and it wasn't yet famous "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" could sound like a musty historical book or something, even to those who did know what it meant, rather than the fantasy it's supposed to be. The name change would better stamp it generically. But then they should have just changed it altogether because "sorceror's stone" just sounds weird. "Harry the Wizard" or whatever.

Either sounds like a fantasy to me, but thank goodness they didn't name it Harry the Wizard! Then we would have just had Harry the Wizard Year 1, Harry the Wizard Year 2, etc. Bor-ing!

Same here and, really, how are you going to dumb something like that down?

Teenage Turtles?

I'd recommend doing that but be warned that the Majipoor stuff is pretty different from his earlier classics and even his post-Majipoor stuff and I think even more different from his early "pre-classic" stuff.

Thanks, I'll keep this in mind. Do you have any recommendations for his other stuff?

 

[J-Sun]

Thanks, I'll keep this in mind. Do you have any recommendations for his other stuff?

Well, Dying Inside is likely his best from the 70s. The Book of Skulls is pretty striking and maybe almost as good but isn't really SF/F at all. A Time of Changes won a Nebula award. I've basically forgotten it at this point but I recall really liking The Second Trip though no one else ever mentions it. A lot of people do like his late 60s work, including Nightwings like Glisterspeck mentioned. It's a fixup of three stories and I actually just like the title story as a novella. And there's Beyond the Safe Zone which is basically an omnibus of three collections that present all his early 70s short SF (except the stuff in Born with the Dead and another fixup, The World Inside) that may be my favorite of them all but it depends on whether you like short SF.

 

[thatollie]

Ian, I really want that book.

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

Well, Dying Inside is likely his best from the 70s. The Book of Skulls is pretty striking and maybe almost as good but isn't really SF/F at all. A Time of Changes won a Nebula award. I've basically forgotten it at this point but I recall really liking The Second Trip though no one else ever mentions it. A lot of people do like his late 60s work, including Nightwings like Glisterspeck mentioned. It's a fixup of three stories and I actually just like the title story as a novella. And there's Beyond the Safe Zone which is basically an omnibus of three collections that present all his early 70s short SF (except the stuff in Born with the Dead and another fixup, The World Inside) that may be my favorite of them all but it depends on whether you like short SF.

Thanks! I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for these at some upcoming book sales.

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

Found a cover I liked:

 

[AE35Unit]

Re the Teenage Turtle thing (Turtlegate?). I think it was actually over here the word ninja got replaced with hero. They obviously equate "ninja" with violence and our nanny state government can't allow that. Utter BS!

 

[Alex The G and T]

Huh? When my daughters were young in America, mid nineties, the turtles were Mutant, They were Ninja.

As an American father, I never heard of, or approved of changing Ninja to Heroes in the title.

The theme song said that they were heroes-on-a-halfshell and that they were green. Don't **** with that. Dammit.