Nethermore

Today the Deseret Morning News ran an article about Brandon Sanderson and his books. I was mentioned as well, along with some of the artwork I’ve done for the Mistborn series. It was very kind of Brandon to invite me to be interviewed along with him for the article. Fun stuff, and a good read.

Well, after spending an evening writing the post about Ace, and seeing as I would have to do that about 15 more times in order to cover every book cover that’s coming out this month, I’ve decided that I’m only going to cover the fliers and the stinkers as far as covers go. I’m shooting for explaining the Goodness and the Badness, and will only review about ten specifically-chosen covers each month. That’s a lot more manageable for me, especially with the strict deadlines at work and me also trying to find time to work on my novel.

So, check back Thursday for some more SF/F Cover Goodness and Badness.

Goodness and Badness in Science Fiction and Fantasy Cover Art

People are often accused of being shallow when they judge a person by their looks alone instead of their personality. So, am I being shallow for judging books by their covers when I usually haven’t even read the books?

Probably. But who cares? We all like pretty pictures, and I’m no exception. A lot of the time, it’s the pretty pictures and nice design on a book that’s going to catch your interest and get you to read something by an author you’ve never tried before.

Sound a little like dating? In a lot of aspects it is. Attraction to the book must come first—whether it’s a referral from a friend (blind book date) or initial attraction to the book’s cover (lust). You can fall in love with ugly books and with beautiful books. But you’re a lot more likely to try to beautiful books first.

So, if that makes me shallow, then yes, I’m shallow when it comes to books and their covers. In other words, I’m a book jerk because I’m not judging the books by their personalities.

Science Fiction-y Goodness and Badness Every Month

Each month I review the covers from books coming out in that month. Follow this link to a list of books I’ve gleaned from contacts and/or research of SF/F books coming out from now to the end of the year. If you have information about books I don’t have listed, please email me at:

Disclaimer: Or, please don’t hate me for being subjective

We all have our own opinions. All my blabbering about book covers is just that: my opinion. Don’t be offended, don’t take it to heart—for Pete’s sake, don’t take it seriously if you don’t want to. Leave a comment if you disagree, but do it respectfully—and I promise to respect your opinion as well. After all, it’s not politics. It’s book covers.

Designing for a hardcover and designing for a paperback are two different animals. Because of the drastic reduction of real estate between the two, the book’s title and the author’s name have to appear larger to be visible to potential buyers. Zooming in on the major focii in the art is sometimes a good idea, too.

In my opinion, the artist and designer have a lot more leeway with hardcovers and trade paperbacks in creating something that is truly beautiful. When reviewing covers, I try to take into account whether the edition is hardcover, trade, or mass market.

In most instances, I have not seen the physical book. There is a big difference between an image on screen and the actual printed art and design. Paper choice, embossing, foil, gloss and matte UV, and die-cutting all add to the printed book experience. Sometimes these factors can make a difference in the Goodness or Badness of the design. However, I don’t have the money or time to buy all the books each month, so I do the best with the images I find.

How to Read the Clocks of Goodness and Badness

Movies and books often get starred reviews, or numbered reviews, or tomatoed reviews (fresh of rotten), or even a thumbed review (up or down). But since I’m judging books by their covers, I don’t see any reason why there should be a numbered scale or a starred scale. I’m shallow, remember? The scale I’m going to use is visual.

In my first post about Goodness and Badness in Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Covers, I introduced the Wheel of Whatever-ness to show how design and art go hand in hand to make the complete package of a cover which may or may not intrigue you.

Keeping with the spirit of the first Wheel of Whatever-ness, I introduce the Wheel Reloaded and her little brothers and sisters, the Clocks of Goodness and Badness.

Each cover I judge will receive a little clock ranging from Goodness . . .

. . . to Badness.

How much GOODNESS (arrow pointing up), MEDIOCRE-NESS (horizontal arrow), or BADNESS (arrow pointing down) of the book cover ART and DESIGN is measured by the corresponding arrows.

The LEFT HALF of the clock judges the ART of the book.

The RIGHT HALF of the clock judges the book’s DESIGN.

Thus a clock pointing 12:00 represents a cover full of Goodness. A 6:00, however, is a cover empty of Goodness and full of Badness.

For convenience, here’s a handy chart of the Clocks of Goodness and Badness. Art is read horizontally. Design is read vertically. G = Goodness; kG = kinda Good; M = Mediocre-ness; kB = kinda Bad; B = Bad.

Let’s face it. Some sub-genres typically have ugly covers, but we still love them because of what the covers represent. For example, how can I fairly judge the cover of a Robert Jordan book or the latest Terry Goodkind when their audiences expect a certain cover? The covers may be mediocre, or even ugly, but years of associating the content of the books with their covers has trained us to view them fondly, like that mangy family dog that we nevertheless still love. These covers may have bad art or bad design but be totally appropriate for their intended audiences. In these cases, I may still rate the books with clocks, but will also give them each an AA for Audience Appropriateness.

Onward to Goodness and Badness

Are you ready? To read monthly reviews of the Goodest and Baddest science fiction and fantasy book covers, click here for an archive of the posts, newest listed first.