The OF Blog: Umm...does this cover art suck or what?

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Umm...does this cover art suck or what?



There's just something about this cover image that seems a bit wrong, but what could it be?

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've seen some bad cover art, and I mean real bad, but this takes it. And here is where I go refill my Ambien prescription so I can sleep again...

Brett said...

What, are you telling me that you don't fantasize about riding a giant snake naked in a river?

More seriously, that's probably the worst cover art I've ever seen. Whoever commissioned that for the book should be fired.

Bill said...

Well, the nudity and the oversized, grinning phallic symbol do sort of beg the question of just how "adult" the short stories are.

I mean, that can't even be comfortable.

I can't decide whether the best part is the unicorn in the corner (let's double up on phallic symbols) - or - the observation that this is Volume 2 of the series.

Erica said...

1970's homo-eroticism anyone?

Jason said...

I like it.

Something in its overall design (man, snake, bird, sun) appeals to me-- what can I say?

Anonymous said...

The landscape is a Rouseeau rip-off. I like Rousseau but not R rip-offs. The snake is somewhat absurd, and the guy on its back is just fucking bad. Some of the Berkley books had good covers, though.
Jeff Ford

Anonymous said...

I agree the incredibly phallic imagery of the snake is underneath the man's naked body is a bit strange and absurd. However, this cover art's aesthetic is interesting and I think it is better than much of the cover art that is coming out these days. It screams fantasy without screaming trashy or clichéd. It evokes a sense of mythology and/or folklore. In essence, I like it.

Harry.

Booker said...

Oh, I thought it was the cruelty to animals being shown by the man having dominance over the beast by the reins cutting into it's mouth.

Naked dudes on animals, come on, who DOESN'T see stuff like every day now?

Lagomorph Rex said...

ahh but those "Great short Novels" volumes have some really good stuff in them.

the Anthologies that Carter put together for that BAF line are some of the gems.. The Young Magician's even has two Tolkien Poems in it that I've never seen published anywhere else.

but the cover art is hit or miss on a lot of them.

Larry Nolen said...

Agree, as so many of these stories in the Ballantine series are really good, with some covers that are awesome and some that bring teh suck.

redhead said...

is that guy riding a snake, or is he really, really, really happy to see me?

 
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