[Sorry for the lateness - apparently I specialize in redefining "Friday."]
Oh small presses, sometimes (frequently) I just don’t know what you were thinking. So far I’ve tried to stay away from small-small-press covers because they do what they do under so many constraints, but sometimes – yeah, I just really don’t know what they were thinking. According to the publisher, this is “a collection of seven stories about relationships, loving and passionate, thought-provoking and inspiring. Some verge into the familiar Anthony territory of fantasy and science fiction, where others focus on the eroticism of contemporary life, proving that love has many facets.”
Apparently one of love’s facets is reenactment of bondage scenarios with Parcheesi gamepieces after a few hits of acid…?
Go to:
Bad Book Covers Friday Archive
BBCF: Birth of the Firebringer
BBCF: The Saga of Recluce
BBCF: Moonsinger’s Friends
BBCF: The Alphabet Mysteries
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Apparently one of love’s facets is reenactment of bondage scenarios with Parcheesi gamepieces after a few hits of acid…?
::nearly spits tea all over monitor::
Yet another thing to hate Piers Anthony for! Although I guess the cover’s not really his fault, but I’ll blame him for it anyway.
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Haha, why the Piers Anthony hate? I’ve never read anything of his, and don’t know anything about him other than what Wikipedia has told me.
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Ooh, I had a friend in college who loved his stuff. I tried to read one of his novels and it was the worst kind of old school, badly written, uber-sexist Dude Sci Fi you can imagine. Just, ugh. So he’s been one of my pet hates ever since.
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I love how the dramatic dilemma presented could be easily solved by one of the other pieces sliding over, turning the key that’s already there, and unlocking the first from its shackle. Although… the chained piece is dramatically smaller than the ones in the back. This leads me to conclude that there is a child slavery ring being depicted on the cover of this book, which actually fits right in to the description of a “focus on the eroticism of contemporary life.” Delightful.
This has to be the most bold, captivating, and poetic book covers I’ve ever seen. Truly haunting. I’m sure I’ll still be thinking of this photoshop stillbirth moments before I take my last breath.
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Andy – I figured it had to be something along those lines. Man, you are going to love (except not) the covers I have picked out for next week…
Javi, while your analysis is moving and thoughtful, and introduces a valuable sociological perspective vis-à-vis the child slavery aspect, I think the cover image hinges on a deeper problem of agency – note that the pieces don’t have hands. Without hands, how can they possibly unlock shackles, theirs or others’? What kind of universe is it that we live in, that helpless, handless Parcheesi pieces are exploited in this fashion for the purpose of book covers? Or am I simply betraying my anthropocentric failings by assuming that possession of hands is a necessary condition for agency? Much food for thought.
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This is photo shop abuse of the highest caliber. I want to know where the lens flare and Gaussian blur is.
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