Genre Cover of the Month - Vote Feb '07, Noms open Mar '07

Okay then, here we go with the first selection of nominated covers for the inaugural Genre Files Genre Cover of the Month accolade...

A quick note before we start: Nominations are now open for the March '07 Genre Cover of the Month, so please do head on over to the GCoTM page of the site for details of how to nominate your favourite covers during the coming month.

The Nominees

This month I've selected six book covers for the shortlist, based on the nominations sent in by various people (many thanks to everyone who participated) plus one that I've included myself.

[Clicking on a cover will take you to the relevant Amazon info page, where you'll be able to see a slightly larger cover image...]

The Voting

Please remember, I'm asking you to vote for the strongest book cover, not the best book itself.

It doesn't matter whether you've read the book or not, or whether you liked it or not if you have. What I'm interested in is, in your opinion, which of the six covers is the most effective. Not necessarily the most eye-catching or the most aesthetically pleasing, although both of these factors are important.

In essence though, I'd like to know which of the six covers above would be most likely to persuade you to pick up the book in a bookstore, or to click on a link online, and either buy the book there and then, or at least want to find out more.

In short: which book cover does the job of selling that book the best?

Please use the Feb '07 Poll to register your vote, or send me an email instead and I'll register the vote on your behalf.

If you'd like to discuss the covers, or add a comment as to why you registered your vote for a particular title, then please do feel free to use the comments for this post.

The Winner...

Will be announced when voting closes on March 31st. I'll email the author, publisher, artist / designer to let them know, and ask for any comment they might have on the design of the cover, then post whatever responses I'm able to elicit.

Unnecessary Footnote

Please, don't bother voting dozens of times for your favourite cover. Ballot-stuffing isn't big, or clever, and it's not like we're deciding the fate of the world here or anything, y'know..?

March 1, 2007 | Filed Under Books | 12 Comments

New Arrivals - end Dec '06, early Jan '07

Three new items came in recently that have particularly caught my eye. All proof copies of forthcoming UK titles:

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

I'm going to have to fight Jo for first-reading rights to this one. We both loved Joe Hill's debut short fiction collection, Twentieth Century Ghosts and have been looking forward to getting our hands on his debut novel ever since it was announced.

Heart-Shaped Box promises to be "...the best debut horror novel since Clive Barker's Damnation Game twenty years ago... A genuinely scary novel filled with people you care about; the kind of book that still stays in your mind when you turn over the final page." And those are Neil Gaiman's words, not mine.

Published by Gollancz in the UK in March, folks. More information on Amazon.co.uk.

The Court of the Air by Stephen Hunt

Mr Hunt is the webmeister of the long-running and highly popular genre 'zine SF Crow's Nest, and The Court of the Air is not his first novel to be published. His debut was For the Crown and the Dragon, which won the WH Smith New Talent Prize way back in 1994 (I'll be dropping Mr Hunt a few interview questions for UKSFBN a bit closer to publication date, so I'll see if we can find out about the hiatus).

The Court of the Air looks to be as a quasi-Victorian adventure / melodrama - so it should appeal to fans of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell et. al. - starring Molly Templar and Oliver Brooks; two orphaned children who must flee from ruthless enemies in the company of outlaws, thieves and spies.

It sounds like a rollicking adventure yarn and a thoroughly good read; the only thing that's making me slightly wary is the rather hefty page-count (582 in the proof), although the page margins and font-size are both generous. One for the list and see if the mood takes me, I reckon...

Ink by Hal Duncan

This is the follow-up to Hal Duncan's much talked-about 2005 debut, Vellum [Amazon]. I have to confess that I was one of the weak-willed, lilly-livered, namby-pamby types who gave up halfway through the first volume, so it's unlikely that Ink will be troubling my 'must read' list anytime soon, not until I've had the chance to gird my loins and re-tackle Vellum with renewed determination.

But I did read enough first time around to recognise that Hal Duncan is an intelligent and intriguing writer with the potential to produce a great deal of very fine work in the future. I'll be keeping an eye on the reaction to this second volume; I'm interested to see what folks make of it, now they think they might have an idea what to expect (although somehow I doubt that it will turn out to be quite what anyone expects...)

There's a good interview with the author over at Fantasybookspot in which he talks about the relationship between the two books, which might give you a couple of clues.