Aug 04
Click for full imageDeborah Comments: Actually I think this is quite good, apart from the woman being none of the central characters – Heris is black, Lady Cecilia’s a redhead, Bubbles is blonde. But the COLORS are a little unsubtle!
Published 1995
Click here for the previous Winning Colours cover.
Many thanks to Deborah!
(Rating: 5.52 out of 10)
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August 4th, 2010 at 10:01 am
Far better than the original submission. Like, galaxies better. The horse could do with being a robot horse or something though.
August 4th, 2010 at 10:14 am
The previous cover had a nice SAAB feel to it – even though the execution was crap. This one.. I don’t know. Which one is more accurate wrt the contents?
What’s with all the low-tech stuff in scifi nowadays?
I mean, in many books, the only thing that is “scifi” is the obligatory space ship or that it all happens on some other planet.
August 4th, 2010 at 10:37 am
This cover has epic proportions. Is that planet hovering just above the city?
You know what could have improved this though?
A unicorn.
August 4th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
SI> True, that would do just the job. But its still doesn’t tells us how a game of polo will save the day.
August 4th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
“Quick! We’ll have to ride faster to catch up with that space ship. Think you can jump up into that hanger bay?”
August 4th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
SI: a unicorn? Maybe. Better still: a pegasus! That way she could fly amongst those…strange flying pod things…on their way to the unfeasibly low-orbiting mothership.
August 6th, 2010 at 12:08 am
Agree that a pegasus would be awesome, but this needs a rainbow or better yet a double rainbow in the background.
August 6th, 2010 at 8:48 am
Jose> Double rainbow omg! But, what does it mean?
August 12th, 2010 at 9:14 am
SI – yah, okay, the planet hovering in view is rawther disproportionately large, but I guess the artist was told to make it clear it’s not just a moon, it’s another habitable planet, i.e. we’re not in our solar system.
anon – it’s not all low tech – this book includes bioengineering, cloning & the rights of clones, rejuvenation/anti-ageing processes & consequent social changes, standard SF communications technology, smart desks, diagnosis & treatment via medi-beds, cool things like sonic showers (gets you clean, saves you time!), some good space-opera battle scenes, on-ship environmental systems and super-advanced scan technology (not that the latter is explained in detail, but it sounds convincing in this context).
SophaLoaf and Parker – the horses aren’t pivotal to the plot in this book, but they are in other books in this series, e.g. when the bad guys are hunting the good guys on-planet, and for physiotherapy for a severely disabled character.
cutmanmike, the actual horse is true to the book – there are robot horses that Lady Cecilia uses for training/keeping in shape while on her spaceship, but flesh & blood horses are a focal point of the series – rich people breed them, ride them, buy & sell them, keep them on their planets (‘their’ in the sense of a family owning a planet).
double rainbow all across the sky – no argument with that!
August 25th, 2010 at 2:21 am
It’s so typical: this gender discrimination in sci-fi. On the other hand, the woman on the cover is fully dressed…
December 15th, 2010 at 8:37 pm
“But the COLORS are a little unsubtle!”
For Baen Books, this IS subtle.
December 20th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
Cover recycled from BLACK BEAUTY AND THE HORSEMEN FROM ARCTURUS.