Oct 15
I have been enjoying the delights of Helsinki this week and I have had a wonderful time. Well, except for the price of beer! 7 Euros for a pint! It makes me want to cry!
In honour I decided to search through a couple of the book shops here for the Finnish versions of some popular Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Some of them are just a little odd and a couple do make me laugh.
I hope you all enjoy these wonderful covers!
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(Average: 6.33 out of 10)
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October 15th, 2010 at 9:52 am
The second one is actually in Swedish!
The one with the meteor is my favorite.
October 15th, 2010 at 9:55 am
I appologise. Not speaking either language very well I just assumed! Thanks for pointing that out!
October 15th, 2010 at 10:23 am
admin – No reason to apologise.
I can’t see why you should be expected to be able to distinguish one obscure Scandinavian language from another. 
October 15th, 2010 at 11:48 am
the blond guy on the second cover (the David Gemmell one) is going to give men in kilts a bad name! maybe it’s a protest against guys wearing ridiculously low jeans, but he’s hoicked his kilt almost up to his nipples :-S
October 15th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
I seem to remember the covers for Lawheads King Raven series being ever so slightly…. darker…
The Eddings one is brilliant. My eyes get confused by the text on the map!
October 15th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
The Eddings cover is the same one I have on my English-text version — same style for all five in the set, actually. I don’t have them in front of me to tell you the publisher. I never thought they were all that bad, honestly.
October 15th, 2010 at 1:20 pm
I’m more concerned about that mutant version of Johnston being used on the Clarke cover. That “a”! Why would you do that?
October 15th, 2010 at 1:21 pm
I just noticed for my suprice and delight that one of my very early covers was introduced here. It is the first book cover, the Robert Jordan one. I can say I am in a good company here. Thank you for picking up the book (and apologizes – well not really, I have some nice memories of doing that one).
October 15th, 2010 at 1:25 pm
Admin – Mikä loistava idea! Meidän pitäisi lähettää ympäri maailmaa etsien kaikkein hirveä kattaa. En olisi uskonut, Englanti oli vielä muutama käyttämätön käyttää kirjakaupoista kuitenkin. Kiitos kaikille työtä tällä sivustolla. Se tekee aamut.
October 15th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
When in Finland, visit second hand book stores! In the 80s we saw some truly poor covers, these are most pretty competent really. Well, that one lady has a very long torso.
Anyway, the 80′s: http://www.aikakone.org/arkisto/arvostelut/k89plusmies.htm
October 15th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Agreed – time for a Good Show Sir round-the-world cruise!
October 15th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
@ Evad:
I tried putting your post into Google Translator out of curiosity. It seems to have more or less worked. But you tell us if this was what you were trying to say
“What a great idea! We should send all over the world looking for the most awful cover. I did not think England had a few spare used bookstores, however. Thanks for all the work on this site. It makes my mornings”
I will agree with you and thank the admin and everyone else for this fun website.
October 15th, 2010 at 2:14 pm
Also, the Robert Jordan title traslates–according to Google–as “Black Men in the Tower” which, according again to Google, is not the title of any known Jordan novel. I’m don’t think this cover is one of his Wheel of Time novels. So either: something wonky in the translation, the Finnish title for this novel is substantially different that the original English language version, or possibly some combination of both.
October 15th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
@Brian B.
Admin – What a great idea! We should send you all over the world seeking out the most horrid covers. I’d have thought England still had a few untapped used bookstores though. Thanks for all your efforts on this website. It makes my mornings.
Google is pretty good. It only took a few key words out.
Sincerely though – Thanks everyone especially Admin for all the grins. I sorely need each one these days.
October 15th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
hmmm….for some reason I now have the lyrics “We’re men, we’re men in tights” stuck in my head….
October 15th, 2010 at 4:14 pm
I particularly like Thumbs-Up Friar Tuck, especially as Robin ‘Black Ninja Kiwi Suit’ Hood appears to be in on the joke – but may be laughing at Tuck rather than with him. Tut tut, disrespectful.
October 15th, 2010 at 4:20 pm
That Finnish version of a Robert Jordan book, Mustan tornin miehet, appears to be the third of a three-part Lords of Chaos translation.
http://wot.wikia.com/wiki/Wheel_of_Time_translations
October 15th, 2010 at 4:21 pm
Oh, and how could you not snap the full front-and-back cover landscape, Good Show Sir?!
http://www.archipictor.com/hyvassa-seurassa-in-a-good-company/
October 15th, 2010 at 11:27 pm
Scandinavian typography worries me a little.
October 17th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
@Pertti: “I salute you, mighty space dildo!”
October 17th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
@Archipictor – Excellent! It’s always nice to have the artist drop by to find his work here. As you can see everything above really isn’t too bad at all, apart from some bad photoshop skills which is hard to make out on the pictures. Though I’m not sure about the choice of orange text on your cover. Anyway, thanks for commenting and it’s good to see you aren’t angry! haha
@Evad – You are very welcome! A world tour you say? That’s actually not too bad an idea. You guys going to pay for it all?
October 17th, 2010 at 6:40 pm
Oh, I found a motherlode of 80′s stuff, the Jalava scifi series!
http://www.kolumbus.fi/taksi.56/kirjallisuus/j/jalavanscifi-sarja/jsf-s.htm
Apologies in advance.
October 17th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
Oh I hadn’t realized that when Jordan’s Wheel of Time novels are translated, they also split them up into smaller novels. That would explain both the different title and the need for new cover art. I think this is an interestingly stylized cover; it is very different than the pseudo-photo realistic style on all the covers for the English editions.
October 18th, 2010 at 10:35 am
@Admin – When I cannot take a joke, it is better for me to quit. The banter in this blog is always rather good-natured, and you can see that the readers actually enjoy this kind of illustrations. I have collected many art books full of cheesy fantasy illustrations and I love them. I can answer only for the illustration. I am not responsible of the typography which has never been anything near good in sci-fi books in Finland. We illustrators love to do a good job even when we are not compensated nearly well enough. I believe the people responsible of typography do not share similar views.
I hope you have enjoyed your visit in Finland and have found more interesting books to show.
@Brian B. – Actually I was asked by the publisher to paint with similar style as the original artist Darrell K. Sweet, who has been professional illustrator for decades . Quite a request considering it was my first commercial book cover…
October 19th, 2010 at 5:59 am
@Brian, Google translation pretty much sucks w.r.t. Finnish. Single words may work but phrases or sentences won’t. The Finnish title is an exact translation of “Men of the Black Tower”.
@OP, looks like you only visited the most expensive bars for beer. There are plenty of cheaper places (esp. in Kallio) but the trick is finding them.
October 19th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
@Archipictor
Wow that would be a tall order for your first commission! Perhaps it is because I’m looking at a photograph rather than the actual book, but this cover looks more painterly than the US edition covers I have. The edges are softer, the colors more muted. Personally I like this idea for the cover, to make it a bit more impressionistic.
October 24th, 2010 at 3:20 pm
Sadly, I have the English version of the same Eddings book Poster #5 (SI?) has.
I think it’s a variant (ie re-draw) of book five of the Belgariad put out by Del Ray (Enchanter’s End Game ) by Laurence Schwinger cira 1984ish. I picked up a copy this year, but there are sufficient differences to make this curious.
And, while the Jordan isn’t the greatest, at least it isn’t bland (Lord of Chaos cover, I’m looking at you).
December 7th, 2010 at 10:14 am
Haha oh I do hate Finnish covers, did you see the Harry potter ones? They are horrible. What are they thinking
December 7th, 2010 at 10:14 pm
While English and US covers are all flawless works of art, as the rest of this site shows.