May 01
Click for larger imageRachelJ Art Direction: “This is no ordinary novel. Not even a “A Novel”. This is… “A MOSAIC”. I want every element of the cover– title, subtitle, font, artwork– to blend harmoniously into one vast, resounding “WTF”.
Do it justice, my boy.”
[Note: It’s not my camera. The cover image is just really, really dark and murky and it’s hard to tell what anything is.]
Published 1990
(Average: 6.80 out of 10)
Loading...
Lastest Tweet
May 1st, 2018 at 9:40 am
I read it. Cover as bad as the rest. The interesting bits are told not by the captain, who lived to tell the tale, but by the robot scribe. Then, a third of the story is about the anguish, the remorse of the captain of the ship, which is in some kind of psychiatric hospital, and not much else is happening. The robot scribe was quite interesting, as well as some other undevelopped details about that world.
May 1st, 2018 at 9:47 am
“Yeah, could you stand back a bit? Bit more? Little bit more? Can you still hear me? Bit more?”
May 1st, 2018 at 10:03 am
Aw, I see there’s a new tag, “murky murk”, just for this!
But TW, it also needs the “tentacles” tag- one thing that *is* a bit easier to see on the physical copy is that that’s what the curvy reddish segmented things at the top are. The rest is anyone’s guess, really.
@Elvraie. Thanks for the information. Why is it called “Wulfsyarn”, anyway? The robot is called “Wulf” and the captain/patient is “Wilberfoss”, so where’s the “syarn” bit come from?
Or- terrible thought- is it actually “Wulf’s Yarn”, but we’re too hip now to separate words or use apostrophes?
May 1st, 2018 at 10:29 am
Wulf S. – Young Adult Registered Nurse.
May 1st, 2018 at 12:45 pm
It looks like the artist was going for Giger but ended up with ‘Honey I Shrunk the Kids’.
May 1st, 2018 at 12:56 pm
“Here be tygers of the mind”
May 1st, 2018 at 12:58 pm
I think it’s a terrible cover. But what does Ben think?
May 1st, 2018 at 1:03 pm
A bored dog: “Woof” (yawn)
May 1st, 2018 at 1:05 pm
Another thing I wish to make clear is that, other than the gleam on the extreme right-hand edge of the dust jacket, and on the metallic lettering, the faint shafts and patches of hazy light are also part of the artwork, not camera artifacts. Very frustrating cover to photograph!
May 1st, 2018 at 1:08 pm
@Raoul – Stop picking on Ben. That’s why we can never make new friends here.
May 1st, 2018 at 1:11 pm
@RachelJ – It looks like you have a knock-off cover. Bibliomancer’s link has a bitchin’ quote. And embossing!
@BM – I just wanted to get a new perspective!
May 1st, 2018 at 1:15 pm
@Raoul (#7). Ben thinks it doesn’t belong on our website since the book is *actually* about the moon, midgets and tentacles. (Possibly).
I still wish I knew how the title is meant to be pronounced. “Wolf Sigh Yarn”? “Wolf’s Yarn”? Two syllables or three?
May 1st, 2018 at 1:20 pm
@Raoul (#11). Nah, Bibliomancer’s edition isn’t A MOSAIC. Who needs quotes when your book is *that* unique?
May 1st, 2018 at 3:24 pm
Wulfsyarn—The story of a Nazi U-Boat Commander who, tired of the endless horrors of war, deserts his ship and concocts a long, rambling and implausible story as a cover up.
May 1st, 2018 at 3:26 pm
Wulfsyarn—The story of a Nazi U-Boat Commander who, tired of the endless horrors of war, decides to take up macramé.
May 1st, 2018 at 3:48 pm
Wulf! Right here and now!
May 1st, 2018 at 4:21 pm
This cover comes across more as a medley than a mosaic. It may even be a melange. Definitely not a mosaic.
May 1st, 2018 at 5:25 pm
You know it’s spring when the giant tentacles start getting into the house.
May 1st, 2018 at 5:54 pm
Just when I called yesterday’s cover dull . . . along comes this “beauty” to blow that one out of the water. You can’t even tell what’s going on!
May 1st, 2018 at 6:43 pm
@Anna T: it’s perfectly simple – the wrecked spaceship from ‘Alien’ is under threat from the Fruit Salad of Damocles. Nonetheless, they’ve decided to host an edition of ‘The Voice’ there.
May 2nd, 2018 at 3:11 am
I can’t even begin to think how to say the title. Er, TITLE.
Vulf Sy-arn? Pretentious.
Oh, Wolf’s Yarn? Naff.
This is not so much a mosaic as a spill across the canvas, or possibly a collage.
Murky AND shiny! It’s an exciting new technique from UAI!
The 1992 cover has a lone bearded man and a Trek-ish spaceship; the 2011 one has a spaceship, alien pyramid, and has dropped “A Mosaic”. So at least the covers improved.
Amazon US is too embarrassed to show this cover at all.
@JuanPaul (5): Perfect description.
@Tat: but the rejections are even worse — lose and you’re yanked offstage by a tentacle! Looks like this chap’s never getting to finish his rendition of “I-I-I Will Always Love Yo-u-u-uURK!”
Wulf S. Yarn: the story of a furry who also knits. “Wulf’s Yarn” is the name of his Etsy site. (Yiffing in heck.)
May 2nd, 2018 at 5:11 am
@Juan Paul and Anna T. Yes, at first glance the artwork looks like a mish-mash of random “things”. This is also what it looks like at second and third glance.
However, if you stare at the cover long enough…
…you will go mad.
Still, there is a chance that in the instant before your mind collapses into gibbering chaos, you will perceive that all the different elements (moon, tentacles, wall, little guy) are actually part of a single scene. It’s the murk in between that fools you.
May 2nd, 2018 at 2:12 pm
@RachelJ – “gibbering chaos” you say? That reminds me that I forgot to add the “gibberish title” tag!
May 2nd, 2018 at 2:38 pm
@Tag Wizard. I was just about to remind you, actually. Didn’t want to overwork you, though.
May 2nd, 2018 at 6:27 pm
@Tat Wood: “Fruit Salad of Damocles” wins you extra Internet points – that’s hilarious.
May 14th, 2018 at 10:33 am
This is not how I picture a mosaic.
Perhaps “Wulfsyarn: A murk” would be more appropriate.