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Dec 07

Man-Kitten WarsClick for larger image

JuanPaul Art Direction: What we’re looking for is a cover that seems to question the reader’s worthiness to buy this book. It should almost say, “Kid, what are doing here? Look at us: Cat Men in spacesuits with our own f-ing spaceship. Do you REALLY think you can handle this?”

Published 1990

Actually, that cover IS a classical work of art!I would touch it without protective gloves.I've seen worse. Far, far, worse.Interesting, but I would still read it in public.Middlng: Neither awful nor awfully goodWould not like to be seen reading that!Awful... just awful...That belongs in a gold-lame picture frame!Gah... my eyes are burning! Feels so good!Good Show Sir! (Average: 4.95 out of 10)
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22 Responses to “Man-Kzin Wars III”

  1. THX 1139 Says:

    OK, who’s brought out the ball of wool?

  2. Francis Boyle Says:

    They just better hope the humans aren’t equipped with lasers – or strategically deployed cardboard boxes.

  3. fred Says:

    You’re going to lose. Really. Lose every war with Man. So just turn around right now, go home, and leave BAEN covers to more important things. Like….women in catsuits.

  4. Tor Mented Says:

    (old joke:) “I’m lookin’ fer the man who shot my paw.”

  5. Bruce Munro Says:

    I know it’s probably just artistic convention, but man! (Kzin!?) Those spaceships are packed tight. Give yourselves some elbow room, cat folks: space is big! Between the crowd of spaceships, the crowd of letters, and the apparently limited space behind that display screen or Pong game or whatever it is, the picture has a positively claustrophobic air to it.

    Those outfits look rather uncomfortable for someone covered with fur. And the Kzin in back – well, maybe it’s just fur, but it looks like he’s got a honkin’ great chin, the Jay Leno of cat-people.

    @JuanPaul: of course they’re looking at the reader as if they’re a member of an inferior species. That’s the opinion of domestic cats, too.

  6. Tat Wood Says:

    I wondered what the inside of one of these looked like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWq_VXCjolY

    But wan’t it nice of millionaire bestseller Larry Niven to allow his name to be bigger than those of the three, count’ ’em, three real authors of this book, two of whom some people had heard of but wondered if they were still around?

  7. Bibliomancer Says:

    Fearsome looking, but helpless against laser pens.

  8. B. Chiclitz Says:

    Not the overwhelming space armada, not the (except for the revolver) high tech weaponry, not the fancy suits, not even the attempt at looking smug, can hide the fact that basically these cats are idiots.

  9. Bruce A Munro Says:

    @B. Chiclitz: It is canon that the Kzin suffer from Leeroy Jenkins syndrome.

  10. Tor Mented Says:

    Judging by their smiles, I’d say that Carole Baskin’s husband was delicious.

  11. GSS ex-noob Says:

    I see it’s fixin’ to be Howling Time!

    @Tor: old joke, but entirely appropriate.

    @Tat: Can you imagine how big one of those units would be for an entire ship full of cats that size?

    SM Stirling got the best deal out of it; he’s not sold as many books as the others (esp. in 1990) but at least you can read his name thanks to the white type in the middle of the cover.

    @Bruce: You’d think cats would want more personal space. Nothing sets off a growl and hiss fest at my house than the 2 of mine accidentally touching. Solo cat person ships can be very small, though, like a nice cardboard box.

    This doesn’t have any cleavage or oversized weaponry, but it sure is ugly with all that darkness and clutter. The claws on seated pistol-wielding kitty are… improbable. I’m betting the cover’s embossed, of course.

    It is also canon that the Kzin were first defeated by humans with… a laser.

    I say the week has started off in fine GSS style thanks to BAEN!growlhiss-pewpew-coughhackhairball

  12. Hammy Says:

    @GSSX-n (Prev.):

    Solo cat-person ships can be impossibly small….

  13. GSS ex-noob Says:

    @Hammy: Yes, so small you can’t figure out how the cat-person even got into it and fits, or sits.

  14. THX 1139 Says:

    You know, not one of this series’ book covers have a catperson in a mankini on them…

  15. GSS ex-noob Says:

    @THX: Or a cat-woman in a catsuit.

  16. A. R. Yngve Says:

    DID YOU KNOW?
    The Kzin rock group “Pawdas Priest” was a cult phenomenon in the galaxy until its tragic early demise during the infamous Bad Catnip Scare.

    Here the lead singer and keyboard player are shown on the cover of their bestselling album “Paws To the Wall”.

  17. Candlejack Says:

    How do you pronounce Kzin, anyway? In my head it sounds like kissin, but surely space war enthusiasts wouldn’t tell people they were reading Man-kissin books.

  18. fred Says:

    BAEN shold do a Pierson’s Puppeteers series. Puppeteers – Safety Wars, where everything made safer is dual purposely made extremely more dangerous.

  19. Tat Wood Says:

    @Candlejack: hello, glad you could make it to the wake.

    I think we ought to follow Leonard Nimoy on this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B65HEhBR-1s

  20. GSS ex-noob Says:

    @Tat: Presumably Niven told the actors/production how to say it, or at least spelled it out in the script. The Z is definitely a z-sound.

  21. Candlejack Says:

    @Tat I reckoned time might be running out to ask.

    Now I know, and knowing is half the battle.

  22. A. R. Yngve Says:

    The Jim Henson Company should make the official movie/series of the Man-Kzin Wars. Send requests to them at the website:
    https://www.henson.com/

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