Apart from the fact that our damsel appears to have wandered in from an Audrey Hepburn knockoff movie I can’t see much wrong with this. At least we’re spared the giant green pussy.
Another bad cover for a good book. And it’s not really that terrifying, unless you’re a firm believer in the patriarchy and afraid of girls.
Who TF was Mrs. Ann Radcliffe, and who TF cared about her award at any time? Nowadays we’d be more likely to have “Retro Hugo Finalist” in the shuriken. And hopefully no pink-on-yellow.
@fred: I dunno, Wife looks so flimsy that she’s leaning into the wind to keep from falling over, as her body’s curved between neck and putative feet.
A bit late to the party, but it’s as Francis Boyle says: the cover isn’t particularly bad, if not exactly representative of the contents. Trapped _her_ in a web of witchcraft? No, it’s more _he_ who’s stumbled into a web of witchcraft – his wife being a witch herself. Patriarchal framing, as usual!
@GSS ex-noob: I somehow picture (no doubt showing my own patriarchal biases) Mrs. Radcliffe as the absolute overlord of some small town book club, all very Daughters of the American Revolution with tea and cake.
@ex-noob, Bruce: Mrs Radcliffe pretty much invented gothic horror. It didn’t start in 1980s Leeds. ‘Mysteries of Udolpho’ made her the highest-paid writer of the 1790s, which is why men jumped on the bandwagon.
Gothic horror: NOT my thing, except maybe with eldritch abominations thrown in. I have heard of “Mysteries of Udolpho”, though.
Comparing King with someone who had been dead for two centuries seems odd, but I will admit that if you use the Ngram reader Mrs. Radcliffe seems to keep ticking along with fairly decent numbers, if only about a fifth of King’s numbers since the late 80s
@GSSxN: Jane Austen in her youth was an avid reader of Gothic novels, especially Radcliffe’s *The Mysteries of Udolpho* — so much so that she alludes to that novel many times in her own first published novel, *Northanger Abbey,* which parodizes the genre.
Ah! I know of “Mysteries of Udolpho”, might have even read it. Didn’t recall her name, though, and never heard of the award. Couldn’t even find any details with a quick Google. Still disapprove of the pink on yellow, but blame the publisher.
I have now Wiki’d her and found out her childhood bestie was Charles Darwin’s mum. Quite an interesting milieu. Good Show for her for trying to elevate the tone of the Gothic style. Also for making more money than her husband and both of them traveling extensively on that sum, with no children to keep them in England being stuffy. A woman ahead of her time.
@Bruce: What caused the bumps for Stephen King around 1940 and 1960? Can’t be the guy we’re all thinking of, but then both his first and last name are common enough.
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October 18th, 2023 at 10:30 am
“I’d sell my soul to be able to draw feet”
But this edition pre-dates the yank soap ‘Dark Shadows’. And the Badedas adverts. And Stevie Nicks’s whole career.
October 18th, 2023 at 11:05 am
Apart from the fact that our damsel appears to have wandered in from an Audrey Hepburn knockoff movie I can’t see much wrong with this. At least we’re spared the giant green pussy.
October 18th, 2023 at 12:16 pm
Does her husband get conjural visits?
October 18th, 2023 at 12:48 pm
Amazing wind to affect only her hair.
October 18th, 2023 at 2:51 pm
“Conjure wife!”
“The spell fizzles and conjures stepmother instead!”
October 18th, 2023 at 4:27 pm
Putzer Prize for Literature!
October 19th, 2023 at 1:00 am
Another bad cover for a good book. And it’s not really that terrifying, unless you’re a firm believer in the patriarchy and afraid of girls.
Who TF was Mrs. Ann Radcliffe, and who TF cared about her award at any time? Nowadays we’d be more likely to have “Retro Hugo Finalist” in the shuriken. And hopefully no pink-on-yellow.
@fred: I dunno, Wife looks so flimsy that she’s leaning into the wind to keep from falling over, as her body’s curved between neck and putative feet.
October 19th, 2023 at 8:25 am
A bit late to the party, but it’s as Francis Boyle says: the cover isn’t particularly bad, if not exactly representative of the contents. Trapped _her_ in a web of witchcraft? No, it’s more _he_ who’s stumbled into a web of witchcraft – his wife being a witch herself. Patriarchal framing, as usual!
@GSS ex-noob: I somehow picture (no doubt showing my own patriarchal biases) Mrs. Radcliffe as the absolute overlord of some small town book club, all very Daughters of the American Revolution with tea and cake.
October 19th, 2023 at 7:17 pm
@ex-noob, Bruce: Mrs Radcliffe pretty much invented gothic horror. It didn’t start in 1980s Leeds. ‘Mysteries of Udolpho’ made her the highest-paid writer of the 1790s, which is why men jumped on the bandwagon.
You may as well ask who TF is Stephen King.
October 19th, 2023 at 11:00 pm
Gothic horror: NOT my thing, except maybe with eldritch abominations thrown in. I have heard of “Mysteries of Udolpho”, though.
Comparing King with someone who had been dead for two centuries seems odd, but I will admit that if you use the Ngram reader Mrs. Radcliffe seems to keep ticking along with fairly decent numbers, if only about a fifth of King’s numbers since the late 80s
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Stephen+King%2CAnn+Radcliffe&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=3
October 20th, 2023 at 2:57 am
@GSSxN: Jane Austen in her youth was an avid reader of Gothic novels, especially Radcliffe’s *The Mysteries of Udolpho* — so much so that she alludes to that novel many times in her own first published novel, *Northanger Abbey,* which parodizes the genre.
October 22nd, 2023 at 2:01 am
Ah! I know of “Mysteries of Udolpho”, might have even read it. Didn’t recall her name, though, and never heard of the award. Couldn’t even find any details with a quick Google. Still disapprove of the pink on yellow, but blame the publisher.
I have now Wiki’d her and found out her childhood bestie was Charles Darwin’s mum. Quite an interesting milieu. Good Show for her for trying to elevate the tone of the Gothic style. Also for making more money than her husband and both of them traveling extensively on that sum, with no children to keep them in England being stuffy. A woman ahead of her time.
@Bruce: What caused the bumps for Stephen King around 1940 and 1960? Can’t be the guy we’re all thinking of, but then both his first and last name are common enough.