Nov 09
Click for full imageNix Comments: You may recognise some aspects of this cover. The huge glowy face on the left? That, I think, is Tung: I suspect Miles is the other glowy face. In the book, Tung’s never described as having any kind of moustache, and it would fit poorly inside a combat helmet, but hey, Eurasians all look like Ming the Merciless, right? Right?
Published 1997
You might remember me from such covers as The Vor Game.
Many thanks to Nix!
(Average: 7.08 out of 10)
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(9.25 out of 10)
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November 9th, 2010 at 10:10 am
Do you think Lois McMaster Bujold saw this cover and said ‘There’s no way you’re putting my name on that!’?
November 9th, 2010 at 10:28 am
I’d like to see the back cover for quote references. It reads like a James Lipton cue card.
November 9th, 2010 at 12:35 pm
“Tung’s never described as having any kind of moustache, and it would fit poorly inside a combat helmet, but hey, Eurasians all look like Ming the Merciless, right? Right?”
Not to mention that judging by this (partly recycled) cover, Whitey McWhitebread has conquered the universe and put up a huge “NO BLACKS, NO IRISH, NO DOGS” sign on the door.
November 9th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
I’d just like to point out that the rest of the omnibuses for this series have even uglier covers than this one. Seriously, this is the best they gave it.
November 9th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
I’ve never seen anyone so excited to be sitting in a chair.
November 9th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
One should not blame the author when editors scramble for “killer quotes” with such desperation that you get those ridiculous cue card quotes
— which, by the way, are so ruthlessly parsed they could fit into just about ANY review:
“… wit, style, versatility…” [ “– these are features largely absent from this year’s deluge of ever-more derivative sequels.”]
[“It would be”] “… wonderful…” [“if publishers, just for once, stopped behaving like a flock of sheep shepherded by accountants, and started acting like people with depth in their souls.”]
[“There is a”] “…superb…” [“phrase which sums up the recurring peril of trying to offer readers more of the same, year after year.”]
[“The amazingly”] “…powerful…” [“glue binding this paperback ensured that no pages fell out, even after I stuffed it into the wood stove and lit a fire.”]
[“The consistently dull, utterly predictable output from major genre publishers is now”] “…compelling…” [“me to give up on SF and Fantasy altogether.”]
[For readers with a paralyzing phobia of the unknown, I offer this book and say — with a sneer:”] “Highly recommended.”
November 9th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Simon: the scan simply omits the top edge which has Bujold’s name.
November 9th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Yeah, this cover is great for playing, “Whose face is that?” The girl on the right is probably Elena, and the person in the lower left corner is androgynous enough (what we can see of them, anyway) that I’m going to say it’s Bel. No clue on the others, unless the old guy on the lower right is Piotr’s ghost.
November 9th, 2010 at 3:29 pm
Wow, recycling the same cover within the same book series? Gutsy! I like your moxy, kid.
The really amazing thing is that _the editors thought this cover was so great that they used it twice_!
November 9th, 2010 at 8:04 pm
hilarious
November 9th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
The huge looming blue face on the right? Mr Big from Sex in the City.
November 9th, 2010 at 9:46 pm
Adam: I’m now imagining Miles as Mr Big. I’m not sure the hyperactivity really fits (though it would surely be useful in a criminal career, not that Miles could get away with one with his position and appearance. It’s almost as unlikely as his passing himself off as a mercenary admiral and not a Vorkosigan at all).
Seamyst: I just dug through the book. The hair colour is right, but in the very first chapter Elena is described as having an aquiline profile. Is that aquiline? No. (Mind you, this is a very minor sin compared to all the other sins this cover is guilty of.)
Unfortunately the cover of the most recent Vorkosigan novel, _Cryoburn_ (they thankfully dropped the planned BiCapitalization) is relatively restrained for Baen, with only the hideous orange Baen Standard Font to mark it out from the crowd.
(And sorry about chopping part of the cover off: I was using a really crap camera back in April.)
November 9th, 2010 at 9:48 pm
Need I add that I feel privileged to have a submission of mine positioned right after such an appalling cover as _Clash of Star-Kings_.
November 10th, 2010 at 10:12 am
Nothing like a nice family get together to sit and watch Space Eastenders.
November 10th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Nix: Yeah, you’re right. Still, it’s a good bet that the cover artist didn’t know that (or didn’t care, but I’m going with the former).
November 10th, 2010 at 8:39 pm
So many of these Baen covers are awful, but, they sell…
November 10th, 2010 at 11:40 pm
Baen are currently giving all of the Vorkosigan series, including Cryoburn, away for free online. Only the texts, of course, if you want the cover art as well you have to pay.
November 11th, 2010 at 9:30 pm
If you get _Cryoburn_, it has a CD in the back with the text of absolutely everything else in that universe on it in half a dozen formats, including cover art. Run, don’t walk! 🙂
December 7th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
As an aside, the recycled nature of this cover is actually a rather too clever feature. The book is an anthology consisting of a short story and two novels, _The Warrior’s Apprentice_ and _The Vor Game_. The glowy background is a recycled cover from _The Warrior’s Apprentice_, and the foreground is recycled from _The Vor Game_. So the cover looks automatically familiar if you already have the books that make up this one, so you know you don’t need to buy it. 🙂
April 20th, 2011 at 5:06 am
Old Miles doesn’t get about much anymore.
July 18th, 2011 at 2:28 pm
Beat me to it by seven months, Nix. You king.
August 8th, 2012 at 10:02 am
No, that’s definitely Charlie Sheen.
October 26th, 2012 at 1:29 pm
“We can see directly up his nostrils! FIRE!”
September 13th, 2015 at 10:30 am
“…wit, style, versatility…”
“…wonderful…”
“…superb…”
“…powerful…”
“…compelling…”
“Highly recommended.”
“See back cover.”
It is a bad thing to be forced to quote single words from a review, instead of actual praises, right? Kinda makes you wonder if the inclusion of full stop in “highly recommended” is an intentional typo and the actual sentence goes on to suggest something unflattering.
September 14th, 2015 at 6:15 am
@anon: …so they’re highly recommending that we see the witty, stylish, versatile, wonderful, superb, powerful and compelling back cover?
December 17th, 2015 at 7:39 pm
So, that guy in the chair: Is he sit-dancing, playing the drums or conducting an orchestra? Or does he just really need to go to the toilet?
January 15th, 2017 at 3:08 am
Mr. Big or Capt. Jack Harkness?
Neither of them seem right for Miles.
April 3rd, 2024 at 3:26 pm
Fu Manchu desperately looks for any exit out of this cover.