Good Show Sir

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Alessandra Comments: Ow, ow, ow! I’m doing a dental self-exam, my back is thrown out, and I’m carrying this armful of light-sabre blades!
Published 2010

(Average: 8.71 out of 10)

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Rusty Comments: How one can tell a true hero from a common man is by whether his shirt disintegrates in an alluring yet ferocious manner at the drop of the hat.
Published 2011

(Average: 8.60 out of 10)

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Andrew’s Art Direction: Okay, so here’s my idea. Fonts. This is a terribly confusing trilogy of books and we want the readers to know it. So I want no less than 2 font types and 4 font sizes. The artwork? Well it technically falls under sci-fi, so make sure there is a star-scape on there. People will like that. Then slap on just enough plot material to make the readers confused about what they are picking up. I smell an epic win with this one!
Published 1998

(Average: 5.34 out of 10)

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Man of the Mountian’s Art Direction:So, the story is about a girl trapped in the middle of the black death in midevial England, while everyone back in her time are dying of a flu epidemic. Give us a nice upbeat cover, otherwise nobody is going to buy this!
Published 1993

(Average: 6.69 out of 10)

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NGpm Comments: This is one busy cover. Why does the dragon-saurus have a blue and red aura? Is the horse fireproof? You know this dragon’s dynamite: “look at the bones, man!” Overall the art isn’t bad, but the typography and that blurb about the Newberry is just so awkward.
Published 1986

(Average: 5.58 out of 10)

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Matt Comments: All randomness aside, it’s the quality of the drawing that really stands out here.
Published 1997

Many thanks to Matt!

(Average: 8.85 out of 10)

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Nix 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: 7.21 out of 10)

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Corwin Comments: In the future, designer space suits are in style, asynchronous space ballet is an Olympic sport, and we’ve all lost our pinkies.
Published 2008

(Average: 8.09 out of 10)

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Ashton Comments: Usually when there’s a naked woman on the front of a book it’s to titillate the viewer, but this brave artist went against convention and made the most unappealing cover he could think of.
Published 1989

Many thanks to Ashton!

(Average: 8.23 out of 10)

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Well it’s reached that time again were here in the UK we are blessed with bank holidays! So for those like myself who will be relaxing with an extra long weekend, here are some honourable mentions.

These covers break our explicit and hard kept rules, which are enforced with an iron fist. These are part of a franchise (this time of adventure choice novels), but nonetheless each of them sports an excellent cover so I hope you enjoy them.

Also just to say thanks to everyone who has been sending me in covers! We’ll slowly get through them all so keep an eye out and I promise they will appear at some stage.

Have a great weekend for those benefiting from it!

To face the evil rabbit turn to page 8
To run away turn to page 57

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(Average: 6.42 out of 10)

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