The thing I like about Schongut is that there's some actual narrative to his illustration. It may not be a detailed report of a climactic scene but you get some metaphorical representational whoozits out of it. Loads better than the amoeba spirograph art that was big in the late 60s. "Whoa, dude. totally trippy!"
Anyhoo, I guess actual illustration has gone out of fashion now, pity that. RANTY, RANTY, RANT-RANT...
I love old school sci-fi covers. I have a few books passed down from my parents or found at used book stores - the trippy covers, the crinkled corners, yellowed pages, that attic smell of wood and dust - they are my favorite books. I don't have any of these, but I swear I've seen the spider one...it's eyes have looked at me like that before.
Why the hell can't we have nice cover art anymore? It's slightly better in the UK, but there's still far too much Photoshopped banality. RANTY, RANTY, RANT-RANT...
@Grey_Area: Not to say that there wasn't a metric fuckton of thought in the execution of these covers, but whoa... so beautiful. I mean seriously, If you saw this book (by the author of our 1st book club endevour) faced on the shelves of your local shop you'd have to pick it up, no?
@Grey_Area: I feel your rant, and I'll get the torches/pitchforks.
I want hard-edge op-art, overwrought hand-painted vignettes of the story, and I also want the corpse of Saul Bass propped up on a stick so we can give him blankets, bottles of rum, and cigars.
The future belongs to the analog loyalists!
The Graveyard Book, Monster, Sharp Teeth, The Darker Mask, Graywalker and the first three of the Dresden Files. In my defense I thought Butcher was going to stop having all his characters from saying, "Stars." and talking in the same voice but I was wrong. Man was I wrong.
Well I'm not into "heavy" fantasy or even SF in which the environment has nothing to do with our own (I guess I lack imagination, I just can't suspend that much disbelief), but I don't want to be one of those people who go "Yuck fantasy/whichever genre, it's all horrible crap", because I'm aware that you're likely to miss out on a lot of cool stuff that way. So yes, urban fantasy is right for me. I'm reading my very first fantasy book now, "Mythago Wood" by Robert Holdstock, and I really like it. Of course this book is 25 years old and not Twilight exactly, but it says Urban Fantasy on the cover. I'm not sure whether it'll be a gateway drug for me into the heavier stuff, though (I'm almost as old as the book, too old to change maybe), but I do want to read more books with about the same amount of fantastical elements in an otherwise recognisable setting. If anyone reads this far, tips are welcome!
@h4nn4h: Yeah but Mythago Wood is an actual good novel, you lucked out. A lot of books get stuck with that label and have to associate with some really crummy writing. But fear not. Like the guy said 90% of anything is crap. There is a whole bunch of urban fantasy so that makes a pretty big 10% to choose from.
I think my first "urban fantasy" was the way out of print (1985) Wizard of the Pigeons by Megan Lindholm (who is actually Robin Hobb). Great book, worth hunting down. It dealt with the problems of the homeless and poverty in modern Seattle and also had a fairly original take on magic.
I wish the glut of subsequent urban fantasy was as good. Instead we get tripe like the Dresden Files series, sorry folks, Jim Butcher is a hack. But do not be discouraged, there is some goodness out there.
For fantasy set in modern cities that ain't pure drivel? Hmmm, just off the toppa my head...You might like Charles DeLint, he's done a whole bunch, most of which I liked. He blends the old First Nation folks like Coyote with Celtic myths and such in his own made-up Midwestern metropolis of Newford. China Meiville's very first novel King Rat is worth checking out and I found Neil Gaiman's American Gods and Anansi Boys sorta similar. The Good Fairies of New York by Mark Millar is wicked funny. Richard Kadrey's Sandman Slim which Charlie just reviewed on this blog is pretty good but I prefer his Butcher Bird. If you want to go for a "classic", please Please read Little, Big by John Crowley. Pure magic to read.
@Grey_Area: Thanks for the tips! I've already read American Gods, actually, and enjoyed it, but for some reason I didn't really think of it as fantasy before. I probably really have too stereotypical ideas about this genre, that it has to have elves, wizards and 'characters named "Drizzt",' as someone before me put it, to qualify. It wasn't so much luck as a good tip-provider that made me choose Mythago Wood as my first (conscious) Fantasy Reading Experienzz, so let's hope my luck holds when I check out your tips, which I definitely will. I'll start with the classic because you asked so nicely :-)
Ever since the powerful Transhumanist lobby passed that law forbidding writers from speculating about the future, it's been nothing but steampunk goggles and tattooed tarts looking over their shoulders.
My daughter got turned off of the Twilight series by the dreadful movie and all of the hype but she has also read many many other books since that time including Little Brother, The Hunger Games, Dracula and historical fiction.
On another note, Twilight even got my adult sister to read and this is amazing because she hasn't read a book since she was forced to do book reports in high school.
Getting people to read opens so many doors to so many wonderful books. So what if they get drawn into that world by sparkly vampires?
@it must be bunnies: Did she (the older one) read anything else when she finished it? Because I knew of many kids who camped all night to read the last Harry Potter book, and then didn't pick another one until the next Harry Potter book came out (they picked every HP product there was, notebooks, t-shirts, posters, games, but no books). I don't think those fandom phenomenons really make kids read more. If reading the four Twilight books in one year they read four books more than they did the previous one, they're welcome to it. But I wouldn't expect them to keep doing it.
Ps: I don't know, or care, how many Twilight books are there.
@Dirk Angry: She worked her way through the first three books in a two week period and is currently reading the final book in the series. This is seriously the most reading she has done in 25 years. I have many good books I am going to recommend to her once she is done. Time will tell I guess.
My daughter on the other hand, read easily 30 books this summer. She will be a life long reader.
I believe that the fandom phenomenon does encourage children and adults to read books that they may not have felt they had the ability to tackle. For many children a novel can seem like a giant step from chapter books but once they have finished their first many have the confidence to read more.
I despise urban fantasy. UNLESS it's urban fantasy in the style of Michael Swanwick's The Iron Dragon's Daughter and The Dragons of Babel, or really outre stuff like China Mieville. Unicorns and elves in New York City, though? Hackneyed to the point of sheer tedium. In fantasy, even more so than in science-fiction, your imagination should be free to come up with anything and everything you like--so why do so many "urban fantasy" writers still keep dealing with the same boring "fey meets Brooklyn" BS?
@Pegritz: I so agree. It just screams, "I'm too lazy to do the world-building."
I think we should tack on "contemporary" to all those detective wizard books to differentiate them from Swanwick, Jay Lake, VanderMeer et al. Or do we still use (ugh) "slipstream" for those?
I hate genre labels, but it does make things easier when buying or selling books.
Urban fantasy, does that mean urban dectective stuff, like the Dresden Files and Simon R Green? Because I'll take that any day over elves and dragons and characters named "Drizzt" any day.
10/14/09
10/14/09
10/14/09
Anyhoo, I guess actual illustration has gone out of fashion now, pity that. RANTY, RANTY, RANT-RANT...
10/14/09
10/14/09
Okay, I'm sorry. I feel much better now.
I'll go with Nursey back to my room with the special jacket.
10/14/09
10/14/09
10/14/09
"PAGING DR. FREUD, PAGING DR. FREUD..."
I like the FROOMB!, The Tenant, and The People:.... The others are kind of 'meh...'
10/14/09
10/14/09
Sanda Zhairovic has done some brilliant wortk for Gollancz recently. Simple but striking.
[www.planetvideo.com.au]
10/14/09
Art directors take note. Gimme this.
10/14/09
RANTY, RANTY, RANT-RANT...
10/14/09
I want hard-edge op-art, overwrought hand-painted vignettes of the story, and I also want the corpse of Saul Bass propped up on a stick so we can give him blankets, bottles of rum, and cigars.
The future belongs to the analog loyalists!
10/14/09
10/14/09
10/14/09
10/14/09
I wonder if that is intentional and/or maybe related to the story?
08/27/09
The Graveyard Book, Monster, Sharp Teeth, The Darker Mask, Graywalker and the first three of the Dresden Files. In my defense I thought Butcher was going to stop having all his characters from saying, "Stars." and talking in the same voice but I was wrong. Man was I wrong.
08/26/09
08/27/09
I think my first "urban fantasy" was the way out of print (1985) Wizard of the Pigeons by Megan Lindholm (who is actually Robin Hobb). Great book, worth hunting down. It dealt with the problems of the homeless and poverty in modern Seattle and also had a fairly original take on magic.
I wish the glut of subsequent urban fantasy was as good. Instead we get tripe like the Dresden Files series, sorry folks, Jim Butcher is a hack. But do not be discouraged, there is some goodness out there.
For fantasy set in modern cities that ain't pure drivel? Hmmm, just off the toppa my head...You might like Charles DeLint, he's done a whole bunch, most of which I liked. He blends the old First Nation folks like Coyote with Celtic myths and such in his own made-up Midwestern metropolis of Newford. China Meiville's very first novel King Rat is worth checking out and I found Neil Gaiman's American Gods and Anansi Boys sorta similar. The Good Fairies of New York by Mark Millar is wicked funny. Richard Kadrey's Sandman Slim which Charlie just reviewed on this blog is pretty good but I prefer his Butcher Bird. If you want to go for a "classic", please Please read Little, Big by John Crowley. Pure magic to read.
Good hunting.
08/27/09
08/26/09
(do not want)
08/26/09
08/26/09
08/26/09
I miss spaceships.
08/26/09
08/26/09
08/26/09
@Grey_Area: Or..
08/26/09
@Grey_Area: ...and...
(to be fair, this ain't paranormal romance, just jumping on the cover art bandwagon)
08/26/09
08/26/09
@Rasselas: But wait there's more!
08/26/09
@Grey_Area: Look, diversity! Equal-opportunity tramps!
08/26/09
@Grey_Area: Okay, I'll stop now, but this trend won't die.
I miss spaceships.
08/26/09
08/26/09
@Rasselas: Fortunately, there is an antidote to these photo covers.
08/26/09
08/26/09
My daughter got turned off of the Twilight series by the dreadful movie and all of the hype but she has also read many many other books since that time including Little Brother, The Hunger Games, Dracula and historical fiction.
On another note, Twilight even got my adult sister to read and this is amazing because she hasn't read a book since she was forced to do book reports in high school.
Getting people to read opens so many doors to so many wonderful books. So what if they get drawn into that world by sparkly vampires?
08/26/09
Ps: I don't know, or care, how many Twilight books are there.
08/26/09
My daughter on the other hand, read easily 30 books this summer. She will be a life long reader.
I believe that the fandom phenomenon does encourage children and adults to read books that they may not have felt they had the ability to tackle. For many children a novel can seem like a giant step from chapter books but once they have finished their first many have the confidence to read more.
08/27/09
08/26/09
08/26/09
I think we should tack on "contemporary" to all those detective wizard books to differentiate them from Swanwick, Jay Lake, VanderMeer et al. Or do we still use (ugh) "slipstream" for those?
I hate genre labels, but it does make things easier when buying or selling books.
08/26/09