Jo Walton ([info]papersky) wrote,
@ 2008-06-25 15:40:00
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New edition of Tooth and Claw
There's a new Orb edition of Tooth and Claw coming out in January, and This is the proposed cover.

It's going to say "Winner of the World Fantasy Award" instead of what it does say, but otherwise that's it.

What do you think?

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[info]tithenai
2008-06-25 07:42 pm UTC (link)
It's ... Sparse and elegant, will probably appeal to more readers, but... I lurve my red dragon with its scales n'everything.

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[info]ljgeoff
2008-06-26 11:37 am UTC (link)
Mee toooo.

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[info]shsilver
2008-06-25 07:43 pm UTC (link)
Clicking on the cover to enlarge it gives the old cover.

The new cover is very reminiscent of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I imagine that is intentional.

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[info]beamjockey
2008-06-25 07:45 pm UTC (link)
I think it looks exactly like Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell.

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[info]kate_nepveu
2008-06-25 07:46 pm UTC (link)
My immediate reaction was "cross between JS&MN and Victory of Eagles."

Edit: which, as a marketing decision, seems entirely appropriate to me. But I also really like the cover for JS&MN, as you can see.

Edited at 2008-06-25 07:49 pm UTC

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[info]zingerella
2008-06-25 07:52 pm UTC (link)
Yep. That was my thinking too.

Also, "sparse and elegant," and "I'm glad I have the other edition, in hardcover, because I love, love, love the design, the cover, and everything of that edition.

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[info]rezendi
2008-06-25 07:47 pm UTC (link)
I think it's fantastic. Wow, wow, wow.

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[info]rezendi
2008-06-25 08:38 pm UTC (link)
Also, I have unearthed a copy of Shadow of the Wind to give to y'all.

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[info]leighdb
2008-06-25 07:53 pm UTC (link)
Clean, understated and simplistic. Maybe a little too much so. But as fantasy covers go, it's nice to see one that doesn't try to visually assault you.

And as others said, there is definitely a distinct resemblance to the Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell cover.

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[info]serenejournal
2008-06-25 07:54 pm UTC (link)
I was confused, because clicking leads to the old dragon cover, which I LURVE. The new cover is... not bad.

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[info]sartorias
2008-06-25 07:55 pm UTC (link)
I love the old cover, but then I am an outdated genre geek.

Whatever gets that book out and noticed is the best kind of cover.

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[info]torrilin
2008-06-25 08:03 pm UTC (link)
Not to my taste, but I tend to buy books by author's name, not by the cover. And hey, the lettering plus medallion style seems to sell (or it wouldn't slowly sweep over various genres every decade or so...).

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It looks awfully generic to me.
[info]dakiwiboid
2008-06-25 08:10 pm UTC (link)
If you set it down in a stack of fiction, it might look like just another dragon book in a world where there have been so many. "Winner of the World Fantasy Award" will certainly help, but the old cover was beautiful, and so eye-catching.

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Re: It looks awfully generic to me.
[info]kate_nepveu
2008-06-25 08:16 pm UTC (link)
Are there a lot of dragon books with that kind of cover? The Temeraire pb covers are much more colorful, and though I was reminded of the fifth book's hc cover, it was the centered element, not the color scheme.

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Re: It looks awfully generic to me.
[info]dakiwiboid
2008-06-25 09:04 pm UTC (link)
I don't think I would have picked the book up for a first read with that cover. Unless, of course, it came highly recommended by someone I trusted. The first cover signalled "Here is something special-pick it up and look inside!" A book with a plain cover and a stylized dragon would suggest just about anything at all from Merlin's boyhood to a serial killer to a variant on dragons and humans together that I'd seen before, not the stunningly different and brilliant book that's really inside it.

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Re: It looks awfully generic to me.
[info]kate_nepveu
2008-06-26 02:28 am UTC (link)
I can certainly understand that reaction. But it also makes sense to me that this is an Orb book, which as I understand it has two audiences: 1) people who discover an author, want their backlist, and seek out the book; and 2) people who haven't discovered the book or the author before--and those people may have seen the other cover and *not* been attracted by it. So to catch their eyes, something different seems in order, especially something that positions it as I read it above (that is, I don't agree with you that it looks generic).

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[info]rysmiel
2008-06-25 08:14 pm UTC (link)
I think it's a lot less distinctive, in ways which would not be to my taste as a reader of mostly genre fiction.

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[info]ffutures
2008-06-25 08:37 pm UTC (link)
Preferred the old one, and the other one with the dragon scholar reading a book, but it's OK I suppose. Can't say it strikes me as being particularly distinctive though.

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[info]wcg
2008-06-25 08:49 pm UTC (link)
I prefer the original cover, but this one's OK.

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[info]heleninwales
2008-06-25 08:55 pm UTC (link)
I'm a bit underwhelmed by the cover, but it's clean and elegant and in no way offputting. Perhaps they think it might encourage more non-genre readers to pick it up and look at it?

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[info]piapiapiano
2008-06-25 09:13 pm UTC (link)
It's lovely -- simple and very stylish.

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[info]phantom_wolfboy
2008-06-25 09:37 pm UTC (link)
Okay, I'm gonna run against the grain and say that I like the new one better. Much prettier.

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[info]shweta_narayan
2008-06-25 09:56 pm UTC (link)
I'm with the people who think it looks like Strange & Norrell, which is probably a good thing for marketing. The eyes they want to catch are those who don't already grab anything by you, after all. Probably people who'd be embarrassed to read a brightly-colored book with a big dragon on the cover.

Having said that I'm gonna go hug my old-cover hardback tight and be glad I have it now, because... meh. The new one just doesn't capture the glorious weirdness of the book, to me. Sure, it's elegant. And it's so not Victorian. It would make me expect a very different book -- well, so did the cover of Strange & Norrell, to the point where I didn't crack it open for months.

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[info]joenotcharles
2008-06-25 10:09 pm UTC (link)
Not charming enough. It makes the book look Important, though, which is good I guess.

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[info]nolly
2008-06-25 10:33 pm UTC (link)
Another voice in the "'JS&MN', and a bit of Temeraire" chorus. I like the old one better, and I'm glad I have a copy with that cover. Perhaps this one will appeal to people who did not buy it with that cover.

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[info]stevenagy
2008-06-25 10:37 pm UTC (link)
Hope mainstream cover equates to mainstream sales and mainstream dollars. :-)

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[info]ashnistrike
2008-06-25 11:36 pm UTC (link)
Very formal and literary. Looks more like it might look in its home universe, only smaller.

...now I'm wishing for an edition that did that deliberately, complete with faux leather cover, quotes from noted draconic authors, and an introduction describing the historical importance of this classic story of manners.

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[info]papersky
2008-06-26 03:39 am UTC (link)
You know, I think that's an awesome idea, and I'm going to talk to [info]pnh about it, because writing that sort of thing would take me about an hour and be fun. Maybe an afterword would be more possible. But I like that cover much better on that thought.

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[info]ashnistrike
2008-06-26 07:18 am UTC (link)
*waits eagerly*

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[info]yhlee
2008-06-26 12:00 am UTC (link)
I think it looks very classy and elegant, although I am fond of the old cover too.

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[info]shezan
2008-06-26 12:45 am UTC (link)
It's classy, but I loved the red dragon like a Florentine portrait.

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[info]montoya
2008-06-26 12:53 am UTC (link)
The other cover was more original and distinctive, and whoever designed it did a great job -- but I think this is the better cover, as it more directly appeals to the sort of people who'd like that sort of book.

Plus, it fits with the Orb aesthetic, to the extent there is one.

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[info]mjlayman
2008-06-26 01:36 am UTC (link)
I like mine better, with the elegant dragon in the arch.

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[info]jinian
2008-06-26 02:27 am UTC (link)
Covers for grownups are boring. But yes, probably effective at causing more people to read.

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[info]bunsen_h
2008-06-26 03:09 am UTC (link)
It's... nice. Elegant. But it doesn't do anything to get my attention; I'd call it a bit too understated.

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[info]darcydodo
2008-06-26 03:11 am UTC (link)
I do think that more grownups will pick it up (or rather, fewer grownups may put it down after having picked it up). And it's pretty in an elegant sort of way. I think the old cover may fit the book better, but I'm not sure.

Edited at 2008-06-26 03:12 am UTC

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[info]sion_a
2008-06-26 11:35 am UTC (link)
Like. Part of me is amused by the mainstreaming of popular sf covers. Another part of me is horrified that it works as a marketing strategy to get people to read them who wouldn't be seen dead with a garish sf cover. Another part rejoices that it means that the literature gets to such people at all. And a final part delights in the clean, simple, non-garish aesthetic in its own right. Gollancz yellow.

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