CAVALCADE OF HORRIFYING SCIENCE FICTION COVERS

Those of us who read science fiction know that even SF of the finest quality can be represented by truly fugly covers that cause us embarrassment while riding the bus. The two major ways they tend to go wrong are: 1) attempting to depict scenes in the book photo-realistically while failing in knowledge of basic anatomy, and 2) having way, way too many things (and fonts) going on at the same time. No wonder e-books are so big with the fandom.

This is the one that allowed me to finally realize my dream of having something on Good Show Sir. Why, hello there, giant-brain-eyeball-octopus-bat-guy! And what’s behind your head? It’s not the moon, because it doesn’t go all the way around. An enormous cantaloupe, perhaps?

This one just has too many elements. Do we really need a blue alien, a rocket, purple tomatoes/pumpkins, pseudo-Mayan panther/snakes, AND a bug-eyed alien with one antenna holding a wine glass?

If this is about a human who swaps minds with an alien, should he be photo-realistic while the alien looks like a child's drawing? Or is he turning into a child's drawing? It seems the artist was like, "OK, I took the guy from a photo and put it through one of those artistic Photoshop filters, but how the heck do I make the alien? I know, I'll get my 10-year-old son to do it!" That mouth just bothers me.

If you are an artist who can't create the illusion of three dimensions, should you really emphasize the fact with a "3-D" font? Take a look at the guys nose and hair, not to mention the spaceships, which are like the kind of toys you find in a vending machine. The font, too, is like something I would have doodled in my 7th-grade notebook. What is a "ram song", anyway, or do I even want to know?

If you have any favorites, feel free to share, or post them on GSS.

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