COVER REVEAL ROUND-UP (XIV)

   I'll begin this time with the cover for the third book in Ian Sales's Apollo Quartet from Whippleshield Books. (I've reviewed book one and two.) The cover is by Kay Sales, and it will be available in November. I like this minimalistic approach, it fits very well with both the other covers, and I like the "subtle" hints in the art. This is one I'm looking forward to.

   This one is from Solaris, with art by Jake Murray. The book will be out in December. I really like this cover, the art is great. The perspective is a bit disorienting though, but that is what's really eyecatching.

   Another Terry Brooks Shannara book, this one is coming out in April of 2014 from Del Rey. This is certainly a departure from the last Shannara trilogy's covers (see: here, here and here). I really like this cover, the art is great and it hints at magic. (It also reminds that it's been a long time since I read the original Shannara Trilogy, but that is another story altogether.)

    This isn't exactly a new reveal, but it slipped under my radar. The book is out in April 2014 from Tor/Forge. The cover is by Will Staehle, and you can see different versions of it here. I like this cover, the old style newspaper page layout really appeals to me.

   From Gollancz we have this one, designed by Benjamin Carré, and released in April 2014. I like these simple, symbolic, covers when they are done well. And I think this one is. You can read what Sam Sykes has to say about it, and the book, here.

   The forth Department 19 book has gotten a cover. It will be published 27 March 2014 by Harper Collins Children's Books. (NOTE: It's a Young Adult book.) The cover falls neatly into line with the previous three, and I like it.

   This one I wasn't even sure I should include. The reason is that despite the inclusion of the weapon this isn't really a cover in the sense that it has cover art. I totally understand that when you have an anthology co-edited by G.R.R.M., you want his name prominently on the cover. Dozois is well known for editing anthologies, so he certainly deserves equal billing.

   So, I understand this cover from a promotional standpoint, the name recognition will certainly make people pick it up. But I don't like this as a cover, I prefer art on  my covers. Preferably something that would look good in a frame on the wall if you stripped off the text.

   Here's one with art by Sarah Anne Langton. It's an anthology that will be out at Loncon 3, in August next year. I love this cover, the thoughts the images on it, together with the title, brings to mind makes me want to read the book.

   I'll finish up with four beautiful covers from Strange Chemistry. And SC has really made a reputation for having very good covers. I think the ones in this "batch" are all great. They are different, but still manage to give a sense of belonging together. All of them draw my eye. -I'll just leave it at that and add some info beneath each.

Art by Steven Wood, coming January 2014.

Sequel to Pantomime. Art by Tom Bagshaw. Coming January 2014.

Coming May 2014. Cover by Argh! Oxford.

Sequel to Zenn Scarlett. Art by Steven Meyer-Rassow.

BONUS LINKS:

   There's a couple of cover related posts I want to bring to your attention. One is this post over on Hodderscape, showing off the different covers for Stephen King's Carrie. 

   The other one is about some books that are part of a series curated by Guillermo Del Toro. For some reason that hasn't got much attention. Which is really strange to me, I know there's a lot of GDT fans out there. And also, there are some great classic Horror books in that series.

COVER REVEAL ROUND-UP (XI)

   This is the cover to the second book in The Stormlight Archive. I liked the first book well enough that I will be getting this. The cover is technically very good. However, unless there's a serious shift in the story, 18th Century pirates/Revolutionary War soldiers are not going to be in this. So someone who is clearly one of those two should not be on this cover. If I had been in any way uncertain about buying this book, this cover would have made it a definitive no. It just doesn't look like an Epic Fantasy book I'd want to read. -You can read about how the cover was made here.

   This is a completely different cover than the one above. This one is done by Will Staehle for a January 28th 2014 release from Angry Robot books. This certainly catches my eye, but I am not sure if I like it or not. I actually think I'll have to see this "in the flesh" to decide. -Sketches for other versions of this cover can be found here.

   An upcoming collection of stories dedicated to David Gemmel has gotten a cover by Dominic Harman. It will be out 31 October, and you can find full table of contents here. I must say I really like this cover. It's simple and forceful, and fits the subject matter perfectly. Couldn't really think of any way this could have been better.

   The cover for the new Discworld novel, the third featuring Moist von Lipwig. The book is coming from Doubleday 24 October, and the cover is by Paul Kidby. Not much to say here really, I love Discworld, and I love the covers. Really looking forward to this one.

   I just reviewed the previous book in this series yesterday. (I actually found this cover when looking for the previous cover for my review.) I don't think I'm going out on a limb if I say this too is by Steward Noack/Don Sipley with design by Lauren Panepinto. It will be out 12 November from Orbit. I think the cover really fits with both the previous ones and the series as a whole, and I have a thing for redheads...so, great cover!

   Art by Andy Bigwood, release from Newcon Press Easter(Con) 2014. This one is really stylised, and has a colour that makes it pop out from a mile away. I really like this cover, sometimes simple is simply better.

   This is the cover, by Jason Chan, for the first book in a new series called The Book of the Black Earth, it will be released in March 2014 by Pyr. This cover makes me want to check it out. And that's really a cover's job, isn't it.


   Finally, there's three covers for paperback re-releases. At least one of these should be out already. I like the subtle difference from the original covers on these. I have only got as far as book one on this series (, and I liked that enough that I really want to read the next two now that I write this), but these covers are do suit the books better than the original ones in my opinion.

   As usual I welcome any thoughts you have on these. And I especially would like to hear if anyone has the same feeling as me on the cover for Words of Radiance.