CONTEST: I See a Cover, and I Want it Painted Black.
You may have noticed that I've had D.M. Cornish's Monster Blood Tattoo¹ on the brain lately.
More specifically, I've had the utter awesomosity of said series on the brain, and expanding on that, the utter ridiculosity that it isn't getting/hasn't received more attention.
That frustration led to a conversation with a few like-minded bloggers -- who feel exactly the same way about the series, as well as Jenny Davidson's The Explosionist and Ysabeau Wilce's Flora Segunda.
Long story short, for the entire week of December 13th, we're going to celebrate and discuss -- and we, of course, invite and encourage you to do the same -- Alt History and Steampunk novels. (We're mostly focusing on the YAs, but I suspect we'll do some branching out -- there're a TON of adult titles, and loads of those have insanely excellent crossover potential.) While the discussion and celebration definitely won't be confined to the three series I've mentioned in this post, these are the books that inspired the concept, so these are the books we're using for the contest.
Right, right, the contest! Back to that!
Credit where credit is due: The contest was actually Josh's idea. If he doesn't like cover art, he generally won't pick up the book. (Seriously. I know he would dig The Explosionist, but IT LOOKS TOO GENERIC AND GIRLY, even though I've explained that the cover art doesn't even remotely reflect the story. Same goes for Flora Segunda, except in that case, it apparently looks TOO YOUNG AND NEW AGE-Y FLOATY FANTASY. (His words. Sigh.)) On the rare occasions that his desire for the book supersedes his stubbornness, he SPRAYPAINTS THE COVER BLACK. (I am so not exaggerating about this. I unearthed piles of them during my search the other day.)
So, the contest: Create a book cover -- something that would attract you (or an audience that you think is missing out on the series) WHILE ALSO reflecting the contents and tone of the story -- for one of D.M. Cornish's books2, for either Jenny Davidson's The Explosionist or Invisible Things, or for one of Ysabeau Wilce's Flora Segunda books. (Just one! You don't have to do one of each! I mean, unless you want to, obvs.)
Post it on your blog, and either email me the link or post it in the comments here.
The deadline: December 15th, and we'll announce the winner on the 17th, at the end of the Week of Alt History/Steampunk Celebration.
Judges are TBA.
THE PRIZE? Three books, one by Cornish, one by Davidson, and one by Wilce: Winner's choice as to the specific titles!
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¹Well, technically, now it's The Foundling's Tale, which I actually do think is a better series title -- and not only because it suggests that there may be more to come -- but it is, nevertheless, a tad confusing for those of us who've been following the series from the get-go.
2I actually do love the new covers -- I think they reflect the tone of the books, and that they'll work better to attract the crossover audience that the series SHOULD attract. But, since the Cornish books are what sparked the idea, they had to be included -- and just because I like the new covers doesn't mean that you necessarily do!