Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Spaceman Blues, the Alternate Covers

At BEA Brian Francis Slattery asked about how we came to the cover of his Spaceman Blues novel. I had to admit that I loved the book way too much to touch it myself so I handed it over to Peter Lutjen –- Tor’s amazing senior designer. When Peter first showed me the comps I was still too attached to the book to really see them clearly. I finally understood what I suspect our editors often feel, not to mention the authors. If I remember correctly I think I made Peter do revisions on some of the alternate versions before suddenly realizing that one of the original comps -- the top one pictured -- was simple, direct, and perfect for the book. Brian seems to agree. Let's hope readers do.

FROM DESIGNER PETER LUTJEN:

“I really loved this book, but have had a very difficult time trying to describe it to people, and found it equally challenging to come up with a cover to do it justice. There is an incredible rush of imagery right from the start of the story, and it never really lets up throughout. With so much great material to work with, my initial attempts ended up a bit too cluttered. I hope the final jacket is just suggestive enough of the weirdness and chaos inside.”


3 comments:

Carl V. Anderson said...

I have this at the top of my Amazon wishlist. Cannot wait until it is out. I've heard many good things.

Jack Ruttan said...

I love the retro styling. You should make a contest some time - "second-guess the pro" where you get commenters to try and pick out the one you went with.

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