The German Bookshelf

[SPCTRE]

As a German who hates the translations and doesn't own a single German Trek novel, I have to say, these covers look awesome.

I only recently saw them back to back for the first time at a local comic book store.

 

[JarodRussell]

It's funny that they do their own covers. Wouldn't Pocket Books just send them the covers? It would be cheaper for them, too.

 

[DEWLine]

Ooooh. Well done on the "Fallen Gods" German cover there!

 

[MarkusRohde]

And this is the final version:

 

[2of1million]

Wowee that bookshelf looks very nice. Curious, what's the big fat one, 3rd on the top?

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Wowee that bookshelf looks very nice. Curious, what's the big fat one, 3rd on the top?

Crucible: McCoy, The Provenance of Shadows.

 

[2of1million]

Wowee that bookshelf looks very nice. Curious, what's the big fat one, 3rd on the top?

Crucible: McCoy, The Provenance of Shadows.

Ah. I had guessed that. Although, my copy isn't nearly as fat. The German version must have bigger print.

 

[Defcon]

^ If I remember correctly Marco Palmieri did everything to keep the book at the usual price, so the print was rather small, the paper thinner than usual etc. Cross Cult on the other hand sold the book at a higher price.

 

[Stevil2001]

It's funny that they do their own covers. Wouldn't Pocket Books just send them the covers? It would be cheaper for them, too.

They do use the original covers a lot; I assume it just comes down to what they think of the originals.

 

[Defcon]

I assume it just comes down to what they think of the originals.

Yeah, that's pretty much what they said in posts on their forum IIRC.

MarkusRohde is the editor of the German ST novel line by the way, so if I do remember incorrectly I guess he will correct me.

 

[tomswift2002]

A few things to remember/consider. The first original novel from Pocket was "The Entropy Effect", which had a white spine to go alongside the US novelization of TMP, but the next few novels all had blue spines. Very consistent for a while. A rerelease of "The Entropy Effect" ended up with a blue spine but, by then, a few novels were popping up with a distinctly different colour spines/covers. Cover/spine design is all about catching the attention of the casual browser. I was quite excited about the arrival of the green-spined "Black Fire", for example, after a long drought between original novels. When the colours began to change regularly, it was a bit disappointing when they slipped back to a blue one.

To keep spine designs consistent in a very long-running series creates the problem that designs can look out-of-fashion with new non-Trek books being produced, and which might attract the casual browser. Dedicated Trek fans are going to buy the books no matter the spine design. Spine design becomes very important in high-turnover shops that can't afford the luxury of "cover out" displays.

Don't forget about first 13 TNG books (Farpoint-original silver front cover version + #'s 1-12) having the space spines.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Sure but, as great as it is to have consistency in spine art, they can also become less competitive as fresher, newer book cover designs come into vogue and sit alongside them. I recall, in the 90s, readers maligning the distinctive Boris Vallejo TOS covers of the 80s (with others remembered with fondness) and then a backlash against the "floating heads" of the early TNG covers.

The starfield spines on TNG novels do look quaintly retro these days. Space hardware covers often leave me cold, but others love them. It's all very subjective, but we are arguing with trained marketers and designers, and their next job depends on success with the current one.

 

[Cyfa]

While the collection of Cross Cult spines looks great, I prefer my collection of mis-matched, non-conformist books. After all: Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations!

 

[MarkusRohde]

I assume it just comes down to what they think of the originals.

Yeah, that's pretty much what they said in posts on their forum IIRC.

MarkusRohde is the editor of the German ST novel line by the way, so if I do remember incorrectly I guess he will correct me.

You're correct.

 

[JD]

Welcome. It's always nice when we get more members of the TrekLit publishing community here.

 

[Skywalker]

I really like Cross Cult's covers for the Romulan War series. I also really like that they split it up into a trilogy. That story really could have used three books; it's a shame the latter two got condensed into the way-too-crowded To Brave the Storm.

 

[DS9forever]

What's up with the Mission Gamma covers being used on ten novels?

 

[Defcon]

Those spine pictures aren't necessarily from the the cover of the book they are on. For the first ten DS9 they went with the character pics from the Mission Gamma series and for the New Frontier series they went with specifically made character pics.

 

[Corran Horn]

Wow, that does look sharp. Most of my purchases are kindle nowadays but I did finish out Vanguard with the MMPB version so the spines would look nice on my shelves. Same for the upcoming Lost Era book. I plan to do the same with Seekers.

 

[Defcon]

I think no one has posted the German cover drafts for the S.C.E./CoE books #5 - #8 yet:

Interphase 2

Kalte Fusion (Cold Fusion)

Unbesiegbar 1 (Invincible 1)

Unbesiegbar 2 (Invincible 2)