New Czech cover for Kobayashi Maru

[8of5]

The Czech publisher of Trek novels, Laser Books, has released a new cover for their edition of Kobayashi Maru:

It was originally going to come out last year, but they've had a few hiccups with Enterprise because another publisher managed to get the rights to do the Romulan War books there.

They've also delayed their version of Death in Winter, because they're trying to get permission from Pocket to print it with Improvisations on the Opal Sea: A Tale of Dubious Credibility, from Tales From the Captain's Table.

If you're curious, I've elaborated on what their editor has let me know about all this and their other plans on my blog.

I always found the cover for Kobayshi Maru a bit bland, so am glad to see something different appearing for it.

 

[BillJ]

Uninspiring photoshop cover. Looks like they're trying to do Pocket proud.

 

[Patrick O'Brien]

I think I like the German cover art better.

 

[CaptainDonovin]

I like the colors... other than that meh.

 

[JD]

It's ok, definitely better than the US, but not as cool as the German one.

 

[JWolf]

It's a Photoshop nightmare. The font is shadowed and looks awful. The Photoshopping looks amateurish. In a nutshell, it's awful.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Czech out the new cover

Better than the very plain original.

 

[JD]

I'm amazed it took this long for someone to make that joke.

 

[Mage]

Czech out the new cover

Better than the very plain original.

I dunno.... Wasn't the original cover original art by Doug Drexler? I'll always prefer original art over a simple photoshop. If the original cover was also a photoshop, I stand corrected.

 

[JD]

It was just a pic of the Enterprise in space. Personally, I prefer characters, or a dramatic scene on a cover rather than just a ship. This is actually one of the better ship covers, along with Greater Than The Sum, and the Vanguard covers.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ I would have preferred a picture of the actual Kobayashi Maru itself.

 

[Christopher]

^ I would have preferred a picture of the actual Kobayashi Maru itself.

Which wouldn't have been a very good idea from a promotional standpoint.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Didn't ask for that, did I?

 

[F. King Daniel]

It would have been cool to see an Enterprised version of a scene from Wrath of Khan's Kobayashi Maru test, like the Klingons approaching in formation on the viewscreen.

People would be Russian to buy it.

 

[JarodRussell]

It was just a pic of the Enterprise in space. Personally, I prefer characters, or a dramatic scene on a cover rather than just a ship. This is actually one of the better ship covers, along with Greater Than The Sum, and the Vanguard covers.

Greater Than The Sum is just a cropped version of one of the SOTL calendar images. And I guess the guy who did the calendar image didn't get paid for the re-use, so it's lazy and cheap.

 

[JD]

I did not know that.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I guess the guy who did the calendar image didn't get paid for the re-use, so it's lazy and cheap.

I think you'll find there are separate royalties for the repurposing of artwork. (Unless the original image was bought outright for multiple uses, in which case the original payment would be higher than a single use.)

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Erika's head looks strange.

 

[Christopher]

Greater Than The Sum is just a cropped version of one of the SOTL calendar images. And I guess the guy who did the calendar image didn't get paid for the re-use, so it's lazy and cheap.

Which is why finding out is better than guessing. If you check the copyright page for GTTS, toward the bottom it says "Cover art by Mojo" (the pen name of digital artist Adam Lebowitz). Since he was credited, that means he was indeed paid for the reuse.

And it wasn't the result of laziness. There were some behind-the-scenes issues that delayed the cover art process, and ultimately they had to reuse an existing piece. But it's one of my favorite SOTL images, and I feel it fits the tone I wanted the book to have even though it doesn't match any actual scene within the book, so I'm satisfied with it.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Erika's head looks strange.

I think her head is ever-so-slightly too big relative to Archer and Trip's.