Weird stuff on novel covers

[Greg Cox]

I amended descriptions in The Buried Age and Over a Torrent Sea to match the cover images

"Can there be a helicopter in the novel?"

I can't help but wonder, did this annoy you in a minor way, modifying your stories to match the cover art, or was it just casual?

Do you get approval over the cover art of your novels?

Nobody except maybe Stephen King and J. K. Rowling gets approval over their covers. Certainly not STAR TREK writers.

And, no, it didn't annoy me . . . especially since I was still writing the book at the time. That sort of input is pretty much standard operating procedure, especially where tie-ins are concerned. ("Grissom doesn't have a beard this season, please delete all references to facial hair.")

I suppose if I had to add a dragon to my gritty realistic detective novel because the art director screwed up, I might be vexed . . . or I might just see it as an opportunity to add a whole new element to my story!


(Although once, long ago, I had to cut several thousand words out of a book because the publisher got the spine wrong on the covers--and didn't want to pay to have them reprinted!)

 

[Christopher]

I amended descriptions in The Buried Age and Over a Torrent Sea to match the cover images

"Can there be a helicopter in the novel?"

I can't help but wonder, did this annoy you in a minor way, modifying your stories to match the cover art, or was it just casual?

On the contrary, I appreciated it. The visual details provided by the Buried Age cover really let me enhance the impact and atmosphere of that sequence, which was much more bland as originally written. A good cover image can inspire you, suggest new ways of looking at your own ideas, things that wouldn't have occurred to you on your own.

Do you get approval over the cover art of your novels?

Consultation to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the editor, but not approval per se. The editor may choose to take our suggestions or disregard them.

 

[JarodRussell]

I amended descriptions in The Buried Age and Over a Torrent Sea to match the cover images

"Can there be a helicopter in the novel?"

I can't help but wonder, did this annoy you in a minor way, modifying your stories to match the cover art, or was it just casual?

Do you get approval over the cover art of your novels?

If you can not only write but also paint, can you provide your own cover art?

 

[Greg Cox]

I amended descriptions in The Buried Age and Over a Torrent Sea to match the cover images

"Can there be a helicopter in the novel?"

I can't help but wonder, did this annoy you in a minor way, modifying your stories to match the cover art, or was it just casual?

Do you get approval over the cover art of your novels?

If you can not only write but also paint, can you provide your own cover art?

Not really. I can think of a couple of exceptions, but, as a rule, most publishers prefer to use professional cover artists.

And, to be honest, submitting your own cover art with your manuscript is generally seen as a rookie mistake. (Unless you're already a well-established fantasy artist or cartoonist.)

 

[Stevil2001]

Christopher Bulis did the cover art for his own New Doctor Who Adventure, Shadowmind, I believe.

 

[Greg Cox]

Christopher Bulis did the cover art for his own New Doctor Who Adventure, Shadowmind, I believe.

And I think Janny Wurts did the covers for some of her fantasy novels way back when.

And Clive Barker sometimes does his own covers these days . . . but, of course, he's Clive Barker.

 

[Corran Horn]

I remember one early cover that had been released had what was clearly a Star Wars A-Wing on it...I think it was a SNW cover. It was subsequently changed.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Look closely at the recycled STIV footage of Starfleet command in "Conspiracy". There's a tiny Andorian in a TWoK uniform, IIRC.

EDIT: I checked and I can't spot an Andorian. I can see an alien with bobbles of some sort on his head, but it could be anything. Sorry.

The distinctive ambassadorial robes you can see in the stock ST IV footage indicate the presence of Tellarites. (Diagonal lines of furry tufts.) And they are a recycling of the Kazarite robes from ST:TMP.

 

[Stevil2001]

I remember one early cover that had been released had what was clearly a Star Wars A-Wing on it...I think it was a SNW cover. It was subsequently changed.

That was Strange New Worlds VII, and the A-wing was a submersible! It's the Delta Flyer now.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

And, to be honest, submitting your own cover art with your manuscript is generally seen as a rookie mistake. (Unless you're already a well-established fantasy artist or cartoonist.)

Or if you're a plup horror novelist who plans to use his books to summom the Great Old Ones to destroy mankind by mutating them and/or driving them insane.

 

[ronny]

I don't understand why that's an oddity.

Because the Bantam novels are squarely TOS novels and yet the artist of the first "Perry's Planet" cover managed to squeeze in a clever TMP reference on a novel published in February 1980, while the movie itself was still in general cinema release! That means the artist must have used an early publicity shot of Admiral Kirk in his T-shirt long before the film premiered in December 1979. The painting would have been done in advance. You really need a magnifying glass to perceive the detail of the short sleeves, rounded shirt tails and black Perscan device, but they are there!

OK, that puts it in perspective. I didn't get why having a TMP uniform was so weird.

 

[Mike Farley]

And, to be honest, submitting your own cover art with your manuscript is generally seen as a rookie mistake. (Unless you're already a well-established fantasy artist or cartoonist.)

Or if you're a plup horror novelist who plans to use his books to summom the Great Old Ones to destroy mankind by mutating them and/or driving them insane.

Do you read Sutter Cane?

 

[Nardpuncher]

I amended descriptions in The Buried Age and Over a Torrent Sea to match the cover images

I can't help but wonder, did this annoy you in a minor way, modifying your stories to match the cover art, or was it just casual?

On the contrary, I appreciated it. The visual details provided by the Buried Age cover really let me enhance the impact and atmosphere of that sequence, which was much more bland as originally written. A good cover image can inspire you, suggest new ways of looking at your own ideas, things that wouldn't have occurred to you on your own.

Do you get approval over the cover art of your novels?

Consultation to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the editor, but not approval per se. The editor may choose to take our suggestions or disregard them.

Do you think Baen lets authors choose their covers?

 

[Lonemagpie]

Christopher Bulis did the cover art for his own New Doctor Who Adventure, Shadowmind, I believe.

He was an artist first.

I drew a pencil sketch for Sanctuary, which Peter Elson then painted, but that was my third book, so not an amateur thing. I was supposed to do the same for the Veltrochni design for The Dark Path, but the art got commissioned and painted (by Alister Pearson) without that input, which is how it came to look like something out of Bucky O'Hare. Though at least I got to specify what Koschei should be wearing.

 

[Stevil2001]

Ah, and Michael sent a sketch of a Kropaslin to Mike Collins when he did the cover for The Future Begins, and Mike actually did a version incorporating it into the background, though Keith went with the version without it.

 

[Dayton Ward]

Kevin and I were able to suggest the cover scheme for the three Foundations e-Books, and Mike Collins rendered them pretty much as we originally described. I have a print he sent of the three covers side-by-side (without the text) in my home office.

The most fun I ever had with cover designs was when Marco was figuring out what to do with the Constellations anthology, and solicited ideas. It didn't take long to figure out that a tribute to the old-school covers from the James Blish adaptations was the way to go, and I thought artist Jerry Vanderstelt did a nice job balancing that look with a modern flair.

 

[Mysterion]

The SR-71 on the cover of Traitor Winds has always amused me for some reason.

 

[JD]

I understand that it fits his description in the book, but Sulu on the cover of The Entropy Effect has always gotten a from me.

 

[ProwlAlpha]

On Intellivore, Data looks like his about to offer a little kid candy in his van near a park.

 

[UssGlenn]

I understand that it fits his description in the book, but Sulu on the cover of The Entropy Effect has always gotten a from me.

Didn't George Takei actually sport a long haired look in the 70s?