New cover

For one of my favorite writers, Jim Shepard.

Another great collection of stories, or as the New York Times says:

“A master . . . Shepard’s taut, high-concept, research-dependent fiction covers a bracing, career-long range of hobbyhorses and obsessions . . . And his preference for historical quests, for real people’s big gestures, may help keep American short fiction from falling asleep in the snug little precincts of its usual subject matter.” —Thomas Mallon, The New York Times Book Review

Cover collage by the awesome Fred Free.

Should be out in paper by February if not sooner.

Just in time for Christmas...

Our charming new edition of Charles Dickens' classic. Only 8 bucks! With flaps, even.

Lovingly designed by Megan Wilson

Illustrations by the magical Peter de Sève.

The rest of Dickens to follow:

Richard M. Powers

For those of you who don't know the work of Richard M. Powers, make a trip to the sci-fi section of your nearest used bookstore immediately. Powers pretty much single handedly reinvented the look of the science fiction book cover. Drawing inspiration from surrealist and modern art (Miro, Tanguy, Picasso), rather than traditional pulp depictions of spaceships and aliens, Powers' cover illustrations emphasized the psychological and trippy-er aspects of the genre. Largely forgotten (except by enthusiasts), in the 1940s and 50s he was THE go to guy for mass market science fiction illustration. Some of his work was recently represented in Steven Brower's superb study of mass market book covers: Breathless Homicidal Slime Mutants. He should really have his own book. Read more about him here.

The covers below were culled are from the collection of occasional Spine Out guest blogger and knower of all things of interest, Tim Cronin.

Love This

Todd St. John illustration for the NYT 10 Best Books of the Year.

Contest #4

Name the designer, win the book.

Is it possible to put LESS on a cover and still have it mean something?

Difficulty level: 3

Good Luck!

30C30D

In case you are not following along, we just crossed the halfway mark for 30 Covers in 30 Days.

A small sampling here, but check out the website for more great work by amazing designers for a good cause.

Christopher King:

Edel Rodriguez:

Christopher Silas Neal:

The controversial Paul Share cover:

Mark Abrams:

Braulio Amadou:

The Paul Bacon Tumblr!

And so it begins again...

30 Covers in 30 Days.

First cover by the wonderful Jessica Hische posted yesterday. The fantabulous Scott Buschkuhl of Hinterland posting today.

I won't spoil all the fun, but look out for Paul Sahre, Edel Rodriguez, Carin Goldberg and 25 other amazing designers/illustrators/artists as they attempt to design book covers in 24 hours in support of National Novel Writing Month.

I will not be posting them all like I did last year, but you can follow along on the NaNoWriMo website.

All That Remains opening

Fantastic turnout for the All That Remains collage show opening at Picture Farm via Ugly Art Room. Show is up until November 19. If you can't make it, work is available here —at very reasonable prices.

Photos via flickr