Register | Log in | FAQ | Search | Memberlist | Usergroups
Profile | Log in to check your private messages | Blogs |

ARWZ Forum Index
    > Alternative Reality Caf�


 
Post new topicReply to topic
View previous topic :: View next topic
Author Message
Violanthe
Webmaster


Joined: 24 Jul 2003
Posts: 5903

PostEndymion Spring by Matthew Skelton

Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 9:45 am
Reply with quote

Look at the following cover. Imagine that you have only the cover and the information it provides (including images, title and author name) to decide whether to buy this (or any) book.

Would you buy this book having looked only at its cover? If so, what on this cover sold you? If not, what on this cover turned you off?

If you have, in fact, bought and/or read this book, tell us how well our verdicts guided us. Did the cover lead us rightly into great fiction? Or did the cover wrongly steer us toward a bad story or away from a great one?

So, would you buy this book by its cover?




Regular posters are invited to join our "official" Buy the Cover game:
https://www.arwz.com/arwz/viewtopic.php?t=422
_________________
Violet "Violanthe" Kane
[email protected]
ARWZ.com: A Magazine of Alternative Reality Fiction


Last edited by Violanthe on Mon Nov 13, 2006 9:25 am; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Blog
Magus
Wordslinger


Joined: 31 Mar 2006
Posts: 716
Location: Illinois

Post

Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 7:39 pm
Reply with quote

No. It looks like romance with a fantasy setting (which is not to be confused with Fantasy with romantic themes).
_________________
"It ain't all buttons and charts little Albatross. You know what the first rule of flyin' is?... Love. You can know all the math in the 'Verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she ain't keepin' up just as sure as the turning of worlds. Love keeps her up when she ought to fall down, tells ya she's hurtin' 'fore she keens, makes her home." Captain Malcom Reynalds, "Serenity"
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Mervi
Warlord


Joined: 29 Aug 2006
Posts: 1119
Location: Finland

Post

Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 8:02 pm
Reply with quote

This looks somewhat like the double snake heads of the symbol of Hermes or healing and since I'm always interested in fantasy done in the Ancient world, I'll definately take a closer look.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Blog Visit poster's website
Magus
Wordslinger


Joined: 31 Mar 2006
Posts: 716
Location: Illinois

Post

Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 9:51 pm
Reply with quote

Hmmmm... the myth of Endymion WAS a good one, I must say... and he DID father 50 children...

Rolling Eyes

I wouldn't buy it based on the cover, but it would prompt me to look at the back, at any rate. I still say that it looks like a bad fantasy-set romance novel, though, at least by the merit of its title and cover.
_________________
"It ain't all buttons and charts little Albatross. You know what the first rule of flyin' is?... Love. You can know all the math in the 'Verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she ain't keepin' up just as sure as the turning of worlds. Love keeps her up when she ought to fall down, tells ya she's hurtin' 'fore she keens, makes her home." Captain Malcom Reynalds, "Serenity"
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Violanthe
Webmaster


Joined: 24 Jul 2003
Posts: 5903

Post

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 1:19 pm
Reply with quote

What, exactly, are you finding romance-novel-looking about this cover?
_________________
Violet "Violanthe" Kane
[email protected]
ARWZ.com: A Magazine of Alternative Reality Fiction
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Blog
Magus
Wordslinger


Joined: 31 Mar 2006
Posts: 716
Location: Illinois

Post

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 2:00 pm
Reply with quote

The serpentine-staff... the heads form something of a heart.

And, now looking at the plot, there's no way that I would ever buy this book. I don't even understand what the allusion to Endymion amounts to. It doesn't seem to connect to the myth at all.
_________________
"It ain't all buttons and charts little Albatross. You know what the first rule of flyin' is?... Love. You can know all the math in the 'Verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she ain't keepin' up just as sure as the turning of worlds. Love keeps her up when she ought to fall down, tells ya she's hurtin' 'fore she keens, makes her home." Captain Malcom Reynalds, "Serenity"
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Peter
Senior Member


Joined: 21 Apr 2006
Posts: 649
Location: NSW, Australia

Post

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 3:44 pm
Reply with quote

I'd definitely give it a look. The warped font used in the lettering alludes to something mildly strange as well.

Peter
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Violanthe
Webmaster


Joined: 24 Jul 2003
Posts: 5903

Post

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 6:51 pm
Reply with quote

A heart? I can't say I saw that at all. And I'd venture to say that an intentionally romance novel with snakes on the cover (and no one else) would be a tough sell.
_________________
Violet "Violanthe" Kane
[email protected]
ARWZ.com: A Magazine of Alternative Reality Fiction
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Blog
Magus
Wordslinger


Joined: 31 Mar 2006
Posts: 716
Location: Illinois

Post

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 7:15 pm
Reply with quote

Snakes are, by nature, phallic, as are staves. Added to the heart that I saw (or at least perceived that I did) and the satin/velvet red background, it looks like a romance novel. Also, the myth of Endymion is, by nature, a romantic myth.
_________________
"It ain't all buttons and charts little Albatross. You know what the first rule of flyin' is?... Love. You can know all the math in the 'Verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she ain't keepin' up just as sure as the turning of worlds. Love keeps her up when she ought to fall down, tells ya she's hurtin' 'fore she keens, makes her home." Captain Malcom Reynalds, "Serenity"
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
pyanfaruk
Member


Joined: 29 Oct 2006
Posts: 64
Location: Probably asleep

Post

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 10:36 pm
Reply with quote

The title made me think it was a new book in the Hyperion series by Dan Simmons. The illustration - Old Viking Romance. I agree with Magus about the heart, plus the Viking ship's prow look to the dragons.The author - new to me.

I'd look at the blurb - so I suppose the cover's done its job.
_________________
Absenen mistatengwar!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Magus
Wordslinger


Joined: 31 Mar 2006
Posts: 716
Location: Illinois

Post

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 10:50 pm
Reply with quote

Since most books on the shelves face spine-out, it usually comes down, even at times, to either the author or the title, or even what scant decorations adorn the spine itself.
_________________
"It ain't all buttons and charts little Albatross. You know what the first rule of flyin' is?... Love. You can know all the math in the 'Verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she ain't keepin' up just as sure as the turning of worlds. Love keeps her up when she ought to fall down, tells ya she's hurtin' 'fore she keens, makes her home." Captain Malcom Reynalds, "Serenity"
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
DougGogerty
Moderator


Joined: 29 Mar 2006
Posts: 418
Location: Minnesota

Post

Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 1:05 pm
Reply with quote

I see 80's sword and sorcery when I look at the cover. The squiggly unreadable font is a turn-off for me and I would probably reject it right off for that.
_________________
Douglas E. Gogerty
-----
Around the Campfire
"No, I'm from Iowa. I just work in outer space."
-James T. Kirk
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Blog Visit poster's website
Violanthe
Webmaster


Joined: 24 Jul 2003
Posts: 5903

Post

Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 9:31 am
Reply with quote

Quote:
Snakes are, by nature, phallic, as are staves. Added to the heart that I saw (or at least perceived that I did) and the satin/velvet red background, it looks like a romance novel.


While that might say "romance novel" to a Freudian, it's not going to communicate the same thing to your average Joe - or, in this case, Jane. Knowledge of the myth's content is also not going to be widely known.

That said, while this cover would be a terrible marketing strategy for a "romance novel" - meaning the commerical genre of romance - it could indeed be communicating to readers well-versed in mythology that it is a "romance" in the sense of medieval romances, tales of gallantry and chivalry, etc.
_________________
Violet "Violanthe" Kane
[email protected]
ARWZ.com: A Magazine of Alternative Reality Fiction
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Blog
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic All times are GMT - 4 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You can vote in polls in this forum





Alternative Reality Web Zine: ISSN# 1559-3037


All materials on these pages (including fiction, poetry, essays, articles, interviews and opinion pieces) are copyrighted to the original authors and may not be reproduced without permission.




View Page Stats
ARWZ topic RSS feed 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group