Amazon discontinued the ability to create images using their SiteStripe feature and in their infinite wisdom broke all previously created images on 12/31/23. Many blogs used this feature, including this one. Expect my archives to be a hot mess of broken book cover images until I can slowly comb through 20 years of archives to make corrections.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Your Daily Fugly

Seriously? I'm wondering if Loretta Chase ran over someone's dog in the Avon art department. Because this is just all kinds of hideous. I normally like the old-style painted covers, but not when the job looks like it was done by my four-year-old nephew. And I'm going to go on record here as saying I've pretty much hated all the "new" painted-style covers that Avon has been trotting out in recent memory. Makes me long for the good old days when their covers featured bare-chested heroes standing outside when there's snow on the ground.

Oh, and in case you want this book so badly you don't care about the fugly cover - I'm assuming this reprint is available for purchase now. I can't scare up any other information to tell me otherwise. So glad I have the first edition buried in my TBR, that's all I'm saying.

Edited: I take that back. This hideous new cover is showing up on Amazon, but as of yet, it's not available for purchase. So let us assume that a reprint of this is in the works, fugly cover and all. I just haven't been able to scare up a release date yet. Anyone else have the scoop?

11 comments:

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

Wait. You mean this is a contemporary book? Not one from the 1970s?

Wendy said...

Susan: Yeah, a current art department came up with that. Can you believe it?

I have a real fondness for some of the old 1970s clinch covers, mostly because some talented artists did them (same goes for the old style pulp fiction covers as well) - but these new painted covers that Avon has been trotting out of late look like poor imitations IMHO.

The most recent Julia Quinn covers have not been painted and have featured "real people." I know some readers haven't been wild about them, but dang, I think they're a vast improvement.

meljean brook said...

Oy. That is so not good.

Marg said...

Loretta Chase really doesn't have any luck with cover art at all.

Tracy said...

I'm not a fan of the painted ones in general but this is pretty bad. Poor Loretta.

C2 said...

Why would they do this to a book that is loved by so many?

Do they expect to hook new readers by scaring them??

azteclady said...

huh?

I would say that it's incontheivable, but you know, that word? it doesn't seem to mean much, since someone did it.

Kay Webb Harrison said...

This is from the booklist on Chase's Web site, which pictures the original cover:

Coming in November 2008 in a fresh format!

THE LAST HELLION
Avon Historical Romance April 1998 ISBN 0-380-77617-0
http://www.harpercollins.com

Hope this helps,
Kay

Wendy said...

Kay: Fresh isn't exactly the word that comes to mind...but um, OK.

And thanks for the info! While I still think the cover is hideous, this is a book I really, really need to purchase for work.

Kay Webb Harrison said...

I like it better than Lord of Scoundrels. My favorite Chase is Captives of the Night.
Kay

Kate R said...

the thing is that woman looks a lot like one of my sisters. (or, rather, way she used to look) I find it Creepy.