Some cover art does a remarkably good job of describing the story. For example, take a look at the cover for A. Lee Martinez’s Divine Misfortune. You take one look at that cover, and what do you think?  This is a story about a poor mortal getting punched by a god. Judging from the synopsis, that sounds like it is exactly what happens in the story. I also think I am going to have to read this book, because any story featuring a raccoon god of prosperity who enjoys couch surfing sounds like an interesting premise to me.

Other cover art doesn’t do nearly as good of a job at conveying important information. Lilith Saintcrow’s Steelflower has a cover which makes you think it’s another entry in the urban fantasy parade of butt-kicking females. Wrong. It is classic sword and sorcery fun, with elves and barbarians. This is a book that I wouldn’t have picked up on my own, because I typically don’t read urban fantasy. I would have missed a great fun read if I hadn’t volunteered to read it to help out one of the other reviewers.

And then you have the covers that are so bizarre or bad that we have contests to rename them. Like this lovely cover for Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson’s The Gathering Storm. (Warning, put down your drink before you click on that link or you may snort beverage out your nose and all over your keyboard when you read the suggested titles.)

So, dear readers, the challenge I put to you is threefold: Link to the best cover art for describing a story, the worst cover art for describing the story, or the most bizarre cover art you would like to see us re-title in a future post. Those first two you may have to describe why it is particularly good or bad. The third option should speak for itself.  And feel free to do all three if the mood moves you.

You have a week to make your suggestions, and then we’ll pick a winner who will receive a copy of Misty Massey’s Mad Kestrel, a fun piratical fantasy with cover art to match. Or, if that doesn’t float your boat, we’ll let you pick one out of our stacks.

… it’s easy to forget that a failing planet is the setting for the Dying Earth stories, for they are neither depressing nor bleak, and they’re not really about the doom of the Earth. These stories are whimsical and weird and they focus more on the strange people who remain and the strange things they do… Jack Vance is my favorite fantasy author. His work probably won’t appeal to the Twilighters, but for those who enjoy Pythonesque surreal humor written in high style, or for fans of Lewis Carroll, Fritz Leiber, and L. Frank Baum, I suggest giving Jack Vance a try. If you listen to audiobooks, definitely try Brilliance Audio’s version! Read the rest.

Impossible

This is a difficult review for me to write. Nancy Werlin makes several plotting decisions that don’t quite work for me, even though I can see the ways these decisions serve the narrative. Impossible is a book I should have loved. I adore plots that hinge on the exact wording of curses and prophecies: “none of woman born,” “when two Mondays come together,” that sort of thing. Here is a whole novel based on that concept. Our heroine, Lucy Scarborough, must complete three seemingly impossible tasks in order to save herself and her unborn daughter…. Read the rest.

Bite Me

Tired of reading about sexy vampires having sword fights… or orgiastic love fests? What about tragically misunderstood yet sensitive and compassionate vampires? Much as MaryJanice Davidson is the godmother of vampire chick lit, Christopher Moore owns the market of the stoner-loser vampire. In Bite Me, the sequel to You Suck (which was in turn the sequel to Bloodsucking Fiends), Moore once again puts the fun in dysfunctional and demonstrates why he is the king of crass… Read the rest.

Welcome y’all to a new (and, we hope, regular) feature at Fantasy Literature! I’ll be scanning the blogosphere on a weekly basis and providing you with some handy links to the very best of the articles, interviews, and miscellaneous goings-on provided by FanLit’s friends. I’m testing this out in a handy Top 10 format. If you’d like to see any changes to this feature, or you have suggestions for ways to make it better, or if you think I missed something important, please leave a comment!

Without further ado…

1) (A new cover for) The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

This one can be found over on A Dribble of Ink run by Aidan Moher. Aidan is the acknowledged king of cover art, and he has a great deal to say on the subject. In fact, recently there have been a number of discussions around the subject of cover art prompted by Aidan, including one conducted by Mark Charan Newton which can be found here.

Here is the new artwork – are you a fan? The Black Prism is being released by Orbit Books in August 2010.

2) Where Stories Are Made: Tim Waggoner

This is a regular feature found over on the site run by Carolyn, Book Chick City. The whole site is worth a read, since she deals very much in urban fantasy and horror (which are sometimes under-represented on this site – reasonable, really, considering we are FANTASY literature ). Carolyn is spending some time asking various authors how they go about producing the novels we love to read and the answers are very often illuminating. Her most recent victim has been Tim Waggoner. He is out of the  Angry Robot Books stable and has a new novel – Dead Streets – out now.

3) A seriously interesting article with a seriously long title!

Next on the agenda are three interlinked articles by Justin Allen, under the snappy title:

For the Love of Pete, Don’t Mix Your Genres;
Or. The New York Times Book Review Hates YOU, but I Don’t;
Or. Why Where Your Book Gets Shelved Determines Your Intelligence,
Work-Ethic and Value to Society

You can find the first part over at SF Signal, the second at Debuts and Reviews and the third at Grasping for the Wind. You should definitely take a read of these and then leave your comments at Grasping for the Wind!

4) Whitewashing – looking at White Cat by Holly Black

The Book Smugglers are definitely the champions against whitewashing (the reprehensible activity of using a white character on a front cover to represent a character who is not white) – well, I’ll let them speak about it for themselves in an article posted last month. Recently they were alerted to the possibility of whitewashing with Holly Black’s latest book The White Cat, and did a sensitive and in-depth analysis to see whether they agreed. I urge you to read up on this subject – it is something The Book Smugglers are extremely passionate about.

5) Horror Round-up

Yes, yes, we’ve covered the fact that this is FANTASY literature – I don’t need to go into it all again – but Jason over at Kamvision has been exploring some horror titles that are either out now or forthcoming. I wanted to bring this one to your attention because some of the titles (such as Wolfsangel by M.D. Lachlan and Thirteen Years Later by Jasper Kent) will or have already found their way to the review pages of Fantasy Literature. The barriers between the various genres are being beaten down in all sorts of ways right now, and I think we definitely lose out if we don’t even consider dabbling our toes outside of straight-up fantasy! Ooh, I’ll slip off my soapbox there and give you the links to Kamvision’s handy guides: here is Part One and here is Part Two!

6) Story Remix!

Now this is an interesting little project! I’ll allow Mark Charan Newton (he of Nights of Villjamur fame) to explain what is going on. I love this idea – although I wasn’t brave enough to enter my own entry – and I have found the results posted so far to be incredibly entertaining. The first entry is here and the second is here. I would urge you to check back periodically to Mr. Newton’s website – his blog entries are often incredibly thoughtful.

7) Nextread’s Writing Magazine open for entries!

Gav over at Next Read has bravely decided to start a new online magazine for speculative fiction, so, for all those who were dismayed at the fact that MCN’s project above is closed to entries, get scribbling and write something for Gav! All the details for submission can be found here – the first issue is inviting work with the theme Science Fiction combined with Myth. What are you waiting for?! As an aside, Gav also celebrated World Book Day by inviting readers of his blog to give the one book they feel everyone should read – the results are illuminating.

8) Blogosphere Interviews by Sam Sykes

Sam Sykes is being published this year by Gollancz – a review of his debut novel (Tome of the Undergates) and an interview with the man himself will be forthcoming from FantasyLiterature in the next few weeks. In the meanwhile I want to bring to your attention a feature he has been running just lately on his blog – Tales of the Blogosphere – in which he interrogates the people behind some of the big blogs and brings to your attention newer blogs you might have missed up til now. So far he has tackled: The Book Smugglers, Speculative Horizons, Floor to Ceiling Books and A Dribble of Ink.

9) 25 Authors Worth Watching in 2010 and Beyond

Stomping on Yeti is a speculative fiction blog well worth clicking your mouse towards. He recently decided to turn the spotlight on 25 authors he feels are worth watching in 2010 and for the future. So far he has produced three in-depth posts, dealing with information concerning these new authors, what work they might already have published and what we can expect to see from them in 2010. I will just give one warning: my wishlist grew exponentially with each post he put up! Here are Part One, Part Two and Part Three – how about letting us know which of these authors you are most interested in?

10) HBO has picked up A Game of Thrones

Finally, I leave you with the happy news (and news which you have probably already seen – the Internet was abuzz with this last week) that HBO have commissioned a full series of A Game of Thrones. I don’t think anyone provided as good coverage on this as Adam Whitehead over at The Wertzone, so here is your link!

And that’s a wrap, people! I hope you’ve enjoyed this quick canter around the Internet – because this is such a fledgeling feature, I would be grateful for any feedback as to what you would like to see in the future and anything you think I should avoid.

Have a great week – good reading!
~Amanda