Shop Indie Bookstores

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Two Covers Do Not a Trend Make

Castle designed by Kyle G. Hunter; The White Mary designed by Kelly Blair
Buy The White Mary from Amazon.com
Buy Castle from Amazon.com

Two covers do not a trend make; let's get that out of the way. That said, these covers similarly portray the fearful exploration into the unknown that's at the heart of each novel.

In The White Mary, a journalist wanders into the jungles of Papua New Guinea to discover the truth about the alleged suicide of of her idol; in Castle, a private, awkward man buys over 600 acres in NY state only to discover there's someone living in the middle of his oasis.

Castle is definitely creepier, but both toy with representation and the anticipation that it brings to great effect.

Can anyone point out similar examples?


17 comments:

Unknown said...

There's also Abandonment by Peter Rock: http://powells.com/biblio/18-9780151014149-0 .. which is similar to the second but different in perspective..

Josh Parpan said...

reminds me a little of Will Staehle's great work-
http://silhouettemasterpiecetheatre.com/

A writress said...

Not an example of this, but of something else perhaps...

http://www.dn.se/dnbok/agneta-sjodin-james-long-1.892715

Tropolist said...

Both strike me as a little excessive. Then again if I had the chance to redesign them I would probably keep "improving" them until they were just black text on white.

Anne said...

Josh, I was going to say the same thing, except it reminds me A LOT of silhouette masterpiece theatre.

Steven said...

This is a non-fiction title, but with the same theme of exploration of the unknown.

http://www.amazon.com/Risk-Promise-handbook-adopting-overseas/dp/097077625X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247769433&sr=8-1

*Disclaimer...I think it is a good example, but thought I should let you know my affiliation, as an employee of the book's publisher.

Anonymous said...

i thought of lost city of z

Adrian said...

Keenan did Mailman by Lennon so perhaps Castle is one of his?

Janine said...

We published this earlier this year in Canada. The Sudden Disappearance of Seetha.
http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307396976

Anonymous said...

Lennon here--CASTLE was designed by Kyle G. Hunter; Graywolf, my publisher, ran a few drafts by me. I quite like it! There is an actual white deer in the novel, but it was the designer's idea to make it a white silhouette.

Adrienne Dye said...

http://thebazaarium.bigcartel.com/

I don't know how long this artist has been around or if maybe they did these covers.

Joseph said...

JR Lennon: Thanks!

Dystopos said...

The Harvard Business covers in the previous post show some similarities.

H3NR7 said...

THE WHITE MARY is designed by the awesome Kelly Blair.

www.kellyblair.com/

Joseph said...

Thanks Henry.

Anonymous said...

Because I Am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas (Viking 2009)
http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780670062980

Anonymous said...

MY ABANDONMENT makes a little more literal since, as the main character carries a white toy horse throughout the novel.