More musings on cover art

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Gollancz's Fantasy Masterworks and Paizo's Planet Stories lines are both efforts to bring older fantasy books back into print. What I find interesting is that both publishers make use of strikingly different kinds of cover art.

Fantasy Masterworks tries to give the books some sense of class, in many cases using pre-existing classical paintings as cover art. Planet Stories, on the other hand, embraces a pulpy sense of adventure. Surprisingly, there is little direct overlap between titles, but this one is pretty nice:

[Image: selg.jpg]

I don't know if this is a pre-existing painting, but it is beautiful. Abandoned ruins, presumably somewhere on Mars. This might be a tale of wonder, exploration and loneliness. But did you know that this story has also been printed under another title? And that's where Planet Stories comes in:

[Image: PZO8020_500.jpeg]

Bam! Half naked warriors versus warrior chicks in form-fitting armor! There's rip-roaring action to be had! I haven't read this book, so I don't know which image is more appropriate, but it's an interesting contrast.

What kind of cover would you go for? While I personally like how classy the Fantasy Masterworks look, the Planet Stories covers are just more attention-grabbing, and have two simultaneous effects on me:

1. "I don't want to be spotted with a book that looks like that!"
2. "I need to read this book!"