Tagged: guest post

Guest Post: My Top 10 Favourite Book Covers

Today I’m happy to host a guest post from The Galaxial Word, a YA book review site.  It’s just starting up but there are already some really great in-depth reviews up.  Go on and check them out!  Now, here Galaxial will list his top 10 favourite book covers of all time.


 

OK. So, I know, I know, “you should never judge a book by its cover”, blah, blah. But let’s be honest here. Who doesn’t pick up a book and go:

1) OMG THIS COVER IS SOOOOOOO PRETTY LIKE I HAVE TO BUY THIS IF JUST TO PUT IT ON MY BOOKSHELF AND GAZE AT THIS BEAUTIFUL COVER WHEN I WAKE UP EVERY MORNING OMG LOOK AT THAT ART AND THAT PHOTOSHOP MASTERY I LOOOOOOOOOVE IT SO GONNA BUY IT

*calmly brings book to counter*

OR

2) Ugh. This cover. Like, seriously. I could do better in Microsoft Paint. All they’ve done is cut out a guy and slapped him on a way-too-dark photo of a city that looks like it has been taken with an iPod. Ugh. So so ugly, I don’t care how good the writing is, I’m so not having that go on my bookshelf. Just. Ew.

*calmly places book back on shelf*

So, of course, a beautiful cover is crucial to attracting readers to your book, the same way a disgusting smell is crucial to attracting flies to a rotting carcass ❤️!

I’m not sure that was a good metaphor.

Whatever. Here are my best book covers. And remember, if you ever write a book, get the “write” cover designer (OMG THAT BEAUTIFUL PUN RIGHT THERE AHAHAHAHAHAH IM SO FUNNY HHAH- ok that wasn’t funny).

1) 9780316068680_1681X2544

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce.

What can I say? I really admire true art, and this is definitely my number one book cover. The way the two sisters are joined together, and the way the second sister is joined to the wolf is truly beautiful. I like the palette as well, with the red, the black and the white. The red and the wolf all suggest blood and darker, supernatural things. Mainly, vampire and werewolves. Personally, I would have changed the author name to white to accentuate the white skin, and the title to black, just to keep with the theme. Continue reading

Avalon by Anya Seton

Avalon by Anya Seton(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

This saga of yearning and mystery travels across oceans and continents to Iceland, Greenland, and North America during the time in history when Anglo-Saxons battled Vikings and the Norsemen discovered America. The marked contrasts between powerful royalty, landless peasants, Viking warriors and noble knights are expertly brought to life in this gripping tale of the French prince named Rumon. Shipwrecked off the Cornish coast on his quest to find King Arthur’s legendary Avalon, Rumon meets a lonely girl named Merewyn and their lives soon become intertwined. Rumon brings Merewyn to England, but once there he is so dazzled by Queen Alrida’s beauty that it makes him a virtual prisoner to her will. In this riveting romance, Anya Seton once again proves her mastery of historical detail and ability to craft a compelling tale that includes real and colorful personalities such as St. Dunstan and Eric the Red.

As I do often, I picked up Avalon in a store because it had really cool cover art. Also, the setting I thought was pretty interesting.

Now, this book is categorized as historical romance. Normally I don’t read romance stories, but I do read historical ones, and when I got it I didn’t even know it was defined as romance anyways; its cover art looked cool as already stated, and the side panels on the interior of the book showed it had a setting I enjoyed, although if you get the book, I’d recommend you don’t read much of those, as they tell virtually the entire plot bar the end. I saw where these mischievous panels were going and just started reading the book instead.

This book took up a lot of my time initially. I was engaged in the time period, the characters, all of it.The plot does not span a small time-span; it follows two characters, Rumon and Merewyn, over the course of decades — from the late 10th century through the 11th — and weaves through many locations, such as southern Britain, Iceland, Greenland, and even a small portion of the Americas. It takes all these different historical events and characters of those times, and uses Rumon and Merewyn to fling you along and through them.

A lot happens in the plot, and it has a unique structure somewhat because of what it spans. I never felt like it was just slogging me through back- or sidestory too much, but for me it was very suspenseful, occasionally wishing Rumon would move a little faster because a lot depends on it and I am way into this plot.

I don’t want to spoil ending, but the book does a good job at not going where you think it will go. It stubbornly sticks with this until the end, and even though it probably isn’t where you thought it would end up, I can’t fault the book for that. I instead believe that it gives a suitable ending, that fulfills, just not in the way you were hoping.

Also, the ending sets up the events that happen after the considerable span of the book. In this way, I think the book, albeit an old one at this point (published first in ’65), does a masterful job of placing a personal story and plot inside the major history, without conflicting, and in fact using both to support each other. So I’d like to give my compliments to the author, who wrote that book so long ago.

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Guest Post: The Growing LGBT Fiction Market And What It Means For Indie Authors

One of my earliest memories of the growing acceptance of People Like Me happened about 20 years ago at Barnes & Noble. There our authors were—on the shelves of a mainstream suburban bookstore, arranged just as nicely as the nearby rows of history and self-help books. I paced this special wall of GAY & LESBIAN books carefully, judging if it was some kind of bait for a trap-door. But the only person who approached me was a staff member reminding me that it was near closing.

That was my first purchase of a gay novel from a non-gay bookstore and I felt as though my receipt was a political statement. My sale counted; it would create an order for a replacement copy for another gay customer to buy, and keep our GAY & LESBIAN literature in circulation.

Looking back, it was also a turning point in how I saw myself, a validation that I’ve never forgotten. Life in The City still called, for I couldn’t imagine living as a gay man in the conservative suburb where I grew up. But the fact that I found myself represented at that mainstream bookstore gave me a little more hope for my future, that maybe The City wasn’t the only place I might eventually find acceptance. I don’t even remember fearfully looking over my shoulder on the way to the parking lot: representation without repercussion.

Much has changed in the world since then, including the term GAY & LESBIAN itself. Buying alternative books first went from in-store to online, offering privacy in the transaction but not the product. All books then still had covers, titles, and artwork that might make a reader think twice about pulling out her purchase on the train to work. But today, with e-readers, there is privacy both in the transaction and the product—that gentle, elderly lady two train seats away could be reading Emma or erotica. The e-reader offers endless options, and privacy for it all.

At one time, the friendly question, “What are you reading?” would have prompted someone to tip the book backward to show the cover. With a Nook, someone will tip the device forward and show the words. How do you judge a book, and a reader, without a cover? You don’t.

And therein lies the potential in the LGBT market—it’s not solely about the intended reader, but the read. Movies and television shows have expanded their casts to include more “diversity” not as sidekicks but as central characters, reflecting the everyday interactions many people have with LGBT folk in real life. Our stories, and lives, are in the news almost daily and our marriages are celebrated in the Sunday New York Times.

This niche market, GAY & LESBIAN, has grown to include bisexual, transgender, intersex, questioning, and ally voices—visibility that transcends gender, age, class, race, and sexual orientation itself. I have received responses to Gaybash from heterosexual women in their 70s as well as from gay men in their 30s and 40s. All drawn to the same book with primary characters who are gay, all finding something in the story that speaks to them.

Readers crave authenticity from fresh voices—of lived experiences, of fantasy, of tragedy, of science fiction. While there are some technical barriers to entry in the formatting of an e-book, these barriers are nothing compared to the sentinels who decided what did and did not get published, and largely still do. But sharing a personal journey has never been easier and blogs abound, just a few search words away. Though there are still biases in how traditional media covers e-books, e-publishing has expanded to the point that it’s no longer “suicide” to DIY. And with the wide reach of social media, I can’t predict precisely who my readers—and champions—will be. What fun!

This is an exciting time for indie authors, particularly those who don’t see themselves, and their lives, represented on today’s bestseller lists. The marketing of LGBTIQA e-books, whether fiction or nonfiction, proves that the hard work comes after the writing. But to tell your story, personally and honestly, and have it “out there” for others to read and absorb is a feeling of true liberation.

It’s the same feeling I had when I purchased that book so long ago at Barnes & Noble. Except now, the words are mine.


 

David TestDavid Collins lives and works in Chicago. Gaybash is his first novel.

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At 20four12 Today

Today I posted a review of Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier at 20four12 since this week is my week to post for Caleb.  Ruby Red seems to be yet another book that had such promise, but fell flat.  How did such a popular book fall flat?  Well, you know what to do to find out!  Head on over to 20four12 and check out Caleb’s crazy progress while you’re over there.  Guaranteed you’ll find awesome new books to read.