I love my Russian publisher. They pay up no problems, and each book I sell, they pay more than the time before. And looking forward to what they put on the cover is part of my enjoyment of being a writer.
Now I know I have put up the cover of the Russian translation of “Gilfeather” before, but that was when I pinched it off a Russian online booksellers website and it was a poor res pix.
Yesterday I received a copy of the book, and I just can’t resist putting it up again in all its glory.
First let me point out that the printing at the top is actually in glittery glossy red, and the two gentlemen are equally shiny glitz – they look as if they have been stuck on. Unfortunately the shine didn’t scan very well.
And that top text is my name. Yep, that’s right, I have my name in BIG SHINY print. The bottom little print is the name of the book which translates – I believe – as Smell Evil .
Let me tell you about Gilfeather. The hero is a simple country doctor who spends most of the book chasing assorted villains through the countryside and across seas for rather complex reasons, and generally having a harrowing time. He does briefly land up in the ruling house of a island (hardly more than a rock stack covered in nesting birds and sheep) where the ruler is a woman, and I guess there are a few uniformed guards scattered about. They certainly aren’t dressed like space opera dudes, or 19th century military regimes, and there’s no guy sitting on a throne, it’s a gal.
I guess I should be glad that I didn’t get a pole dancer, like Jenny Fallon did on one of her Russian titles…
I like the translation of the title, but for a largely female cast, I wonder who all these MEN are on the cover? Also, I think the cover is misleading about what sort of book this is. The words space opera come to mind indeed. But I guess one muxt trust the publishers in choosing the right cover for their market. I wouldn’t blame you if you were scratching your head, though… 😉
Perhaps it’s meant to be the Exemplar at the Fellih Bureau of Religious and Legal affairs? Who knows? But the two guards are kind of cute … maybe you could have a pair like that at your next con, to run errands for you. 🙂
Book covers always annoy the hell out of me as they are so frequently either nothing to do with the story, or badly interpreted. They are so often very misleading and as a reader, I don’t approve of it. I guess the author can do little about it, but it is irritating to this reader at least. Congratulations on getting your books published in Russia though, quite an accomplishment.