Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: grateful
  • Music: Owl City, "When Can I See You Again?"

We fight for the honor of the House of Price.

At last it has come; the final round of the Ranting Dragon cover battle is upon us. On one side, the armies of Chuck Wendig. On the other, the armies of my own. What do we fight for?

We fight for the title of Best Cover of 2012. The entrants, Blackbirds, and Discount Armageddon. The prize? INFAMY.

Chuck is a dear friend of mine, at whose head I often hurl foul profanities. This is the basis for our relationship. And Blackbirds is a truly gorgeous cover; if I lose to it, I will feel that my battle has not been in vain. (It's also a truly gorgeous book, which you should totally read, assuming the phrase "foul profanities" is not your kryptonite. He has swear words like I have talking mice, and it is awesome.)

Chuck has said a few words about his cover, and I thought I should say something about mine. Here's something you may or may not know: I begged my publisher to give me Aly Fell. Literally begged, along with mailing my editor half of his publicly available images, while going "see? He has the right quirky cheesecake feel, he would be amazing." When they said he'd agreed to do the book, I cried.

I cried again when I got his roughs for the cover. Literally hand-over-mouth, can't-see, sat at my desk and sobbed, because it was perfect. It managed to be quirky, almost ironic cheesecake: perfectly Verity, perfectly sincere, perfectly Price. This is a series that's aimed at a very strange sort of demographic, almost like Adventure Time meets Sanctuary meets Leverage. I needed a cover that got all those things across, and Aly Fell did it magnificently.

It still makes me tear up when I remember seeing the cover for the first time. I cried again when I got the cover for Midnight Blue-Light Special. Just, "Oh, there you are Verity," and all the tears. All the tears, always.

I love both these covers, and while I would of course appreciate it if you voted for me, I will not feel slighted in any way if I don't win; it's apples and oranges at this point, and Chuck and I have one thing in common. We both won the cover artist lottery.
Tags: chuck wendig, discount armageddon, party games, silliness
  • Post a new comment

    Error

    Anonymous comments are disabled in this journal

    switch
    default userpic

    Your reply will be screened

    Your IP address will be recorded 

    Help
  • 15 comments

anne_d

December 29 2012, 00:57:30 UTC 4 years ago

I voted. I must admit that at first, I wasn't sure about your cover. Then I read the book, and I knew that yes, that's Verity.

Speaking of which, I just bought an extra copy of Discount Armageddon to give to Aged Mum. I can't let mine out of the house, because I might need to reread bits of it on a bad day.

I am very much looking forward to the next volume of the Price Family Saga. All Hail the Most High Priestess of Enthralling Tales!

seanan_mcguire

December 31 2012, 23:25:59 UTC 4 years ago

Aw, yay!

And I completely get not being sure about it. I may be the only author ever to beg for a half-naked woman on her book.

dormouse_in_tea

December 29 2012, 03:04:29 UTC 4 years ago

I admit, I went over to Mr. Wendig's post to follow the link to the poll in order to vote for Discount Armageddon's cover.

I feel pleasantly subversive now.

seanan_mcguire

December 31 2012, 23:26:09 UTC 4 years ago

Hee.

melchar

December 29 2012, 05:05:40 UTC 4 years ago

I voted! I hope the winner is the one with more -pink- in the picture! They are both very nice

seanan_mcguire

December 31 2012, 23:26:18 UTC 4 years ago

I adore them both.

purpleranger

December 29 2012, 17:56:07 UTC 4 years ago

So how does one vote? I went over to Ranting Dragon to vote, but I didn't see any way to cast a vote. Or am I too late?

kyrielle

December 29 2012, 20:59:38 UTC 4 years ago

I was able to vote just now - at the bottom of the blog post, just above the comments, I see a poll with radio button ticky boxes for each of the two covers and a submit button. (Well, saw. Now I see the results, post-my-vote.)

purpleranger

December 30 2012, 18:23:46 UTC 4 years ago

In other words, it looks like I saw this entry too late to vote. Thanks, anyway.

offcntr

December 30 2012, 19:42:05 UTC 4 years ago

Don't think so. It's still up in my browser. Try hitting refresh?

And those are Two Awesome Covers.

seanan_mcguire

December 31 2012, 23:26:44 UTC 4 years ago

It always just popped up for me. I'm sorry it was weird for you. :(

bekitty

December 29 2012, 23:15:55 UTC 4 years ago

When I looked at the tallies for each cover, they were 49% to 51%! SO CLOSE.

seanan_mcguire

December 31 2012, 23:26:52 UTC 4 years ago

I know!

yellowblackhaze

December 30 2012, 21:16:25 UTC 4 years ago

Much as I adored the cover for Discount Armageddon, and I'm very pleased to send that the trend will continue in Midnight Blue-Light Special, Blackbirds cover simply blew me away the first time I saw it, so my vote had to go there. They are both excellent books however and have made my best reads of 2012 list.

seanan_mcguire

December 31 2012, 23:27:19 UTC 4 years ago

I completely support this choice. I voted for Blackbirds in all rounds until it was up against me.