VIEWPOINTS CRITICAL

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While I was in Seattle last week, L.E. Modesitt Jr.‘s new hardcover collection VIEWPOINTS CRITICAL was released from Tor. Cover illustration by me. I saw the finished book for the first time when I did my signing at University Bookstore. I’m very pleased to say that while I was away, I received three emails from folks saying they bought the book because of my cover art. Thanks! 🙂

This book’s a heckuva “greatest hits” short story collection from Modesitt and the stories span the length of his career. Modesitt fans will love it. Hard sf readers will love it. Folks who believe “God is in the details” will love it. I wish I could remember who did the design on this jacket, but when I receive comp copies, I’ll look for the name on the jacket flap. The finished print job (gloss vs. matte decisions, especially) turned out very nice….so hat’s off to the designer and I’ll blog again about this when I get your name. Final note: I would’ve posted the finished book art with the type, but I noticed that Amazon’s thumbnail image has whacked-out color and looks weird. So rest assured, the book looks good, and looks like the image seen here.

15 thoughts on “VIEWPOINTS CRITICAL”

  1. I talked with Lee at ICFA and he was enthusing about how wonderful your cover was. I knew it would be, of course, but wow! Nice job.

  2. I am in love.

    Oh my.

    I’ve never read Modesit (sp?) but yes, I am off to Amazon now to buy this book, solely because of the cover.

    And besides, I need to broaden my SF authors anyway. 🙂

  3. Hi, Cheryl —

    Thanks! I’m glad you dig it and I’m glad that Lee was pleased. That makes me happy. 🙂

    HI, Christine —

    You’re the best. Let me know what you think of VIEWPOINTS CRITICAL. I hope you like it. It’s a very eclectic collection, and I think Lee’s an author with unusually broad range. I’ll be curious to hear what you think…..judging by some of the panels your husband visited at Norwescon, I wonder if he might like some of the stories in there as well? Just a thought…..:)

  8. My copy came today!

    This cover is even better in person! I agree with Lou – it will definitely pop off the shelf!

    Something I noticed too – the faces on the cover are slightly raised up from the background.

    And good job on the typeface chosen and its placement.

  9. Hey John,
    Vladimir here from Norwescon. I agree with everyone: while your work is always striking (I can spot a ‘Picacio’ from afar–in a good way), this one is Freaking Amazing! it reminds me of TRON, but, what sells it for me are the expressions on the faces and the juxtaposition of circuitry and ‘calligraphy’– it takes the viewer a moment to realize both characters are ‘mirrors’ of each other.

    Anyhow, I’m just writing to point out that you can always hit other sites up for good quality images– in my design work I have to pull down images for The Elliott Bay Book Company’s events flyer, so I got to barnes and noble, and booksamillion.com… hope this helps… cheers…

  10. Hi, Christine — Hurray! Glad the book arrived and that you’re pleased with it. 🙂 I agree with you — I think the Tor designers made nice decisions with the printing.

    Hi, Vladimir — How are you? Very glad to hear you dig the cover. Thanks so much for the kind words. By the way — I had a blast at Norwescon. I doubt it’ll be the last time I’m up that way. My wife and I loved Seattle….

  12. The jacket design was by Vanessa Paolantonio.

    I was at the University Bookstore this afternoon. All copies of the book are gone!

  13. Hi, Christine —

    I appreciate the news about University. That’s great….hopefully Duane orders a few more copies over there. And thanks VERY much re: the designer’s name — Vanessa Paolantonio. Yeah, she did a really nice job. Kudos to her!

  14. Ces – you beat me to it.

    Vanessa did a great job, and fought for the spot gloss. She’s an awesome part of the Tor Team.

    Thanks for the kudos John. it’s always gratifying when the artists are happy with what we do to their art.

  15. Thanks, Irene. Yeah, great job by Vanessa! Maybe I can give her a blog mention later this week since folks may not see her credit down here in the comments.

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