Charlaine Harris Book/Show Group discussion
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Many Bloody Returns
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Angie
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Feb 01, 2008 06:42PM
Just finished reading the short story in Many Bloody Returns. I thought it was a good story, though I wonder what someone who is not familiar with the series would think. It has all our favorite characters in the story,Sam, Pam, Bill, and Eric. Cute story.
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I'm glad you liked it, and I love the cover, so I was thrilled the anthology was illustrated by the same person who illustrates all the Sookie novels (for the time being...that will change soon). When I first heard about the anthology last year some Sookie fans were complaining about this story, saying it was terrible. Imagine how surprised I was when I read it and loved it! But then I don't expect "brain surgery" from Sookie. She's a flake, and I love that about her. It's what makes her such fun to read (grin).
I didn't know the illustrator is going to change for the sookie books! why is that? i will be disappointed when they change. the Dark Tower series by Stephen King did the same thing. So i swear every book looks completely different and i would like it to look like a set.
I couldn't find anywhere about the illustrator changing but I did find that you can order prints of the cover's of the novels, neat!http://www.lisadesimini.com/prints.html
Charlaine Harris changed publishers last year. When you do that the new publisher wants a new look, so as soon as the stock of old books runs out the new ones with new covers will start coming into bookstores. Some of my friends have already seen the new covers and say they are not very good. But that's what always happens. If any of you have read Lilith Saintcrow's Danny Valentine series you saw that happen with her books, when her publisher was bought out by another. The old covers were fabulous, and the new ones look like cheap pulp fiction. But that's what happens. Authors at the big publishers have no control over the their covers, so you just have to go with it.
Wonderful you can get prints of the old Sookie covers. Neat! I love her style!
That's too bad that they're changing the illustrator... I was a fan of the old covers, too. After seeing so many of them, it kind of seems like it will be a different series if it has different art on the cover. I saw (at Amazon) that her next book, From Dead to Worse (out in May 2008) still shows the current illustrator, so that must have been done before the publisher switch.I looked up the illustrator (Lisa Desimini) and it turns out that she also illustrated book covers for Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech, and Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver. You can click here to see the other book jackets she's done:
http://www.lisadesimini.com/jackets.html
I'm interested to see where the new publisher will take the art. Laura: you said that some of your friends have seen the new art. Do you know who the new illustrator is? Or the direction they took the covers in? Are they more romance-y? I kind of liked that the old (current) ones were a little quirky.
Valerie,I don't know exactly where she said she saw the covers. But she didn't like them at all. In my B&N, Harris is not considered Paranormal Romance. She is in the urban fantasy section, so I don't know what they will do. Right now the covers we all love are considered chick-lit, so maybe the new publisher wants to get away from that.
I have seen one cover where the blonde vamp that works for Eric had her mouth open and blood dripping out. Her face takes up about half the cover and under it is the club. I think the direction they are taking is more horror. Harris has said before in interviews she feels her novels are more in the horror genre, so maybe what I saw was one of the new covers. I know they generally do one cover for the US and another for Europe, so maybe what I saw was a European cover. I don't know.
Sorry I couldn't be more helpful!
That's OK, Laura, I was just curious if you had any more details.I think it's so strange that Charlaine Harris feels her novels are more in the horror genre... I would have said paranormal romance all the way.
I did not know that when an author changes publishers they will change illustrators. That was interesting to know, I have a few sets of books that are different. Does the author not have a choice? I am also surprised Harris thinks her books are more horror, a different cover would help someone who has never heard of these books pick it up for horror rather than romance.
(Valerie & Angie)I have been thinking about that article and where I saw it. I realized it was in the "Novel & Short Story Writers Market" book in the last year or two, so many people who aren't in the business probably didn't read it. But it had a lot of info about what she thinks about her books.
Yeah, I was shocked when she said she thought her books fell in the horror genre. I think of them more as urban fantasy than paranormal romance. She has a little romance in there but she follows the standard "formula" for urban fantasy in almost every book...the heroine goes from one disaster to the next, lots of dashing around and exhausting fight scenes, the heroine gets beat up badly toward the end of almost every novel, but manages to recover every time by the end of the book. Same thing with Jim Butcher, Rachel Caine, and most all the urban fantasy authors. One thing I like so much about paranormal romance is it follows a different formula that isn't so exhausting.
Yes, authors at big-time publishers have no say usually in their covers. It's one reason why I have always stayed with small press publishers. That way I have total control over the covers of my novels. I have seen so many bad covers I am always terrified I will end up with a bad cover if I don't keep control of that part of the book. And I must be on the right track because some of the covers of my books have won awards over the years. So far so good (grin)!
The only big author I know of who might have control over her covers would be Laurell K. Hamilton. I have no idea if this is true, but I think it is a good guess. I say that simply because she has a reputation for being verrrrry highstrung, so I think they use personality damage control with her and try to keep her happy any way they can.
Yes, a change in publisher almost always means a change in the covers and in the entire look of the book. They do that to distinguish themselves. It's a marketing thing.
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