The most dreadful cover thread...

[Sparrow]

This has my vote...
http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Queen-Dave-Wolverton/dp/0312856563



The Golden Queen by Dave Wolverton, appears to have Fabio, a serving wench, and a circus bear exiting a magic portal on the cover. These are three subjects that by themselves would eliminate any chance of me picking up the book, but to stage them in a trifecta is almost beyond comprehension.


So there you have it, a thread dedicated to the worst cover art ever to grace a fantasy novel.

 

[newfiesailor]

The ninja is clearly fighting someone off the range of the book cover and the 4 armed green caterpillar ponytailed orc is thinking "WTF?"

Assassin! indeed.

 

[KatG]

I like the bear. You don't see many bears on covers. And in the SF story, it's a genetically enhanced talking bear. And the humans were genetically enhanced as well. Most of the rest of the story doesn't sound as interesting though. It's not great packaging for this kind of SF story.

 

[Luya Sevrein]

The ninja is clearly fighting someone off the range of the book cover and the 4 armed green caterpillar ponytailed orc is thinking "WTF?"

Assassin! indeed.

Oh man that made me laugh. xD Just the Green-genie-like-orc-caterpillar-thing's face. xD He looks so unimpressed/amused.

The only way I'd say this wasn't a failure cover was if the story was actually about a failure of an assassin - in which case, epic. (Or if he uses a strange stance, but that's less funny.)

 

[JunkMonkey]

Are we restricted to covers of current / recent books, or can we go digging into the vast back catalogue of awful SF/F/Horror art? Because if we're allowed free reign...

 

[DailyRich]

I always found this one a little ridiculous:

 

[Rob B]

Deja vu all over again:
Embarrassing/Awful cover art

Any problems with these two being merged?

 

[Loerwyn]

Deja vu all over again:
Embarrassing/Awful cover art

Any problems with these two being merged?

Don't forget a link to Good Show, Sir!

 

[newfiesailor]

Are we restricted to covers of current / recent books, or can we go digging into the vast back catalogue of awful SF/F/Horror art? Because if we're allowed free reign...

Wow, man, that thing is hideous.

 

[3rdI]

I am going to go with this one...looks like a bad romance novel...

 

[Erfael]

I like the depth to that Rawn cover, actually.

 

[Loerwyn]

I like it too, but it could do with a bit more colour.

 

[Gary XI]

Found a website on this topic with some absolute shockers!
Here's a sample:

 

[Seli]

Are we restricted to covers of current / recent books, or can we go digging into the vast back catalogue of awful SF/F/Horror art? Because if we're allowed free reign...

I like this one, definitely a child of it's time but smack in the middle of a large current in cartooning.

 

[Luya Sevrein]

The creature on that Davidson cover is totally shocked and horrified at the cover. XD
​

 

[Sparrow]

This one is bad on every level...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/im...ge_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&n=283155&s=books

 

[Gary XI]

That is truely awful,

Not sure if this one counts, it is a bad cover, simply from its lack of art

http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/victorfar1.jpg

 

[Sparrow]

That is truely awful,

Not sure if this one counts, it is a bad cover, simply from its lack of art

http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/victorfar1.jpg

Yeah, that's definitely taking the minimalist approach.

I really wonder why these writers and small publishers don't do a better job with packaging? I'm a sucker for a great cover and an over-the-top promo on the back... the story may end up sucking, but at least it looks good on a bookshelf.

 

[Seak]

I actually own this one, but I'm pretty sure I should be offended by it:

 

[JunkMonkey]

Yeah, that's definitely taking the minimalist approach.

I really wonder why these writers and small publishers don't do a better job with packaging? I'm a sucker for a great cover and an over-the-top promo on the back... the story may end up sucking, but at least it looks good on a bookshelf.

You would have thought that there were enough wannabe artists who would bite their own arm off to get their work on a book cover - any cover - to get their toe in the market and have something to put in their portfolios.