Here it is: https://www.reuters.com/article/entertainment-us-media-newyorker-idUSBRE86T1G520120730

The Goosebumps Gold series. It was originally announced in like 2000 but got scrapped probably because of licensing issues. Books that were supposed to be released were The Haunted Mask Lives!, Happy Holidays from Dead House, and Slappy New Year. However, Slappy New Year was later released under the Horrorland series, but I'm unsure if it shares the same story as the one originally planned.

“I want pure colors, melting clouds, accurately drawn details, a sunburst above a receding road with the light reflected in furrows and ruts, after rain. And no girls.” His description of the cover he wanted was so eloquent. I really wish someone had done that.

I think my favorite existing cover was the one with a man’s shoe stepping in discarded bubblegum, by Yuko Shimizu. It gave me instant insight into the book’s themes.

I'm on the side of not having enjoyed it. But according to most of the comments, maybe it's because I'm older and already have a jaded view of life 🤔

Rebecca is incredible and has literally never been widely published with a suitably incredible cover. It looks like a cheesy romance novel. 😞

Yes, the book was orphaned. Sorry it happened to you but it is not uncommon at all, with all the corporate buyouts and editor shuffling.

Just went to look at both of those. The marbled look on the new Shadow and Bone designs are really pleasing, though I kind of like both of the designs. I agree on The Inexplicable Logic on My Life - i think maybe orange would have suited it better.

Unfortunately your assumption was incorrect. I am 6‘0 and 122 lbs. the last thing I need to do is to lose weight lol. I want to gain weight & just generally to feel less dreaded and out of energy. Also I simply enjoy learning about virtually anything, I just named 3 topics that came into my head first

That’s definitely not what I was saying, nor is that what IA is doing.

Oh, yeah. I edited a ms. for somebody who'd gotten a $500K advance ... well, that's what was promised but only a small portion was doled out because the publisher canceled ... the guy was making an ass out of himself boasting, bragging, trying to promo his second book, which was only a concept, before the first one was in final edits. The guy had an ideal platform too -- reporter for a major newspaper with a part-time gig on national TV.

But yeah, he was a walking red flag, and I can only assume that the publisher decided he was too much trouble and they didn't want him on the roster.

BTW, the guy never paid me for the edit.

I have ADHD and fell of the reading train. Recently I got an e-reader again and suddenly I'm reading up a storm; even books I own. I've got a physical copy of Dracula right next to me I've never got into, but now it's on a little toy I can click through it's going in easy.

I guess my tip is, make it easy for you. Whether it's audiobooks or an ereader, you don't get points for doing it like other people.

It drives me nuts. I love fantasy and romance novels and I can’t tell you how many feminist works are hidden behind poorly done photoshops of sexy women. Most authors don’t get a say in the cover design, unfortunately.

My illustration class in college visited a man who did book covers for fantasy works and it was just awful. He said he refused to read any part of the book (it would get in the way of his “creativity”), only begrudgingly read the summary they sent him, and never asked questions about things like the appearance of the protagonist, the setting, or anything else. He was super proud of this and told us that he did what he wanted and they just had to deal with it.

Unsurprisingly, all of his work was, while highly technically accomplished, extremely bland and lacked anything unique about the books he was painting for. It was basically generic fantasy background, generic fantasy man, or generic fantasy woman.

I've been really into the Murder Most Unladylike series and I'd describe that as enid blyton but with modern sensibilities, and it's a lot of fun. I used to love the st claires series but once I realised you can have boarding school hijinks without the dodgy attitudes to women and minorities I never looked back.

The first thought when I completed that book was, what a ridiculous waste of time. Bumper sticker book.

By some of the posts in this sub, it makes you wonder.

Most of Lolita's covers are maybe not ugly but just not good for the story, with a young girl on the cover which Nabokov explicitly said he didn't want (there's even one of a girl biting an apple, like the forbidden fruit, happily, which is so not the point of the book), or there's the Everymans library one with a fairly ugly picture of Nabokov on the cover which, without knowing makes you think that's Humbert. I managed to find one with a plain blue cover

I assume from the subject matter your interested in that you are trying to lose weight. Well your in luck. The diet industry is a multi billion dollar industry, everyone has a book out to take your money. I have the answer for you for free. Ready? Eat less, exercise more. That’s it. How am I an expert?? I have lost 30 lbs and well on my way to losing 30 more. I have read all (well most of) the books written by drs and nutritionist. And it all comes down to eat less exercise more. If you want specifics DM me.

We know how to read thanks.

I wouldn't say terrible, but I'm not fond of the Shadow and Bone series's original covers. The new ones look SO much better. The only other book that comes to mind is The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamin Alire Saenz, and my only bone to pick with it is the yellow text on blue background.

I swear it's a rule, if the main character is a woman, that's what goes on the cover and she has to be sexy and look nothing like the author's description. If the MC is a man, the cover gets to be something plot related, an action scene or a dragon or something.

Exactly. As a librarian I believe in more access to knowledge, information, and books, but at the same time I have some published authors as friends and when this story about the potential lawsuit first broke, they went to check if their works were available through IA, found out it was, and they were livid about e-copies of their books being available to borrow for free by unlimited amounts of people.

No, it’s not an option for them to purchase retail copies. They are legally required to purchase special “lending license” variants of books because book publishers lobbied that libraries cost them too much money by just existing.

Afaik, the lending limit only applies to digital copies of books, as physical copies naturally wear out or get lost with time, and thus will require repurchase either way unlike a digital copy. The physical copies are still hellishly expensive.

This really helped me

He has been writing for 30+ years now. Not sure if the quality of writing has gone down as I don't read much of his work.

What I have read has been a pleasure and The Innocent Man still stands out as one of the more interesting books I read as a younger person.

In any case I've always enjoyed his work and hopefully this was just an outlier or something.

That makes sense. I just checked and my current library actually does this. They did away with flat fees several years ago according to the site.