Cover Launch: FEED
- - October 21st, 2009
Winner of officially the hardest cover of the season to nail: Feed by Mira Grant. I don’t want to give too much away on this one, because it’s one of those books that sounds a little odd in the describing, but then blows you away when you read it. There are a lot of layers going on in this book and it’s really smart. It’s an adventure, a political drama, a medical thriller, a character-driven almost first-person memoir style book that sucks you in and you literally cannot put down. And there’s zombies. Yes, a smart book about zombies. But don’t get hung up on the zombie thing. this book is not a joke, or a gimmick. Seriously people, I literally teared up at the end, I got so into the characters. I don’t do that for a lot of science fiction books. (Okay, I cried at the end of Endymion Rising. And Ender’s Game. but that’s it, I swear.)
As I have said before, liking a book a lot before you start designing is a bit of a curse, because you kind of put a lot of pressure on yourself to do a good job. That was definitely the case with Feed, but even worse it was a book that had to combine so many things into a smart package: zombies, politics, blogs, science fiction, horror, and a real world this-could-happen-to-you kind of impact. Tall order.
So I hope I pulled it off. I got a great email from the author, which I will copy here, just because I think it’s the first time I’ve made an author cry — from happiness: “Thank you so much. It’s gorgeous, and it gives me the graphic “feel” of the book right out the gate. I’m thrilled. (Actually, I’m crying, but that’s good, I promise.)”
(I love hearing from authors—when they like a cover especially.)
I know usually I put a description in at this point, but I’m not going to yet. I don’t want to give you any misconceptions because this is a really hard one to pin down. Just trust me, and read it.
Also, because this was much discussed at Orbit HQ: Do you “get” the symbol on the cover? Did you think it was just some weird grafitti thing, or did you recognize it right away? Comment please…
October 21st, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Interesting and intriguing! I shall have to keep a look out for this book. I did recognize the symbol on the cover right off, but I also own (and wear) an “I [RSS symbol]” t-shirt.
October 21st, 2009 at 1:43 pm
It’s the RSS feed symbol. Heee.
October 21st, 2009 at 1:50 pm
I got the symbol, and it’s intriguing as heck to wonder how zombies and RSS could possibly combine…
October 21st, 2009 at 1:52 pm
I got the symbol. My first thought on seeing it was “Wat? an RSS symbol in blood? what on EARTH is this book about?”
October 21st, 2009 at 1:52 pm
It’s the syndication icon.
Love,
amber
October 21st, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Yeah, I got the symbol, but I’m a professional geek.
October 21st, 2009 at 1:56 pm
The symbol looks like either a wireless signal or a radio tower.
Not having read the book it seems slightly strange
I love the typesetting. It definitely give me the feel of a Blood on a typed page which is just unsettling, Love it.
October 21st, 2009 at 1:59 pm
I should probably add that I think it’s awesome design.
Love,
amber
October 21st, 2009 at 2:02 pm
I recognized the symbol right away and started laughing immediately. It’s perfect!
October 21st, 2009 at 2:07 pm
The cover looks absolutely fantastic! And yes, I absolutely “got” the symbol, the moment I saw it. Really curious now about this book.
October 21st, 2009 at 2:10 pm
It’s an RSS button, right?
Ok, now I’m REALLY curious about the book…
October 21st, 2009 at 2:45 pm
That design is awesome.. And I want that book just because of it! Maybe even as a poster… Please? When can I buy Feed?
October 21st, 2009 at 2:52 pm
As one of the proofers on the book, I want to say that that cover is /PERFECT/. Seriously, that’s really wonderful and (while I’m not crying) it made me go ‘OOOOHH! YES!’ and immediately show it to someone else. And yes, I immediately got the RSS symbol. Thank you for doing such a wonderful, careful job with it.
October 21st, 2009 at 3:01 pm
I recognized the RSS-feed symbol pretty much immediately. (Here via a link from Seanan McGuire’s journal.)
October 21st, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Of course I recognized the symbol, I use RSS on daily basis. Actually that in connection with the title made me interested enough to read the text… yet you dare not to put description innit!
October 21st, 2009 at 6:23 pm
I got the symbol right away.
October 21st, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Oh, I got it right away, and so did my husband, looking over my shoulder, who approves highly.
It’s an *awesome* cover, and sooo perfect for the book! (another of Seanan’s machete squad)
October 21st, 2009 at 8:28 pm
Yes… yes, I immediately recognized the symbol and thought “OMG… so simple and so… bloody… perfect!” I can’t imagine a better use of symbolism for this book!
Now I want a poster of the art…
October 22nd, 2009 at 5:03 am
I recognised the RSS symbol immediately – but then again, I was reading the blog on Google Reader, so I might have an advantage over others!
I really want to read this book – zombies & RSS feeds together sounds really intriguing!
October 22nd, 2009 at 7:06 am
Go you!
It’s an RSS thing, right?
Gave a nice new (well, new for someone who’s been hearing about the “zombie book” but doesn’t have a clue about the plot) twist on the term “feed”, for me, btw.
- TTFN,
- Amazon.
October 22nd, 2009 at 9:07 am
aw shucks guys thanks for the high praise! I was just nervous that people wouldn’t get it, you know? but i guess a lot of us sci fi geeks are obviously big computer geeks too. no brainer there.
as far as posters, as we get closer to the release I’ll be sure to make some computer wallpapers for you guys, hows that?
October 24th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Zombies Feed via RSS?
October 26th, 2009 at 11:11 am
I got the symbol right away. And the cover does its job well, since my immediate reaction was ‘A bloody RSS feed icon?Cool. What is that book about?’, followed by looking around for a good description of the book. And isn’t that what a book cover is supposed to do?
And my reaction after finding the article about it on IO9 was ‘Cory Doctorow’s When the Sys-Admins Ruled the World with zombies! Double-cool.’
So count me as waiting eagerly for the book.