The problem with reusing images for book covers, is that if an image is particularly striking, it’s obvious the image has been reused.

For weeks I was staring at the guy on the cover of Lilith Saintcrow’s The Damnation Affair, KNOWING I’d seen that guy on the cover of another book.

How did I know that? Because the guy creeps me out.

He looks like a redneck stalker.

Not hot. Not sexy.

Creepy.

I finally ran back into the image as I was cleaning up my book blog and book site.

The cover for Moira Rogers’ book Wilder’s Mate: Bloodhounds.

Mind you, I find the guy disturbing in both settings, but I find the first image MORE disturbing, because he and the girl are not in the same setting AT ALL. At least in the second image, the guy is being made to look threatening and dangerous–though Im’ never a fan of Photoshopped red eyes.

But in the top image, he looks not like he’s going to save the girl, but that he is threatening her.

Additionally, the female model looks about twelve, which makes it all the more squicky, because it reinforces the stalker/pedophile vibe.

So now we both know.