Yesterday was YA, Romance, and Mystery covers. Today is fantasy covers.

Romance gets some horrible, lurid covers, but I think fantasy in general, is worse. Especially the kinds of books I love, which have strong, independent, female lead characters.

If they aren’t in completely ridiculous outfits for what they are supposed to be doing, they’re in poses that are humanly impossible or simply in some rendition of what the artist thinks is “sexy.” Which means there are a lot of horrible—and even downright offensive—covers with female characters.

So I’m delighted when I find a series with covers that not only don’t suck, but are actually awesome.

First up is Faith Hunter’s Jane Yellowrock series: Death’s Rival, Raven Cursed, and Have Stakes Will Travel (2012)

I generally love the covers in this series, and there ended up being three different Jane Yellowrock books this year (two novels and an anthology).

First, the cover model looks like Jane (who is Native American).

Second, Jane actually looks like she could kick your ass, and (aside from the ridiculously tight pants and excess of boob) is dressed for combat.

I think my biggest complaint about the covers is that in the series is that it explicitly states (multiple times) that Jane wears her hair up in a style that cannot be grabbed when she’s fighting. So I find the depiction with long, unbound hair ridiculous, but in the grand scheme of book covers, that’s a minor quibble.

My reviews of Death’s Rival, Raven Cursed, and Have Stakes Will Travel

Doubletake (2012) Rob Thurman

This is the only series/book with a male protagonist that made the list; I can’t help myself, I just adore these covers.

I love they managed to capture the essential pissy bastard nature of Cal.

My review of Doubletake

Gunmetal Magic (2012) Ilona Andrews

As much as I love Ilona Andrews’ books, I generally tend to dislike the covers to the Kate Daniels series. Although Kate is typically competent looking, the depiction of Curran (always as a lion) just bugs me. So I was delighted by the cover of this book.

Andrea looks like she’s ready to kick your ass. The model looks pretty much like Andrea is described. And we have Atlanta burning in the background.

I also like that although part of the focus of the story was her working things out with Raphael, he doesn’t make an appearance on the cover. Which is good, because this story is about Andrea, not him.

Only quibble I have is (again), why is her hair down? How can you fight—or do much of anything—with your hair in your face?

My review of Gunmetal Magic

Ashes of Honor (2012) Seanan McGuire

Seanan McGuire has also gotten some great covers for her Toby Daye series. They’re dark (possibly a little darker than the series itself, but that’s ok) and Toby isn’t shown doing anything ridiculous, nor is she in a submissive pose.

She is portrayed here is active and independent–who knows what she’s actually doing, but she is doing it–things are NOT being done to her.

Additionally, is it strange that I love the font they use? Because I do.

My review of Ashes of Honor

Permeable Borders (2012) Nina Kiriki Hoffman

I love this cover. I love the font, I love the water, I love the sky, I love everything.

No, it doesn’t tell you anything specific about the contents, but that’s good, because this is an anthology of her writing, and the stories don’t necessarily fit any one theme, besides being fantasy. So I just love that it’s so beautiful.

My review of Permeable Borders

I complain a lot about bad book covers. Some covers are so terrible they make me glad for the advent of the eBook, so I can read whatever I want in public.

On the other hand, when book covers are good, they tend to be very good. I fully admit that I’ve been drawn to books solely by the cover art. So I want to point out some covers for books were published in 2012 that I really liked, because that seems only fair.

First up: YA, Romance, and Mystery covers. Next: Fantasy Covers

YA

Most of the YA covers weren’t bad—I can’t think of anything in particular I hated, but I thought these covers were especially good.

The Far West (2012) Patricia C. Wrede

Interestingly, the first book in the series had a very different cover from the next two. I’ve liked all the covers in this series, and I think this one does a very good job of giving you a feel for the tone of the story without giving anything away.

There are strange monsters in the background you can’t quite make out. The dress of the main character is obviously not modern, but also very sensible for what she’s doing.

The first cover in the series didn’t have a picture of main character, I presume in an attempt to appeal to male and female readers.

My review of The Far West.

Croak (2012) Gina Damico

This is first off, a spot on depiction of the main character. I love that she’s in a hoodie and isn’t made to look the slightest bit sexy. I also like how you can’t immediately tell if she is male or female, which would, again, make it possible appeal to a male or female reader.

My review of Croak

Romance

Cindy Spencer Pape‘s Moonlight & Mechanicals (2012) and Kilts & Kraken (2012)

Despite the fact these are novellas, she has gotten some really wonderful covers for this series. This is one of those cases where I picked up the book for the cover.

The books are steam punk and alternate history where magic exists, which I think the covers do a fabulous job of showing. There are ALSO kissing books, which isn’t (to me) obvious from the covers, but despite all the boinking, I’m really enjoying the series, and in fact, probably would never have read any of these books if they had the typical “romance” cover.

My reviews of Moonlight & Mechanicals and Kilts & Kraken

Mystery

When Maidens Mourn (2012) C.S. Harris

This is a well-established series that shifted quickly from mass-market paperback to hard-back for the initial release, so the odds of her getting a crappy cover were relatively low. That said, I haven’t loved all the covers in this series (I rather disliked the cover of What Remains of Heaven (http://klishis.com/reading/archives/1571) because it didn’t feel like it had much to do with the book) but for the most part she has gorgeous covers that portray the tone of the book marvelously.

These are mysteries set in Regency England, and the main character is a British noble who, after time in the Army during the Napoleonic wars, cares far less than his family likes for society and proper behavior, which is how he keeps getting embroiled in murders and their attending mysteries.

Although the covers are gorgeous, their tone also has a sense of mystery (or menace), often with people or objects coming out of the mist.

My review of When Maidens Mourn

I noted recently that I have already read as many books this year–and it’s just the start of November–as I did last year.

How do I keep track? First, I have a book blog: Random Reading.

Second, I (of COURSE, because I am a GEEK) keep an Excel file tracking the number of books I read to compare over time.

But what I didn’t have (UNTIL TODAY!) was consolidated data on what kind of books I’ve been reading. I’ve never read many hardback books (too heavy and too expensive), and I’ve always preferred mass market paperback books to trade paperback books (too heavy), but although I knew I was reading a large proportion of eBooks, I wasn’t aware just how my reading habits had changed.

So I went through my book blog and my book database and tallied the kinds of books I read each year.

I have to admit I am completely shocked by the trends.

So far this year, I have read the same number of eBooks as I did mass market paperback books in 2010 (the last year I did not own an eReader): 80.

The number of hardback books has remained fairly constant, which is not a surprise.

The number of trade paperbacks has declined as well, but I always read fewer trade paperbacks than I did mass market paperbacks, again, because they’re heavier and more uncomfortable to hold for long periods of time.

Interestingly, this year might not even beat my previous high, which was set in 2006, when I read 164 books in a single year, but you can see that I’ve been pretty consistent in how much I read.

(I only have numbers for part of 2003, because July 2003 was when I started my book blog, and I didn’t always blog every book at first.)

But getting back to the types of book I read, I was initially surprised at how many eBooks I’ve read, but then after some consideration, decided I should have noticed this trend earlier. First, I try to always have a book with me. But with eReaders, I have access to my entire electronic library ON MY CELL PHONE. That means I don’t have to carry a book or even an eReader, I just need to pull out my phone, which I always have with me.

There are a non-zero number of occasions where I’ve had an unexpected wait, started reading a book on my phone, and then when I got home, took up right where I left off on my Kindle.

Second, when I travel, I no longer have to haul along a bag of books I might possibly want to read. The convenience of carrying a single eReader instead of three to ten paperback books is tremendous. Especially since we now have to pay for all carry-on luggage on planes.

Third, my kindle is about the same weight as a mass market paperback book. And much lighter than a trade paperback or hardback book. I’m not certain, but I think I’m reading more new releases, since I don’t have to wait for them to come out in mass market paperback.

So how do I think this affects authors?

First, I’ve bought some books that I have in hardback–or even paperback–in eBook format. Some of these were favorites, but others were books I had been wanting to read, but only had in hardback, so the books were sitting on my shelf collecting dust. Yes, if I already own a copy of a book, I’m probably going to wait until I find it on sale to buy that eBook, but then I already own the book, so this is just bonus money the author is getting from me, since I already paid for the book once.

Second, as I said, I think I’ve increased the number of newer releases I read, because I no longer have to wait until a book comes out in mass market paperback.

Third–and most importantly to me–there are more and more short stories and novellas available for just a few dollars or even for free. Not only am I willing to pay a dollar or two for a short story, I’ve also read several free short stories that have lead me to purchase books by that author (Lish McBride and Jennifer Estep are two major beneficiaries of that trend.)

So it seems to me, from my reading trends, that eBooks are a good thing for authors. I’m buying books sooner, occasionally buying multiple versions of a book, and buying plenty of new authors I’ve been introduced to through free short stories/novellas.

The bad thing about this, is I now see that I have a NEW Excel file I’ll need to maintain, to see if these trends continue to change over time.

(That huge peak in July 2004? I had the flu and read the entire Spenser series just over a week. June 2010? Broken ankle. May 2006? I have no idea.)

io9 today has a list of The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels to Cheer You the Frak Up which, of course, made me want to compile my own list.

I don’t agree with everything on there–I tend to find the DEATH books in Discworld more cheerful than the Watch books, and I’ll take the Hobbit over TLOTR any day, but all in all it’s a pretty good list, that I mostly agree with.

These the books that I pick up, time and again, when I’m depressed or anxious and need to escape (in no particular order):

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agness Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett – this is possibly one of my all-time favorite books.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein – The Hobbit has always been comfort reading for me. The Lord of the Rings much less so.

The Phoenix Guards & Five Hundred Years After and Jhereg by Steven Brust – Same world, same author, but completely different feels. I love them both equally, even though they are very different books.

Thieves’ World edited by Robert Asprin and Lynn Abbey – In tone, I can’t think of anything LESS cheerful than Thieves’ World, but when I read them, they take me completely away from myself.

Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner – I love and adore this story. I own it in paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

The Belgariad by David Eddings – I think it’s because, even now, I can still lose myself completely in the story.

And then I have Sean Russell and Guy Gavriel Kay. They write books that draw me out of myself and into whatever world they have created. For Sean Russell, I’d say my favorites are The Initiate Brother & Gatherer of Clouds, but with Guy Gavriel Kay, I simply can’t pick. Anything of his I read is going to pull me deeply into the world he has crafted.

And lastly, almost anything by Charles de Lint. He has a lot of anthologies, and I’m a huge fan of short stories, but there’s something else about his writing–even though many of his stories can be dark, I still finish the stories with a tremendous sense of hope.

Go read a banned book!

Top challenged books for 2011

ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
The Color of Earth (series), by Kim Dong Hwa
The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins
My Mom’s Having A Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy, by Dori Hillestad Butler
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Alice (series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily Von Ziegesar
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009

1. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
2. Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
4. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
5. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
7. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
8. His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
9. ttyl; ttfn; l8r g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
11. Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers
12. It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris
13. Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey
14. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
15. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
16. Forever, by Judy Blume
17. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
18. Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
19. Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
20. King and King, by Linda de Haan
21. To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
22. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar
23. The Giver, by Lois Lowry
24. In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak
25. Killing Mr. Griffen, by Lois Duncan
26. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
27. My Brother Sam Is Dead, by James Lincoln Collier
28. Bridge To Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
29. The Face on the Milk Carton, by Caroline B. Cooney
30. We All Fall Down, by Robert Cormier
31. What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
32. Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
33. Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson
34. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler
35. Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging, by Louise Rennison
36. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
37. It’s So Amazing, by Robie Harris
38. Arming America, by Michael Bellasiles
39. Kaffir Boy, by Mark Mathabane
40. Life is Funny, by E.R. Frank
41. Whale Talk, by Chris Crutcher
42. The Fighting Ground, by Avi
43. Blubber, by Judy Blume
44. Athletic Shorts, by Chris Crutcher
45. Crazy Lady, by Jane Leslie Conly
46. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
47. The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby: The First Graphic Novel by George Beard and Harold Hutchins, the creators of Captain Underpants, by Dav Pilkey
48. Rainbow Boys, by Alex Sanchez
49. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey
50. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
51. Daughters of Eve, by Lois Duncan
52. The Great Gilly Hopkins, by Katherine Paterson
53. You Hear Me?, by Betsy Franco
54. The Facts Speak for Themselves, by Brock Cole
55. Summer of My German Soldier, by Bette Green
56. When Dad Killed Mom, by Julius Lester
57. Blood and Chocolate, by Annette Curtis Klause
58. Fat Kid Rules the World, by K.L. Going
59. Olive’s Ocean, by Kevin Henkes
60. Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
61. Draw Me A Star, by Eric Carle
62. The Stupids (series), by Harry Allard
63. The Terrorist, by Caroline B. Cooney
64. Mick Harte Was Here, by Barbara Park
65. The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien
66. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred Taylor
67. A Time to Kill, by John Grisham
68. Always Running, by Luis Rodriguez
69. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
70. Harris and Me, by Gary Paulsen
71. Junie B. Jones (series), by Barbara Park
72. Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
73. What’s Happening to My Body Book, by Lynda Madaras
74. The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
75. Anastasia (series), by Lois Lowry
76. A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
77. Crazy: A Novel, by Benjamin Lebert
78. The Joy of Gay Sex, by Dr. Charles Silverstein
79. The Upstairs Room, by Johanna Reiss
80. A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck
81. Black Boy, by Richard Wright
82. Deal With It!, by Esther Drill
83. Detour for Emmy, by Marilyn Reynolds
84. So Far From the Bamboo Grove, by Yoko Watkins
85. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, by Chris Crutcher
86. Cut, by Patricia McCormick
87. Tiger Eyes, by Judy Blume
88. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
89. Friday Night Lights, by H.G. Bissenger
90. A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L’Engle
91. Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George
92. The Boy Who Lost His Face, by Louis Sachar
93. Bumps in the Night, by Harry Allard
94. Goosebumps (series), by R.L. Stine
95. Shade’s Children, by Garth Nix
96. Grendel, by John Gardner
97. The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende
98. I Saw Esau, by Iona Opte
99. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume
100. America: A Novel, by E.R. Frank

First:

The clip, a kind of literature snuff film, opens with Lauren resting her hand on her victims: a stack of books whose spines she will soon rip out.

Second:

It has always been my belief that people who spend too much time with my work end up as lost souls, drained of reason, who lead lives of raving emptiness and occasional lunatic violence. What a relief it is to see this documented.

What kind of writer are you?

You’re a Ernest Hemingway. You chose clear and unflashy words that get right to the point. Other writers known for this style are George Orwell and Raymond Carver. Try your hand at a six-word memoir, consider a career in journalism, and maintain an active Twitter account.

Sounds about right.

Last night I finished a book I enjoyed, but HOLY CARP the cover is HORRIFIC.

Interestingly, I searched online for images, and none of the images I found had the sheer horrificness of fake blood that was on my cover.

My guess is that someone fixed the cover, for later printings. Which makes the current cover bad, but not quite as OMFG YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING horrible.

So, here it is:

Seriously. Click through the Flickr to see larger OMG AWFUL.

Just to prove I didn’t photoshop that horrible blood in there, here is my co-worker Meredith, reacting to the cover.

If you click through to Flickr, you can view full size and still see the horrific blood drips there.

FWIW, I then loaned the book to Meredith to read, because it really is a good book.

And a video.

NPR YA Fiction Finalists

I can see I have a lot of reading ahead of me…
(more…)

The Library of Congress has a list called: Books That Shaped America.

Considering how eclectic my tastes are, I found myself unsurprised at how few of these I’ve read or attempted to read. (22/88 or 25%)
(more…)

The Ultimate Science Fiction And Fantasy Showdown

1. Malcom Reynolds (Sorry Han)
2. Scooby Gang
3. Doctor Who (duh)
4. No opinion
5. Sherlock Holmes
6. Marvin the Paranoid Android (I’m so depressed)
7. No opinion
8. Sarah Connor (I love kick-ass chicks)
9. Starbuck
10. Luke (I can’t help it. Sorry.)
11. Daleks
12. Arthur Dent (How is that even a contest?)
13. As much as I want to say MULTI-PASS, I have to go with River Tam
14. Hermoine (that one was closer)
15. No opinion
16. Uhhh… Avengers?
17. TRICK QUESTION!

There are several virtual reading programs going on again this summer. For each, you can win prizes, but the individuals running the programs will be making donations to charities based upon how much you read.

And you can totally double dip!

Todd Wheeler’s Virtual Summer Reading Program

Janiece’s Second Annual Hot Chicks and Smart Men Dig Reading Summer Reading Program in Honor of Debby Faught

And you can always check out what I’m reading on my book blog. Also, I’m on Shelfari. Random Michelle, of course!

NPR is asking for the best YA books.

Unfortunately, you can only list five (but they can be a series). My five:
The Thief of Eddis series (starts with The Thief) by Megan Whalen Turner
Runaways by Brian K Vaughan (not as much the rest of the series)
Sabriel, Liriel and Abhorsen by Garth Nix
Girl Genius by Phil & Kaja Foglio
A Fistful of Sky by Nina Kiriki Hoffman

Others:
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
Discworld – Tiffany Aching by Terry Pratchett
A Matter of Magic by Patricia Wrede

Obvious (which I loved):
Harry Potter
Hunger Games
The Hobbit

What I’ve read recently (need more time to judge as to best):
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente
Mythos Academy series by Jennifer Estep
Shadow Falls series by CC Hunter
Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede
Boneshaker by Cherie Priest