This meme was started by Books by Proxy, whose fabulous idea was to compare UK and US book covers and decide which is we prefer. This meme is currently being nurtured by Lynn’s Book Blog and this week at least one of our covers has to be grainy or look like WHITE NOISE, so I’ve selected Dichronauts by Greg Egan.
This Kindle edition was produced by Greg Egan himself in March 2017. I love the design, which is also a visual manifestation of the physics behind this amazing world that Egan has constructed. It is both beautiful and eye-catching. Despite the nasty orange font for the title and author, this is by far the most details and awesome depiction of this design and is therefore my favourite. By the way, if you are interested in exploring the physics behind the world of the dichronauts – this is a LINK to Egan’s site explaining his ideas.
Published in July 2017 by Night Shade, this cover is a close reworking of the original. I miss those beautiful colours in the centre of the hyperboloid, and the author name and title have been better handled. I also wish there was less distracting chatter so readers could better appreciate the beauty of this remarkable design.
This audiobook edition, published by Tantor Audio in July 2017 doesn’t go in for the whole shape, but gives just a slice of it. I think it’s a shame that the beauty of the whole hourglass has been chopped down – but I’m guessing it’s because of the different size and scale of the cover.
Produced by Night Shade Books in July 2017, this edition so nearly gives us the original Egan design completely unadorned. While I do love the notion of providing the whole design without messing it up with details like the title and author, there isn’t quite the beauty and depth of the Egan offering. Which is your favourite?
Obviously, this cannot count, because it isn’t a book cover – but it is the gif of the dichronaut world that Egan is depicting. I think it’s lovely…
Brainfluff 
What a perfect cover for this week’s theme and I completely agree with your favourite – I quite like the cover which is very similar but it puzzles me not having a name or author on there. The Gif is great.
Lynn 😀
Thank you, Lynn. As soon as I saw the subject – this was the cover that came to mind… I was sorry not to be able to include the gif in the Friday Faceoff – but we haven’t had moving images on covers… yet:)
Interesting comparisons. I don’t like the original cover because the additional colors — especially the green — clash with the predominant blue in the graphic, and also distract from both the title and author’s name (both of which should be larger, especially given they’re in red, which doesn’t show up well against the blue).
I like the Night Shade cover because there are no clashing colors in the graphic (it looks cleaner to me, and doesn’t distract from the title and name), but you’re right about the type. The title and author’s name should be the same size, or the title should be slightly larger.
Please keep doing the “Friday Faceoff” — it’s always fun to check it out.
Glad you are enjoying it – it’s probably my favourite post of the week, too. So there’s no risk of me giving it up completely, though occasionally I do skip weeks.
The first one is my favorite, and wow, that gif is just mesmerizing. I can’t stop watching it move, lol.
Yes… I spent too much time watching it yesterday instead of getting on and doing other things. It may be magical (don’t tell Greg Egan though, he writes hard sci fi and is a scientist…)
All of these compliment the story. I;m going with the first cover.
You’re right – they do compliment the story, Laura. Hope you’re having a great weekend:)
I agree with you—the kindle cover by Egan himself looks best of all the covers here! Love the hour glass illustration on these covers.
Thank you, Shruti – it is gorgeous, isn’t it?
I actually like the Night Shade cover quite a bit, mostly because of the light flare on the right side of the cover… 🙂
Yes, it is very dramatic, isn’t it?
The first one is perfect, except for the font color 🙂
Yes – the font is unfortunate, isn’t it?
Yes, it looks out of place.
I think it is very much an afterthought, Inessa.
The image is so perfect, it was probably a hard task to find a matching font, and they just gave up 🙂
Yes – that is definitely my impression and to be honest – I can see their point…:)
🙂
I like the July 2017 by Night Shade best, but I feel like they might have taken his world and made it appear more like earth? Is it supposed to be that way? If not I would agree with your choice!
Hm… I got that sense, too. Which is one reason why I prefer Egan’s own depiction where the colours are less terrestrial.
The first is the best book cover, and the last is the best of all. Lovely. Thanks for sharing.
You’re very welcome Rae. This post happens to be a labour of love:))
I like the Nightshade version. The homemade cover, unfortunately, does scream “homemade”, and when I first looked at it, I had no idea whether it’s an abstract art or something else. Nightshade’s version at least clearly shows two aspects: sci-fi and that the shape is an actual world.
It’s a remarkable book… No one else writes aliens quite like Greg.