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 being nurtured by Lynn’s Book Blog and this week we are featuring BRIGHT FUTURISTIC covers. I’ve selected Synners by Pat Cadigan – see my review – and I’ve linked this post to #Sci Fi Month 2020
This edition was produced by Thunder’s Mouth Press in October 2001. It’s a really clever, eye-catching cover with the face in the bottom half nicely contrasting with that intense red above it. And a mushroom cloud effect made by a brain… So this cover works on all sorts of levels with this classic book. I particularly love the title font running right up the centre of cover and through the mushroom cloud/brain – and the fact that it is made of dots – a bit like one of the earlier printers.
Published in August 2012 by Gollancz, this Masterworks edition is another successful cyberpunk cover. The cityscape outlined against the grungy yellow backdrop can also double as synapses or brain connections. While that face staring out at us looks mournful and slightly wrong. This is the cover of the book that I read, so I have a soft spot for it, memorable and disturbing as it is.
This edition, published by Spectra in February 1991 is so nearly my favourite. I love the colour and chaos of it – and the slightly old fashioned feel, which is achieved by the use of that large, colourful font that some of the publishers – Baen, in particular – used as their trademark in the 1980s.
This hardcover edition, produced by HarperCollins in October 1991, is my favourite. It’s a classier version of the second cover, playing with the same theme. I love the unusual aspect of the face tilted back as if the character is sunk into a VR trance. The lines running from the cyberscape up, across her neck and face pull your attention back to it, and create stronger links between the two. I particularly love the detail where it looks as though her face is starting to depixelate across her forehead. Again, this cover works on so many levels.
This Polish edition, published by Solaris in March 2003 was the one that popped into my head when I thought of bright covers. It is great fun, but I don’t like it quite as much as the others. That ugly box in the right-hand cover, in particular, really spoils the look of the overall design and neither am I a fan of the rather clunky text box across the top of the cover. What about you – which is your favourite?
Brainfluff 
I like your choice, it’s very evocative, and I also like the first one with that mushroom/brain that hints at something ominous…
That first cover is really clever on all sorts of levels – it was certainly a contender. I found it quite difficult to choose this week:))
I think my favorite is the Spectra cover, but all of them are pretty good. 😁
They are, aren’t they? It’s a really interesting book, though recently I’ve slightly gone off cyberpunk…
I definitely agree with your favourite this week – I love that cover. The vibrant colours, the face and the tilt of the head and the shadows. it just really works for me.
Lynn 😀
And seeing that angle made me realise how very effective it is – and how unusual…
The fourth one by Harper Collins is my favorite. The second one is pretty cool too, though. Nice selection of book covers. All of them work!
Thank you, Wanda! I thought they were all effective, too:))
I like a lot of the artwork, but not really feeling them as covers for some reason! Maybe it’s all the “extras” they put on them like distracting text or like the ugly box you mentioned for the last one.
And they are all dated… That probably also adds to the sense of them not feeling like covers:)
I love the Harper Collins!
It is a really strong design, isn’t it, Becky? And reasonably bright – even if the content isn’t exactly cheery!
The 2012 version!!
It’s such a clever cover – in fact they all are! Pat Cadigan is a lucky author – her covers are all smart and relevant:))
I agree!
I strongly disliked the Polish cover, but any of the others, I’d be tempted to buy.
Yes – I’m guessing this cover works if you are fond of spiders:)). Which I am…
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