erastes | Kitty update - The State Within

I let The Snucius out today. Then I sat there worrying - but they came back! They've been charging in and out of the cat flap like loonies. They love the garden but they love coming back in for a cuddle too! I am so relieved.

More on "The State Within"

It's incredibly topical. A British Muslim man blows up an American flight to London and the plane explodes over Washington. The "shoulder-to-shoulder" attitude between the Americans and the English cracks and accusations are thrown out on both sides. Jason plays a very good part, he seems affable, caring and clever but you get an undercurrent that he's damned intelligent and knows exactly how the game is played. (which of course he does - you don't get to be Ambassador in the USA by kissing babies.)

Sharon Gless plays the secretary of state and she's overtly scary. She takes no bullshit, and she knows exactly what Isaacs' game is.

The Govenor of Virginia starts arresting all British Muslims (there are, according to Isaacs about 4000 of them - travelling, studying, working... ) and soon there are more than 200 in custody, with no right of arrest, no right of counsel - it's Guantanomo all over again. Isaacs is furious but impotent.

Then two young Muslims are killed "resisting arrest" when all they were trying to do (I think) was just trying to get out of the State. I'd be doing the same if I had been them.

I expect fireworks.

Add in to the mix a Brit and an American diplomat who are having a homosexual affair, some sort of conspiracy stuff going on with a British soldier killed on American soil(?) and then dumped into a river, and someone is following Isaacs and taking pictures. There's obviously a lot more going on than meets the eye.

Bloody hell, I hope it continues to be as good as the first episode promised. And WHY didn't I tape it????

*shoots self*

Also Jason is the hotness, proving (as he has been doing for years for those who have been following him) that he can play just about any part you give him. He was phoning a list of the bereaved and (I kid you not) he asked to speak to a "Mr Standish" I nearly died of the squee.

And I've been meaning to ask this for a while but.

WHY do so many e-book publishers have such revolting covers?

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Is The State Within going to be repeated at all - did they say at the end of the episode? I was out last night, and forgot to set the video.

Yay for the Snucius catflapping! More pics?

No. And there's nothing on the bloody website either. I'll just have to scour the other BBC channels. I can't BELIEVE they aren't repeating it. They repeat dr who nearly every day, and Torchwood and *gag* Robin Crud.

Yeesh! Those are *awful*! They're like Sims gone horribly wrong. And even if they were Sims gone horribly *right*, why would I want my book to look like the box of a video game?!

Erotica covers are pretty universally awful, and the gay ones are the worst of the lot. I'm glad Standish hasn't fallen prey to that. I picked up M.J. Pearson's Price of Temptation a while back, which was a fun little diversion, but I couldn't take it out in public with me because I was so horrified by the hilariously grotesque bulges on the Tom of Finland-meets-Fabio cover! I'd rather have my smut between a discreet and unassuming cover, thank you.

That's a very good point. I no longer commute via train or bus but when I do I will always have a book with me. And gah I wouldn't have any of those covers, I'd be ashamed. I'd never thought of that...

OMG OMG OMG you didn't buy THAT ONE!????

You are braver than me! What was it like?

I actually really liked it! It was not "literature" by any stretch of the imagination, but it was very sweet, had some delighful smut, and her secondary characters were great in a Comedia Dell'arte stock sort of way. It was definately a hiss-at-the-villains, cheer-at-the-heros sort of affair, but what it lacked in profundity it made up for in guilty pleasure value. It was like a big gay candy bar.

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I hope that it goes well. I was lucky too, although my cover isn't magnificent, I had complete artistic control and the design is mine, even if its only a computer generated mock up of a photo.

After having seen some with people on them, I always think that covers WITHOUT people are preferable. Luckily "Standish"'s point is the house, so that was the emphasis. I have no idea what to suggest for my English Civil War one!!!

Good luck and I look forward to seeing what they come up with.

Bugrit - missed it.

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!

They have revolting covers because ebooks typically sell a few tens or hundreds of copies, and occasionally a few thousand, in comparison to the tens of thousands of copies the typical romance or sf mass market paperback will sell. That means there isn't the money to pay for an artist's time to do the sort of cover you see on the mass market paperbacks -- see

alg's post on profit and loss worksheets for an idea of how much money is spent on those at Tor:
http://alg.livejournal.com/84032.html

Not that the covers on the Big Publishers' books arer always wonderful, as the Smart Bitches like to point out.

.... isn't difficult. I know enough artists off the top of my head that can do better stuff in Poser, or wherever these ... things come from.

Many artists aer willing to part with art for an apple and an egg, as the saying goes, many are happy to havea copy of the book, and some might ask for a (small) buck. There's a lot of good, or at least decent, free art out there.

I'm pretty sure if you browse deviantart or wherever and find something that works, that the artists would be happy to oblige - and understand you don't have much money.

I'd spend money on this. Or at least work.

The covers are awful enough for me not to want to touch the books - and that's sad. Let alone be seen with them in public.

Nod Nod. And I'm sure fandom artists would do it for the exposure. I was too naive with standish, didn't like to ask the publisher for an artist of my own choosing - but I would have liked a real piece of art on the cover - I'm not unhappy with what I ended up with, but I would have happily paid myself to have something by

nassima or someone of that calibre.

Next time, I'll be braver.

Part of the problem is the sheer quantity needed (which also affects places like Harlequin, but they've got more money to throw at it). A place that's putting out two or three books a week gets through a lot of art, and often on fairly short notice.

None of which is to say that you can't get decent art on a budget. Loose Id does the occasional sporkable cover, but the catalogue as a whole looks fairly reasonable. However, they also realise that covers sell books, and are willing to spend time and money on art, within practical limits. I've been pretty happy with my covers:
http://www.loose-id.net/searchresult.aspx?CategoryID=30

There's one series that's pretty obviously Poser, but it's actually appropriate for those books.

The thing is that some of these covers look like the artist has spent flegging AGES on the artwork, and it's still utterly revolting.

I agree about some big publishers covers, but to me, the cover is the first temptation. "Do I want to read this book?" and if I see two deformed SIM-type men like so many of them, I'm just not going to go any further. I am more intrigued by something like Veinglory's "The Highwayman" with a hat and pistols than I am with "The Thing he Loves" by the same author. I know that's shallow of me, but it's the normal way people are attracted by books.

One of the minor reasons I just keep sending my manuscripts to the same publisher is that they give me decent cover art, and decent cover art helps sell the book. God knows I've looked at some of the covers in the catalogue and thought "What *were* they thinking? That's going to end up being snarked at Smart Bitches...", but at least it's not that much more often than with the NY publishers.

Next year I'm probably going to be tempted to have a go at doing some covers... if I'm not too busy writing :).

I'm getting a scanner from a friend and am currently intending to go back to school next year to do art :P :)

Oh, that sounds interesting. The episode must be at least somewhere on the internet.

Kitty update - The State Within - ebook cover yuk

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State Within

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