Ryman For The Win

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Covers are important. Not only do they help popularize books and win over new readers—and believe me when I say that the first thing the book industry drills into you is that a book with a bad cover Will Not Sell, no matter how amazing the content—they also go a long way toward establishing the feel of a series. There are a number of authors and series that I can recognize from the cover art alone, and I'm always distraught when some publisher changes a cherished series' look for no good reason. (Granted, sometimes there is a good reason, and kudos to those publishers who raise great books out of the ghetto.) Dan Simmons's Hyperion cantos, Gordon Dickson's Dragon Knight series, Richard A. Knaak's Dragonrealms books which were my first introduction to Larry Elmore—these covers are part of the story to me, forever linked emotionally to the books they promote.

All of which puts a lot of pressure on those of us charged with ordering covers. Fortunately, though our aesthetic is always growing and changing, Planet Stories has gotten extremely lucky during its short history, and a perfect example of that is cover artist James Ryman.

James came on board for the second book in Leigh Brackett's Skaith trilogy, The Hounds of Skaith, and we were ecstatic over his vision of Eric John Stark and that dying planet in its galactic backwater. Naturally, we immediately signed him on to do the cover for the final book, The Reavers of Skaith, as well. Seeing the two side by side, there can be no question of the link between the books, more so than any cover line we could have run over the top of the art. The subtle juxtaposition of the positions of good and evil on the covers is masterfully done as well, and my only regret is that we weren't able to bring him on in time for The Ginger Star and make this a triptych.

You can expect to see more covers from James Ryman in Planet Stories' future, as well as some other fabulous new artists—for instance, the cover currently being finished up for Otis Adelbert Kline's The Outlaws of Mars may be my favorite to date—but if you want to weigh in and make your opinion known, hop over to the Planet Stories messageboards and let us know what you think. We're always listening.

James Sutter
Planet Stories Editor