Gray318: Ghosts and Lightening

"On the death of his mother, 26-year-old Denny Cullen comes home to a small, “disgraceful fuckin kip” in Dublin's sprawl, where dwells his quite alive and quite drunk lesbian sister, Paula. She claims there's a gender-bending ghost hiding under the bed, so their friend and methadone-addicted spiritual adviser, Pajo, conducts a kitchen-table séance that prompts Denny to find meaning and purpose in his own life." (PW) Printed on gritty matte, from Knopf Doubleday.

Unknown Designer: Metropole

This one really snuck in on me during an Amazon search. Originally published in Hungary in the 1970s, it seems to be little known in the US. In addition to the cover being fantastic, the plot does too, especially after watching last night's Lost:

From an Amazon review: "Metropole depicts a waking nightmare. A Hungarian linguist named Budai boards a plane to travel to a linguistics conference in Helskinki. He falls asleep in flight and wakes up when the passengers are deplaned in a strange city. Not Helsinki. The passengers are taken to a hotel where the protagonist, depite knowing ten languages, cannot make any sense of the spoken or written language. Nor can he find anyone who speaks any of the languages he does. They don't use Roman letters but luckily they use Arabic numerals. At the registration desk they take his passport, and they can't understand a word he says when he asks for it back. Budai is given a room and some local currency in exchange for what cash he has and the story begins."

Helen Yentus: The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep And Never Had To

This just came out yesterday from Vintage! Truly a phenomenal sight to behold. The spine and back ad appear to be set in Miller, but Yentus has doodled around the title and various words in the blurbs to great comic effect. The drawings on the cover are by the author, DC Pierson, and it looks like Yentus has figured out a cool way to show them using a paper sculpture. The book tells the story of a high school geek whose life becomes a sci-fi adventure after he reveals a secret about one of his friends - that he cannot sleep and never had to. Kirkus says: “Funny as hell. . . . The ribald humor of a Judd Apatow movie married to a science-fiction-fantasy spectacle.”

Gray318: Free Agent Paperback

Like, OMG! Drop date June 2010. Here's the plot summary from the creator of Rambo, David Morrell:
"Because the fine points of the "spy game" took place during the Cold War, Duns’s cleverly sets Free Agent in that period, specifically 1969, when British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, visited Nigeria during its harrowing civil war. East and West governments vied for control of the region. Espionage schemes were rampant. The main thrust of Duns' novel is an assassination plot against the prime minister, so if you're an action fan, you'll find plenty to your liking, but for my money, it's the true espionage details that kept me turning the pages of this remarkable novel."

Gregg Kulick: The Breaking of Eggs

Abba-solutely stunning, Penguin paperback, Summer 2010. A communist curmudgeon who writes travel guides to countries behind the iron curtain is forced to travel to the US in 1991, and awaken from a self-imposed exile into a changed world.

New Stuff

Yo, some new books that will be coming out between now and May. The Unnamed is the new novel by the author of Then We Came to the End - supposedly quite different from that office tragicomedy, about a successful lawyer with a bad obsessive compulsive problem. Then we have the new Stieg Larsen, and I must say, this might be my favorite of the series so far. I have a feeling Firefly Brothers will have cool effects - the story follows a pair of depression-era bank robbers. And the Point Omega photo reminds me of the colors on the new Stephen King - the novel involves looking through binoculars at the desert...plus some other factors which I'm sure informed the infinity symbol.

Krazy Science!!!!

There's some great stuff going on here - I love the way the title looks in script and the shattered glass works well with it. The author, whose previous book was about the Iraq War, discovers "worldwide criminal operations" in butterfly poaching and smuggling (in which driving species to near extinction is a standard practice for pushing up specimen prices). There is also amazing information about metamorphosis: what goes on in the chrysalis, in which every cell of the caterpillar's body liquefies before reconstituting into a butterfly, might as well be magic.

And let's not forget about Wicked Plants! This cover was highly acclaimed last year, so you may have seen it before:


It’s an A to Z of plants that kill, maim, intoxicate, and otherwise offend. A tree that sheds poison daggers; a glistening red seed that stops the heart; a shrub that causes paralysis; a vine that strangles; and a leaf that triggered a war. In Wicked Plants, Stewart takes on over two hundred of Mother Nature’s most appalling creations. (text adapted from product descriptions)

Stock Photo(s) of the Day

Comes with or without explosion. Thanks, GalleryStock!
PS I wonder if this is a preview for Season 6 of Lost...

Happy Nude Year: Phaidon

Some great new books from Phaidon. The top three are large hardcovers, the last three are small paperbacks, uncoated covers with French flaps. Futuretainment's arrow is die-cut. Painting today is printed directly on the case. Have a great 2010, kiddies. It's the year we make contact!

Jennifer Carrow: The Sky Below

This is quite stunning - the photo, and I suppose the model of the box, was taken by Jennifer Carrow as well.

Catherine Casalino: The Groucho Letters

Chappy Chanukah! We made it through yet another miraculous eight days. This awesome paperback was published by Simon and Schuster in Aug 2007. I asked Catherine how she found the illustration and this was her response:

"I drew the illustration myself— it's based on a famous photo of Groucho. I had looked at a lot of past Groucho books and they either used caricatures or black & white photos/stills from his movies. He's such an icon, that I thought creating a graphic portrait of him was appropriate— and I swapped out his cigar for a pencil. The word Groucho is his actual signature. I found it by chance! It was stamped on the case of the earlier edition from the 1960s."

Keenan: Love in Infant Monkeys

The title of this book is printed on a small sticker affixed to the banana. It's a real sticker you can peel off. Amazing! Here's the description:

"Lions, rabbits, monkeys, pheasants—all have shared the spotlight and tabloid headlines with famous men and women. Sharon Stone’s husband’s run-in with a Komodo dragon, Thomas Edison’s filming of an elephant’s electrocution and David Hasselhoff’s dogwalker all find a home in Love in Infant Monkeys. At the rare intersections of wilderness and celebrity, Lydia Millet hilariously tweaks these unholy communions to run a stake through the heart of our fascination with pop icons and the culture of human self-worship." (soft skull press)

Isaac Tobin: Everything Matters!

"In infancy, Junior Thibodeaux is encoded with a prophecy: a comet will obliterate life on Earth in thirty-six years. Alone in this knowledge, he comes of age in rural Maine grappling with the question: Does anything I do matter?" I love all the comets hurtling towards the title, and check out the quotes in each comet! Pretty rad.

Oliver Munday: The Last Skin

Three beautiful covers for a poetry book, with the final cover at the bottom. Here is a bit of back story from Oliver:

"I worked with Maggie Payette (Penguin's poetry series AD) on this cover. She told me upfront that the author had a piece of art that she wanted to use on the cover, but that I could try some ideas based on my interpretation of the poetry anyway. The poetry dealt with the ideas of death, beauty, fragility, time and loss. I chose to try and cover all of these themes and visually summarize them by using the idea of a flower shedding its petals, or skin as I interpreted it.

The next cover idea came directly from a poem. There was an image of a jar from the poet's past in one of the works, which really stuck out to me. I thought it was an interesting metaphor for dealing with memories/keeping them safe and also their fragility.

The cover chosen was the one with the piece of art that the author chose. But, I was happy to have the comps in the old 'folio.

Both covers were shot by Ramell Ross: ramellross.com

And Check out more of Oliver's amazing work at: olivermunday.com

Megan Wilson/Carol Carson: The Letters of Noel Coward

The new paperback, designed by Megan Wilson, and the original hardcover, designed by Carol Carson. Have a smokin' holiday everyone!

Paul Buckley/Ken Garduno: Light Boxes

"The inhabitants of a closely-knit town are experiencing perpetual February after a vengeful god-like spirit punishes them for flying. The sun becomes a distant memory, the ground is blanketed in snow, children go missing, and more and more adults become catatonic with depression. But others find the strength to fight back..." A Penguin original coming in June. Spike Jonz has optioned the film rights, and 24-year old music video director Ray Tintori is rumored to direct. He's the director of the MGMT video "Time to Pretend."

Correx: here is the illustrator's website. Thanks, Paul!

Jaya Miceli: Short Girls

The story of two Vietnamese-American sisters visiting their father, an "...enthusiastic inventor of devices to improve the lives of short people." Jaya says: "...they were having trouble with the repackage.....went many rounds in many directions. Deadline was upon me and I found this image that simply reiterated the meaning in the title." I find this image to be hilarious and perfect. (Penguin, Summer 2010)

Rob Grom: John Dies @ the End

A wonderful treat came upon me at the bookstore last week, when I saw this book brazenly staring at me from across the room. WTF, I asked myself. Then I picked it up and turned it over. SCORE!! Here is designer Rob Grom's description of how it came to be:

"This is one of my personal favorites. This project was given to me as a rush assignment, so I knew very little about the story...it was described to me as an Evil Dead/Matrix/Big Lebowski type story. The cover is just a blatant interpretation of the
title, John Dies at the End, but the real pay off is the back cover...Finally, some real gore for once! Geoff Spear photographed and retouched the image beautifully. I kind of felt a bad for the hand/arm model, but it was well worth it : )"

Chip Kidd/Evan Gaffney: Fangland

One of our first posts at Anonymous was Evan Gaffney's wonderful hardcover of Fangland (bottom), an updating of the Dracula story about a news reporter investigating a Romanian gangster. I came across the amazing comps from Chip Kidd for a cover and spine (top) at Darren Haggar's revamped website.

Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich: The Kingdom of Ohio

In the year 1900, a laborer building New York's subway tunnels falls in love with a troubled woman who claims to have traveled seven years into the future from the Lost Kingdom of Ohio. Her mysterious story drags them into the orbits of a crusty J.P Morgan and of dueling inventors Thomas Edison and Nicola Tesla (PW). Matte finish, spot gloss type, gold foil ornaments. Riverhead, Dec 31, 2009.

Darren Haggar: Leisure

It's time to fly the friendly skies.

Barbara de Wilde: The Undertaking (repackage)

A repackaging of the classic book, a collection of essays about life and death by the sole funeral director in Milford, Michigan. The original cover (bottom) might have been a scan of Barbara de Wilde's hand. Twelve years later, Barbara and photographer John Broomfield reshot the cover to update it. (WW Norton, Summer 2009)

correction (?) An anonymous tipster has informed us that "The hand on the original cover was Archie Ferguson's, and was made on an ordinary office scanner the good old low-budget way...For Norton's repackaging there was actually a production budget, and so the image was made by photographer Stephen Lewis."

Will Staehle: Manhood for Amateurs

Will Staehle designs this new collection of autobiographical essays in the style of Chabon's previous novel, The Yiddish Policemen's Union. The jacket comes off to reveal further art printed on the case...however I don't think the spinner actually spins. Fab!

Essays/Wallace Shawn

A new book of essays by the actor and playwright. The photo, interestingly, seems about 20 years old, from his Princess Bride days, even though the essays are current. I love the simplicity of the design, which appears to be an homage to Paul Rand.

Christopher Sergio: The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death

I love this cover, and Sergio provided me with a great breakdown of what went into creating it:

The "Mystic Arts...." is a noir crime-novel.

The book's protagonist works for a company called "Clean Team", on the
janitorial job from hell. These are the guys who come and clean up the blood
and guts of crime scenes after the CSI techs all head back to their posh
labs. Inevitably, due to his unique skill set, our hero gets drawn into the
drama of a crime/mystery in progress, and the horses are off.

I began my sketching and design process by focusing on the tools of the
trade: Rubber gloves, mops, buckets, sponges, spray bottles, etc. I tried to
find very clean shots of each, usually on stark white backgrounds, with the
intention of laying some handmade type over the whole cover to add in the
messy, crime-scene element. But in the end, this approach didn't seem
noir-ish enough. The imagery was just too bright.

So I went to the noir source, and sought out crime scene photos themselves.
I struck upon the idea of having a crime scene photo with the body
graphically removed, cut out, as if by magic. I also liked that this
solution has a double read: is the body removed, or just hidden from view?

Turning the crime scene photo on it's side like this also helped to create a
sense a tension. The silhouette seems awkward for a standing pose, and you
may not realize what you're looking at on first glance. I liked that the
crime-scenes numbers written on the photograph (lower left hand of the
cover) give you a clue as to the original orientation of the image.

I kept my earlier idea of using messy type (now red), which still seemed
appropriate, and just filled the negative shape of the body. The yellow is a
very bright Pantone, to suggest sanitizing and queasiness at the same time.
It also seemed to add a spirit-like quality, and play up the "mystic" of the
title.

The black and white image is gloss so it feels like an actual photograph.
And the yellow silhouette is matte, to strengthen the visual cut out. (The
red type is spot glossed, so that it sits up on the page.)

Thanks, Chris!

The Angel's Game: Final Cover vs. Advanced Reader's Copy

Wait for it...

Sarah Waters UK Editions

Two books by Sarah Waters, both shortlisted for the Booker Prize. As I recall, The Little Stranger was printed directly on the case, which I saw quite a bit of in Waterstone's when I visited London. Both these novels are thrillers that take place in the 1940s. I love the quirky type treatments and pulp fiction look of these covers. They remind me of Hitchcock posters and film titles.

Lilli Carre/Paul Buckley: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Front cover and full mech of this upcoming title in the Penguin Graphics series. Cover by Lilli Carre. with design by Paul Buckley. You can view the current Penguin Graphics set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulbuckleydesign/sets/72157621852113991/

John Gall: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

Beautiful adaptation of the hardcover running man for the paperback, which manages to keep true to the illustrated look Gall has established. Whereas Gall usually uses vintage advertising art for Murakami's novels, this book, which is a memoir, appears to be using a new style of illustration. I love the juxtaposition of the photographed runner and the fantastical world he's running in, like the dream-like thoughts inside the runner's head. Big ups to Ian for noting this cover.

Steve Snyder: Old Girlfriends

Photo by Marc Yankus. Designer to come. A new short story collection by one of John Updike's sons. I love the Mad Men feel of this cover, and the way the type shoots up with the buildings.