I received a copy of Subterranean Press’ rather beautiful limited edition of Best Served Cold, with jacket and interior illustrations by Raymond Swanland, through the post this morning:
Which suggests to me, for those that have been asking, that lettered and numbered copies should be shipping any time around now. Lettered are all sold out but I think some numbered are still available. As I understand it, Mr. Swanland will soon be starting work on the limited edition of The Heroes, though I doubt it will be appearing any time soon. More information as I have it…
27 comments so far
I wish I could draw a Joe Abercrombie cover, in fact, I wish I could draw at all…
Great work though, I applaud thee mystical and mysterious Mr. Swanland, whomever you may be.
Mine’s in the mail. Can’t wait to put it next to my first edition on my shelf.
Such great art. And of course, no need to gush on about the words inside.
Is it just me or does her head seem to small for her body?
Is it just me or should there be two ‘o’s in ‘too small’?
^^^
😛
@ Chad, the character (Monza) is angled so that she is standing over the person looking at the cover. To me it is really, really interesting and very in keeping of Monza’s character.
That’s a good lookin’ book!
I think it’s more the angle the book’s at. Have a look at the original:
https://joeabercrombie.com//2012/04/30/best-served-cold-limited/
At long last. I’ve waited an age for this to get posted!
What about the interior illustrations?
Could you give us a sneakpeak…
Please….
I like it. Got kind of that “Well, there is another of my defeated enemies choking out their lifes blood before me . . . I am happy now . . . am I?” look in her eyes.
It’s the angle of the book vis-a-vis the viewer, but this also makes it look like the angle of the pic – as if we’re looking up at Monza from a lower angle, which would also have the effect of making the head seem smaller. So it’s really rather good. 🙂
Love how the “C” is over Caul Shivers head…
Mmmm…. That looks purty.
Soon it shall be mine!!
Looks nice.
Maybe I’ll buy it to replace my second copy of Best Served Cold that I left behind at an airport hotel, though, in my defence, I was very, very sick, and had been flying for hours so clearly wasn’t thinking straight.
It was an even longer flight home…
Why does the US refuse to use the kick ass UK covers?
I’d also like to get some info on the interior illustrations. Is it just the inside jacket (don’t know the correct term, but I guess/hope you get what I’m referring to…) or are there illustrations throughout the chapters?
My copy arrived yesterday; very nice indeed. Bit surprised at the page count though, well over 600.
Re: SubPress and ‘The Heroes’: have you decided whether it’ll be the standard or the Waterstones ed? Or are there contractual complications involved?
On an entirely unrelated subject, I just bought the first law ebundle (despite owning dead-tree copies already; I just can’t resist another dip into the sordid literary sewer!).
Anyway, the no-doubt generous royalties you’ll get from that purchase should fund at least one (1) sniff of your posh whisky.
Damn, Monza.
That is all.
If you go to the Sub Press link, there’s 2 example illustrations at the bottom of the page. There’s 5 total in the book and they’re all beautiful. I love Raymond Swanland’s work, and I cannot wait to see what he does with Shivers and Black Dow. My only complaint is that the illustrations aren’t on special paper like prior books, but it’s still worth buying. You can’t tell too much by the image Joe posted, but the dust jacket is glossy instead of matte. (In my opinion, it enhances the book.)
How much time does it take to create a cover of this quality ?
I do wish that cover was on the paperback version I saw at B&N the other day. I bought the copy with the black background (snake and sword) a few months ago. When I saw the new photoshopped version I did a WTF? I absolutely agree with Matt’s post above. Congrats to Swanland for capturing both the character and feel of the book.
I love these books and am now in the automatic purchase rotation that gets me the same number.
Problem is the are so beautiful I am scared to read them.
May wait until I am 60+ with a to hell with it attitude, crack them out with some expensive booze and loose women and read them in one go.
Why must I be a poor grad student? WHY? Oh, wait… Because I chose to be. Ah well. They do indeed look fancy, and I can only hope that someday the illustrated versions will return in a less expensive version.
Hey, Joe, I just came across a quote from Charles Darwin.
“A novel, according to my taste, does not come into the first class unless it contains some person whom one can thoroughly love, and if a pretty woman all the better”.
=]
I just had mine delivered. It’s a beautiful thing. SP did a brilliant job with it.
I can’t wait to see what they do with THE HEROES.
Just ordered mine!
FYI, They stil have some numbered Limted Editions available as of 11/02/2012.