Cover Art! Weird West and a Fae P.I...

Having just written that title, I find myself wanting to read a novel about a fey detective (you know, just for a change) Maybe one day... But I'm digressing before I've even got going. The Red Bull is kicking in at exactly the wrong time.

There was once a time when I wasn't all that keen on the covers that Titan Books dressed their work up in. Don't get me wrong, it did the job but it felt very 'by the numbers' instead of trying to stand out. Not any longer though, check out these bad boys :o)

John Joseph Adams does great anthologies and it's great to see a UK publisher start to release them over here, long overdue in my opinion. I have a passing interest in the 'Weird West' so would have picked this up anyway but mention of Tad Williams, Elizabeth Bear, Seanan McGuire and Kelley Armstrong has got me eager to get reading. As far as the cover goes; an eye catching yet well balanced mix of 'Wild West' fonts, occult and western symbols against a 'parched' background. The cover does everything asked of it and then a little more, it looks gorgeous from where I'm sat.

Mick Oberon may look like just another 1930s private detective, but beneath the fedora and the overcoat, he’s got pointy ears and he’s packing a wand. Among the last in a line of aristocratic Fae, Mick turned his back on his kind and their Court a long time ago. But when he’s hired to find a gangster’s daughter sixteen years after she was replaced with a changeling, the trail leads Mick from Chicago’s criminal underworld to the hidden Otherworld, where he’ll have to wade through Fae politics and mob power struggles to find the kidnapper and solve the case.

I loved the hell out of 'The Conqueror's Shadow' and 'The Warlord's Legacy' so will definitely give 'Hot Lead, Cold Iron' a go in the hope that it will be similar. I also like the sound of Urban Fantasy in a historical setting (as oppose to the normal present day/near future stuff) so that's got me interested too.
The cover? I'm really into the colour scheme (if you can call it that). The black and white captures the stark feel of what I'm guessing will be a grim old setting; the subtle use of the green gives the cover an otherworldly feel that doesn't over power things. I'm all for subtle :o)

How about you guys, what do you think?