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34 comments:
I'm sold.
Not bad... It would be a good printer stress test, that's for sure :)
That, sorry, is an ugly cover. I'll still BUY it, mind you, but it's ugly. (I do like the "Prisoner" font, though)
now you're just teasing us...
To be honest, I really dislike it. Strongly. It is not pleasing to my eye, and I would not want to see it on a book I will be buying, reading, and likely loving.
On a more constructive note:
1. Reduce all text size about 10% or so - it's all too big and too close to edges.
2. Reduce pt size of "Book One" even more - it shouldn't be screaming at you.
3. Add in "The long-awaited sequel to The Last Dancer"
Cover? There's going to be a cover? BAH! It'll just get between me and that sweet, sweet text, man.
Seriously, though, all signs of publication of this book are automatically win.
I can't say I'm a fan of that cover. I like the *idea* of the cover (fractals seem like as good an abstract representation of artificial intelligence complexity as anything else I can think of) but the execution just looks busy and confusing.
Constructive criticism: Drop the yellow fractals/lines/wheel things. They seem busy and distracting. Just leave the blue fractal along the horizon and it's reflection. The blue one by itself would make the whole cover simpler, cleaner, and convey the same idea.
But honestly, I won't spend more than a second looking at the cover before I read the book. Good or bad the cover won't stop me. As someone else said, signs of impending publication are all good.
Holy cow, I just happened to come here today expecting nothing new and there's an AI War cover staring me in the face. Honestly, I'm not a fan of that cover but I really couldn't care less if the cover was blank white with black text if I get to buy a copy of AI War!
I'm ambivalent on the cover. I really don't care: you could ship it in a plain white jacket with "Something I Wrote" written in ballpoint pen on the cover and I'd buy it.
That said, you might want to consider looking at the three-dimensional analogs of the Mandelbrot set. They're fractal, astonishingly cool, and comparatively few people have seen them.
Amy read the book yesterday and signed off. Steve Perry and Matt Stover get it tomorrow. After that it'll go up on fsand -- I don't have a date, but "soonish," for a given value of "waited 18 years since the last one."
Truly terrible cover mate. Though as has been previously said I'll buy it no matter what.
Sentiment on this cover is running pretty hard against. (2:1 -- a few people have really liked it. More have really hated it.) I'll look at other possibilities.
Somebody said they'd buy it in a brown paper bag ... might be better than the other one ...
hahaha
The second cover made me laugh.
Dan, please pardon my ignorance, but I don't understand the formats available to receive the book, other than pdf. I've never heard of epub or mobi. Would we be able to download AI onto a Kindle?
Thanks.
You had me at "AI War".
Not a fan of the fractal cover. The paper bag one (or burlap!) I'll take it!
The "plain brown bag" is better. I love fractals, but the fractal cover is just plain ugly, WAY too busy.
But as others have said, I'll buy it no matter the cover...
I'll take one of the Brown Paper Bag edition.
Whatever goes on the front, this should be the blurb on the back:
In 2072, the United Nations Space Force began building the Unity . . . at Halfway.
The Unity was seven kilometers long. It was not merely the largest spacecraft that had ever been built, more than ten times as long as the uncrewed mining ferries that had, in calmer times, sent ore from the Belt to Halfway; it was nearly the largest artifact humans had ever built. There are cylindrical Cities in the Belt that are larger, blown up out of asteroids that were melted down with giant mirrors, and then inflated, while still molten metal, to the desired shape . . . but in 2080 there are only a few, and even those few are not much larger than the Unity.
She had been designed for one purpose, and though the Unification had never said so publicly, that purpose was the clearest thing in the System:
Sixty years after the end of the Unification War, the Unification of Earth intended to become the Unification of Sol.
LOL @ the brown paper bag edition, though I have to admit it's much cleaner. I have no idea about the cost of such a thing, but I wonder if you could get something licensed from Digital Blasphemy, he's got some very cool stuff that makes me think AI War (maybe "The Grid" or "Containment"). There's lots of good stuff in the abstracts category.
Can I pay extra to have a hard copy version lovingly wrapped in an actual brown paper grocery sack? Just like all those homemade textbook covers from middle & high school...
My vote is for the bag version or something else, the fractals are just too much.
Seriously, I can't wait to read the whole thing.
The digital future is great and all that but I do love holding and reading actual books.
Any possibility at all of an actual limited edition hard copy somewhere down the line? Say from www.subterraneanpress.com ? They put out some fine quality material.
The book will be available in pdf, html, epub, and mobi. epub will work on most ereaders; mobi will work on your kindle. pdf & html will work on any computer and most phones.
I'll find some way to do hard (or maybe soft) cover books. Lulu at a bare minimum -- one guy did a version of "Freeway" that way, using the pdf file.
I can't wait. I could not be more excited for a book release, I s**t you not!
Dan, if you find some way to do a hard or soft cover hard copy, I'll be all over it, but based on my previous note on this thread, you're the one author pushing me towards Kindle.
Thanks.
I've been doing most of my reading on my phone lately -- being blind in one eye, the 4.3" screen is almost perfect for me: the text is exactly the width of my field of vision when held at the right distance, and I can read straight down without going side to side... which is how I used to read paperbacks, before my eye went off. Since getting that phone, I've read like I used to before my eye went off ...
My android phone has a kindle client -- you don't need an actual kindle. The books will be readable on almost every ebook-capable device out there -- phone, tablet, kindle, computer.
do you want me to hook you up with our graphic artists gratis?
Dave, many thanks for the offer, but it looks like this is going to pub on Monday. I do appreciate the offer.
hi dan - wow a book, cool - an abrupt, perhaps too late (?) suggestion. The fractal idea is a good fit for AI but the example you used is generic, busy, not that pretty etc as ppl have said. Maybe something more controlled and 'like a design' that doesnt clash with the text - or might even be reminiscent of recognisable SF themes like:
http://130.184.5.79/wiki/images/0/07/Fractals2.jpg
or
http://media.smashingmagazine.com/cdn_smash/images/fractals-art/circle.jpg
or what famous AI does this conjure up?
http://images.psxextreme.com/wallpapers/ps3/fractals_917.jpg
maybe these arent ideal but you get my meaning.
Good luuck!
ps sorry if I've got the wrong dan - hey I have - o well good luck stranger
There's another "Dan" out there publishing a book called "AI War?" Small world. ;-)
Looks like I missed a few of the comments here, including the ones with the important news. Kindle version for me, and I'll buy a hard copy or two if you find a way. Up to and including leatherbound gold-leaf editions...
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