I'm quite pleased with it.

I don't know if a cover has already been chosen, but different editions get new covers don't they.

Anyway, I'm pleased with it.

It was surprisingly difficult to find a picture of a scythe.



The full sized picture can be found here
http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/2...skysul2pv0.jpg
ETA: oh, well, if that isn't any bigger, I HAVE got the picture 16 times that size(4 times width and length).

so, what do you think?

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I haven't been following this as close as I would like to, is the book out yet?
Your cover is Ok.

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This whole internet thing is probably not a passing fad.-Ronald Brak
While speech might be free, consequences cost.-Doodler

Sorry to be critical, but I think readers might wonder if "Back in a Tick" is the title or a subtitle or something.

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As above, so below

well, if it did have a subtitle, that went under the main title, that would solve that problem.

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I didn't see "Back in a Tick" as a subtitle. I'm not familiar at all with the book, so based on the cover, and my own misconceptions, I'll just say what it suggests to me.

First off, I think it looks really good. One thing I think MUST be changed is the name. "Dr. Phil Plait Phd." maybe?

That would actually eliminate some of the misconception I have. Based just on the cover as it stands now, It looks like crime thriller about a serial killer that has issues with the lunar cycle. They scythe hanging on the moon means that that's not the right phase. The note indicates that the killer will be back in a bit... to strike again.

Bwa ha ha ha

I do like the look of it, and if I actually knew what it was about, or saw it in the Astronomy section, it might change things. If I saw someone reading it, it would be about a serial killer.

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I'm not evil.
An evil person would do the things I think up.

the serial killer is the laws of physics, Tog.

As for the "Dr" bit, I don't think that fools a lot of people, after all there are thousands of doctors on the planet, and they would use their degree to try and get readers. Anyway, it's the argument from authority falacy, not a good thing for a skeptic to commit.
I think, just the authors name is enough, and it shows that they have confidence that they can get readers, and be taken seriously without having to show that they have a degree, plus he is already quite well known.

I thought of a good subtitle, bit of a cheek I know, but here it is. Prob needs some reference to astonomy, or science really, or as well, but here it is.

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I didn't mean that adding the "Dr." would fool people in any way. Just that the name alone makes it sound like fiction, whereas the "Dr." before the name would make it sound like non-fiction.

Anyway, those were my first impressions after seeing the cover.

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I'm not evil.
An evil person would do the things I think up.

Tog, I didn't think you were suggesting fooling people, it's just that I'm sure there is the odd doctor out there that would use that title to make them selves seem more authoritative.

And anyway, there is nothing to stop a doctor from writing fiction, in fact, I would think that using the title in this way would be ok, since a fiction writer doesn't really need to appeal to authority.

In fact, a fiction writer using the term doctor might even say, "I am academic but I am confident enough in my creative skills to not let the stuff/nerdy etc associations that people have with academia, to use it in my name on the cover, as the author"

Still, thanks for the suggestions/comments. I like to defend creative stuff that I have done, it lets me work through my conscious and unconscious reasoning.

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For a moment, I misread "Taxes" as "Texas."

There's nothing more certain than someone from Texas.

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Phil's book, Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End, comes out October 16th.

Why don´t you ask your BAUT friends?
BTW: I´m still using it regularly because of the lazy farmer behind my backyard

Attached Thumbnails

 

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If everyone had even a basic grasp of scientific principles, this planet would be a better place (Phil Plait)

Die Lücke, die wir hinterlassen, ersetzt uns vollkommen [The gap we will leave behind will take our place entirely] (Carl Heinz Schroth)

1 + e^i*pi = 0

Those are all pretty funny and well done! However, not to rain on the parade or anything, but the publisher created a cover for the book about 6 months ago. :-) Thanks though!

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Phil Plait
The Bad Astronomer
http://www.badastronomy.com
badastro@badastronomy.com

I saw that & immediately thought of this:

A shadow shall fall over the universe, and evil will grow in its path, and death will come from the skies.


you get a cookie if you recognize it

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"An armed man is a citizen
An unarmed man is a subject"

Robert A. Heinlein

I'd be interested in knowing what approach their designer took.

Is it some sort of traditional image related to "death", such as a graveyard?

I had the idea of a montypythonesque cartoony bullet with the word "Earth" written on it, in some surreal setting, perhaps caught between the teeth? , that would be a good reference to your de-bunking.


Or perhaps a picture of Earth with a green hospital heart monitoring machine line going across, and as it passed over Earth, it goes flat.

Anyway, I think that it would be fun for people to make their own covers for the book, if there are enough people who like photoshopping.

Perhaps have a thread for it.

People could still make one, even if they're not great at photoshopping.

People could also just suggest ideas, and others could make the cover if people thought that the idea was good enough.

Anyone else got any bright ideas?


ETA: there will probably be, at some stage, a second(and third etc) edition, and someone may well have an idea that the publishers would go for, even if they had to remake it. Am I wrong?

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Or a Loch-Nar? I'll pass, thanks anyway.

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I say there is an invisible elf in my backyard. How do you prove that I am wrong?

Disclaimer: Avatar is not an official NASA image and does not imply any specific interplanetary or interstellar capability.

The Leif Ericson Cruiser

Captured from video at BA Blog: Comic Con: Mahalo!:


Looks like the background is a large image of the sun.

BA Blog category DeathfromtheSkies! is probably ripe for better images.

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I like it.

It looks like an old B-movie, with the Sun as the blob from outer space.

(funny, I made a typo and put "the blog from outer space" )

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The Andromeda Strain...a fine story.... among the many others Michael Crichton has written

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clear skies

If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. CARL SAGAN

Mak: Pass the pepperoni please.
Fazor: "Hail, Bautainia! We pledge our hearts to thee! Science and woo, some babbling too, and astron-oh-meee!"
slang: And it made ash out of yew and tree.

I use to be a big Crichton fan. Congo, Sphere, Jurassic Park (and even the sequal), Terminal Man... all great books. I don't enjoy his style much anymore, but throughout highschool he was my favorite author.

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.
"In order to increase awareness of the homeless, security have been given binoculars."

Better image:

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Don't you pay your Texas in Dallas, Neverfly?

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clear skies

If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. CARL SAGAN

Mak: Pass the pepperoni please.
Fazor: "Hail, Bautainia! We pledge our hearts to thee! Science and woo, some babbling too, and astron-oh-meee!"
slang: And it made ash out of yew and tree.

Austin.

I'm supposed to PAY them?!

Shoot, I thought they paid them to me after every April...
I'm so confused...

Is he a professor in the Department of Redundancy Department?

Frog march, you've done good stuff with the 'cover'! bescythe yourself?
perhaps the publishers could use yours for a sequel!

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clear skies

If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. CARL SAGAN

Mak: Pass the pepperoni please.
Fazor: "Hail, Bautainia! We pledge our hearts to thee! Science and woo, some babbling too, and astron-oh-meee!"
slang: And it made ash out of yew and tree.

I liked the scythe cover. 1 tiny nitpick though: the cover is blacker than the black around the moon image; on my screen I can see a "really really dark grey" square surrounding the moon, less dark than the rest of the cover. (or was that done on purpose?)

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

well, I just copy and pasted the moon, as a rectangle, and the just filled in the rest with black from the pallet, so that will be the reason.

It didn't show up on my screen.
Oh well.

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