The Evolution of Science Fiction discussion

If you have a favorite book cover that you'd like to see on the group banner, please post it here. Use the "add book/author" button & make sure to use the "cover" button so I can see exactly which one you want. Remember that books often have multiple covers depending on the edition. Please mark which period the book cover belongs. The periods are those we use for our group reads.

It must be in English.

It must be the 'normal' book cover aspect ratio. IOW, no CD covers that are square.

The name of the author & title should be easily visible in the small picture.

We should also stick to 'fair use' since these are copyrighted pictures, so we should stick to the 100 or so novels that we've read or possibly ones that we've nominated or will read in the near future. So let's stick to those that can be found on our bookshelves.

No guarantees when or if we'll use it or for how long.

The third condition will eliminate a lot. But ok.

Not exciting, but clearly one of the touchstones for the group.
Ditto.
Ditto.

(I'm noticing a pattern. If readable title + author is a premium, image is often sacrificed.)

Ah, I'm still rooting for covers in which title *and/or* author are visible.

Cheryl wrote: "The third condition will eliminate a lot. But ok...."

A pretty picture is nice, but if the object is to show a book from each period, it has to be recognizable as such. That means a title or a name has to show well enough. There isn't any ability to embed html code to link to the book. It's just a picture. It does eliminate a lot.

Another condition that I forgot is 'fair use'. These are copyrighted pictures, so we should stick to the 100 or so novels that we've read or possibly ones that we've nominated or will read in the near future. So let's stick to those that can be found on our bookshelves.

Cheryl wrote: "Ah, I'm still rooting for covers in which title *and/or* author are visible.
"

Aw, I would second those choices. Those two are my fav authors.

fyi, all my choices are books on our 'read' shelf

I'm thinking about Recognizable images, not "pretty pictures" as being sufficient if title or author is also legible.

Have we read any Crichton? That Prey cover is great!

Cheryl wrote: "...I'm thinking about Recognizable images, not "pretty pictures" as being sufficient if title or author is also legible.

Have we read any Crichton?..."

It's a good point. I haven't read any Crichton in years. I remember being blown away by (both book & movie) & . The latter has always been my most memorable example of positive feedback.

On the 'fair use' idea - it's something I'm very cautious about, very possibly too cautious. The covers are here & we're obviously not making money from them. Anyway, we could always add a book to the nomination shelf. Should I just get rid of that restriction?

I want this one:

;)

Bulgarian, actually. I just like the space 🐙

Anything with a purple octopus in it is pretty good.
:)

Jim wrote: "Anything with a purple octopus in it is pretty good.
:)"

A purple SPACE octopus.

In message #2 above, Cheryl made a row of book-cover-link icons. That would probably work perfectly well in the group description instead of an actual collage. It should be acceptable for copyright purposes as well, since it links directly to information about the product in question.

Ed wrote: "Jim wrote: "Anything with a purple octopus in it is pretty good.
:)"

A purple SPACE octopus.

In message #2 above, Cheryl made a row of book-cover-link icons. That would probably work perfectly w..."

Right, space octopus!

Actually, book covers don't work well in the group description. They cause it to collapse to a 'more...' link. The idea is to have our group pop on the search page & that doesn't.

Oh, I see the new one... nice! And now we have different ones as banner and in description, which is terrific, thank you!

I wondered when anyone would notice. It's been up there for a week or two. glad you like it. I went for color schemes while still keeping to the reading periods. This one is orange & red. I have a winter one that's heavy on blues, a spring with greens &... I don't remember what I did for next summer. Probably yellow-gold.

It looks great Jim!

Nice new black and white book covers

Thanks. I went for winter colors this time.

They look cool and classy.