Reflections on the Fantasy Covers post
This is cross-posted from genrereviews because I know there are people who read here more frequently than over there. If you've already seen it there, feel free to skip past this version. Since, y'know, it's the same thing.
Last week I wrote a post about book covers, gender roles, and the bizarre depictions thereof. You may have noticed it.
That post spread around the internet in a way I was totally unprepared for, as the temporary blip in my bandwidth on Friday no doubt revealed. Sometimes it's hard to predict how well a post will go over, but I'd spent a fair amount of time on that one and was pretty pleased with the way it turned out, and being a feminist the subject matter was close to my heart. I'd hoped for a decent response, but I wasn't expecting a full month's worth of visitors in less than two days. I wasn't expecting to be featured at Publisher's Weekly's sf/f blog, I wasn't expecting to have authors tell me they planned to send their publisher to my post when it came time to talk about cover art, and I wasn't expecting to be used as inspiration for fantasy artists. This is all great stuff. Mindblowing stuff! I am so incredibly pleased at the response, my poor husband is wondering when the giddy is going to die back down.
You know what the best part is, though? People are thinking about this now. And talking about it. It's become a whole conversation, and that is so much more valuable than any of the things I listed above. Does this mean big changes in the way cover art will be produced from now on? No, of course not. But if we're thinking about it and looking critically, that's important. Attitudes of "oh, well that's just the way things are and always have been" don't do anyone any good.
And yes, my back is fine, thank you. It was stiff the next day, mostly from trying to get the spinal twist on the John Ringo cover, but I was careful to stretch it out when I could and was basically fine. And my knee is pleased to report no new injuries in that direction.
Last week I wrote a post about book covers, gender roles, and the bizarre depictions thereof. You may have noticed it.
That post spread around the internet in a way I was totally unprepared for, as the temporary blip in my bandwidth on Friday no doubt revealed. Sometimes it's hard to predict how well a post will go over, but I'd spent a fair amount of time on that one and was pretty pleased with the way it turned out, and being a feminist the subject matter was close to my heart. I'd hoped for a decent response, but I wasn't expecting a full month's worth of visitors in less than two days. I wasn't expecting to be featured at Publisher's Weekly's sf/f blog, I wasn't expecting to have authors tell me they planned to send their publisher to my post when it came time to talk about cover art, and I wasn't expecting to be used as inspiration for fantasy artists. This is all great stuff. Mindblowing stuff! I am so incredibly pleased at the response, my poor husband is wondering when the giddy is going to die back down.
You know what the best part is, though? People are thinking about this now. And talking about it. It's become a whole conversation, and that is so much more valuable than any of the things I listed above. Does this mean big changes in the way cover art will be produced from now on? No, of course not. But if we're thinking about it and looking critically, that's important. Attitudes of "oh, well that's just the way things are and always have been" don't do anyone any good.
And yes, my back is fine, thank you. It was stiff the next day, mostly from trying to get the spinal twist on the John Ringo cover, but I was careful to stretch it out when I could and was basically fine. And my knee is pleased to report no new injuries in that direction.