Click to enlarge and admire in its full glory
Once upon a time, Neil Gaiman got to talking to his editor about the good old days when books were books and covers were covers. He was particularly fond of the old science fiction covers of the fifties, sixties, and seventies the ones that were “beautiful, and were painted, and told you so much.” He asked if there wasn’t some possibility that Harper Collins might publish a “set of mass market paperbacks” of his books “with gloriously retro covers.”
And, because he is Neil Gaiman, and because sometimes we do get nice things, his editor said yes. Not only that, but they were able to get Robert McGinnis, a particularly grand retro cover artist, to paint the covers. So, there is a whole entire series of beautifully old-fashioned books coming out for us in the near future.
Moreover, to heap riches upon riches, the upcoming American Gods Starz TV series means that everyone and their cousin is buying copies of American Gods books for themselves and their cousins, so the demand outstrips the supply.
And that means–we get the paperback copy of American Gods early. It’s the author’s preferred edition and it will be out soon.
We’ll have to wait on the other covers. According to Gaiman, “each of them looks like a different kind of book from a different era.”
This is going to play havoc with bookshelf space and with the question of whether or not to own multiple copies of various books just because the covers are so good. But, in the meantime, we can enjoy the new American Gods cover, which should be available for pre-order soon is now available for pre-order on Amazon.
Read more about the cover on Neil Gaiman’s Journal.
