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/lit/ - Literature

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File: 30 KB, 308x487, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch Old.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4019718 No.4019718 [Reply] [Original]

Why are the old covers of Science Fiction books always so much better than the new ones.

>> No.4019720
File: 77 KB, 480x640, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch New.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4019720

>> No.4019726
File: 88 KB, 360x582, A Scanner Darkly Old.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4019726

>> No.4019728
File: 44 KB, 304x475, A Scanner Darkly New.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4019728

>> No.4019840

I always imagined that contemporary book-cover designers and publishing companies secretly coalitioned to make modern books look like dogshit.

Srsly tired of how shitty most books look nowadays.

>> No.4019847

>>4019840

I've noticed a similar trend in contemporary film posters. Few, if any, stick out anymore.

>> No.4019848

the gollancz sf classics covers are awesome.

>> No.4019878
File: 28 KB, 323x500, man-in-high-castle-philip-k-dick-paperback-cover-art.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4019878

Goddamnit.

>> No.4020644

>>4019720
SO SIMPLE
SO ELEGANT

I don't give a shit, I want to blame Apple for starting this trend in designs in general.

If it's not this shit, it's a cheap "classics" edition with a stock cover.

>> No.4020665
File: 63 KB, 306x513, Swords and Deviltry.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4020665

Fantasy too, shit

>> No.4020972

>>4019718
The 'SF Masterworks' version has a neat design, but the old one is much better.

>> No.4020994

sci-fi was considered much less literary than it is now which allowed them to shamelessly embrace their trippy subject matter.

>> No.4022631

>>4020994
That's pretty much what I was thinking. It seems like the original covers are better suited to the texts culturally but publishing companies now market books as being more highbrow and unaccessible to the not-neccessarily-intellectuals they were written for. These books were marketed to a demographic that now plays video games as it's pastime.

>> No.4022642

>>4019718
Because the union of the shitty illustrators complained?

>>4019720
Fuck this shit! This is not old school hardbacks with simple design (like golden letters on fabric or leather). This is not airportcore with simple yet catching design. Was it made for anemic autists with aids or something?

>>4019878
Got this one! Kudos for not falling into nazi trap.

>> No.4022672

>>4022642
>Got this one! Kudos for not falling into nazi trap.

What?

>> No.4022673
File: 64 KB, 569x640, penguin books.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4022673

>> No.4022675

>>4022673
People fetishise those covers now for some reason. I had dozens of them on my bookshelves growing up and they were just so fucking bland and boring.

>> No.4022680

>>4022672
The Man in the High Castle is about the US who lost WW2. Japan has the West Coast, Nazi Germany the East Coast and the US is a rump state in the Rockies.

Suffice to say, these premises should provoke many swastikas, but it doesn.t

>> No.4022691

>>4022673
They are simple, yes. But there's an austerity, dignity and stature in the design, as opposed to the scabcore of >>4019720

>> No.4022692
File: 54 KB, 1428x638, Man_In_The_High_Castle_map.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4022692

>>4022680
>This is what Americans actually believe would happen if Germany won WW2

>> No.4022700
File: 13 KB, 175x269, 175px-PKD-high_castle-penguinclassics.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4022700

>>4022680
What's to "get" about it, though?

I've read it too.

I actually think this cover is superior.

>> No.4022704
File: 12 KB, 300x452, Eye in The Sky.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4022704

Pic related proves you FUCKING WRONG.

Dick covers were ALWAYS SHIT. Now they're awesome.

>> No.4022706

>>4019718
Because we don't CARE anymore. As a people. In the 50s it was all about space. Going to the moon, meeting martians. We idolized space as a future, as a goal. It isn't like that anymore.
Much like the dinosaurs, space has been reduced to something boring and science-y.
And subsequently, the future too.
We don't have a future anymore. There's nothing left. We won't meet a race of aliens in 50 years, we'll be fighting climate change, still, because nobody can get their fucking shit together.
We got fucked, that's what.

>> No.4022707
File: 20 KB, 235x375, pkd_eyeinthe.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4022707

>>4022704

This is the old version. Don't fucking kid me: the old version is SHIT.

>> No.4022709
File: 45 KB, 225x337, PKD_The_Simulacra.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4022709

>>4022707

>> No.4022711

>>4022707
>Dat awful Lawnmowerman-esque eye.

Puke.

>> No.4022712

>>4022706
The odds for meeting a race of aliens in 50 years is abysmally small even if it was the sole focus of everyone on earth with unrelenting ambition.

>> No.4022719

What's the Philip K. Dick novel that deals most with America, besides The Man in the High Castle?

>> No.4022720

>>4022712

We've already met them. Get on my level.

UFO's are fact. Over a dozen government had claimed as such; I don't see why you'd disagree.

Radars don't lie: objects fly in our skies at insane speeds: FACT.

>> No.4022721

>>4022712
Thanks, I wasn't aware.

>> No.4022722
File: 17 KB, 250x250, 1300044776986.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4022722

>>4022720
They're out there, but they're not here yet, m8.

>> No.4022723

>>4022720
Man, what was UP with Arizona?

>> No.4022725

>>4022723

>solar flares

Yeah, no. The army would never do anything like that over a city, for security reason, and if they did, they'd warn the populace.

The fact that they take credit for it lets us know that they know more than we do. Or they don't and don't want us to panic.

it wasn't flares. People saw objects; the mayor of Phoenix HIMSELF saw them.

>> No.4022733

>>4022731
A hotspot of hoaxes.

>> No.4022731

>>4022725
What? I never said anything about Flares.
I'm just saying Arizona was a hotspot in the 90s.

>> No.4022737

>>4022733
I don't know how 900 people could be involved in a hoax. Or why they'd put that much effort into video evidence. Twice.

>> No.4022740

>>4022712
How would you know?
There are too many unknowns in this equation

>> No.4022743

>>4022737
Source?

>> No.4022746

>>4022743

Phoenix, Arizon, 1997?

It's pretty fucking famous

>> No.4022755
File: 5 KB, 320x240, phoenixtwo.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4022755

>>4022743
15 unexpleinable lights that hung over a cliff stationary for 2 hours.
Which resulted in a public outcry and the consequent public mockery of the public, by the american government.
Yet another reason I'm glad I don't live in the states anymore. I don't care how stupid it sounds, if there are thousands of people rallying for answers, you don't make it a fucking circus act.

>> No.4022757

>>4022746
Just had a look at it.

Somewhat impressive.

What though? The aliens just came to give us a lightshow?

>> No.4022759

>>4022757
We'll find out in 50 years. I bet it was a scout.

>> No.4022770

>>4022757

Possibly a malfunction in their cloak.

Or a test.

See how the US reacts.

I think it's Nazis from the runaway civilisation. They're fucking with everyone one earth to let us know who's boss.

The alien shit is a cover-up in itself.

>> No.4022776

I've been involved in countrywide UFO hoaxes, that, despite making the news, were never solved. We didn't even have to go to much effort for it. This sort of experience makes me very doubtful of any reports I hear no matter how many people were there.

>> No.4022786

>>4022776
did you tape a dime to your windshield?

>> No.4022790
File: 285 KB, 500x750, indianajonesart1.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4022790

Back in the golden age they made covers to be exciting and intriguing. Now they want to be artsy and "simple, yet so deep"

>> No.4022793

>>4022755
>implying this is anything close to resembling a source

>> No.4022800

>>4022790
I know. I don't even buy books anymore if the cover isn't from an edition older than 91.
The 70s-80s were my favorite. All that sepia. Mmmm...

>> No.4022804

>>4022793
>implying you're not lazy
Look it up. It's famous a fuck and it's all over the internet. I'm not going to waste my time "proving" something you can look up in the fraction of the time it takes me to cherry pick a link and send it back to you.

>> No.4022805

Requesting Polish movie posters.

You will trip balls eternally.

>> No.4022806

>>4022793

As much source for this as for 9/11, with potentially more video footage.

>> No.4022808

>>4022786
No, we made the UFOs for other people to see.

>> No.4022809

>>4022800
I have such a boner for that shit

I can understand if people think they're cheesy, but I dont think theyre all bad by default

The cover should tell you something about the book, and get you excited. it shouldnt be a modern art piece

>> No.4022810
File: 92 KB, 500x724, tumblr_mgc9frd8fx1qbebq2o1_500.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4022810

>>4022805
Man the Indy poster was wild as fuck. Did they just pump LSD into the water supply, or what?

>> No.4022818

>>4022790
That's a modern fan poster.

>> No.4022819

>>4022806
>>4022804
All you did was post a picture when they asked for a source. A picture that doesnt even show anything worth noting

It doesnt tell us how long those lights were that and that they were stationary

or that there was a public outcry and mockery by the government

Or anything about 900 people

>implying you're not the lazy one

Or maybe you just know that you dont have any way to back up your claims of aliens raping your anus nightly

take this shit to /x/, it's way off topic on this board and in this thread

>> No.4022821

>>4022810

That's what I'm talking about.

>> No.4022825
File: 31 KB, 220x346, 220px-Deathworld.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4022825

>>4022818
I know. It's also for a movie, not a book. but I felt it exemplified what I was talking about and had it saved to my computer already

>> No.4022826

>>4022809
I know. And it's not like they were bad, either. Half of them were excellently illustrated, if not a bit cheesy. Or just little art at all. Big black letters on a sepia background, with a picture box underneath. Contained and uniformed, instead of overblown images falling off the edges. I find the simplicity soothing and nice to look at. Shitty digital art or closeups of glistening lips and wisps of colored smoke make me spit.
I actually have a habit of making a spitting motion when I see covers like that. And they're fucking everywhere!

>> No.4022827

>>4022819

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?

This is like dissing my picture of WW1 saying it's not enough evidence.

Anything I could find on the subject you can find just as well: get your fat ass to google and YouTube and write "phoenix lights".

>> No.4022829

>>4022826
I dont think you should be spoonfed the imagery, but the covers can also help visualize a particularly complicated element. Like an unfamiliar creature/alien or piece of machinery

>> No.4022828

>>4022819
Yeah, you know, I am lazy. Because when I don't know something, I highlight it and click "search google for xxx"
I don't give a shit. I'm not researching shit you want to know for you.

>> No.4022832

If it's this you're talking about
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Lights
I (>>4022776) could make something like that quite easily. Anyone with a little imagination and some hands-on technical skill could.

>> No.4022836

>>4022829
I think it just comes down to the fact that older covers and books don't seem as sterile as new covers. For me, anyway. There's something of life in them, and second hand even more so.

>> No.4022837
File: 85 KB, 912x630, thisthread.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4022837

ITT: /x/philes getting mad

>> No.4022839
File: 461 KB, 1024x1024, 1231625633123.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4022839

>>4022832
LIES AND FALLACIES

>> No.4022851

>>4022836
that's totally it, but I wouldnt delude myself about the secondhand thing

>> No.4022853

>>4022851
I'm not sure I know what you mean about the deluded thing.

>> No.4022860

>>4022853
Secondhand books having more life to them? There isnt really any reason to think that. It's just an aesthetic, idealized thing, like when people argue that printed paper is the only true way to read. Attributing "life" to a book is just kind of silly.

Not as silly as the UFO guys in this thread

>> No.4022868

>>4022860
True. It goes either or, sometimes. When there's a scribbled note inside, or a picture. It's the little nicks in the cover. I have the birth certificate of someone I've never even met before.
But it can be really depressing too. Like a book that says happy birthday on the dustpage, but has obviously never been read.

Maybe it's just something I tell myself that because I'm super anal about any kind of blemishes and I'm actively trying to knock that shit off.

Also I have yet to get my hands on a 70s or 80s book that hasn't been second hand.

>> No.4022870

>>4022810
What film is that for?

>> No.4022877

>>4022870
Probably The Emperors New Groove or Land before Time or something

you can never tell with them

>> No.4022887 [DELETED] 

>>4022810
according to google, a 'meh' film called No End.

>> No.4022890

>>4022870
According to google, a 'meh' film called No End.

>> No.4022896

>>4022890
Don't you dare call anything by Krzysztof Kieślowski "meh"!!!!!

>> No.4022902

>>4022896
Hey, I never seen it. It only got 3 stars. That's all I know. Then again, 3 stars isn't bad at all.

>> No.4022909
File: 75 KB, 400x569, image.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4022909

Best cover in the history of science fiction covers.

>> No.4022914

>>4022909
Nnooooo. Go away Dali...

>> No.4022972

>>4022909

Do I see Christ in the center?

>> No.4023034

>>4022972
you can see christ wherever you want

>> No.4023062

>>4022877
>Land before Time
That poster isn't dark enough.
Oh god, the gross sobbing that ensued. I have never been able to watch that movie without crying. It's only gotten worse as I've gotten older.