Design to get you hiding under the covers
My plan, over the course of my brief blogging career so far has been to win your trust with a series of embarrassing personal admissions, so when I talk about something cool that Penguin is doing, you will take me at my word.
Penguin is doing something cool.
Next week, on the 2nd, we are publishing a series of ten horror books by masters of the genre – including the likes of Edgar Allan Poe, H. P. Lovecraft and M. R. James – and the covers are, I think, really something special. I could talk about them, in the same way that I could talk about the credit crunch or the Large Hadron Collider, which is to say in a manner both uninformed and slightly hysterical. But I thought it would be better for all concerned if I spoke to Coralie Bickford-Smith, the designer of the books, and posted a video of her here, cutting out the (hysterical, uninformed) middle man. So here's Coralie:
And here are the covers:
And here are the works in progress shown in the video:
Another thing that we talked about that didn't make the video was Coralie's initial inspiration for the covers – these two-tone crime covers Romek Marber produced for Penguin in the 60s.
All ten of the Gothic Reds are out on the 2 October 2008 and I would heartily recommend you purchase the whole set. I'm not close to having read them all, but the Poe and the M. R. James are particularly great – and The House on the Borderland is indeed crazy.
THE BEETLE – Richard Marsh (9780141038797)
THE HAUNTED DOLLS’ HOUSE – M. R. James (9780141038773)
THE SPOOK HOUSE – Ambrose Bierce (9780141038810)
THE HOUSE ON THE BORDERLAND – William Hope Hodgson (9780141038742)
THE LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM – Bram Stoker (9780141038759)
LOIS THE WITCH – Elizabeth Gaskell (9780141038803)
THE VIRGIN OF THE SEVEN DAGGERS – Vernon Lee (9780141038780)
THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH – Edgar Allan Poe (9780141038827)
THE HAUNTED HOTEL – Wilkie Collins (9780141038736)
update: All ten titles are now available as a set with an exclusive poster. Enjoy!
Alan
Copywriter
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Wow, thanks Alan. Love the covers and great to hear first hand about the process behind them - nice work Coralie!
Posted by: Elmo | September 26, 2008 at 03:13 PM
Are these going to be available in the US? I don't see them at online bookstores (B&N, Amazon).
Posted by: matt | September 29, 2008 at 01:19 AM
They look fantastic!
Posted by: LiteraryMinded | September 30, 2008 at 02:04 AM
These are absolutely awesome! I'm definately going to look for the Vernon Lee and the M.R. James.
Posted by: Blithe Spirit | September 30, 2008 at 05:46 PM
Striking!
Nice presentation - great to see "behind the scene" how it's all done.
Posted by: TheSpy | September 30, 2008 at 06:29 PM
How much do I love them? Let me count the ways:
http://www.readerville.com/index.php/journal/view/penguin-gothic-reds/
Posted by: Karen Templer | September 30, 2008 at 09:11 PM
These are great, I love the work in progress images as well.
Posted by: Ryan | October 03, 2008 at 10:27 AM
Thanks all.
Matt - there are no hard plans for them to become available in the US, though it's a possibility for next year. In the meantime, you might be able to order them through Amazon UK?
Posted by: Alan | October 03, 2008 at 02:49 PM
Love this new Gothic Red range. Coralie is a real talent!
Blogged:
http://robaroundbooks.com/2008/10/penguins-new-gothic-red-series-cover-art-to-die-for/
Posted by: Robert Burdock | October 05, 2008 at 09:19 PM
Really impressive work, Corralie.Love the use of colours. Very striking indeed. Great techniques and new direction from the other Red Classics series. Looking forward to more. Also interesting to hear the thought and design process. Great work, keep it up.
Posted by: Paul | October 06, 2008 at 11:58 AM
Turns out they're available to US shoppers from Amazon.ca. Better exchange rate and much lower shipping.
Posted by: matt | October 17, 2008 at 02:21 AM
Oh how I would love to do some of the next series of covers! See my work! Hire me!
Posted by: MATTHEW ROSE | November 01, 2008 at 12:06 PM
Coralie's designs are rather special - visually striking, their simplicity of colour appeals to me. I have got my wife's christmas present!
Alan, thanks for posting the video.
Posted by: Peter Gordon | December 01, 2008 at 07:52 AM
Anyone interested in horror and suspense should read at least one sample of Poe's work. It is wonderful and I am really looking forward for the covers!
Posted by: Blackberry Storm Man | January 28, 2009 at 07:06 AM