New Ecco paperback covers (July 2014) and new collections (July 2015) (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter miyavi
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bospress.net
www.bospress.net
Well now. Aren't those perfectly generic and cliche.
I really hope that this is a joke. I'm still pissed that they went away from the Barbara Martin designs which were great, but these NEON covers could have been designed as a joke...
Bill
I really hope that this is a joke. I'm still pissed that they went away from the Barbara Martin designs which were great, but these NEON covers could have been designed as a joke...
Bill
Wow, those are fucking horrible. I'm sure they're no joke but the designs are more evocative of downtown Las Vegas than
Los Angeles. Perhaps they're for e-books. Either way, truly shitty.
Los Angeles. Perhaps they're for e-books. Either way, truly shitty.
mjp
Founding member
I'm told that there are going to be some new poetry collections from Ecco too, the first installment coming very soon.
Good: not edited by John Martin (ring the alarm, let the rejoicing begin).
Bad: the collections are arranged thematically.
I wish they weren't doing the collections thematically (each book covers only one "theme" - meaning, "Here's a whole collection of poems about writing," "Here's a whole collection of poems about drinking," etc.), but something done completely ass-backward stupid wrong is better than nothing I suppose.
Good: not edited by John Martin (ring the alarm, let the rejoicing begin).
Bad: the collections are arranged thematically.
I wish they weren't doing the collections thematically (each book covers only one "theme" - meaning, "Here's a whole collection of poems about writing," "Here's a whole collection of poems about drinking," etc.), but something done completely ass-backward stupid wrong is better than nothing I suppose.
Black Swan
Abord the Yorikke!
The Best of Bukowski, next to Garth Brooks, Creedence and Elvis, at Walmart, by the Pot of Gold stand.
Those covers are really bad.
Those covers are really bad.
LickTheStar
Sad Flower in the Sand
I can't wait to... face out the books on the shelf so that the image displays correctly?
Ugh. I'm going to finish vomiting and maybe I'll just have been drunk this whole time.
This is what happens when you let blind people design book covers...
Ugh. I'm going to finish vomiting and maybe I'll just have been drunk this whole time.
This is what happens when you let blind people design book covers...
Bukfan
"The law is wrong; I am right"
Oh no! Then we'll see poetry collections on women, drinking, horse racing, shitty jobs, being down and out, cars, rooming houses, L.A., abusive parents, writing, etc. and maybe even on vomitting and hangovers too. :rolleyes: I'm sure the ones on drinking and women will be popular and the perfect gift for some people.
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mjp
Founding member
Yes, I'm afraid so. That's the plan, anyway.
One of the good things about all of the other collections is if you don't particularly care for, say, poems about horse racing, they were sprinkled in among the rest of the poems. But an entire Bukowski collection on one theme - I don't know, man. I think it's a big mistake. It's only going to fuel the fire of those who enjoy pointing out Bukowski's weaknesses.
The only saving grace will be the absence of Martin's "editing."
And the fact that there probably will not be a horse racing collection...
One of the good things about all of the other collections is if you don't particularly care for, say, poems about horse racing, they were sprinkled in among the rest of the poems. But an entire Bukowski collection on one theme - I don't know, man. I think it's a big mistake. It's only going to fuel the fire of those who enjoy pointing out Bukowski's weaknesses.
The only saving grace will be the absence of Martin's "editing."
And the fact that there probably will not be a horse racing collection...
mjp
Founding member
I believe they are all (or mostly) previously uncollected poems, safe from the fatal effects of Martinizing.
The editor is someone you know and love, if he wants to (or is allowed to) talk about it, I suppose he will at some point. I haven't spoken to him about it, I'm just relaying some grapevine labberish.
The editor is someone you know and love, if he wants to (or is allowed to) talk about it, I suppose he will at some point. I haven't spoken to him about it, I'm just relaying some grapevine labberish.
Bukfan
"The law is wrong; I am right"
That's relief, and it'll be nice to read some previously uncollected poems.
Collection on drinking and women will certainly help keeping Bukowski's "dirty old man" public image alive. He'll probably never be able to escape that image, but why keep promoting it? Of course, the reason is as always - money!
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I'd probably buy two copies of a horse racing collection...just sayin'. Horsemeat is among my favorite publications, and not just for the production of the book itself, but for the material. Very strong, in my opinion.
On another note, a collection about hemorrhoids and yellow piss-birds could be entertaining. The great Mr. Puchinski indeed!
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I have two Buk books that I bought in Italy that are theme based. One is called "Il Crimine Paga Sempre" and it is all poems about sickness and death and being in the hospital. The other is called "Quando Eravamo Giovani" and has only poems about youth and the schoolyard beatings and whatnot. Both are good to read occasional poems out of, but to read through the book gets kind of repetitive. Two decent choices for subjects, though.
mjp
Founding member
I guess when I think of "horse racing poems" I think of the awful, tedious lists of numbers and how he arrived at them that he put into poetry form from time to time. But even the poems about the people at the track get a bit samey, if you feel me, yo. I get it - all the men are dead inside and all the women around the bar are whores. Okay. Next.
Not to necessarily single out the horse racing poems. I think a hundred Bukowski poems in a row on a single topic is going to be tedious no matter what the topic is. I guess I just don't understand how that was ever considered to be a good idea.
But then most people probably don't sit down with poetry collections and read them straight through like some of us might. So as something that you pick up every few days or once a week (or month) and read a few poems from, I suppose it could work.
Not for me, but for them.
But as I posted in another thread, Buk is able to write about the same situation in a freshly imaginative way nearly all the time. To me, the subject matter is often irrelevant; it's how the story is told that makes it work. Publish a book by Buk w/ 100 poems on how melted cheese on a dinner plates wrecks your kitchen sponge and it would probably be good.
But I agree that the thematic concept is a big swing and miss. Part of the intrigue gets ripped away when you know more than you should about what's around the corner. And I also agree that this approach will likely advance the tired clichés about him rather than advancing any true respect or acknowledgement of how he contributed to the art of poetry. But yes, new material is a good thing if you consider the alternative.
But I agree that the thematic concept is a big swing and miss. Part of the intrigue gets ripped away when you know more than you should about what's around the corner. And I also agree that this approach will likely advance the tired clichés about him rather than advancing any true respect or acknowledgement of how he contributed to the art of poetry. But yes, new material is a good thing if you consider the alternative.
mjp
Founding member
Yes, of course, even thematic bundling of unadulterated poems is preferable to another ugly volume of Martinized reflux.
The "funny" thing is that over the past several years, I read about half of many of the posthumous volumes so I would retain a pool of unread Buk for a few more years. Needless to say, that plan didn't turn out quite as I'd expected. Now I have another chance to squirrel away some stuff.
what will they do with all those millions of poems, where he is drinking AND fucking? vomiting AND listening to classical music? thinking about suicide AND literature AND Van Gogh ........
These will have to be included in more than one collection.
now THIS collection has been done already, as we know. It's called 'Horsemeat' and is not too bad.
mjp
Founding member
Horsemeat was only 20 poems though, and they were broken up by photos. I think there's a big difference between that and a thick book full of of track poems. But it's probably a moot point anyway.
UnlessAbel - um, I mean the guy who is editing the collections - decides to talk about them, we'll just have to wait and see.
Unless
Bukfan
"The law is wrong; I am right"
Abel is certainly not the worst editor one can think of and he's a godsend compared to the person who changed the poems in the posthumous collections. At least Abel would never do a thing like that and he knows more about Bukowski than most of us do.
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Pogue Mahone
Officials say drugs may have played a part
We no need no badges... Or editors either....
i just meant whether Abel was able to provide any production insights...
he typed, not holding his breath...
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I haven't purchased his book, but have read excerpts and some essays and they always seem to be on point.
Actually seems to like Bukowski's work. What a concept...
Actually seems to like Bukowski's work. What a concept...
mjp
Founding member
Before he was a famous academic writer, Abel was one of the founding fathers of this very forum that you are currently marinating in.
On this page you can see that he (cirerita) is historically the 11th most active poster here, and many of those 3,544 posts were in the Unpublished and Uncollected forum. He has probably done more research on Bukowski than anyone else walking around on this earth.
So even if you don't know him, you owe him.
See that? Poetry, bitches.
On this page you can see that he (cirerita) is historically the 11th most active poster here, and many of those 3,544 posts were in the Unpublished and Uncollected forum. He has probably done more research on Bukowski than anyone else walking around on this earth.
So even if you don't know him, you owe him.
See that? Poetry, bitches.
props to Abel. he will do Bukowski purists proud.
but back to the new covers.... I don't care what they look like. do I like them? not really, but I've seen worse (not for Bukowski, but other writers I like).
the neon shtick plays into the opening credits of Barfly, so in that respect it's fitting. and smack me upside the head, but I didn't love every one of Barbara Martin's designs. she had some misses.
if some 20 year old is attracted by the hipster covers, so be it. at least he's reading Bukowski. he can leave the Chuck Palahniuk on the shelf.
I don't know why I always seem to pick on Palahniuk.
but back to the new covers.... I don't care what they look like. do I like them? not really, but I've seen worse (not for Bukowski, but other writers I like).
the neon shtick plays into the opening credits of Barfly, so in that respect it's fitting. and smack me upside the head, but I didn't love every one of Barbara Martin's designs. she had some misses.
if some 20 year old is attracted by the hipster covers, so be it. at least he's reading Bukowski. he can leave the Chuck Palahniuk on the shelf.
I don't know why I always seem to pick on Palahniuk.
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Bukfan
"The law is wrong; I am right"
I know! It was just a play on words. I just wanted to say Abel is'nt the worst choice now that his name was being mentioned. That's all. It was no reflection on your words play joke.
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jordan
lothario speedwagon
the neon covers are a huge improvement over those shitty cartoon ones they did. at least it goes back to being simple and trying to evoke a mood or feeling rather than second-rate cartoons depicting things that happen in the book. plus, neon signs are a critical part of LA's identity, to the point that there's a museum dedicated to preserving them. it's 100% fitting to use that motif.
it's easy to hate on any new bukowski book design because a) it isn't barbara martin's original design and b) it represents the mainstream trying to interpret bukowski's work, which will always be a failure in the eyes of the die hard fans. if you look at book design overall, though, these covers pretty good. they are laid out well, they're bold, and they don't try to sell his work as something it isn't. plus, they don't look like every other book on the shelf, which was my main frustration with the cartoon covers.
it's easy to hate on any new bukowski book design because a) it isn't barbara martin's original design and b) it represents the mainstream trying to interpret bukowski's work, which will always be a failure in the eyes of the die hard fans. if you look at book design overall, though, these covers pretty good. they are laid out well, they're bold, and they don't try to sell his work as something it isn't. plus, they don't look like every other book on the shelf, which was my main frustration with the cartoon covers.
mjp
Founding member
I think the whole purpose of putting a new cover on an old book is to make it look current, which then makes it look like every other book on the shelf.
I'm sure a lot of people picked up Black Sparrow books in the first place because they didn't look like everything else on the shelf, even back in the 70s and 80s. A relevant detail that eludes a big corporation like HarperCollins because they aren't in the creativity business. They are all about shifting units, baby!
The covers don't matter much in the scheme of things. If they are going to throw away the original design, I don't really care what they replace it with. I still think this is the best Bukowski cover ever, and you could say it follows certain modern design trends that are probably overplayed:
jordan
lothario speedwagon
best bukowski cover? i'm partial to ham on rye and love is a dog from hell (for bsp) or the city lights books with the hideous close-ups (for everyone else). in general, i'm a fan of the really simple, direct grove press aesthetic from the 70s. new directions had kind of the same look as well, although their books were only black and white, and i like grove's color palette. those city lights books are like a dirtier, grimier version of that aesthetic, which is why i like them.
those neon books look patricularly current to me. admittedly, i don't follow current trends in book design or anything, but i'm happy to see a move away from "text over image," which has been en vogue for what seems like forever now.
those neon books look patricularly current to me. admittedly, i don't follow current trends in book design or anything, but i'm happy to see a move away from "text over image," which has been en vogue for what seems like forever now.
I still love the BSP Hollywood. Partially because that was my first Buk purchase in 89. Also think Dangling is very cool. The neon bugs the shit out of me. Reminds me of paperback covers from the 70's, especially The Wanderers. Whatever, they are still better than that Factotum "tie-in" piece of shit. Worst cover hands-down (other than any Jimmy Buffet book, of course).
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