Great book covers

Lousy Book Covers and Caustic Cover Critic are blogs which collect, as you may already have deduced, really badly-designed book covers. CCC generally takes aim at bad pro work, whereas LBC nails hapless vanity press/POD fare. Previously: A gallery of dull, curious or odd book covers.

Update: Reader LagerVsAle writes in with Good show, sir, which covers SFF books.

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Hanglyman

These books look like they were released straight to video. Somehow.
http://boingboing.net/ Rob Beschizza

Hey, I fixed that first one.
liquidstar

I probably shouldn’t post this, but here is my own embarrassing book cover design: (not my book, author should not be held responsible for my early, complete lack of design training)
- http://www.aarongilliland.com/ Aaron Gilliland
  
  I hate it when suicidal footprints walk straight into a flame.
  - Halloween_Jack
    
    ”Flame” wasn’t the first thing that my filthy, filthy mind thought of.
    - http://www.aarongilliland.com/ Aaron Gilliland
      
      Flaming bag of footprints, with perspective coming out the yin yang.
GawainLavers

I love all the “machinima” covers! That’s new to me.

I will say that, whatever their other virtues or lack thereof, I feel that these covers are likely highly effective at accurately characterizing the content within, although I may be running afoul of a canard.
http://www.collisiondetection.net Clive

Okay, Al Purdy’s “Poems for all the Annettes” is just a derangedly good book. (Actually almost *any* of his poetry is good.) And wow, that cover!
LagerVsAle

A similar one just for sci-fi and fantasy http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  They really shouldn’t include any Piers Anthony covers since, no matter how weird they are, they’re still less weird than the books.
timquinn

wuddif those designers are brain damaged or stupid? not so funny anymore, eh?
DevinC

I thought the middle two were actually pretty good.
Halloween_Jack

I’m wondering how many of these things there would be if you eliminated the straight-to-ebook covers? I’m thinking less than 10%, maybe way less. (Previous blogs that did have print-only covers seemed to depend heavily on straight-to-paperback science fiction and fantasy novels.)
Steve Taylor

I love Good Show Sir but it also drives me a bit crazy. They post an even mix of genuinely indisputably awful SF covers and ones that – to me at least – are quirky, fun, and dare to be something other than a photorealistic depiction of something straight from the book. In the latter case they’re usually from from the 70s, a prime period for crazy design.
http://trenthead.com/ Trent Nelson

and another… http://dustyjackets.tumblr.com