Shelf Candy Saturday No. 202: The Black North, by Nigel McDowell

Welcome to Shelf Candy Saturday!

***Late Edition***

This is my weekly feature

showcasing beautiful covers!

It also provides information, 
if available, on their 
very talented creators!

Here's my choice for this week!

The Black North
Nigel McDowell 
Trade Paperback, 432 pages
Hot Key Books, 
June 5, 2014 
   Fantasy, Middle-Grade Fiction,   
Young Adult Fiction 

My Thoughts About This Cover

This is such a stunning cover! I know it's not the first time I've praised a cover in this way, but really, this IS a stunning cover. It's also a bit creepy..... Usually, I would never have picked such a cover but, in this case, the overall design totally captivated me! It's just so....well, PERFECT. Besides, I have always loved circles, so of course this image immediately appealed to me. 

On this cover, the circle has a magical glow which seems to come from the very magical city at the base of it. And then there are the eerie, creepy images around that circle... There are just so many associations I get from these images. The glowing circle makes me think of a portal leading into the land of the Fae, which is reinforced by the faeries floating above, in the upper left-hand corner. The scary black face at the top of the circle immediately brought to mind the land of Mordor, and, of course, the Dark Lord, Sauron (this is from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings). The glowing magical city reminded me of the castles at Disney World and Disneyland, in Florida and California, respectively. It also reminded me of the Emerald City, from the movie "The Wizard of Oz". The two young heroes at the bottom of the cover instantly made me think of Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, from the Harry Potter series.

So there are many fantasy references here! Not that the cover designer was consciously trying to bring in these references, though. I think it's just that these great fantasy works have become so much a part of American -- and, in fact, world culture -- that they are even part of our subconscious minds. So this is really a very effective cover, in that regard.

Visually, again I must say that the design is stunning. That glowing circle frames the title very nicely, thus highlighting its rather sinister feel. The font used, which has been altered to give a very stark look, reinforces that. 

The author's name has been placed outside the cover image. This, I think, makes the design even better, as the name does not interfere at all with the rest of the cover.

I also like that this image is surrounded by white, which somehow makes the main image very ominous-looking.

Unfortunately, I have been unable to find any information about the brilliant designer of this great cover..... The Amazon preview was no help at all. When I did a Google search, the only link I found was for an article at the Hot Key Books website. The article, whose author is merely identified as "Jan from the Design Department", discusses the development of this cover to its final form. And that's it. Also included in the article is a picture of the cover for another McDowell book, Tall Tales from Pitch End, which has a similar dark feel to it. Jan mentions that this is what the publisher was looking for.   

I am providing the link to this article below. It's very disappointing to find an AMAZING cover like this one, and not be able to provide the name of the highly talented artist who created it...  If I am able to dig up his or her identity, along with more information, I will definitely come back and include it in this post.    

Online Links
The Black North Cover 

 

What do you think of this 
week's cover?
Please leave a comment
and let me know!

Book Blogger Hop No. 82: Reading or Housework?

Welcome to the Book Blogger Hop,

hosted by Billy @

Ramblings of a Coffee-Addicted Writer!

For more information, and 

to find out the topic of next week's question, click HERE.

This Week's Question

Read or Clean? Read or Bake?

Read or Make Dinner?

What would be your choice?

(Submitted  by Elizabeth @ 

Silver's Reviews)

My Answer

This is a matter for deep pondering, yes, indeed..... Oh, of course not! Any hardcore reader worth their salt will immediately reply that reading tops ANY OTHER activity! That includes blogging, although I dearly love writing posts and commenting on other bloggers' posts, as well. Reading is just out of this world! Therefore, it simply cannot be compared with any other mundane, routine, BORING everyday activity. True, the activities mentioned in today's question are a necessary part of daily life. However, they are nowhere near as interesting, addictive, enjoyable, or downright riveting as reading is! They can, therefore, be put off as much as humanly possible. (Says me!)

Okay, so I do realize that there are other bloggers out there who enjoy baking as a hobby. I can understand that. I'm not at all interested in baking as a hobby, but hey, there's something for everyone in this world! I can see how others would enjoy it. But cleaning? Making dinner? How prosaic!  How very ordinary and uninspiring! (Some well-known chefs might take exception to my observation that making dinner is a prosaic activity, but oh, well.....)

Of course, I would never let dust pile up on furniture to the point that someone could draw a face on a table top, for example. Lol. But I'm not such a "neat freak" that I am DRIVEN to have everything "spic and span" before I allow myself to sit down and prepare to immerse my eager brain in a great book. Oh, ABSOLUTELY not!! 

As for baking and making dinner, well, these are activities related to the stomach, and I for one do not like to go hungry, especially when my brain cells are munching away on an engrossing plot! However, I don't need to bake in order to feed myself (or my hubby). I can do just fine with some frying, and the microwave comes in VERY handy. So, making dinner is a necssary "evil" for me. When a plot that has me living in a fantasy land is suddenly interrupted by grumblings in my tummy, well, I really have no choice, do I? Lol. I MUST leave Hogwarts or Middle-Earth, or wherever else I might be, and see about satisfying those hunger cravings!

And now back to cleaning. I wouldn't mind this so much if only I could wave a wand, as they do in Harry Potter's world, and everything would just clean itself! Lol. Alas, that is just not possible in our kind of reality....

Three household chores not mentioned in the question above are doing the laundry, doing the dishes, and ironing. The last two are also boring, routine activities. Doing the laundry, though, can actually be highly enjoyable, because one can sit beside the washer and dryer while they do the work for you. therefore, you are able to REALLY get into a book while you wait for your loads to be done. Lol.

Seeing as how I can't get rid of these ridiculously BORING activities, I will always do my best to procrastinate on doing them as long as possible, while I bask in the glow of a terrific read! Barring the whole house falling down around my ears, I think I can get along just fine in literary worlds, while the housework can just.....WAIT.  (The alternative solution is to just very sweetly say to hubby, "Oh, darling, can you help me out with the dusting while I just finish this one chapter?")

   

What are your thoughts on

this topic?

Please leave a comment!

If you're participating in this meme,

I'll go comment on your 

own BBH post.

If not, I will then comment on one 

of your blog posts!

Thanks for visiting!!! 

Can't Wait Wednesday No. 2: Unearthly Things, by Michelle Gagnon

Welcome to "Can't Wait Wednesday"!

  

This is a weekly event hosted by

Tressa @ Wishful Endings, and inspired by "Waiting On Wednesday", which used to be hosted by

 Jill @ Breaking the Spine.

For more information, please click HERE.

As in the previous meme, this one showcases future releases  we book  bloggers 
are eagerly anticipating!!
There's also a Linky widget, so participating blogs can link up!

Here's my choice for this week!

   Unearthly Things

  Michelle Gagnon

Hardcover, 288 pages 

 Soho Teen

April 11, 2017

Retellings, Romance, Thrillers,

Young Adult Fiction  

   

After losing her parents in a tragic accident, surfer girl Janie Mason is forced to trade the sunny beaches of Hawaii for the cold fog of San Francisco. She’s never even met her new guardians, the Rochesters—an old money family who relish being pillars of high society. Janie feels hopelessly out of place in their world of Napa weekends, fancy prep schools, and cotillions. Nicholas is the only Rochester who treats her with anything resembling kindness—but he’s only six. When she strikes up a friendship with Daniel, a fellow surfer, it feels like things might finally be improving.

But something isn’t right in the Rochester mansion. There are noises—screams—coming from the attic nearly every night. Noises everyone else claims they can’t hear. Then John, the black sheep of the family, returns after getting kicked out of yet another boarding school. Soon Janie finds herself torn between this new “brother” and Daniel, who has secrets of his own. Just when she thinks her life can’t get any worse, she learns the truth about the Rochesters: what they’re hiding, what they want from Janie, and how far they’ll go to get it.

Why I can't wait for this one!

This is a Jane Eyre retelling! I've just discovered it, too!! First of all, I ADORE the original novel, which is my favorite all-time classic! Second, that cover is seriously eerie, and makes me want to open the book and read whatever is inside. Third, I find the idea of Jane being a SURFER, of all things, a very COOL one! And fourth.....a Rochester mansion in San Francisco sounds very intriguing indeed!  I'm GRABBING this one as soon as it releases!!

What do you think of my choice?

Leave your link below, so I can
come check out your pick(s)!