Oct 28, 2009

Covering Covers: The Dervish House




In the words of the immortal Malcolm Reynolds...ooooooo, shiny. This is a great, great cover. Stephan Martiniere is responsible as usual. I can't count the number of times I see a cover and think to myself, "Wow, I wonder who did that" and then go on to find its a Martiniere. The computer circuitry gives a subtle touch to an image that otherwise appears fairly timeless. I also really dig the text box and the way the horizontal banners and building interplay with the sharp angles of the title and author borders. Sometimes great cover art is ruined by bad font choice or placement. This is not one of those times.

Lou Anders put up this cover over on Pyr-o-mania, where he also gave Ian McDonald's latest a brief overview:
In the sleepy Istanbul district of Eskiköy stands the former whirling dervish house of Adem Dede. Over the space of five days of an Istanbul heatwave, six lives weave a story of corporate wheeling and dealing, Islamic mysticism, political and economic intrigue, ancient Ottoman mysteries, a terrifying new terrorist threat, and a nanotechnology with the potential to transform every human on the planet.
If that alone isn't enough to sell you, I've previously read Brasyl and River of Gods which are McDonald's futuristic takes on Brasyl and India. The Dervish House appears to do the same for Turkey. If its as captivating as his two previous cultural excursions, it is not one to be missed.

The Dervish House hits shelves next July

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