Dystopian

The Friday Face-Off: Groovy Baby

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Welcome to The Friday Face-Off, a weekly meme here at Books by Proxy. Join me every Friday as I pit cover against cover, and publisher against publisher, to find the best artwork in our literary universe

Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell

Welcome to the Friday Face-Off where this week we’re featuring covers that are retro.

George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four (1984) has had many, many covers; of which a great many (many) can be called ‘retro’ – choosing between them, therefore, was more than a little hard work! That is why this Friday we’re comparing the very first cover, published by Secker & Warburg in 1949, with the 2009 anniversary edition, published by Penguin UK – a genuinely retro cover vs. a cover which is retro in style! Scroll down to see which cover wins your vote!

Secker & Warburg | First British Edition, 1949 – Cover #1

Penguin UK | Anniversary Edition, 2009 – Cover #2

Cover Art by Jon Gray

| The Friday Face-Off: Winner |

The simplicity of the 1949 edition – the shades of green, the stylised handwriting of the title, the lack of imagery – actually really appeals to me. Simple and modern, this cover wouldn’t look out of place on my shelf today, even if it is lacking some of the artistry which is a frequent feature on more recent covers.

The 2009 edition however, is, to me, almost perfection. I love the blocky type, almost like a bloodied stamp – the white on red and the red on white. I love the illustrative pipes –  breaking and spearing the letters as the eye moves over the page. I love that it hearkens to the Soviet Russian posters of the 20th Century. I love the bloody scrawl on its reverse and the fact that the title can only be found on the spine. I love the boldness and the simplicity. Jon Gray’s 2009 edition is most definitely my winner.

Which cover wins your vote this week? Have a cover of your own? – Post the link below!

Amazon | The Book Depository | Goodreads

Next week’s theme is:

There are too many steps in this castle, and it seems to me they add a few every night, just to vex me

A cover featuring a staircase

Remember to check The Friday Face-Off Feature Page for upcoming themes

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Book Haul: April 11

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The Fire Sermon3

| The Fire Sermon by Francesca Haig |

Another day, another Goodreads Giveaway win! A lucky streak indeed. The Fire Sermon has an incredibly beautiful cover and, with its post-apocalyptic premise, sounds like just the type of book I’ll love! Yet another series on my TBR that I cannot wait to get around to!

| Synopsis |

The Hunger Games meets Cormac McCarthy’s The Road in this richly imagined first novel in a new postapocalyptic trilogy by award-winning poet Francesca Haig.

Four hundred years in the future, the Earth has turned primitive following a nuclear fire that laid waste to civilization and nature. Though the radiation fallout has ended, for some unknowable reason every person is born with a twin. Of each pair one is an Alpha – physically perfect in every way – and the other an Omega burdened with deformity, small or large.

With the Council ruling an apartheid-like society, Omegas are branded and ostracized while the Alphas have gathered the world’s sparse resources for themselves. Though proclaiming their superiority, for all their effort Alphas cannot escape one harsh fact: Whenever one twin dies, so does the other. Cass is a rare Omega, one burdened with psychic foresight. While her twin, Zach, gains power on the Alpha Council, she dares to dream the most dangerous dream of all: equality. For daring to envision a world in which Alphas and Omegas live side by side as equals, both the Council and the Resistance have her in their sights.

Amazon | The Book Depository | Goodreads

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Teaser Tuesdays: March 22

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Welcome to Teaser Tuesdays – a weekly feature hosted by Books and a Beat. Expect a new teaser every week!

| Teaser Tuesdays: March 21 |

Under the Empyrean Sky

Book One of The Heartland Trilogy

by Chuck Wendig

Science Fiction | Dystopian | 370 Pages | Published by Skyscape in 2013

“The pollen drift picks up and the winds start to howl, and all around are those allergic to the storm – blowing their noses into paisley handkerchiefs or rubbing their swollen red eyes. But they gather just the same because, above all else, they want to win.“

~ p. 97, Under the Empyrean Sky by Chuck Wendig

| Synopsis |

Corn is king in the Heartland, and Cael McAvoy has had enough of it. It’s the only crop the Empyrean government allows the people of the Heartland to grow. And the genetically modified strain is so aggressive that it takes everything the Heartlanders have just to control it. As captain of the Big Sky Scavengers, Cael and his crew sail their rickety ship over the corn day after day, scavenging for valuables, trying to earn much-needed ace notes for their families. But Cael’s tired of surviving life on the ground while the Empyrean elite drift by above in their extravagant sky flotillas. He’s sick of the mayor’s son besting Cael’s crew in the scavenging game. And he’s worried about losing Gwennie, his first mate and the love of his life, forever when their government-chosen spouses are revealed. But most of all, Cael is angry, angry that their lot in life will never get better and that his father doesn’t seem upset about any of it. Cael’s ready to make his own luck . . . even if it means bringing down the wrath of the Empyrean elite and changing life in the Heartland forever.

Amazon | The Book Depository | Goodreads

| Join In |

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Please leave a comment with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your ‘teasers’ in a comment here!

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