Tale behind the joke Weasel cover + PSA

Thanks to everyone for playing along with mine and Scott’s joke yesterday. It was very kind of you.

Here’s how it happened:

Ever since I showed Maureen Johnson the US cover art for Liar she has taken to pushing her hair across her month and making her eyes go wide.

So I took a photo. A very bad photo. Then I thought it would be fun to make it look like the Liar cover and post it here claiming that my publisher had decided to change the cover. Sadly, I does not have photoshop on my computer so I gave it to Scott to do.

He ignored my instructions and invented the new Maureen Johnson book Weasel. Naughty Scott!

I laughed my arse off. Then I sent it to Maureen for permission to post. She said, “plz!” Then I posted, hoping you’d all enjoy the joke as much as we did.

My apologies to anyone who thought it was for real. Honestly we did not intend to trick anyone. Was solely for the giggles.

Brooke Taylor supplied some more tee hees:

Oh noes! Another lying Maureen Johnson cover! She must be stopped!

And in late breaking news I have found the perfect way to stop her. Maureen Johnson has just publicly declared that if her next book: the paperback edition of Suite Scarlett (which comes out in cheap cheap paperback on 1 May 2009) hits the bestseller list she will GO TO TRAPEZE SCHOOL.

I encourage every single one of my readers to buy Suite Scarlett on 1 May. Even if you were thinking of buying one of my books. Don’t! Buy hers instead. I want her to suffer. I need her to suffer.

Send Maureen to TRAPEZE SCHOOL!

This has been a Public Service Announcement.

Posted by Justine at 0:02, 15 April 2009 under Frippery, Liar | 13 Comments »

Comments

cristina Says:

i thought it was pretty awesome and really funny! and soo much possibilites… i just had to make one…. actually, I think I had too much fun doing it!! http://tinyurl.com/d8k38y

April 15th, 2009 at 12:47 AM
Mary Elizabeth S. Says:

I’m telling you, she was kidnapped! And now Justine has been, too! (Thanks for the lead, cristina!) All the great YA authors are vanishing into the seamy underground of rip-off book covers; we have to do something quick or we may never see them again! *panic*

~Mary

April 15th, 2009 at 1:07 AM
Rebecca Says:

I am having major LOLs at Brooke’s and Cristina’s covers. Teehehehe!

April 15th, 2009 at 1:26 AM
Lenore Says:

LOL! Love the cover for “Weasel” especially.

April 15th, 2009 at 3:18 AM
Ruth Gormley Says:

Trapeze school is SUCH fun! Really. Everyone should do it. Even complete uncoordinated nincompoops like me. Likes!!!

April 15th, 2009 at 4:06 AM
Elodie Says:

Am I the only one who thinks going to trapeze school would actually be pretty great? XD It sounds totally fun and like something to make people jealous of!

Also, I was so very entertained by the people who actually thought the book cover was for real; some people really are pretty gullible! (or just better at the serious humor thing than me XD)

April 15th, 2009 at 5:51 AM
7. Justine Says:

Cristina: That’s awesome. Though deeply disturbing.

Ruth & Elodie: Trapeze school being scary is specific to Maureen who is scared of pretty much everything. Definitely of heights.

April 15th, 2009 at 9:14 AM
Delia Says:

Thought I recognized Maureen’s face behind all that hair.

Interesting about Trapeze school. I’m currently obsessed with trapezes, but terrified of heights. Is this another jape, or is there really one? And might she really go? Because two scaredy-cats might support each other, you know? And how better to write about trapezing if you’ve actaully been on one?

April 15th, 2009 at 10:00 AM
Amber Says:

I wondered when I kept coming back to read comments after mine! I would still recognize your cover no matter how close another cover might be! If it was that similar, though, it would be your loss, not mine! lol Nice joke, though. I did not know that. But I don’t follow Maureen Johnson’s work, though, so I would’nt know! But I might read something of hers since several authors who have blogs I follow mention her in positive ways.

April 15th, 2009 at 1:06 PM
Amber Says:

*wouldn’t.
Of course I would see the typo after submitting it!

April 15th, 2009 at 1:06 PM
Maureen Johnson Says:

Not heights. Heights are fine. Throwing myself off heights with sticks.

April 15th, 2009 at 5:40 PM
12. Justine Says:

Maureen: Then what were you so scared of when you went tobogganing?

April 15th, 2009 at 5:44 PM
Maureen Johnson Says:

I was fine ON TOP of the mountain. Going down it at high speeds in an INFLATABLE THING seemed unwise. Likewise, I have a great fondness for AIRPLANES, and STAYING INSIDE OF THEM. They are wonderful machines!

April 15th, 2009 at 5:53 PM

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Justine Larbalestier