Comments on: Too scary to read

By: clowns1

clowns1 — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 03:11:59 +0000

I agree that this cover as kinda creepy.

By: Heather S. Ingemar

Heather S. Ingemar — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:27:10 +0000

That is a creepy book cover. And the story itself even sounds kinda creepy!

By: Hannah

Hannah — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:55:52 +0000

Hmm…don’t judge a book by it’s cover.

By: Kiera

Kiera — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 02:42:01 +0000

Diana Peterfreund- That is the book! It still scares me after all this time. *shudder*

By: Diana Peterfreund

Diana Peterfreund — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:55:37 +0000

Kiera, I bet that was the Amulet of Samarkand, in the Bartimaeus Trilogy. I found the cover freaky myself.

I can also never look at the cover of my second novel without shuddering. It’s a headless girl in a tight crop top sticking her boobs at the camera. I had them photoshop out her visible bra straps and photoshop in a little bit more shirt, but STILL.

By: Lauren McLaughlin

Lauren McLaughlin — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:27:53 +0000

That cover is EVIL!

By: Joey-la

Joey-la — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 06:44:01 +0000

Wow, yeah, that cover is really scary!
I can just imagine myself picking it up in the middle of the night becuase I couldn’t sleep, then being too scared to sleep!
Well, not really the cover, but the picture in a kids picture book my Mum used to read to me. It was an Aborigional story about this big hairy guy with red eyes who used to go and hunt children and eat them!
WHAT KIND OF CHILDRENS BOOK IS THAT!!!

By: Jodotha

Jodotha — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 05:24:31 +0000

OMG THAT IS A SCARY COVER. Now I shall have nightmares. Thanks a lot

By: Mary Elizabeth S.

Mary Elizabeth S. — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 01:28:24 +0000

Scary covers and/or titles have the opposite effect on me; they make me want to read the book *more*. It’s preventative medicine. See, if I don’t read the book, the image will take on a life of its own and end up being scarier, whereas if I do read the book then the image is forever tied to the story, and thus tamed. Unless the story is scarier than the image, in which case, well, there’s no getting around that one.

However, I should point out that movies are different. Scary imagery in movie advertising will cause me to avoid said movie at all costs. A book I can work through and be okay, a movie will give me nightmares. (To me, scary in relation to a movie means squicky—anything to do with people getting mutilated or stuff with gore just for the sake of the shock factor is off my list. Running-from-something scary, tense scary, end-of-the world scary, monster/invasion scary, those are all fine.)

~Mary

By: PixelFish

PixelFish — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 01:21:04 +0000

The only cover that did this to me was a Nation Geographic on sharks. When I was little, I used to hold the pages together of any section containing pictures of sharks.

By: Camille

Camille — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:00:05 +0000

I am easily terrified. Very. Especially by zombies. Oddly, I am not terrified by the descriptions of gleeful clowns ushering in hellfire and apocalypse. There’s something wrong with me.

(FoHaT is terrifying in a GOOD way, though! Don’t forget, I said it was terrifying AND beautiful. But, you know, beauty festooned with… moaning dangerous infectious dead people.)

By: J

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:58:36 +0000

lol, justine. i don’t remember a time that has happened to me… — wait! I got it! with scott-la’s PEEPS cover – the one with the green vamp, totally scary making. but, i love all scott la’s books, so that didn’t hold me back. although the actual text had me freaked. as soon as i read the line “so pretty i had to eat him” i freaked out, slammed the book shut, and refused to read more. what do you know, ten minutes later, i picked it up and started reading it again. so worth it.

By: Amber

Amber — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:49:33 +0000

I can’t think of a scary book cover that’s put me off the book…oh wait a minute. There was _Weasel_ by Maureen Johnson. Terrifying.

I also found Forest of Hands and teeth more tense – relentlessly tense, heightened senses all through – than behind-the-sofa scary. (Although I definitely heard some zombies at the door the late night I read it). And the cover is stunning.

If you take these people’s advice and wrap the scary clown in brown paper, you know the clown _will be there under the brown paper_. Waiting. Underneath.

By: Kiera

Kiera — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:59:13 +0000

There was one book I bought at a book fair a few years back. I forget the title now but it was a children’s or ya book in a series that had a golem looking figure on it holding something. An amulet maybe? It freaked me out so much I pasted a note card over the picture. I never got past the third chapter because I knew what was under the card.

By: Mary

Mary — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:37:03 +0000

Hmm… I think that if I really wanted to read it I would just get a paper bag or something and cover it. I did that once to read a copy of Eragon that had a movie cover (which I absolutely refused to look at). It worked well for me.

By: Justine

Justine — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:29:03 +0000

Camille: Really? I did not find it terrifying. Have you read many zombie books before? Or horror? Just wondering. I thought it was tense and a fab book but terrifying? No, not so much.

By: Camille

Camille — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:25:09 +0000

What the — The Forest of Hands and Teeth is terrifying!

I mean, it was extremely good and at the last page I wanted to go directly back to the first and start over…but I was awake for two nights!

It’s terrifying… in a very beautiful way?

By: Leahr

Leahr — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:31:14 +0000

its creepy, yes, if you don’t like clowns, but according to the summary, the book is creepy too. I’d rather know in advance what I’m getting into.

I think the worst covers are the ones that completely misrepresent what type of book it will be. If Cherie Priest’s book has spooky swirling ravens all over, I can decide if I’m in the mood to read a creepy book. I can’t think of a good example of a badly matched cover at the moment but I’ve seen many.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 17:39:00 +0000

Honestly, packaging does not affect me that much. I am IMMUNE to advertising. (Mostly.) Although now that I’ve looked at that cover, I may have to eat my words. It literally sent a shiver through me.

By: rae

rae — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 17:04:50 +0000

haha. I was thinking, “That’s silly. Not wanting to read a book because of a scary cover.” Then I clicked the link and my stomach twisted with physical fear. Eep!

By: Justine

Justine — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:16:40 +0000

Brooke: It sounds great, doesn’t it? Fortunately for me I can remind myself that it’s not set in the 1930s therefore I am not allowed to read it till I’m done with my 1930s novel. Maybe by then it will have a much less scary paperback edition.

By: Brooke Taylor

Brooke Taylor — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:13:11 +0000

OMG–those are some creepy covers and clowns freak me way out. The nice looking ones are the worst!

I read at night and often have books on my bedside table–I could not have those covers next to me whilst in my vulnerable nocturnal state. Not even with a brown cover–I’d know what was underneath! No way!

But gosh, it does sound like an interesting read. I can why you are conflicted. *shakes angry fist at Justine* Now, I’m conflicted too.

By: Sara

Sara — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:11:11 +0000

It never even occurred to me that covers could be scary. Still images to me are always creepy and never scary (the distinction is like The Brother’s Quay animation vs. Hostel). Since I love creepy things, that cover made me want to read the book.

By: Maud

Maud — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:08:48 +0000

Justine: Hee! See if the publisher will sell you a galley. Mine was plain white & black — no clowns, no pictures at all.

By: Mike F

Mike F — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:05:52 +0000

Wow, those are both creepy covers. I don’t like clowns either, I think it has something to do with reading “It”.

Can you have someone pick it up for you, wrap the cover in brown paper, and never take it off?