"The End": Cover on New York Times Book Review

[A. the Returned]

Wow, this was certainly unexpected. I'm still not willing to accept 'The End' as the title. The cover art certainly looks interesting. It's almost certainly Olaf, I very much doubt that he will die so early on in the book, if at all, though. Hmm.

[lauren]

Why am I the last one to know about this!?
Anyways, that's a brilliant cover, best one yet in my opinion. I'm still not accepting of the title "The End", those look like tomatoes in the border and I think the shoe is a female's.

[cwm3]

Nice cover...we'll probably get something similar for the UK since from TSS onwards we've had something more or less the same.

It probably is from the start of the book, when the boat crashes into the island and washes up. I don't think Olaf's dead, they might have put it like that so it looks cool, or something. Besides, if it is indeed from the start of the book, they wouldn't kill Olaf off at the start. I dunno what the deal is with the rope, though...we'll find out in due course.

As for the concierge disguises, I imagine they'll take them off at some point...and, umm, put something else on, of course. I can't see Snicket reusing the image for the 'ex libris'.

EDIT: And I don't think the title will be 'The End' either.

[champ103]

TSS cover was very different between US and UK.

About the Quagmires in the clouds-what I mean is, I see their faces, not the balloon. Look:



The face on the left appears to have short hair-look at Duncan's from TAA, very similar. The face on the right has similar hair, but longer, like Isadora. I don't know whether it means anything, or if it's even supposed to be there, but I see their faces.

[Wizz]

If you loom closely the leaked book cover looks very simmilar to the one on amazon, as in the outline and colours. The pattern is the same alongisde the picture although its a differnt colour and it has the same to pictures in the top corners. Also where the picture is it says that its too terrible to view, could this mean something bad is happening in that picture?

[eggman]

No, it says that on all the covers when the border is previewed.

[Deleted]

eggman said:

No, it says that on all the covers when the border is previewed.

Not really. It does say something along those lines, but it has been different for every book

[Gigi]

It looks like it's official. I just got Author Tracker e-mail:

May 2006

Dear Reader,

We wish we weren’t obligated to share the cover of Book the Thirteenth with you the moment it arrived, under cover of night, from illustrator Brett Helquist. However, you did sign up to receive exclusive updates concerning Lemony Snicket. As a result, we have no choice.



As alarming as this cover is, the good news is that The End won’t arrive until Friday the 13th, October 2006. The bad news is that “Thirteen Shocking Secrets You’ll Wish You Never Knew About Lemony Snicket,” which volunteers everywhere are already using to prepare themselves for The End, is available for download right now.


Consider the ominous introduction to this alarming free booklet: “There are certain individuals who think they know what Lemony Snicket’s books are about. They are under the impression they understand who he is. They believe they know what to expect....In fact, the truth is far worse than such people ever imagined.”

We’d understand completely if you never wanted to open another e-mail from us again.

With all due respect,

Harper-Collins Publishers


The picture is a little clearer, I just wish it were bigger too.

[Dante]

Ah, thanks, Gigi! I was sure that something like this would come along. I'll go add that to the online information thread, since I haven't received it yet.

[s]

Hm, I don't see the supposed Quagmires anymore. Perhaps just blurriness in the newspaper?

The picture is unfortunately small, but at least it's official.

[Antenora]

This is excellent! (Although I haven't recieved the AuthorTracker either; I always seem to get them late). The sharper cover confirms that there's a rope in the water next to Olaf's feet. And assuming that's the real spine color, it does look different from TSS, more of a sandy color.

[twistedbrain]

That's a great picture. It's so much clearer. I still stand that The End shall not be the final title, though.

[joker]

Can't someone enlarge it?
Like with photoshop or something?
Rawr, this is so cool! The title is The End. We have the cover.
This is actually very fishy and disturbing. THE END.
So soon? Why are they spoiling two good secrets without much suspense built up or so early?
Wierd. Very wierd. Cool, in an uncool way.

[Deleted]

thankyou, wish it was bigger, oh well

[Dante]

joker said:

So soon? Why are they spoiling two good secrets without much suspense built up or so early?

It's possible, but I think unlikely, that the cover wasn't meant to be out so soon, but when it was published in the NYTimes, presumably accidentally, they realised they'd have to bring it out proper. Alternatively, and this is more likely and what I'm hoping for, they've got some big and fun stuff planned for the next five months.

Edit: As for The End, I'm personally going to continue my work under the assumption that it will be entitled that, as the fact is that it's the title that appears on the cover as well as on all other material without any particular hint that they'll change it. If they were going to change it, I'd expect there to be a more obvious placeholder in the title bar on the cover. However, it could very well still be changed - it remains suspicious that the title breaks the pattern and that it's been floating around so soon, and what else could they have used as a teaser? So basically, I'm ambivalent as to whether it'll be the title or not, but I'll assume for the purposes of most thread titles and such that it is. Arguably, even a placeholder title is official until it's changed, also...