he’d eat you like a turkey

The latest edition of Bookslut includes the worst book covers of the year, featuring post-apocalyptic dour lit, arty World War II fetishism, and scary head.

It had to be saved for last, because scary head is, indeed, the most terrifying manifestation of bad cover art. It is interesting how the lead contenders in scary head cover art tend to be self-help books of some type. Possibly this has to do with the carny/sideshow-barker/Mark Twain character-type salesman- ship of the self-help industry -- a lot of these books are sold via appearances on television talk shows, so it’s all about selling the author (or, if space is limited, just the author’s scary head) as a product.