Author Zoe Heller comes back with a tragicomic tale of a family in turmoil after the patriarch falls after suffering a stroke. Might be a good story, but more importantly, what’s going on with the cover?

Well, you can’t really go wrong with arranging religious and idealogical imagery in some kind of organized chaos. Well done, nameless HarperCollins graphic designer.

While combing the webs for a good book cover design for this weeks entry of BBCDW, I came to realize something: Most book cover designs fucking suck. Well, fiction at least. There’s more bad out there than good is all I’m saying. So, not really trying to spread any negative vibes around the earth, but it’s just easier to find bad book covers than it is to find good ones. If a real gem comes down the pike, I’ll shine a light on it.

So. Chabon. What the fuck. You used to be able to count on this guy for some cool looking shit. WTF happened? That subtitle font looks like those little plastic refrigerator magnet letters you had as a kid. Only a designer who’s truly given up could not see that. Anyone know the name of that font? Bob? I propose we address the Lords of Typography and have it stricken from the National Font Conservatory.

On an unrelated note, DON’T FORGET.

Indiebound.org just updated their book store finder. Pretty awesome resource for yours truly. Now I know where my people are. Thanks Galleycat.

Ever wonder if people survive natural disasters and human atrocities by some simple twist of fate or if they make their own luck? So does Ben Sherwood and he wrote all about it in his Tipping Point-esque new book The Survivors Club.

Futura font will forever be synonymous with Wes Anderson films for me, not necessarily a bad thing. And nothing pops like a nice red background. Well done, nameless Grand Central Publishing art director.

I’m gonna be in Chi this weekend promoting issue #4 at AWP. Come stop by booth 791 and visit me if you’re one of the 23 people living in Chicago who read this blog (Google Analytics knows all). In between not selling anything I’m going to be celebrating Sheebs’s b-day and going to see Joe Meno, ZZ Packer and Dorothy Allison read tomorrow night. Should be a wicked nerdy/fun time. See you there!

We’re having a party at the end of the month to celebrate the release of issue #4. Everything you need to know is listed above. We’re gonna try to turn this into a monthly event if people like it. Do I even need to ask you to come out? I think we both know the answer to that question.

This is me trying to start a new segment on the blog.

Seems like T.C. Boyle’s latest is getting more attention over a particular review than the actual work itself. His most recent effort chronicles a semi-fictionalized life of Frank Lloyd Wright. The jacket design seems to subtly take into account Wright’s rigorous and unflinching architectural style while still incorporating some stellar sepia babes. Well done, nameless Viking Penguin designer.

We were lucky enough to have Chicago small press stalwart Anne Elizabeth Moore contribute a little something to issue #4. Anne edited the now-defunct Punk Planet as well as Best American Comics series. So the lady has chops. Oh, and if you’re the pro-integrity, anti-advertising type and you haven’t read Unmarketable yet then you’re clearly not taking adbusting culture to its logical conclusion.

Looks like I’ll finally get around to reading some Jane Austin. Thanks, Chronicle, for making boring things not so boring anymore.