GalleyCat examines the United States and United Kingdom versions of Charles Stross's Halting State and notices that in the U.S., the book cover clearly labels the novel as SF, while in the U.K. the book looks like a hip mainstream thriller. In addition, both editions of Ken MacLeod's The Execution Channel avoided an overly SF-looking cover. As GalleyCat observes, this is an obvious attempt to market these books beyond the core SF audience while at the same time not diluting the books' SF appeal. Sounds like a good strategy to me, although I wonder if part of the problem is that far too many SF books go for the generic SF-looking cover we all see in every SF section of the bookstore. Perhaps if more SF books showcased the variety of cover designs seen among generic literary and thriller books, other audiences would be willing to give these books a read.
