My heart breaks for Silver Phoenix

[jhameia]

Seriously, book publishing/distributing industry, WE HAVE GONE THROUGH THIS BEFORE. WHITEWASHED COVERS WILL MAKE PEOPLE ANGRY.

I read Silver Phoenix a little after it first came out. I bought the hardcover, although I don't actually like getting hardcovers, because I believe in supporting Asian writers where I see them, and because I think scifi/fantasy is so goddamn whitewashed already, I needed a fucking break from European settings after doing all that steampunk reading (NO, JAY LAKE'S MAINSPRING DOES NOT COUNT). I waited for reviews and when many of them were positive, I got it. I wasn't too impressed with it, but that's my ish, because I just didn't like the fact that the love interest was half-white, and the cover looked kind of Orientalized. However! It was still a Chinese girl! Who looks FIERCE! On the cover of a book released in the States! OMG! Must buy! I was starving - starving - after the whole debacles with Justine Labalestier's Liar and Jaclyn Dolamore's Magic Under Glass.

However, this new cover has our very Chinese heroine replaced by... Kristin Kreuk?!?! Who is arguably Asian but can also pass as white? And the costuming isn't even Chinese?! 

And the new book's cover isn't even AMBIGUOUSLY ASIAN - brown hair! Pink-tinted skin! I bet they're not showing the eyes of the model because then she would be either unmistakably Asian or unmistakably white, so, okay, they can have an argument there. And of course, since we must APPEAL TO AS WIDE A MARKET AS POSSIBLE (because, you know, the market cannot handle not being able to imagine their white selves in the position of an Asian character since sf/f is all about wish fulfillment or something), no more over the top Orientalized images for Fury of the Phoenix! Instead we get a cover that.... has no phoenix, no Asian, no fury. And what the fuck is she wearing? And what the hell is that in her hands? I would expect that from a YA urban fantasy with a white heroine playing with generic exotic artifacts. What, exactly, can I code as Asian in this cover? 

What the hell, book distributors? Silver Phoenix as it was wasn't good enough for you? Too exotic and alienating for your book buyers? Too Asian? I ordered Silver Phoenix from an indie bookstore, but that's because I believe in supporting local businesses, but damn! The lack of faith from B&N is severely disappointing! How can anyone begin to argue that Asian fantasy doesn't sell when Asian fantasy isn't even given a chance?! 

You guys. I don't even. This shit is alienating to this Asian sf/f fan. 

RACEFAIL. STILL HAPPENING.

ETA Do you want to see an example of cover changes done RIGHT? Here, have the Indonesian cover of Adrienne Kress' Alex and the Ironic Gentleman. IF BROWN PEOPLE CAN DO WHITE CHARACTERS JUSTICE, WHY CAN'T WHITE PEOPLE DO THE SAME?

Comments

[eiko82.livejournal.com]

Ugh, that's just disgusting. Why is it so hard for publishers to choose covers that actually REPRESENT the story and its characters properly?!?

Also, IMO the original cover looks a LOT BETTER! If I saw that in the store, I'd stop and check it out. The new whitewashed covers look incredibly boring.

[jolantru.livejournal.com]

Trust me. I am still pissed. *grr*

[lilacfield.livejournal.com]

Cindy's own comments (http://cindypon.com/2010/fury-of-the-phoenix-cover-revealed/) makes me sad because it shows 1) her disappointment, even if between the lines 2) the price one has to pay when going mainstream.
The whitewashed covers really, seriously don't stand out. That alone should've made the publishers reconsider.

[angelsscream.livejournal.com]

wth? why?