The original publication art from Kensington was fine–this is from a Thorndike Large Print book version.. Look at this monstrosity! Look at his hands, his holster and gun! Look at his STUPID HAT. And look at the deformed head of the guy on the left! Of course I’ve complained to Gale/Thorndike, haven’t heard back. If you know anyone at that publisher please let them know about this blog post. And I got a letter from a librarian about it–I despise AI art anyway, and I totally agree with her.
Mr Shirley:
I work at a public library and we purchase many large print books from Thorndike Press from Gale. We recently purchased your 2022 Cleve Trewe Western trilogy from them. I was quite saddened to see that the cover of Axle Bust Creek was AI generated “art”. When I saw this, I searched to verify that it wasn’t written using AI. I began to research you, and from what I can tell, you do not appear to support the use of AI. I’m not sure how much control authors have over things like this, as I am just beginning to learn about the publishing industry and I am still very naive on the subject. I wasn’t sure if you were aware and I felt like you may want to know that your work was being sold with an AI cover. I apologize if this is not of concern to you, as I don’t wish to waste your time. But as a human, a consumer, and a reader, I believe the use of generative AI “art”, especially in the publishing industry, is an issue of the utmost importance. I have included a scan of the cover for you to see.
Thank you for your time and happy writing.
– Ashley Phillips