Well, I’ve been looking at the page proofs for Nights of Villjamur, which displays the layout of the book. How it will actually look in the real thing. And I’m getting a fetish for the font they’ve used—yes I am that much of a geek. I don’t know what it is yet, but I’ll find out. It’s pretty. And this raises a point: I don’t know about anyone else, but can a font change your perception of the actual book? I’m convinced it helps alter the mood slightly, and perhaps for some even the overall impression.
And there’s an excerpt of the first chapter over at Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist. It went up a week or so ago.
Finally: how lovely, a great review at Speculative Horizons.
Will read both extract and review soon – it’ll be good to read a bigger slice, should whet my appetite for the book itself!
Fonts are odd things in most novels: unless it’s particularly striking you rarely notice it. Perhaps it subconsciously changes your mood or perception of what you’re reading more than something more tangible…?
Having said that, I have a penchant for writing in Garamond – because after scrolling through my entire font list, it looks to me for some reason like One You’d Most Likely Find In A Novel.
There’s quite a funny section toward the back of Jeff Vandermeer’s ‘City of Saints & Madmen’ detailing each font used and why, talking about them as if it’s a wine tasting or something:
“…Garamond and its constituents, used for “King Squid,” contain a hint of orange peel and white pepper…”
Hope they/you haven’t picked Comic Sans by the way Mark!
My wife cares a great deal about font usage, whereas I only notice if it somehow impedes my ability to read a book.
I’m a Garamond man myself when it comes to writing. And this page, I think.
It’s an interesting one. I’ve yet to find out what it is, but it just has a touch of something special about it. … And not it’s not Comic Sans, damn you!
Palatino is my font of choice. Garamond feels a tad too… um… precious(?) for my liking. Or something. Definitely novelistic/poetic but kinda *too* much so. Palatino feels more contemporary for some reason.
Hey, Hal: Are you accusing me, sir, of artistic posturing? Well, you’d probably be right.
Good call on Palatino. I think one or two of M John Harrison’s books are printed in that font, so I’ve a soft spot for it.
Hmm, I’m writing my current novel in Garamond. I don’t know what that means.
However, my Tor (USA) editions of the Crossroads books use the font Minion. How cool is that?
I just Googled Minion to get the wiki article. That’s a handsome typeface.