Judging Books By Their Covers: Vampires of El Norte

One of my favorite ways to pass time on a weekend afternoon was to just browse the shelves at B. Dalton, Barnes & Noble, or Books A Million. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was becoming a cover-art fan. The images, the fonts, the aesthetics of it all. Cover design matters. So let’s have some fun judging some books by their covers.

Here’s how we’ll do it. I’ll take turns looking at random book covers that fall under either the Fang or Bullet categories. I’ll share my thoughts about them, and maybe I’ll hear from you in the comments. Let’s start with a Fang!

Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas

Published: 2023, Berkley

Cover Artist: Magdalena Russocka

Just looking- Technicolor. I’m in a late 1950s/early 1960s movie. That’s good, but the font doesn’t work for me.  

What it makes me think – I love old movies, and this cover touches that nostalgia button. It reminds me of some places where I’ve been lost in West Texas back in the 1990s. As I already mentioned, I don’t like the font, but part of the title being in Spanish makes up for it. I’m a fluent Spanish speaker so I like that. The woman’s attire has a nineteenth century vibe, and I’m all for that. Is she the vampire or is she the prey?

Would I buy it? Yes. Vampires in Mexico; that’s intriguing. Mexico will be the setting for one of the future Long Is the Night novels.