Forging a Face for the Apocalypse: Inside the SPORE Cover Process

Choosing a cover for a horror novel isn't a design meeting; it's a knife fight in the dark. For my book, 'Everyone Dies At The End: Spore,' we've waded through a nightmare of visceral, surreal, and grotesque options, and the war is far from over. I'm opening the door to the armory to show you the contenders—from eco-horror monstrosities to abstract visions of the end. Now, I need your eyes. Step inside and help me choose the face of the apocalypse.

The Signal: Log 05-The Monarch

My own system flags the motion as "playful." A logical conclusion. But then, a contradiction. A paradox that makes the whole structure shudder. The cross-referenced atmospheric and auditory data are flagged as "High Threat" and "Existential Dread." The image loads. A little girl on a swing, her movements unnervingly perfect. Her face is blank. And on her head, there is a crown. Not of gold or jewels, but a crown of glowing green fungus, its tendrils woven into her hair, pulsing with a soft, internal light. She is not a child playing. She is a monarch surveying her silent, empty kingdom.