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Week 7 Recap: She's A Winner!

She's a Lamb! claims the spotlight

She's a Lamb! pulled away in Week 7 after a closely matched opening stretch. By the end of Day 2, it had taken a strong lead, backed by an enthusiastic and devoted fanbase. The remaining covers shared the rest of the votes in an even spread, suggesting that, beyond the Lamb! loyalists, this one was a tough choice.

Week 7 Winner: She's a Lamb!

Week 7 Winner: She's a Lamb! by Meredith Hambrock

Applause to Meredith Hambrock and her stellar support team at ECW Press!

Week 8: Found Photo

This week we're shutting down Photoshop and opening a box of old family photos. Through grain and blur and Kodachrome allure, these four covers come as they are.

  • Baby Bruise by Danielle Chelosky (Filthy Loot, April 28, 2025): A feral debut soaked in teenage panic and poetry. Hickeys, house parties, age gaps, and Elliott Smith make for a bruised and blistered coming-of-age.
  • Fisher King by Thomas Meyer (Verge Books, February 15, 2025): A lyrical grail quest through time, memory, and form. Thomas Meyer blends prose and verse in a spiritual excavation of the self, offering a candid, luminous portrait of the poet as seeker and scribe.
  • Freelance by Kevin M. Kearney (Rejection Letters, May 31, 2025): Gig work goes off the rails. When a ride-share driver’s app starts talking back—and rewarding revenge—reality gets warped in this darkly funny novel about labor, loneliness, and the siren song of optimization.
  • Throwing Hunger by Jack Martin (Wolverine Farm, June 13, 2024): Four decades of poetry distilled into one restless, radiant debut. Surreal, searching, and often downright funny, these poems explore intimacy and impermanence with sharp honesty and a shimmer of the sublime.
Week 8 Lineup

Week 8 Lineup

Voting is open now through Sunday at 11pm ET. Friends don't let friends not vote or not use double negatives.

Tap Here to Vote

Thanks for voting. This past week had the largest turnout to date, suggesting that covers have some addictive qualities still to be recognized by the surgeon general. In my opinion, it's the discovery that drives the dopamine. You’re all beautiful Magellans in my book, except you'll make it all the way around the world. I just know it.

Bracket Update

Something strange is taking shape in the shadows of the bracket...

The winner of this season will be forever enshrined upon the Shelf of Immortality. But in the material realm? A trophy is coming. Possibly large. Dare I say ridiculous? Certainly impractical.

I’m working on a real-world artifact that will be awarded to the ultimate champion. Let’s just say the final round may involve bubble wrap and freight insurance.

Onward, to Week 8, where every cover is a memory and every vote a tiny declaration of taste.

Will Pass
Book Jacket Bracket Guy