The Inky Tentacle is named in honour of The Kraken itself and is awarded to the year's finest cover art, as selected by a panel of visual arts experts. The 2012 judges are Gary Northfield, Lauren O'Farrell and Ed Warren.
The winning artist or designer will receive a £500 prize, a hand-crafted Tentacle trophy and an appropriately inky bottle of The Kraken's finest dark rum.
2012 marks the second year of the Inky Tentacle. The debut prize was won by Peter Mendelsund, for his work on The Last Werewolf.
A Boy and a Bear in a Boat
Dave Shelton / Illustration by Dave Shelton
David Fickling Books
"A boy and a bear go to sea, equipped with a suitcase, a comic book and a ukulele. They are only travelling a short distance and it really shouldn't take long. But then their boat encounters 'unforeseeable anomalies'... Faced with turbulent stormy seas, a terrifying sea monster and the rank remains of The Very Last Sandwich, the odds soon become pitted against our unlikely heroes. Will the Harriet, their trusted vessel, withstand the violent lashings of the salty waves? And will anyone ever answer their message in a bottle?"
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The Teleportation Accident
Ned Beauman / Design by La Boca
Sceptre
"When you haven't had sex in a long time, it feels like the worst thing
that could ever happen to anyone. If you're living in Germany in the 1930s, it probably isn't. But that's no consolation to Egon Loeser, whose carnal misfortunes will push him from the experimental theatres of Berlin to the absinthe bars of Paris to the physics laboratories of Los Angeles, trying all the while to solve two mysteries: whether it was really a deal with Satan that claimed the life of his hero, the great Renaissance stage designer Adriano Lavicini; and why a handsome, clever, charming, modest guy like him can't, just once in a while, get himself laid."
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The Terrible Thing that Happened to Barnaby Brocket
John Boyne / Illustration by Oliver Jeffers
Doubleday
"There's nothing unusual about the Brockets. Boring, respectable and fiercely proud of it, Alistair and Eleanor Brocket turn up their noses at anyone strange or different. But from the moment Barnaby Brocket comes into the world, it's clear he's anything but normal. To the horror and shame of his parents, Barnaby appears to defy the laws of gravity - and floats."
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Costume Not Included
Matthew Hughes / Illustration by Tom Gauld
Angry Robot
"Chesney's efforts to 'Save the Day' and 'Win the Girl' make slow progress. This superhero lark is a bit more complicated than he thought. But even as Chesney is trying to learn the ropes, Boss Greeley has made a deal with the Devil. A deal that is making Greeley stronger by the minute. Soon he will be untouchable. Now Chesney, the one-time actuary-turned superhero must continue the fight."
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Flame Alphabet
Ben Marcus / Design by Peter Mendelsund
Granta
"The speech of children has mutated into a virus which is killing their parents. Sam and Claire's lives are threatened when their daughter, Esther, is infected with the disease. Each word she speaks is toxic to Sam and Claire. Radio transmissions from strange sources indicate that people across the country are growing increasingly alarmed. But all Sam needs to do is look around the neighborhood: in the park, parents wither beneath the powerful screams of their children."
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