(Uncredited cover for the 1963 edition of Doomsday, 1999 (variant title: Midge), Paul MacTyre)
Behold Part II of my popular series on the doomed city in science fiction cover art (see Part I). A doomsday that never happened, a tank and a skeletal reminder of a past battle — a ruined city, colliding stars, colliding planets…
Behold the august ruins of our people, our cities, our achievements. If there’s anyone still left.
As always, are the books/authors worth reading? Geston’s handful of novels have been on my radar for a while — the one below, Out of the Mouth of the Dragon (1969) is part II of a series.
The cover of Paul MacTyre’s Doomsday, 1999 (1963) adeptly embodies the panic of the destruction of the world’s cities. Equally impressive is John Schoenherr’s cover for Out of the Mouth of the Dragon which evokes the intense desolation of a vista replete with the scattered ruins of society.
Kelly Freas’ cover is, well, horrible (below). That is to be expected.
Enjoy!
(John Schoenherr’s cover for the 1969 edition of Out of the Mouth of the Dragon (1969), Mark S. Geston)
(Ralph Brillhart’s cover for the 1964 edition of The Unending Night (1964), George H. Smith)
(Ron Walotsky’s cover for the 1977 edition of The End of the Dream (1972), Philip Wylie)
(Frank R. Paul’s cover for the January 1929 issue of Amazing Stories)
(Kelly Freas’ cover for 1976 edition of Dance of the Apocalypse (1976), Gordon Eklund)
For similar posts, consult the Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art INDEX.
Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations 
Reblogged this on artfulhelix.
I read the novels by Geston in German translator back when I was a teenager and loved them for their eerie, otherworldy atmosphere – I can’t think of another work that compares to their intense atmosphere of bleakness and desolation. Of course that was a while back, and my opinion on them might be quite different today. Hmmm, time for a re-read, I suppose…
I’ll definitely have to procure the first in the series — The Lords of the Starship. Thanks for the recommendation! I love intense atmospheres of bleakness and desolation…. well, in science fiction 😉
The Freas cover wouldn’t be nearly so bad if it wasn’t for the terrifying giant disembodied head.
Unfortunately, on each and every cover for the entire series of covers he painted for Laser Books (20+) there’s an disembodied head….
Oh wow. One is terrifying enough!
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