More Christmas gifts + Winter break used bookstore finds….
Two more Richard Powers covers from the 50s…
A non-Dune Frank Herbert find with a wonderful Vincent Di Fate cover… I’ve been somewhat ambivalent with Herbert’s non-Dune corpus in the last few years. A 50s Poul Anderson adventure, a later Leigh Brackett novel, and another scathing satire from the delightful pen of C. M. Kornbluth…
1. The God Makers, Frank Herbert (1972) (MY REVIEW)
(Vincent Di Fate’s cover for the 1973 edition)
From the back cover: “The Company of gods. On a planet at the edge of a galaxy ling torn by devastating wars, a man is assigned to monitoring duties — to detect any sign of aggressiveness that might trigger another conflict. In fulfilling this task, lewis Orne, interplanetary troubleshooter, discovers in himself extrasensory powers of awesome potential. Because of his powers he is invited to join the company of “gods” and faces complex and perilous rites of passage in deep space.”
2. Brain Wave, Poul Anderson (1953 magazine publication) (MY REVIEW)
(Richard Powers’ cover for the 1954 edition)
From the back flap of a later edition (same illustration): “Imagine that tomorrow neuronic response is so accelerated than an I.Q. of 500 becomes commonplace, a moron has the thinking capacity of yesterday’s intellectual, and animals begin to pass the lower mental levels of previous humanity […]”
4. The Syndic, C. M. Kornbluth (1953)
(Richard Powers’ cover for the 1955 edition)
From the back cover: “Tomorrow? Here is a shocking but realistic picture of America in the twenty-first century — a wild, chaotic America, but a very possible America. An America where people pay protection instead of taxes — where polo is played in jeeps with 50-caliber machine guns. An America full of wonders of tomorrow driven by passions that are ageless.”
4. The Starmen of Llyrdis (variant title: The Starmen), Leigh Brackett (magazine 1951)
(Dean Ellis’ cover for the 1976 edition)
From the back cover: “Outcast in Space. Michael Trehearne had always been an outcast among his people on Earth. He knew he was different… but he did not know how or why. Then one day, on the wind-swept coast of Brittany, a bewitchingly beautiful girl appeared and told him he had the look of the Vardda — those elite star travelers who alone could withstand the rigors of intergalactic flight. Michael had to join them… had to find his place in the universe at last. But it would not be easy. For even when they allowed him to risk his life aboard their ship, to seal his fate upon their planet… even then, they viewed him as an outcast, a dangerous changeling who suddenly threatened them. He was a man who sooner or later would have to be destroyed!”