1. The Trial of Terra (1962), Jack Williamson (MY REVIEW)
I’ve only read one of Jack Williamson’s novels co-authored with Frederik Pohl The Reefs of Space (1964) so I thought I’d pick up a solo effort. I don’t have high hopes but the general plot from the back cover sounds a lot like Star Trek’s Prime directive: “The Men of Earth were on the verge of breaking into space. The first of their manned moon rockets was on its way to Luna. Now, after ten thousand years, the celestial Continue reading
I’ve never been a fan of A. E. van Vogt. A while back, having just finished his “masterpiece” The World of Null-A (1948), I headed to the used book store and saw Jerome Podwil’s cover for Vogt’s sequel, The Players of Null-A (1966) and had to pick it up. Simply put, it is a spectacular piece of art. Discovering Podwil’s Calder-esque machine extending its limbs across the plain made me pay more attention to the covers as art and the artists who made them. Hence this series of posts! (Adventures in Science Fiction Art Index)
(Are any of the books worth reading? What’s your favorite of his work (perhaps one I haven’t listed)?)
(Cover for the 1966 edition of The Players of Null-A (1966), A. E. van Vogt)
(Alex Schomburg’s cover for the 1955 edition of Secret of the Martian Moons (1955), Donald A. Wollheim)
Spontaneously conjure with but a meer glance — Excitement! Wonder! Adventure!
The best of the covers of old 50s/60s juveniles (sci-fi for younger readers) always stirs the recumbent inklings of adolescent wonder… Intrepid boy/men (sadly, rarely women) trek across the “expanses” of the space — rarely expansive, more like puddle jumping from planet to planet with the phrase, “and the hyperdrive shook the ship but John wasn’t afraid because he had once ridden a farm cart with one of them spooked horses back home in Smalltown, US of A” — discovering planets, setting up colonies, angering some weird looking Continue reading
3.25/5 (Average)
The Light That Never Was (1972) is an unusual take on space opera — there are no epic battles, voyages on spaceships, weird technology, or heroic figures. Instead, the swirling eddies of interstellar change descend on a tourist planet replete with legions of rather atrocious, silly, and easily maleable “artists.” The island of Zrilund on the plant of Donev is afflicted by a general artistic malaise — artists paint for the swarms of tourists which descend on the fountains and beaches of the island snatching Continue reading
Robert Foster produced only a handful of science fiction covers. The most inventive graced a span of Frederik Pohl novels and short story collections released by Ballantine Books in the late 60s. Sadly, I can find no information about the artist himself online (if you do please let me know). Here’s a selection of the most interesting, haunting, and spectacular…
Part II (here)
Mechanical man — a bedraggled simulacra. Nude woman — embodiment of flesh. A lunar landscape greets them…
(ranks among my favorite covers of all time)
(Cover for the 1969 edition of Turn Left at Thursday (1961), Frederik Pohl) Continue reading
3.75/5 (Good)
I was pleasantly surprised by Gordon R. Dickson’s intelligent and occasionally thought-provoking The Alien Way (1965). Considering he’s famous for his military sf Dorsai! saga, the lack of epic space battles — i.e. inter-species conflict in the traditional manner — came as a shock. There are a few instances of violence but they’re few and far between.
The ultimate message is a cautionary one — only when the pattern of human nature (its instincts, reactions, ets) is understood can non-violent contact be made with an alien species. We react to protect our species just as animals react to protect their young. Of course the aliens have to come to this realization Continue reading
Gifts! Gifts! A varied haul — Spinrad, Herbert, Dickson, Niven, Norton…
1. The Solarians (1966), Norman Spinrad
Before Norman Spinrad’s metafictional if Hitler wrote a pulp extravaganza The Iron Dream (1972) and Bug Jack Barron (1969) there was The Solarians… Continue reading
Success (i.e. infrequent purchases)! Only three new but unknown/fascinating/and potentially interesting) acquisitions to report….
1. The Alien Way (1965), Gordon R. Dickson (MY REVIEW HERE)
I’ve not read any of Gordon R. Dickson’s substantial corpus of novels. Yes, I need to pick up a copy of his classic work Dorsai! but, military sci-fi has never Continue reading
3.25/5 (Good)
A Life for the Stars is the second novel according to internal chronology in James Blish’s famous Cities in Flight series. Unlike the much more serious first installment, They Shall Have Stars (1956), A Life for the Stars is generally regarded as a juvenile work (i.e. science fiction for a younger audience containing a positive moral message, an intelligent but poor teen boy Continue reading
Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations 