Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: An Assortment of Mysterious Spheres, Part II

January 20, 2013January 20, 2013 / Joachim Boaz / 24 Comments

(David Bergen’s cover for the 1978 edition of Sea-Horse in the Sky (1969), Edmund Cooper)

Here’s Part II of my cover art series on the delightfully nebulous theme of mysterious spheres (Part I). I’ve selected a variety of spheres: including spheres elevated in the air (balloon representations of the sun? planets? large scale planetary orbit models?), spherical eggs hatching men?, alien warships, alien (and human) transportation devices, strange atomic technology, obvious Death Star ripoffs, fields littered with the perplexing shapes….

… and even the simple unadorned sphere held aloft to indicate the pure delight of Continue reading →

Book Review: The Eyes of Heisenberg, Frank Herbert (1966)

January 19, 2013September 11, 2022 / Joachim Boaz / 16 Comments

(Paul Lehr’s cover for the 1970 edition)

4/5 (Good)

Frank Herbert, known to most science fiction fans for his classic six book Dune sequence, published an extensive catalogue of other novels and short story collections. A trademark of so many works of Herbert’s corpus is his near immaculate world-building skills. As in Dune, the true extent of the world and all its hidden powerplays are slowly uncovered over the course of the narrative. Although the basic premise is standard for the genre, Herbert’s multi-faceted world combined with his ability to develop characters and the pure hysteria/sheer hopelessness that permeates every page makes Continue reading →

Updates: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions No. LVI (Herbert + Pohl + Kornbluth + Harrison + Wouk)

January 16, 2013January 19, 2013 / Joachim Boaz / 15 Comments

More Christmas gifts and winter break purchases….

Another Herbert non-Dune novel with a great vat baby fetus cover by the indomitable Lehr…

Another Pohl + Kornbluth 50s satire about worlds sunk into savage degeneration….

A lesser known illustrated utopian space fable by the Pulitzer Prize winning Herman Wouk… I really have no idea what to expect from this one.

And an alternate history sci-fi adventure by Harry Harrison.

1. Tunnel Through the Deeps (variant title: A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!), Harry Harrison (1972)

(Richard Powers’ cover for the 1974 edition) Continue reading →

SF Article: Barry N. Malzberg (b.1939): Metafiction and the Demystification of the Cult of the Astronaut

January 14, 2013July 2, 2017 / Joachim Boaz / 10 Comments

This was my recent guest post on Little Red Reviewer.

For those who didn’t see it I decided to post it here….

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Barry N. Malzberg (b. 1939): Metafiction and the Demystification of the Cult of the Astronaut

In the World Book Encyclopedia Science Service publication The United States Astronauts and their Families: A Pictorial Presentation (1965), each astronaut is allotted a two-page spread replete with staged photos of their family life and hobbies. Otis L. Wiese, the editor of the volume, proclaims grandiosely “Man’s reach for the world of space is born of his insatiable curiosity about the unknown… his indomitable drive for accomplishment… his instinctive response to a challenge. Astronauts-Husbands-Fathers: these men are the men featured here but it’s essentially as family men that we portray them” (i).

The photographs are fascinating. Roger B. Chaffee’s wife Martha teaches him lunar geography (22), L. Gordon Cooper, Jr. sits at the helm of his speedboat Bluebonnet which is capable of reaching 80 knots (28), in another photo him and his family spend time with their German shepherd (29), Donn F. Eisele teaches his daughter “the finer points of marksmanship” (35), while Alan B. Shepard, Jr. plays piano tunes for his daughters (61) and in the facing image shakes hands with John F. Kennedy (61).

Their families illustrate the epitome of the American family: the ultra-masculine man with his cars and boats, the supportive wife facilitating Continue reading →

Book Review: No Time Like Tomorrow, Brian Aldiss (1959)

January 14, 2013January 14, 2013 / Joachim Boaz / 6 Comments

(Richard Powers’ cover for the 1959 edition)

3.75/5 (collated rating: Good)

This collection of Brian Aldiss short stories from the mid-to-late 50s is a notch above the middling Galaxies Like Grains of Sand (1960), collated from the same period, which I reviewed a few months back. Aldiss is definitely one of the more bizarre and original (along with Philip K. Dick) sci-fi voices of the 50s (and beyond).

Most collections are purposely comprised of a mixture of good and bad stories hence the generally low collated ratings I hand out. Unlike Galaxies, most of the stories in this collection are worth reading and none are egregiously bad. ‘Not for an Age,’ ‘Judas Danced’, ‘The Failed Men’, and ‘Outside’ are all highly Continue reading →

Updates: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions No. XLVV (Herbert + Anderson + Brackett + Kornbluth)

January 7, 2013July 26, 2013 / Joachim Boaz / 19 Comments

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) Continue reading →

Book Review: Level 7, Mordecai Roshwald (1959)

January 5, 2013October 22, 2024 / Joachim Boaz / 36 Comments

(Sanden’s cover for the 1960 edition)

4.75/5 (Very Good)

I recently received a copy of Modecai Roshwald’s Level 7 (1959) from 2thD at Potpourri of Science Fiction Literature (his enthusiastic review of the novel here). Roshwald’s novel should be considered along with Walter Miller, Jr.’s A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959, published 1960) as one the best nuclear disaster sci-fi novels of the late 50s (and all time). Unlike Nevil Shute’s On the Beach (1957) or Pat Frank’s Alas, Babylon (1959) the allegiance (Soviet or American) of the protagonists of Level 7 remains Continue reading →

Updates: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions No. XLVIV (Crowley + Strete + McAllister + Bond)

December 31, 2012May 6, 2013 / Joachim Boaz / 8 Comments

Christmas presents!

Intriguing literary sci-fi by Craig Strete and John Crowley…

Works of unknown quality, Bruce McAllister’s Humanity Prime (1971) and Nelson Bond’s collection No Time Like the Future (1954)…

And one of my favorite Powers’ covers.

1. Humanity Prime, Bruce McAllister (1971)

(David Meltzer’s cover for the 1971 edition) Continue reading →

Updates: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions, Magazine Edition No. I (Galaxy 2x, Worlds of If 3x, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction 1x)

December 29, 2012December 29, 2012 / Joachim Boaz / 15 Comments

My first science fiction magazines!

Although I’m not sure that I want to collect the entire catalogues of either Worlds of If or The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, I wouldn’t mind starting a collection of Galaxy (one of the more famous magazines). I’ve been tentative in the past about purchasing magazines for one simple reason: a large percentage of their contents, especially if by well-known authors, are rewritten/expanded/re-conceptualized for later short story collections or novel publication form. Thus, what version you read in the magazine is rarely the more polished version found in later editions. For example, in the August 1965 issue of Galaxy Frank Herbert’s Do I Wake or Dream? was expanded for the 1966 novel publication under the title Destination: Void (which was revised again for the much later 1978 edition). Novels like Dune (1965) are themselves fix-up novels from shorter novels previously serialized in magazines — Dune World (1963) and The Prophet of Dune (1965). However, six magazines for one dollar each was too good of a deal to pass up….

The only magazine I desperately want to collect is New Worlds due to the quantity of experimental New Wave material which was published during Moorcock’s editorship.