1930s

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: The City as Canvas, Part I

/ Joachim Boaz / 46 Comments

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(Richard Powers’ cover for the 1969 edition of Cosmic Engineers (1939), Clifford D. Simak)

The theme of this post is the future metropolis as canvas where the entire surface of the cover is arrayed and ordered by the forms and forces of the city.    The city as a matrix that holds the scene unfolding amongst its spires…  Richard Powers’ masterful cover for the 1969 edition of Cosmic Engineers is the perfect example.  The mass of the buildings arch, indistinct, upward — causeways and platforms amongst the cityscape hold faceless humanoid forms that “look” Continue reading →

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: The Vaguely Defined Looming Man Shape

/ Joachim Boaz / 23 Comments

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(John Richards’ cover for the 1961 edition of Earth Abides (1949), George R. Stewart)

Note: if anyone can identify the artist for the first three downright spectacular covers I’d be very very happy.  I’m positive that they match stylistically (the vague human shape, the cityscape, the brush strokes, the textures).  Two of the three covers were made for Signet press and all three are from the early 1960s.  I suspect if I perused the covers from the Signet catalogue from that era I’d find even more….  Perhaps it’s the work of Sanford Kossin?  He was producing covers for Signet around the same time.  Solved: The cover artist is John Richard.

And now The Vaguely Defined Looming Man Shape Continue reading →

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: Domed Cities (and Outposts) of the Future, Part IV

/ Joachim Boaz / 12 Comments

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(Ley Kenyon’s cover for the 1953 edition of Adventures in Tomorrow (1951), ed. Kendell F. Crossen)

Since the release of the TV series Under the Dome (2013-), based on Stephen King’s 2009 novel by the same name, there has been a resurgence of interest in domed cities.  And for good reason — the trope is one of the most popular of science fiction artists and authors since the 30s (and probably earlier).  Not only do the societal implications and visual allure of the trope of a domed outpost on a harsh planet or a domed city amidst the ruins of Earth arouse the creative authorial juices but also generate some fantastically Continue reading →

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: The Hand of God?

/ Joachim Boaz / 46 Comments

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(William Timmins’ cover for the January 1947 issue of Astounding Science Fiction)

A hand from a body off canvas enters the fray….  An alien’s hands wrap around the Earth, amused or disturbed by its creations?  A hand rises from a variety of desolate landscapes…  Is it the remnant of a robotic construct or a relics from some age old creator?

This particular theme — a powerful force depicted via an often disembodied hand — has yielded some fantastic covers.  Brian Lewis’ cover for the 1958 issue of Science Fantasy is one of my favorites.  I find the scene — a group of people discovering a robotic hand reaching from the f Continue reading →

Updates: Recent Acquisitions No. LXV (Spinrad + Coney + Cummings + an anthology containing short stories by Pohl, Knight, Aldiss, et al.)

/ Joachim Boaz / 20 Comments

My first book from the 80s in many a year!  But, I’m on a Norman Spinrad kick so when I saw it for one dollar at the store I had to snatch it up his post-apocalyptical vision Songs from the Stars (180)….  The premise is rather hokey but perhaps a quality writer like Spinrad can imbue it with some vigor.

I’m most excited about The Ninth Galaxy Reader, ed. Frederik Pohl (1966) (twelve short stories from the Galaxy Magazine) due the top-quality author line-up — Brian W. Aldiss, John Brunner, Richard Wilson, Damon Knight, Philip Kose farmer, Harry Harrison, Frederik Pohl, Lester Del Rey, Roger Zelazny, C. C. MacApp, Larry Niven, and R. A. Lafferty….

1.  Songs from the Stars, Norman Spinrad (1980)

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(Uncredited cover for the 1982 Continue reading →

Updates: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions No. LXII (Amis + Cummings + Van Vogt)

/ Joachim Boaz / 16 Comments

A strange conglomeration of novels….

If there’s any era I’m lacking knowledge in it’s late 20s-early 40s (well, I’ve read some Van Vogt + Edgar Rice Burroughs) pulp science fiction — so I decided to brush up on some of the greats.  With that in mind I acquired five Ray Cummings novels (the rest will be in a later acquisition post) and Van Vogt’s Slan (1940)…..  I don’t have high hopes.  But now I own my first Alex Schomburg cover!

I generally do not accept review copies due to the fact that most offers are for self-published works rather than republished novels from the period I’m most familiar with (and prefer to read) — 1950-1985.  So, when New York Review of Books offered me a copy of Kingsley Amis’ well-known alt-history/sci-fi (depending on whose definition you’re reading) novel The Alteration (1976) I happily agreed….

1. The Exile of Time, Ray Cummings (magazine publication 1931)

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(Alex Schomburg’s cover for the 1964 edition) Continue reading →

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: The City on the Horizon

/ Joachim Boaz / 18 Comments

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(Karel Thole’s cover for the 1962 edition of Starman’s Quest (1958), Robert Silverberg)

Some of my favorite cover art posts over the last two years were on the theme of cities — Elevated Cities (Part I, Part II), Domed Cities (Part I, Part II, Part III), Doomed Cities (Part I, Part II, Part III), and Ice-Covered Cities.  I’m starting a new series on science fiction cities  — The City on the Horizon — I already have two additional posts lined up on the theme.

The City on the Horizon — a glimmer of hope for beleaguered travelers, an beacon of habitation of an unknown civilization on an alien world, an organic mass rising from the desert sands, or a refuge of the ultra wealthy rising majestic from a slum… The possibilities are Continue reading →

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: Encased in a Pillar (of the crystal or ice variety)

/ Joachim Boaz / 10 Comments

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(Robert Gibson Jones’ cover for the June 1948 issue of Amazing Stories)

This post is somewhat thematically similar to my earlier post on humans trapped in mysterious vials (here).  The glass or crystal pillar is often just another way for a heroine to be imprisoned by some malevolent entity — waiting for the hero to come to rescue.  For example Robert Gibson Jones’ wonderful pulp cover for the June 1948 issue of Amazing Stories.  Although, the countless similar pillars across the horizon imply an entire city of people imprisoned in ice…

Some of the covers are even more mysterious — in Gray Morrow’s Continue reading →

Book Review: A Martian Odyssey and Other Classics of Science Fiction, Stanley G. Weinbaum (1962)

/ Joachim Boaz / 35 Comments

(Robert E. Schulz’s cover for the 1966 edition)

3/5 (collated rating: Average)

After reading Joanna Russ’ nihilistic downer (but brilliant nevertheless) We Who Are About To… (1976) I needed to decompress with some 30s pulp.  I’m generally not a fan of pulp unless it attempts to integrate social science fiction elements or creates a vibrant/otherworldly sense of wonder.  Thankfully, this collection of Stanley G. Wienbaum’s stories contains one of the most influential pulp science fiction shorts due to its descriptions of aliens — ‘A Martian Odyssey’ (1934).

For anyone interested in the history of the genre and 30s pulp, Continue reading →