1940s

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: Futuristic Telescopes and Radar Dishes

/ Joachim Boaz / 10 Comments

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(Brian Lewis’ cover for the July 1960 edition of New Worlds Science Fiction)

Brian Lewis’ fantastic cover for the July 1960 edition of New Worlds Science Fiction (if there’s a single magazine I desperately want to collect it’s this one…) depicts a futuristic radar dish (alien or human?) with a surrealist touch.  I’ve included a wide range of different SF takes on radar dishes and telescopes – including what I assume is a Hubble-like space telescope on A. Leslie Ross’ cover for the July 1952 issue of Future Science Fiction.  But there’s a chance that Ross’ telescope is on the Earth’s surface — the cluttered, confused, and rather hasty cover is rather hard to figure out (evil string creatures?).

The futuristic telescope (or radar dish) is a tantalizing image of humankind Continue reading →

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: The Statue of Liberty on Pre-1968 Magazine and Novel Covers, Part II

/ Joachim Boaz / 14 Comments

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(Richard Weaver’s cover for the 1968 edition of The Monitors (1966), Keith Laumer)

Here’s an evocative collection of SF Statue of Liberty covers from before and after WWII…

Make sure to take a peek at Part I if you have not already. In Part I, I discussed the rationale for my dating restriction i.e. covers on the theme published pre-1968.  After Franklin J. Schaffner’s movie Planet of the Apes (1968) became a cultural phenomena, multiple covers paid homage to the famous scene in the film.  Hopefully, by examining the ten covers I’ve found depicting the Statue of Liberty from before the movie was released — often in scenes similar to the iconic one in Planet of the Apes (Part I contains a comparison) — the purposeful reference to earlier magazine art is clear…

The Statue of Liberty was not only deployed in some post-apocalyptical Continue reading →

Updates: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions No. LXVIII (Varley + Cherryh + Cummings + et. al)

/ Joachim Boaz / 17 Comments

Some fun finds!  Perhaps surprisingly, I still haven’t read Clarke’s “The Sentinel” (1951) so I was happy to find it in a collection collated by Kingsley Amis and Robert Conquest — Spectrum 3 (1963).  Even more appealing are the famous Poul Anderson, J. G. Ballard, and Murray Leinster tales in the same volume…  The entire Spectrum collection (I-V) brings together some fantastic works.

John Varley is one of the important 70s writers that I still haven’t read. Thus, despite the egregious cover, I snatched his collection of 70s stories, The Persistence of Vision (1978)…  I look forward to diving into this one.

Also, C. J. Cherryh was one of my favorite authors as a teen so it’s always nice to come across one of her works I hadn’t devoured yet — in this case, her second novel Brothers of Earth (1976).

1. The Persistence of Vision, John Varley (1978)

(Jim Burns’ cover for 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 Power of the Atom!

/ Joachim Boaz / 10 Comments

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(John Richards’ cover for the 1958 edition of Crisis 2000 (1955), Charles Eric Maine)

On science fiction covers from the 40s and 50s the atom is often emblematic of atomic power and all the dangers and promises that such a scientific breakthrough could (and did) yield.  In John Richards’ cover for the 1958 edition of Charles Eric Maine’s Crisis 2000 (1955) the humanoid super beings arrive from Saturn to terrorize Earthmen — and, carefully covering the private areas of one of these denizens of Saturn is the atomic symbol surrounded by blood. The cover is made even more unnerving by the multiplicity of identical Continue reading →

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: The Space Station, Part II

/ Joachim Boaz / 10 Comments

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(Arthur Hawkins’ cover for the 1959 edition of Skyport (1959), Curt Siodmak)

Part II of my series on cover art depicting space stations (Part I).  Here are vast assortment of primarily Alex Schomburg and Vincent Di Fate’s artwork — they did love their space stations.  But, I think my favorite is by far Arthur Hawkins’ cover for the 1959 edition of Curt Siodmak’s Skyport (1959) — the author is of course famous for the novel Donovan’s Brain (1942).  The delightful color scheme, the 50s aesthetic, the vague indication of continents below, the cluster of 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 →

Updates: An Incomplete List of Worthwhile Classic Science Fiction Blogs/Resources

/ Joachim Boaz / 32 Comments

I love the idea of a community of science fiction reviewers — so I’ve put together a list of a handful of book review blogs focused on classic/slightly more esoteric science fiction.  Obviously there are plenty of great blogs I’ve omitted that have reviews of new releases or only occasional vintage science fiction….  Or, blogs that refrain from reviews of vintage science fiction unless participating in certain reading challenges….

Please visit them, comment on their reviews, and browse through their back catalogues.

1] Speculiction….: An under visited /commented on blog with quality book reviews of classic science fiction — however, the reviewer, Jesse, is limited by the lack of older science fiction available to him in Poland.  I especially enjoyed his reviews of Ballard’s “beautifully strange enigma” that is The Crystal World (1966) and of course, my favorite science fiction novel of all time, John Brunner’s magisterial Stand on Zanzibar (1968).  An index of his reviews can be found here.  He also has a good mix of newer science fiction reviews as well.

2] The PorPor Books Blog: SF and Fantasy Books 1968-1988: I find this blog Continue reading →