1950s

Book Review: Pebble in the Sky, Isaac Asimov (1950)

/ Joachim Boaz / 24 Comments

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(Uncredited (Powers?) cover for the 1957 edition)

3.5/5 (Good)

Pebble in the Sky (1950), Isaac Asimov’s first published novel, is a revision of the earlier short story ‘Grow Old With Me’ published in the late 1940s.  The novel itself takes place in the vast Galactic Empire based at Trantor that features in so many of Asimov’s short stories and novels — most famously, Foundation.  Although I am generally unimpressed with Asimov’s science fiction, Pebble in the Sky contains intriguing world building and an elderly man as the main character which is rather rare in sci-fi (albeit, this does not prevent a silly romance between the other younger main characters from providing the novel’s emotional core). But, most appealing to me, Asimov moves away from the all too simplistic dichotomy of good vs. bad Continue reading →

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: Nuclear Explosions + Mushroom Clouds!, Part III

/ Joachim Boaz / 15 Comments

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(Richard Powers’ cover for the 1952 edition of Rat Race (1950), Jay Franklin)

Part III of my series on Nuclear Explosions + Mushroom Clouds…. Part I + Part II

As always, I’ve included a variety of novel and magazine covers on the theme from the 50s-70s.  My favorite is by far Richard Powers’ cover for the 1952 edition of Rat Race (1950) — his occasional less surreal visions from the 1950s are artistically adept and powerful (by the 60s the majority of his covers are surrealist).  I found that the uncredited cover for the 1961 edition of Dark December (1960) convincingly depicts the loneliness of the survivors in their new world…  J. F. Doeve’s cover for the 1966 Dutch edition of  The Crucified City (1962) displays the devastation Continue reading →

Book Review: Store of Infinity, Robert Sheckley (1960)

/ Joachim Boaz / 24 Comments

(Uncredited cover for the 1960 edition)

4.5/5 (collated rating: Very Good)

Robert Sheckley’s collection Store of Infinity (1960) contains eight remarkable short stories — three of which are near masterpieces.  Sheckley’s visions are satirical, mordant, and replete with vivid imagery conveyed in solid prose.  A few selections remind me of the lighthearted (yet thought-provoking in content) robot fairy tales by  Stanislaw Lem — for example, those collected in The Cyberiad (1965) — although Sheckley’s visions are less whimsical.

‘The Prize of Peril’ (1958), ‘Triplication’ (1959), ‘The Store of the Worlds’ (1959), and ‘If the Red Slayer’ (1959) are must reads for any Continue reading →

Book Review: Costigan’s Needle, Jerry Sohl (1953)

/ Joachim Boaz / 45 Comments

(Richard Powers’ cover for the 1954 edition)

2/5 (Bad)

In countless Star Trek episodes a shattered piece of technology is miraculously resurrected (or a non-related piece of technology is transformed into an inter-dimensional portal) rescuing stranded one-time antagonists who learn, through their shared struggles, to finally get along.  Jerry Sohl’s Costigan’s Needle (1953) takes this classic scenario to an even more preposterous level.

Related Tangent

As a kid I adored Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island (1874), disliked Robinson Crusoe (1719), and despised Perseverance Island; or, The Robinson Crusoe 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 →

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: Look, I’m Actually a Robot (chest flaps, faux skin, mechanical brains)

/ Joachim Boaz / 13 Comments

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(Gray Morrow’s cover for the the December 1964 issue of If)

One of Philip K. Dick’s trademark narrative devices is a character’s realization that they are not human as they previously believed but rather a robot — for example in one of my favorite sci-fi short stories, ‘Impostor’.  Generally these bewildered robots float to the ceiling and explode, which has to be one of the more terrifying and cataclysmic revelations possible (the knowledge itself and the devastation caused).

Unfortunately, cover artists don’t attempt to depict that sort of “look, I’m a robot” type Continue reading →

Book Review: Who Can Replace a Man? (variant title: Best Science Fiction Stories of Brian W. Aldiss), Brian W. Aldiss (1965)

/ Joachim Boaz / 18 Comments

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(Don Puchatz’s cover for the 1967 edition)

4/5 (collated rating: Good)

Seven of the 1950s short stories in Brian W. Aldiss’ best of collection Who Can Replace a Man? (1965) I’ve reviewed before in No Time Like Tomorrow (1959) and Galaxies Like Grains of Sand (1960).  However, the collection contains seven additional 50s and 60s novellas/short stories that make up the majority of pages.  I’ve indicated the old material in the review with an asterisk Continue reading →

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: Planetary Rovers + Exploration Craft + Transport Vehicles of the Future

/ Joachim Boaz / 15 Comments

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(Alex Schomburg’s cover for the November 1964 issue of Amazing Science Fiction and Fact)

I’ve put together a vast assortment of futuristic planetary transport vehicles — high tech lunar rovers, personal levitating (by mysterious forces) transport craft  glorified cargo tractors, self-propelling robotic brains, large exploration vehicles trekking across vast alien landscapes… Due to the subject matter the art tends to be in the more realistic vein — à la the classic art of Chelsey Bonestell, Alex Schomburg, and other greats.  The Paul Lehr’s cover for Robert Heinlein’s Farmer in the Sky (1950) adds a nice fantastical take on the subject.

I found that Chelsey Bonestell’s cover for the April 1955 issue of  Continue reading →