Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: Spacewomen of the Future (fixing spaceships + fighting aliens + charging across barren landscapes)

September 12, 2012November 12, 2012 / Joachim Boaz / 30 Comments

(Don Sibley’s cover for the November 1950 issue of Galaxy)

When we conjure the image of a 40s/50s science fiction pulp heroine we often imagine a character who has to be rescued by men from aliens, shrieks and clings to any man nearby, and is always in a state of undress. I’ve included one cover, for the sake of comparison, that I find to be an exemplar of this type of sexist (and racist) depiction below (Alex Schomburg’s cover for the January 1954 issue of Future Science Fiction): white woman wrapped in only a towel stalked by an evil alien obviously painted with African-American facial characteristics (heavy on the sexual predation vibe) — the reader is supposed to buy into the racial stereotypes and thus be titillated by the fear she must feel.

I’ve selected a wide range of mostly pulp magazine covers depicting spacewomen of the future (I’ve loosely decided that this means women in space, in spacesuits) that tend to buck the trend Continue reading →

Updates: Recent Acquisitions N. XXXVII (del Rey + Geston + Saxton + Gunn)

September 11, 2012December 23, 2012 / Joachim Boaz / 13 Comments

A wonderful selection of Marx Book purchases…. All of them are high on my to read list! I hadn’t heard of Josephine Saxton — she’s considered an inventive sf fabulist — until I read a review of her novel Vector for Seven (1970) on SF Mistressworks, a review collating blog which I highly recommend for any fan of science fiction. There are so many great works by female sci-fi authors out there waiting to be rediscovered on dusty used bookstore shelves….

I enjoyed James Gunn’s Station in Space (1958), a thematically linked short story collection depicting mankind’s first steps into space, so I picked up a copy of one of his better known fix-up novels, The Joy Makers (1961).

I adore sci-fi novels on overpopulation so Lester del Rey’s The Eleventh Commandment (1962) was a given…

And, well, the incredibly alluring description on the back cover of Mark S. Geston’s Lords of the Starship (1967) speaks for itself…

1. The Hieros Gamos of Sam And An Smith, Josephine Saxton (1969) (MY REVIEW)

(Jack Fargasso’s cover for the 1969 edition) Continue reading →

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: Inside the Skull (rats + women + sword fights + robotic circuits + space)

August 31, 2012June 15, 2014 / Joachim Boaz / 33 Comments

(Ebel’s cover for the 1953 issue of Space Science Fiction)

Previous art explorations which looked at disembodied brains and visualizations of the ultra-intelligent set the stage for this post. Imagine skulls without brains: sometimes metaphorically, but often, literally hollow skull cavities that hold a vast array of mechanical devies and living captives. Or, the reader is gifted a voyeuristic peek into the skulls of bodies masquerading as humans but in reality, a mesh of circuits or a metal sheen operates those beautiful limbs and terrifying weapons….

My favorite is by far the pulp goodness of Ebel’s cover (if anyone knows the full name of this artist please let me know) for the 1953 issue of Space Science Fiction. The gorgeous heroine is held captive in gigantic stone heads with partially glass skulls — a robot that fails to conjure any menace stomps Continue reading →

Book Review: Revelations, Barry N. Malzberg (1972)

August 27, 2012June 8, 2018 / Joachim Boaz / 10 Comments

(Michael Presley’s cover for the 1977 edition)

5/5 (Masterpiece)

Revelations (1972) is the second in a thematically linked group of Malzberg’s novels — published in-between its siblings, The Falling Astronauts (1971) and Beyond Apollo (1972) (from now on BA). Each deals with insane astronauts, and in Malzberg’s own words, “sexual dysfunction as representing the necessary loss of energy of the machine age,” and each contains a character desperately attempting to speak out. But, as with most of Malzberg’s novels, it is unclear whether there is truth in these cries.

Revelations is less rigorously structured than BA, which was characterized by 67 short tellings/retellings/scenes/dream moments all from the perspective of a single insane character. As with BA, our anti-hero is an unreliable narrator, but due to the variety of diaristic, epistolary, and interrogatory fragments that comprise Continue reading →

Updates: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions XXXV (Malzberg + Compton + Silverberg)

August 26, 2012September 16, 2012 / Joachim Boaz / 7 Comments

Books and short story collections from three of my favorite science fiction authors — Barry N. Malzberg, D. G. Compton, and Robert Silverberg… A review of Malzberg’s masterpiece Revelations (1972) — almost as good as Beyond Apollo (1972) — is forthcoming.

I’ve recently discovered Marx Books — an online bookstore run by a retired professor (at Texas Tech University) and avid science fiction collector. His collection is substantial and most importantly, he only bills you for the exact shipping (not sure if he ships internationally). So, no $3.99 a book as Amazon does! Instead, $3 shipping total for seven books! Because Malzberg novels, and his short story collections, are so hard to find in used book stores it’s always nice to know I can pick up a copy quite cheaply online.

Another Richard Powers cover for my collection….

1. Revelations, Barry N. Malzberg (1972) (MY REVIEW)

(Uncredited cover for the 1972 edition)

From the back cover of the 1977 edition: “REVELATIONS is Continue reading →

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: Alien Friends

August 22, 2012August 31, 2012 / Joachim Boaz / 14 Comments

(H. W. Wesso’s June 1941 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories)

In science fiction aliens are usually evil and generally end up dead — killed by our human heroes via pseudo-videogames (Ender’s Game), guns of endless variety, nuclear weapons detonated on their home worlds, horrific diseases (Deep Space Nine), tossed into the vacuum of space, tossed into wormholes, etc etc. They are rarely “humanized” — their families, societies, and history ignored by their human enemies — they are often depicted as “true” evil. I’ve included the above cover, shooting aliens under the American flag (it is a wartime 40s issue so such overt jingoism is explainable), in order to highlight the attitude towards space fauna which we are all familiar with.

Sometimes “friendship” is feigned. C. M. Kornbluth’s short story ‘Friend To Man’ (1951) (in this collection) is a disturbing example — the maternal feeling felt by the alien towards our antihero is just a ploy to lure him into her den where she implants him with eggs, which Continue reading →

Book Review: Dr. Futurity, Philip K. Dick (1960)

August 19, 2012August 19, 2012 / Joachim Boaz / 27 Comments

(Ed Valigursky’s cover for the 1960 edition)

2.75/5 (Average)

Over the years I’ve found Philip K. Dick’s early novels hit or miss. Along with The World Jones Made (1956), Dr. Futurity (1960) (expanded from the 1954 short story “Time Pawn”) is the least satisfying of his novels I’ve read so far. My total PKD consumption is extensive — around 20 novels and at least 60 short stories.

Time travel is by far my least favorite major science fiction trope. However, in many of Philip K. Dick’s novels and short stories time travel is transformed into something surreal and often, downright fascinating. But unlike his later novels, the trope in Dr. Futurity is an endlessly laborious plot device. Our hero doctor, Jim Parsons, is constantly whisked back and forth in time with hardly a moment of rest or discussion. Continue reading →

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: Underwater Expeditions (futuristic submarines + underwater labs + sea monsters + cities), Part II

August 16, 2012August 16, 2012 / Joachim Boaz / 21 Comments

(Roger Stine’s cover for the 1979 edition of On The Run (variant title: Mankind on the Run) (1955), Gordon R. Dickson)

Part II of my Underwater Expeditions Series (Part I) is a veritable deluge of undersea wonders. Unusual monsters/aliens proliferate the seascapes — snapping at our aquatic heroes. A vast array of submersibles and submarines — including a mechanical whale equipped with a harpoon (Jack Coggins’ cover for the April 1957 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction) — trek across the oceanic expanses. Cities, ruins, hidden scientific facilities are all to be discovered amongst the seaweed and deep water trenches…

There is something so mysterious about the ocean depths — almost as alienating and frightening as space. Although due to our recent deep sea explorations increasingly less Continue reading →

Book Review: Seed of Light, Edmund Cooper (1959)

August 14, 2012August 16, 2012 / Joachim Boaz / 22 Comments

(Uncredited cover for the 1959 edition — I suspect it might be David Davies)

3.25/5 (Average)

Edmund Cooper’s Seed of Light (1959) is less of a traditional narrative of the voyage of a generation ship as are its fellow generation ship novels of the 40s/50s. The best examples are Brian Aldiss’ Non-Stop (1958) and Robert Heinlein’s Orphans of the Sky (1941). Seed of Light is more like a piece of pseudo-history interlaced with fragments of narrative of varying effectiveness. The work is best described as a thematically-linked series of novellas tracking the future development of man in broad strokes à la Brian Aldiss’ Galaxies Like Grains of Sand (1960). Unfortunately, Cooper’s original splicing of the generation ship theme onto a Future History template (made popular but Olaf Stapleton and Isaac Asimov among others) is extremely uneven. Some portions are involving while others are plagued by laborious epoch-spanning pseudo-historical lectures.

Because each part is a separate novella (the last two are more closely Continue reading →