1950s

Updates: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions N. XIII

/ Joachim Boaz / 2 Comments

A few fellow History grad students and I (and two or three from various departments — Gender Studies, English) have cobbled together a science fiction reading group list for this fall and spring: mainly social sci-fi by female authors along with a few random gems by Ballard (The Drowned World), Silverberg (The World Inside), and Delany (Nova).  I wasn’t going to buy any sci-fi books this semester.  I promise.  That is before we formed our reading group!  So, I had to pick up the few works on our list that I didn’t already own.

What a haul!

1. The Drowned World (1962), J. G. Ballard

Continue reading →

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: A Selection of Elevated Cities Part I

/ Joachim Boaz / 12 Comments

(uncredited cover for the 1975 edition of Growing Up in Tier 3000 (1975), Felix C. Gotschalk)

“After a seven days’ march through woodland, the traveler directed towards Baucis cannot see the city and yet he has arrived.  The slender stilts that rise from the grown at a great distance from one another and are lost above the clouds that support the city […] There are three hypotheses about the inhabitants of Baucis: that they hate the earth; that they respect it to much they avoid all contact; that they love it as it was before they existed and with spyglasses and telescopes aimed downward they never tire of examining it, leaf by leaf, stone by stone, ant by ant, contemplating with fascination their own absence” — Italo Calvino (Invisible Cities, 1972, pg. 77)

I’ve always been fascinated by imaginary and historical cities: the utopian (Tommaso Campanella’s 1602 work The City of the Sun), the allegorical (Calvino’s Invisible Cities), the multi-layered (Rome), the planned (16th century Palmanova), the decaying (Jeff VanderMeer’s Ambergris), the multi-tiered (Tolkein’s Minas Tirith)…   Continue reading →

Updates: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions N. XII

/ Joachim Boaz / 10 Comments

1. The Trial of Terra (1962), Jack Williamson (MY REVIEW)

I’ve only read one of Jack Williamson’s novels co-authored with Frederik Pohl The Reefs of Space (1964) so I thought I’d pick up a solo effort.  I don’t have high hopes but the general plot from the back cover sounds a lot like Star Trek’s Prime directive: “The Men of Earth were on the verge of breaking into space.  The first of their manned moon rockets was on its way to Luna.  Now, after ten thousand years, the celestial Continue reading →

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: The Best of Alex Schomburg’s 50s Novel Covers

/ Joachim Boaz / 119 Comments

(Alex Schomburg’s cover for the 1955 edition of Secret of the Martian Moons (1955), Donald A. Wollheim)

Spontaneously conjure with but a meer glance — Excitement! Wonder! Adventure!

The best of the covers of old 50s/60s juveniles (sci-fi for younger readers) always stirs the recumbent inklings of adolescent wonder…  Intrepid boy/men (sadly, rarely women) trek across the “expanses” of the space — rarely expansive, more like puddle jumping from planet to planet with the phrase, “and the hyperdrive shook the ship but John wasn’t afraid because he had once ridden a farm cart with one of them spooked horses back home in Smalltown, US of A” — discovering planets, setting up colonies, angering some weird looking Continue reading →

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: The 1950s Surrealist Cityscapes of Richard Powers

/ Joachim Boaz / 10 Comments

Richard Powers (1921-1996) is one of my favorite science fiction cover artists.  Heavily influenced by the likes of Yves Tanguey and Picasso, his delightful vein of surrealism graced the covers of multiple classics of the genre (for example, Simak’s City, Clarke’s Earthlight and The City and the Stars, Norton’s Sky Gate, Vonnegut’s The Sirens of Titan, Sturgeon’s More Than Human).  His covers are unmistakable and extremely easy to identify.  I’ve decided to showcase a few of his surrealist cityscapes.

(cover for 1956 edition of Reach for Tomorrow (1956), Arthur C. Clarke)

The cover for Reach for Tomorrow achieves a wonderful Continue reading →

Update: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions N. VIII

/ Joachim Boaz / 2 Comments

My month of infrequent posts is over — I’ve returned to Austin after a month long sojourn across Colorado, New Mexico, France and Italy….  So, what do I do in my jet lagged state?  Head to the Half Price Books.  Not the best haul this time but a few potentially interesting reads.

1. Witch World (1963), Andre Norton

I’ve yet to read any of Andre Norton’s immense number of novels.  Not knowing exactly where to start I picked up what is generally considered among her best works — Witch World (1963).  It was nominated for the 1964 Hugo award for Best novel and often places in best Fantasy/Sci-fi lists.  And the cover is Continue reading →

Book Review: Star Ways (variant title: The Peregrine), Poul Anderson (1956)

/ Joachim Boaz / 11 Comments

2.75/5 (Average)

Poul Anderson’s third novel contains a few glimmers of his later slick storytelling but lacks developed ideas and convincing characters.  This is not entirely Anderson’s fault, as he points out in the introduction to a later edition, because the original manuscript was heavily edited without his knowledge in order to achieve a specific page Continue reading →