After a long time without purchasing books I’ve published two Recent Acquisition lists in quick succession! Visiting parents = free books + many thanks. The haul wasn’t the best but I left with a fun selection of works by Andre Norton and Robert Silverberg.
Some of the covers are great (especially Norton’s Sargasso in Space)!
Enjoy!
1. Star Born, Andre Norton (1957)
(Virgil Finlay’s cover for the 1957 edition) Continue reading
(Walter Popp’s cover for the August 1952 issue of Fantastic Adventures)
The sphere — as a manifestation of the perfectly round geometrical shape or replete with various derivations and modifications (tentacles, slight elongations, eye sockets, limbs both fleshly or mechanical) — holds a particular fascination for sci-fi artists and authors. The possibilities are endless: spherical aliens, spherical ocean descent vehicles, spherical spaceships, spherical robotic doctors, wizards levitating spherical objects, and spherical legged war vehicles…
I’ve selected a delightful variety of these spherical manifestations. In my favorite (above) female scientists alternately shout about, gaze at, and document descending Continue reading
3.25/5 (Average)
According to Future City, the cities of the future are to be avoided at all costs. There are no utopias here — only overpopulation, pollution, racial warfare, natural disasters, robot takeovers, and eventual reversion to primitivism! But there’s a trajectory! In fact, Roger Elwood, the editor of the volume, asked for new stories that fit along this arc. Elwood claims that there are twenty-two leading science-fiction writers who contributed to the volume. Unfortunately, three of these leading authors don’t submit stories: Tom Disch contributes a one page poem, Clifford D. Simak a brief introduction, and Frederick Pohl a short afterword. Also, two of the twenty-two are monikers for Barry N. Malzberg. Famous authors like Frank Herbert and Ellison contribute substandard short stories. Many of the other leading figures are not “leading figures” in any sense of the word!
As with most collections there are gems AND complete blunders. Robert Silverberg, R. A. Lafferty, Ben Bova (and others) all contribute thought-provoking stories making this collection Continue reading
Over the last months I’ve restrained myself from impulsive science fiction purchases considering the massive pile of books I still need to read — however, a stop at Half-Price books while visiting my nostalgic onetime home of Austin, TX was too good to pass up.
And lo and behold, I procured a first edition Philip K. Dick novel with a gorgeous Jerome Podwil cover, an underrated novel by James White, one future pastoral vision by Simak, and a collection of short stories (Malzberg, Herbert, Lafferty, Silverberg, Scortia, Ellison) edited by Elwood about future metropolises — a wonderful edition to my collection considering the plethora of sci-fi city related cover art posts I’ve written as of late (Elevated Cities Part I, Part II, Richard Power’s Surrealistic Cityscapes).
Enjoy!
1. The Crack in Space (1966), Philip K. Dick
(Jerome Podwil’s cover for the 1966 edition)
(Uncredited cover for the 1974 edition of The Stars Will Judge (1974), Irving A. Greenfield)
There are manifold possibilities for the infernal machine unraveling beneath the streets or inhabiting entire planets — it could construct simulacra, infiltrate spaceships with insinuating metal tentacles, conduct experiments, terraform the soil, create new life, manipulate politicians, cause natural disasters — technology gone mad, endlessly proliferating… The dangers of technology, or technology in the hands of nefarious individuals is by far one of the most popular themes of science fiction. I cannot count how many Star Trek episodes, novels, movies, and other television shows examine these scenarios — innumerable, it goes without saying.
I’ve chosen a wonderful collection of science fiction cover Continue reading
Michael (2theD), one of my friends whose reviews on Amazon I’ve been compulsively reading, has just started a review blog (on blogspot) called the Potpourri of Science Fiction Literature.
(the titles above are a small sample of the works Continue reading
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
(Alex Schomburg’s cover for the 1965 edition of The Well of the Worlds (1953), Henry Kuttner)
Alex Schomburg (1905-1998) produced only a handful of novel covers in the 60s (his classic 50s covers can be found here). But what a beautiful handful! It’s a shame because they evoke genuine excitement and wonder — especially Kuttner’s The Well of the Worlds (above) and one of my favorites, Moore and Kuttner’s Earth’s Last Citadel (below). They are dynamic, vivid, and occasionally Continue reading
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
Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations 