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Updates: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions No. XXVII (Gerrold, Panshin, Shaw, et al.)

/ Joachim Boaz / 10 Comments

My second to last backlog acquisitions post from Spring Break — a fruitful sci-fi hunting adventure indeed!

With my PhD Qualifying exams complete (proposal defense in months and months and months), I will actually get around to posting sci-fi art related (and perhaps get back to my film reviews) and reading my massive to read pile.

Enjoy!

1. Space Skimmer (1972), David Gerrold.  Another author whom I know little about and haven’t read yet.  As a Star Trek fan I know that he submitted the script that became The Trouble With Tribbles…

(Dean Ellis’ cover for Continue reading →

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: The Space Age Family

/ Joachim Boaz / 4 Comments

(Malcolm Smith’s cover for the 1951 edition of Space on My Hands (1951), Frederic Brown)

I’ve scrounged through my collection of cover images over and over again trying to find families — and not alien families being slaughtered by intrepid earthmen à la The Red Planet (below).  Simply put, sci-fi generally revolves around characters who set off on their own, occasionally (at the end) finding a spouse (alien or not) and starting a family.  Heinlein’s juveniles are a great example — boy from broken family (dead mother, abandoned orphan…) learns all the math necessary for navigating in space from a book, sets off (or stows away) in the nearest possible spaceship and goes on grand adventures — perhaps killing some alien families along the way…..

I’ve still managed to find a few.  The best Continue reading →

Adventures in Science Fiction Art: Doomed Cities Part III (the attack of the metal missile casings, monks among ruins)

/ Joachim Boaz / 11 Comments

(Rod Turner’s cover for the 1952 edition of The G-Bomb (1952), Vargo Statten (i.e. John Russell Fearn)

Make sure to check out Part I and Part II if you haven’t.  Some of the doomed cities are stunning!

Of all the 50s pulp covers, Rod Turner’s series for Vargo Statten’s novels (John Russell Fearn) has become one of my favorites (above).  Although they adhere to every possible cliché, the pure exuberance of delivery is addicting — the books themselves are supposed to be pure drivel.

Enjoy monks among ruins, spaceships hovering above the fragments of past cities, hordes emerging from the wrecked husks of our august metropolises, the attack Continue reading →

Updates: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions N. XXIV (Simak + Henderson + Pangborn + Coney)

/ Joachim Boaz / 15 Comments

Returning to my old haunt (Texas) conjures the normal quality science fiction haul….  Not the range of Dallas’ spectacular Half Price Books but still a nice selection.

As always, I took a few risks.  I know very little about Zenna Henderson’s short stories — and the cover for the 72 edition of Holding Wonder (1971) (below) is atrocious!  But she’s generally considered a worthwhile author despite the rather hokey premise of her The People series.  I’m most interested in Edgar Pangborn’s A Mirror for Observers (1954) — and I promise not only because of the Richard Powers’ cover.  My father disliked Simak’s Our Children’s Children (magazine 1973) so I don’t have high hopes…  I’m rather ambivalent towards Simak.  I enjoyed City (1954) but would never call it a masterpiece.  Cemetery World (1973) was an interesting read but more in concept than delivery.  Way Station (1963) didn’t deserve the Hugo award but had its moments… etc.

Michael G. Coney’s The Hero of the Downway (1973) was an impulsive buy.  I know very little about the quality of his writing but was persuaded by Josh Kirby’s cover!  And underground societies usually hold my interest — even if they don’t achieve the heights of David F. Galouye’s wonderful Dark Universe (1961).

Enjoy the covers!  And the back cover blurbs!

1. A Mirror for Observers (1954), Edgar Pangborn

(Richard Powers’ cover Continue reading →

Book Review: The Bright Phoenix, Harold Mead (1955)

/ Joachim Boaz / 7 Comments

(Richard Powers’ cover for the 1956 edition)

3/5 (Average)

Harold Mead’s The Bright Phoenix is a readable future ultra-regulated “perfect” State themed science fiction novel with a time-worn but proven plot. Unfortunately, the end product, despite moments of intriguing characterization and oppressive gloom, sinks into forgettable melodrama and the conclusion resorts to frustratingly obvious references to a “second coming” (of sorts).  Mead is less interested in describing the mechanisms of the “perfect” state and more interested in the slow evolution of a character coming to grips with the deficiencies of the system.  This is an admirable program that falls woefully short in part due to the paltry descriptions of the before mentioned system.  This causes our hero’s evolution to occasionally ring hollow.  The primitive but somehow “truer” pseudo-Christian civilization contacted by our hero, the fulcrum of his transformation, lacks any seductive qualities that would facilitate Continue reading →

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: Through the View Screen, Through the Window

/ Joachim Boaz / 8 Comments

(Julian S. Krupa’s cover for the July 1947 issue of Amazing Stories)

Through the window, through the view screen cities are discovered, worlds end in searing flame,  vectors to unknown lands are plotted, the horrors of earth are left behind.  Alone in a space station an astronaut observes the fragile construction arrayed around him.  Through the window, through the view screen aliens observe our strife, loved ones watch in agony, and the culmination of our era’s scientific endeavors are arrayed in orderly rows.  

In short, the possibilities are endless.  The glass (or some scientifically advanced clear material) frames the story, we watch others watching or we see what they see while we stand among them… 

Definitely a delightful sci-fi cover art trope worth exploring.  Here are a broad selection of covers from juvenile science fiction novels, pulp magazines, edited Continue reading →

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: The Art of Robert Foster, Part II

/ Joachim Boaz / 34 Comments

(Robert Foster’s cover for the 1971 edition of The Dakota Project (1968), Jack Beeching)

Unfortunately, science fiction covers from the 60s/70s are not always credited — Robert Foster’s covers are no exception.  Originally I assumed that Foster had only produced a handful (see my first post on his work, Part I), but after searching under Bob Foster and identifying covers by sight I’ve cobbled together another varied/intriguing/unusual collection of his work.

His work are often characterized by fascinating collaged, geared, industrial machinery paired with nudes and semi-nudes Continue reading →

Updates: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions N. XXIII (Farmer, Malzberg + et al.)

/ Joachim Boaz / 10 Comments

A while back I slogged through Philip José Farmer’s dismal To Your Scattered Bodies Go (1971) (the worst novel ever to win the Hugo Award?) and all the increasingly terrible sequels and made a solemn vow to wait a few years before I returned to his extensive oeuvre — so, against my better judgement I picked up a copy of  Traitor to the Living (1973).  I don’t have high hopes (but I love the cover!).  I hope my two dollars were well spent.

Malzberg is shaping into my “under read/unjustly forgotten author of the year” whom I’ll showcase.  Last year’s winner was the brilliant D. G. Compton (see INDEX for reviews).  Fresh off Conversations (1975) and In The Enclosure (1973) I picked up a copy of Guernica Night (1975).  I can’t wait!

Harold Mead’s The Bright Phoenix (1955) is yet another against the oppressive state à la Orwell’s 1984… But, I’ve found that the premise generally holds up despite frequent re-interpretations…

Greenfield’s Waters of Death (1967) should be avoided — at all cost.  I’ve already written a scathing review (rant).

1. Traitor to the Living (1973), Philip José Farmer (MY REVIEW)

(Hans Ulrich Osterwalder and Ute Continue reading →

Updates: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions N. XXII (Cooper + Wilhelm + Kornbluth + Merril)

/ Joachim Boaz / 6 Comments

I was so impressed with C. M. Kornbluth’s masterful collection The Explorers (1954) that I picked up a copy his 1958 collection A Mile Beyond the Moon (I own the hardback first edition but I prefer Powers’ cover below).  Also, recently inspired (again) to read more 1960s works by female authors I bought a collection of three novellas by Merril and a 1963 collection of shorts by Kate Wilhelm.  Wilhem and Merril aren’t always top-notch but worth a read (and in Wilhelm’s case, a second chance — I enjoyed Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang (1977) but I’m still not convinced it was Hugo/Nebula quality work).

Cooper’s Seed of Light (1958) is considered one of his more mature works — to the chagrin of some of his fans who prefer his more “pulpish” works — but my obsession with generation ships was my real motivation to add it to my collection.

One short story, a novel, and one of the novellas take place on generation ships!

A nice haul — a mixture of lesser known works by some famous figures.

Enjoy (the covers)!

1. Daughters of Earth (1968), Judith Merril (MY REVIEW)

(Robert Foster’s cover for Continue reading →