space opera

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 →

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: The Composite Cover (illustrating a multiplicity of scenes, stories, thematic elements) Part II

/ Joachim Boaz / 22 Comments

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(Vincent di Fate’s cover for the 1975 edition of The Other Side of Tomorrow (1973), ed. Roger Elwood)

My second composite cover post — here’s a link to Part I if you missed it.  I’ve included a few covers by Vincent di Fate who has always been one of my favorite illustrators of the 1970s.  His cover for The Other Side of Tomorrow (1973) is top-notch.  A conglomerations of screens are placed on a barren stylized landscape where two figures gaze intently at them.  Each screen shows a different scene, a space station, spaceships, a boy’s contemplative face, an old man — and, a ringed planet looms in the background.  Whether or not the screens illustrate individual stories in the collection is unclear — regardless, the composite nature of the illustration is  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 →

Updates: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions No. LVII (del Rey + Knight + Pohl + Kornbluth + Weinbaum)

/ Joachim Boaz / 10 Comments

A nice collection of old, venerable, classic authors….  I’ve yet to read any of Weinbaum’s pulp — a short story collection is probably a good place to start…. I was somewhat impressed with Lester del Rey’s The Eleventh Commandment (1962) so I look forward to his short stories — and, the fantastic Richard Powers collage cover will be a welcome addition to my collection.

1. A Martian Odyssey (variant title: A Martian Odyssey and Other Classics of Science Fiction), Stanley G. Weinbaum (1962) (MY REVIEW)

(Robert E. Shultz’s cover for the 1966 edition) Continue reading →

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: The Composite Cover (illustrating a multiplicity of scenes, stories, thematic elements)

/ Joachim Boaz / 24 Comments

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(Ed Emshwiller’s cover for the 1954 edition of Murder in Space (1944), David V. Reed)

Ed Emshwiller’s cover for the 1954 edition of Murder in Space (1944) perfectly embodies the composite cover comprised of sequences from the narrative.  Our hero (or villain) plots the murder in the foreground (guns, books, furrowed brow), commits the murder in the background, his love interest looks over his left shoulder (she’s constantly on his mind), and some random astroids/planets (let’s call them space rocks), a spaceship, and a strange piece of technology alert us to the science fiction aspect of the narrative…  The uncredited cover for the 1955 edition of The Altered Continue reading →

Updates: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions No. LVI (Herbert + Pohl + Kornbluth + Harrison + Wouk)

/ Joachim Boaz / 15 Comments

More Christmas gifts and winter break purchases….

Another Herbert non-Dune novel with a great vat baby fetus cover by the indomitable Lehr…

Another Pohl + Kornbluth 50s satire about worlds sunk into savage degeneration….

A lesser known illustrated utopian space fable by the Pulitzer Prize winning Herman Wouk…  I really have no idea what to expect from this one.

And an alternate history sci-fi adventure by Harry Harrison.

1.  Tunnel Through the Deeps (variant title: A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!), Harry Harrison (1972)

(Richard Powers’ cover for the 1974 edition) Continue reading →

Book Review: No Time Like Tomorrow, Brian Aldiss (1959)

/ Joachim Boaz / 6 Comments

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(Richard Powers’ cover for the 1959 edition)

3.75/5 (collated rating: Good)

This collection of Brian Aldiss short stories from the mid-to-late 50s is a notch above the middling Galaxies Like Grains of Sand (1960), collated from the same period, which I reviewed a few months back.  Aldiss is definitely one of the more bizarre and original (along with Philip K. Dick) sci-fi voices of the 50s (and beyond).

Most collections are purposely comprised of a mixture of good and bad stories hence the generally low collated ratings I hand out.  Unlike Galaxies, most of the stories in this collection are worth reading and none are egregiously bad.  ‘Not for an Age,’ ‘Judas Danced’, ‘The Failed Men’, and ‘Outside’ are all highly Continue reading →

Updates: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions No. XLVV (Herbert + Anderson + Brackett + Kornbluth)

/ Joachim Boaz / 19 Comments

More Christmas gifts + Winter break used bookstore finds….

Two more Richard Powers covers from the 50s…

A non-Dune Frank Herbert find with a wonderful Vincent Di Fate cover…  I’ve been somewhat ambivalent with Herbert’s non-Dune corpus in the last few years.  A 50s Poul Anderson adventure, a later Leigh Brackett novel, and another scathing satire from the delightful pen of C. M. Kornbluth…

1. The God Makers, Frank Herbert (1972) (MY REVIEW)

(Vincent Di Fate’s cover for the 1973 edition) Continue reading →