technology

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 →

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: Hoot von Zitzewitz’s Fantastic Flights of Fancy

/ Joachim Boaz / 9 Comments

(Hoot von Zitzewitz’s cover for the 1967 edition of The Winged Man (1966), A. E. van Vogt and E. Mayne Hull)

In the 1960s the sci-fi covers of the major publishers Dell, Berkley Medallion, Signet, Avon, Ace (etc) ran the gamut from Richard Powers’ avant-garde landscapes and conglomerate faces to the fantastic collages of a relatively unknown artist by the name of Hoot von Zitzewitz (Hubertus Octavio von Zitzewitz).

I’ve cobbled together a few bits of a biography (if any one knows some more concrete facts let me know).  He was a fine arts teacher at Hofstra University and passed away around 2002.  Hoot worke Continue reading →

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: The Best of Alex Schomburg’s 60s Novel Covers

/ Joachim Boaz / 13 Comments

(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 →

Book Review: Assignment Nor’ Dyren, Sydney Van Scyoc (1973)

/ Joachim Boaz / 9 Comments

3.25/5 (Average)

Sydney Van Scyoc’s Assignment Nor’ Dyren (1973), inspired by Ursula Le Guin’s masterpiece The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), is a problematic yet generally enjoyable work.  I found that Van Scyoc is unable to maintain the sense of wonder she conjures so vividly in the first third.  Likewise, her prose tends to plod due to the descriptive restrictions she forces on herself (for example, describing each alien the main character encounters by their species).  Perhaps it’s unfair to compare  Assignment Nor’ Dyren to Ursula Le Guin’s masterpiece — considered among the best science fiction works ever written — but the overwhelming impression Continue reading →

Book Review: Down to Earth (variant title: Antic Earth), Louis Charbonneau (1967)

/ Joachim Boaz / 5 Comments

down to earth louis charbonneau

2/5 (Bad)

The seductive combination of a beautiful cover by Paul Lehr, a seldom read author, a fascinating premise (well, at least from the back cover) appeared at first glance a glorious chance for the pen to wax delightfully on the glories everyone else missed out on.

As much as the esotericist delights in searching through back catalogues of dusty books the lack of extant information/reviews on the work entails risk.  If I had known the entire plot revolves around a vengeful/vindictive/insane man inflicting tortures (the PG-13 sort) on an unsuspecting family hanging out in space — à la a watered down version of Michael Haneke’s Funny Games (1997) without its postmodern deconstruction of our desire 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 Art: Rampant Machines, The 60s Covers of Jerome Podwil

/ Joachim Boaz / 8 Comments

I’ve never been a fan of A. E. van Vogt.  A while back, having just finished his “masterpiece” The World of Null-A (1948), I headed to the used book store and saw Jerome Podwil’s cover for Vogt’s sequel, The Players of Null-A (1966) and had to pick it up.  Simply put, it is a spectacular piece of art.  Discovering Podwil’s Calder-esque machine extending its limbs across the plain made me pay more attention to the covers as art and the artists who made them.  Hence this series of posts! (Adventures in Science Fiction Art Index)

(Are any of the books worth reading? What’s your favorite of his work (perhaps one I haven’t listed)?)

(Cover for the 1966 edition of The Players of Null-A (1966), A. E. van Vogt)

Continue reading →

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

/ Joachim Boaz / 19 Comments

Robert Foster produced only a handful of science fiction covers.  The most inventive graced a span of Frederik Pohl novels and short story collections released by Ballantine Books in the late 60s.  Sadly, I can find no information about the artist himself online (if you do please let me know).  Here’s a selection of the most interesting, haunting, and spectacular…

Part II (here)

Mechanical man — a bedraggled simulacra. Nude woman — embodiment of flesh.  A lunar landscape greets them…

(ranks among my favorite covers of all time)

(Cover for the 1969 edition of Turn Left at Thursday (1961), Frederik Pohl) Continue reading →

Book Review: The Alien Way, Gordon Dickson (1965)

/ Joachim Boaz / 1 Comment

3.75/5 (Good)

I was pleasantly surprised by Gordon R. Dickson’s intelligent and occasionally thought-provoking The Alien Way (1965).  Considering he’s famous for his military sf Dorsai! saga, the lack of epic space battles — i.e. inter-species conflict in the traditional manner — came as a shock.  There are a few instances of violence but they’re few and far between.

The ultimate message is a cautionary one — only when the pattern of human nature (its instincts, reactions, ets) is understood can non-violent contact be made with an alien species.   We react to protect our species just as animals react to protect their young.  Of course the aliens have to come to this realization Continue reading →