Classic Science Fiction Covers

[j d worthington]

Wish I could say yes, Ian, but I can't. I remember far too many times when a piece of artwork was used by a publisher for several different books in the sff fields, and even sometimes for mysteries as well. Saved on budgets, and I gather the feeling was the artwork was generic enough it could almost be a "one-size-fits-all-B.E.M.s".....

 

[K. Riehl]

Here is another example of the recycling of covers by publishers. Two different stories and authors.

Notice that the image is altered to remove whip and scars but increase the amount of breast shown. There is a third version with a hand drawn black bikini top but I can't find it at the moment.

 

[K. Riehl]

Here are some of what I think are classic covers

 

[iansales]

Wish I could say yes, Ian, but I can't. I remember far too many times when a piece of artwork was used by a publisher for several different books in the sff fields, and even sometimes for mysteries as well. Saved on budgets, and I gather the feeling was the artwork was generic enough it could almost be a "one-size-fits-all-B.E.M.s".....

I didn't really expect you to be

Here's a real classic: a space pirate, with a slide rule between his teeth.

 

[Dr. Atomic]

That's a great! Any idea who the illustrator is?

Yep. It's the one and only Frank Kelly Freas.

 

[clovis-man]

I wish I had this copy of ANALOG.

The cover is from 1968, which is about the same time that the SR-71 Blackbird was first revealed to the public. Kelly Freas was Johnny-on-the-spot at using it for his cover. This many years later, it still looks pretty futuristic.

Regards,

Jim

 

[HardScienceFan]

Jim,
i know my analogs
And I know my Emsh,Freas,Schoenherr,Summers
need proof?

my fender basses on this being an Emsh

its what art lovers and dealers call an umistakable signature

i think it says Emsh on his wrist bracelet,in mirror image.


Always great fun,looking for the tiny signature four letters

 

[ChrisBfla]

I love the old covers. When I got my publishing contract for my first novel, I was very fortunate that the publsiher gave me artisitc control over the cover. My book will not be released until January, 2009, but it will feature a very "classic" style of cover. It is a scence from the end of my novel where the main characters are battling insect like aliens as they fight their way back to their ship which has been pulled inside the giant alien fleet commnad ship.

Chris

 

[thatollie]

*Innocent Whistling*

http://www.brucepennington.co.uk/covers.htm

 

[randyattwood]

Excellent posts Wanderer! I feel a real sense of nostalgia for the genre book covers of the 1960s, 70's and 80's. The rich profusion of different styles, techniques and media was as astounding as it was brilliant.

Nowadays the trend is toward ham-fisted literalism and Photoshopping everything unto death - a five-finger exercise in composited clip-art pseudo-creativity. Ye Gods, but I do yearn for those days of yesteryear! Thank you for taking me back to my roots and reminding me why I became a genre illustrator!

I couldn't concur more!

 

[Extollager]

(My copy is in better condition than this one!)

 

[Extollager]

It looks like Paperback Library briefly toyed with the idea of a series to rival the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series. This is the only book of which I'm aware that has the centaur (rather than unicorn) design and the "Paperback Library Fantasy Novel" label. Does anyone know of others?

 

[Extollager]

These are not images of my copies -- but I found nicely-priced copies of my own this summer in a southern Oregon used book store.

 

[Extollager]

This one just for laughs. The novel is excellent, an eerie Twilight Zone-y thing with mythological elements, but if you didn't know that already you'd hardly guess it from the cover, taken from a British TV miniseries. (Alan Garner has an interesting anecdote about being on the scene for filming and just about going berserk.) I have seen some of the miniseries at YouTube and wasn't all that taken with it...

 

[Extollager]

I don't seem to run across very many references to Poul Anderson's short novel The Enemy Stars. here published as We Have Fed Our Sea, but it is one of my favorite works of sf. I like being able to read it in these "atmospheric" issues rather than in a paperback with bland recent cover art.

 

[Extollager]

Got this one (though this is someone else's image) when I was eleven. That would make it one of the first sf books that I ever owned.

 

[Extollager]

Two books I'd keep even if I had to get rid of almost all of my sf:

 

[Extollager]

I associate this novel by Lester del Rey with Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions and de Camp and Pratt's Land of Unreason. A modern earthman is plunged into a world of legendary or mythic adventure. I suppose I haven't read this del Rey is decades. Despite the cover, the other world involved is a Norse mythological one. Wait, it's not that the hero goes to the mythic world; it's that mythic events -- Fimbulwinter -- are coming to ours.

My favorite novel about Norse myth material encroaching on our world may be Lars Walker's Wolf Time, which I really urge you to read if you like this sort of thing. For a while, at least, Baen Books made it available as a free read online, if you can't get hold of a copy.

 

[Extollager]

One of the books I've owned for the longest time -- got it 18 March 1970:

 

[Extollager]

Just a few more vintage sf pbs from my collection, but the images aren't mine.