Pulp/Sf/Fantasy Paperback Covers

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My first copy of Thomas Disch's brilliant new wave classic 334 was this hilariously inappropriate outerspace cover (in the novel space travel has been abandoned).

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It is interesting to see the diverse range of covers 334 has gotten over the years.

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Another New Wave classic is Ballard's Crash, whose modern editions actually are quite striking and appropriately adventurous. The original paperbacks definitely don't shy away from its pornographic content.

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Not sure what is going on here.

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That 1989 cover clearly takes some inspiration from the shape of Jabba's palace in Return of the Jedi.
That's a good point. It was actually a reused cover from the Orbit collection of best SF of the year for 1987:

Orbit Best SF 1987.jpg
My first Vance was The Dragon Masters, which still remains one of my favourites by him. The chilly, amoral tone in his sf (as opposed to the generally greater humour in his fantasy) is almost unique among the pulp generation, it reminds me more of Ballard than anything else.


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I encountered both stories at the same time, I think, since "The Dragon Masters" (in the cover above) was the flipside of Ace Double from 1973 that featured "The Last Castle" as well. The amorality you mention seems to have been with Vance from the beginning or his writing, or nearly--it was marked in a short story "Temple of Han" I just read from Planet Stories in 1951, though Vance's stylistic trademarks had not yet developed in it.

I can't stop myself from quoting the opening of "The Last Castle" since it such a perfect example of mature Vance:

Toward the end of a stormy summer afternoon, with the sun finally breaking out under ragged black rain clouds, Castle Janeil was overwhelmed and its population destroyed. Until almost the last moment the factions among the castle clans were squabbling as to how Destiny properly should be met. The gentlemen of most prestige and account elected to ignore the entire undignified circumstance and went about their normal pursuits, with neither more nor less punctilio than usual. A few cadets, desperate to the point of hysteria, took up weapons and prepared to resist the final assault. Others still, perhaps a quarter of the total population, waited passively, ready—almost happy—to expiate the sins of the human race. In the end death came uniformly to all; and all extracted as much satisfaction in their dying as this essentially graceless process could afford. The proud sat turning the pages of their beautiful books, or discussing the qualities of a century-old essence, or fondling a favorite Phane. They died without deigning to heed the fact. The hot-heads raced up the muddy slope which, outraging all normal rationality, loomed above the parapets of Janeil. Most were buried under sliding rubble, but a few gained the ridge to gun, hack, stab, until they themselves were shot, crushed by the half-alive power-wagons, hacked or stabbed. The contrite waited in the classic posture of expiation, on their knees, heads bowed, and perished, so they believed, by a process in which the Meks were symbols and human sin the reality. In the end all were dead: gentlemen, ladies, Phanes in the pavilions; Peasants in the stables. Of all those who had inhabited Janeil, only the Birds survived, creatures awkward, gauche and raucous, oblivious to pride and faith, more concerned with the wholeness of their hides than the dignity of their castle. As the Meks swarmed over the parapets, the Birds departed their cotes. They screamed strident insults as they flapped east toward Hagedorn, now the last castle of Earth.

Vance at one point wrote that the root idea for the society of the Earth castles came from some reading he did about premodern Japan. It seems to me that it is just one example of a pattern he returns to again and again in his fiction: the baroque aristocratic society, with its elaborate codes of behavior and courtesy, its highly developed aesthetics, and its distance from reality. It's about as far from the can-do pragmatic outlook common in some American SF at the time, or the 'noble savage' ideas of Howard and some fantasy. Actually, "The Last Castle," takes more of a stance against such an aristocratic culture than Vance sometimes does; I've wondered if that, along with the quality of the prose, is one reason it was so successful.
 
That's a good point. It was actually a reused cover from the Orbit collection of best SF of the year for 1987:

View attachment 29739


I encountered both stories at the same time, I think, since "The Dragon Masters" (in the cover above) was the flipside of Ace Double from 1973 that featured "The Last Castle" as well. The amorality you mention seems to have been with Vance from the beginning or his writing, or nearly--it was marked in a short story "Temple of Han" I just read from Planet Stories in 1951, though Vance's stylistic trademarks had not yet developed in it.

I can't stop myself from quoting the opening of "The Last Castle" since it such a perfect example of mature Vance:



Vance at one point wrote that the root idea for the society of the Earth castles came from some reading he did about premodern Japan. It seems to me that it is just one example of a pattern he returns to again and again in his fiction: the baroque aristocratic society, with its elaborate codes of behavior and courtesy, its highly developed aesthetics, and its distance from reality. It's about as far from the can-do pragmatic outlook common in some American SF at the time, or the 'noble savage' ideas of Howard and some fantasy. Actually, "The Last Castle," takes more of a stance against such an aristocratic culture than Vance sometimes does; I've wondered if that, along with the quality of the prose, is one reason it was so successful.

The Last Castle was also my first Vance. It was one of those double-sided books, but I can't remember what the other one was ('cos I didn't read it). I loved it, but I didn't really "learn" to enjoy his writing style until Lyonesse. I tried to read the first book when I was around 12 years old and I couldn't understand it, but when I came to it in my early twenties I ended up loving it. Suldrun's Garden remains one of my favourite books!

Suldrun's Garden.jpg


Also, I ended up grabbing James Blish's "Black Easter" because of this thread and, man, did I love it.
 
E.C. Tubb is a British space opera writer who I discovered from the praise he received from his fellow British sf writers like Moorcock, Stableford, etc.

Unlike a number of other space opera writers who grew out of the pulps and magazine tradition one of the great things about Tubb is you don't have to suffer through substandard, rushed writing. His style isn't remarkable per se but it is clear, literate and well written. His characterization isn't embarrassing or clumsy, his plots are pacey and well structured, he handles sex unusually well for a sf writer of his generation and is not bereft of real humour.

The covers for his compulsively readable Dumarest series for DAW and Ace are surprisingly first rate.

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A lot of these book covers are screaming to have their title changed to something funny like in that other thread. :tongue:
 
The cover of the e-book version of Henry Kuttner's Elak of Atlantis collection that I just read is very bland, so here are some more interesting ones.

A 1938 October Weird Tales cover by Margaret Brundage (another of her Elak covers is above at post #105) and a 1941 January by Harold De Lay:
weird_tales_193810.jpgweird_tales_194101.jpg

The 1985 collection of all the Elak tales, cover by Brad Foster, and the 2007 Paizo reprint, cover by Andrew Hou:
Elak1985.jpgElak2007-AndrewHou.jpg
 
Three covers, by Gene Szafran, from SF books I once owned. Szafran did a lot of paperback covers in the 1970s, until multiple sclerosis put a premature end to his career. He is responsible for some of the Heinlein reprint covers that appear upthread.

Day of the Drones (1970), The Alien Way (1973), and Trullion: Alastor 2262 (1973).
Day of the Drones 1975.jpgAlien Way 1973.jpgTrullion 1973.jpg
 
Looking back over the thread, there aren't as many of the Gene Szafran covers for Heinlein books as I had thought, so I will post some. These are all from Signet paperbacks; the covers originally appeared in 1970-72, though a few of these are actually later reprintings:

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DoubleStar-Signet_1970.jpgMethuselahsChildren-Signet-1975.jpgTHGRNHLLSM0000.jpg

As you can see, they had a very distinct look, only vaguely related to the contents of the novel (or collection of stories).
 
I have most of those Heinlein's with those covers as I liked their psychedelic style even though most of the actual sf within has a very 50s vibe.
 
As promised elsewhere, some covers for Tanith Lee's Cyrion:

The 1983 DAW first edition, cover by Ken Kelly, and the 1984 J'ai Lu translation, cover by Tim White (actually a reused cover from Gillian Bradshaw's Hawk of May):

CYRION5C1982-Ken Kelly.jpgCRNMFJXKNH1984-Tim White.jpg

The 1984 Bastei Lübbe translation, cover by Greg Hildebrandt, and the 1993 Fanucci Editore translation, cover by Michael Whelan. The Hildebrandt cover was apparently made for this book, but doesn't reflect the character as described. The Whelan cover is reused from Moorcock's The Vanishing Tower and unsurprisingly has little do do with text.

CRNQNMLTLM1984-Greg Hildebrandt.jpgCRNFRSWCPP1993-Michael Whelan.jpg
 
The cover for "The Time Trap" by Henry Kuttner, in its first appearance in 1938. The art is by Frank R. Paul and is a good representation of one of the scenes in the story. Though it's been reprinted several times since in anthologies, this is the only cover that actually relates to the story.

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This is something I stumbled upon and had to post, just because of its title: The Gods Hate Kansas, by Joseph Millard (take that, Jayhawkers!).

The original 1941 appearance in Startling Stories, cover by Rudolph Belarski, and the 1951 reprint in Fantastic Story, cover by Earle Bergey:

STARTLNOV1941-GodsHateKansas.jpgFantastic Story 1952 Gods Hate Kansas.jpg

The 1964 Monarch novel, cover by Jake Thurston, and the 1964 Urania translation, cover by Karel Thole:

THGDSHTKNS1964-JackThurston.jpgUrania-KarelThole.jpg

It also seems to have been the inspiration for the 1967 SF film They Came from Beyond Space:

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Burroughs' Fighting Man of Mars has had a large number of interesting covers over the years. This post will deal with some early ones.

The novel was serialized in 6 parts in Blue Book in 1930, the April to September issues. It got the cover for all of them except August. Laurence Herndon did the covers, all of which picture episodes from the novel. In the April cover, I assume the large pale antagonist is supposed to be one of the white apes of Barsoom. It's also interesting that Herndon imagined Martian fliers as contemporary airplanes.

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The dustjacket of the Metropolitan Books first edition (1931) by Hugh Herndon. Again, fliers have wings. I don't think the hero, Tan Hadron, ever wears a helmet in the novel:

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The cover of the initial Bodley Head edition (1932) by 'Rogrenis' and of the reprint (1933) by J.H. Hartley. I like the Rogrenis cover quite a bit; it's simple but evocative:

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More Fighting Man of Mars covers:

The Pinnacle edition (1954), cover by J.C. McConnell, and the Canaveral Press (1962) by Mahlon Blaine. The McConnell again presents Barsoomian fliers as Earth aircraft, while the Blaine has an odd Mork Borg quality. Sorry that the best I could do for it is an e-Bay photo.

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The 1963 Ace cover by Roy Krenkel and the 1964 Ballantine by Bob Abnett. I like both of these, and the Abnett cover is what got burned into my brain as the 'real' image of a Martian flier when I was young.

FTNGM1963-Ace-RoyKrenkel.jpgFGHTNGMNFM1964-Ballantine.jpg

The 1966 Four Square Books cover by Josh Kirby and the 1971 New English Library by Richard Clifton-Dey. The Kirby cover makes Tan Hadron look a bit like a zombie, maybe in part because of the color scheme. The Clifton-Dey does not show any actual scene from the text, but is clearly going for cheesecake.

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Two later Ballantine covers, the 1973 by Gino D'Achille and the 1979 by Michael Whelan. I don't find D'Achille's Barsoom covers all that attractive, though it does capture a scene from the novel well.

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Some covers of Burroughs' Master Mind of Mars, which I just re-read. All except Carnon's depict scenes from the book.

The Frank R. Paul cover for Amazing Stories Annual (1927) and J. Allen St. John's for the first book publication (1928):

MM-Mars_Amazing_1927_Frank Paul.jpg THMSTRMNDF1928-J Allen St. John.jpg

The G.P. Mickelwright cover for Methuen (1939) and J.E. McConnell's for Pinnacle (1955), which is clearly based on the former.

The-Master-Mind-of-Mars-1939.-First-edition-Micklewright.jpg THMSTRMNDF1955-McConnell.jpg

Roy Carnon's cover for Four Square Books (1962) and Roy Krenkel's for Ace (1963):

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Some additional Master Mind of Mars covers.

Bob Abbett's for Ballantine (1963) and Bruce Pennington's for the New English Library (1972). I like Abbett's covers for Barsoom books, though this is not one of his best.

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Gino D'Achille's cover for the Ballantine re-issue (1973) and Whelan's for Del Rey (1979). D'Achille's White Ape is on the small side.

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I like the Gene Szafran covers for Syzygy and Trullion; it's interesting that he used such a different style for his Heinlein covers upthread.

Syzygy is one of those books that I remember largely because of the title, although I've never read it. I'd guess it was the first time I encountered that astronomical term. Here are some other Syzygy covers:

The Josh Kirby cover for Emfield Press (1973):

SZGLCXSXXC1973.jpg

David Bergen's wraparound for Arrow Books (1975):

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Karel Thole's for the Heyne translation (1981) and François Baranger's for a Bragelonne omnibus that includes the novel:

FLTSKDNWST1981.jpg LCRPSCLDSM2008.jpg
 
E.C. Tubb is a British space opera writer who I discovered from the praise he received from his fellow British sf writers like Moorcock, Stableford, etc.

Unlike a number of other space opera writers who grew out of the pulps and magazine tradition one of the great things about Tubb is you don't have to suffer through substandard, rushed writing. His style isn't remarkable per se but it is clear, literate and well written. His characterization isn't embarrassing or clumsy, his plots are pacey and well structured, he handles sex unusually well for a sf writer of his generation and is not bereft of real humour.

The covers for his compulsively readable Dumarest series for DAW and Ace are surprisingly first rate.

View attachment 29832View attachment 29833View attachment 29834
Love the Dumarest books, started reading them in the late 1970's. Soon after started playing Traveller and loved that the books influenced Marc Miller in his design of the Traveller rpg.
 
Today (7/19) is the anniversary of Alan E. Nourse's death in 1992. He was a physician who also wrote SF, especially what would nowadays be called 'young adult' novels (then juveniles), including a number about medicine in the future. I always remember him for the story "Brightside Crossing," which I think I encountered in a Damon Knight collection, Beyond Tomorrow. I'd like to read more of his short stories, about which the Science Fiction Encyclopedia has this to say:
It may be that a rediscovery of Nourse's sharp and shapely virtues as a storyteller may proceed through an encounter with his shorter work, some of it genuinely funny, most of it mixing adventure tropes with strong speculative elements. He initially assembled shorter in Tiger by the Tail (coll 1961; vt Beyond Infinity 1964), The Counterfeit Man and Others (coll 1963) Psi High and Others (coll, 1967), and Rx for Tomorrow (coll 1971), the latter focusing on stories about medicine in general. 12 Worlds of Alan E Nourse (coll 2010) represents some of this work. A sense of fundamental decency permeates Nourse's fiction; and, though sometimes too easily achieved, the victories of decency over bigotry cannot, either for the market upon which Nourse concentrated or the adult market in general, be seriously faulted.
Here are some covers of his collection Tiger by the Tail/Beyond Infinity, which includes "Brightside Crossing". The first is Mel Hunter's for the David McKay original edition (1961), the second is Josh Kirby's for the Corgi (1964, which used the variant title:

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These are Richard Powers' cover for Macfadden (1964), and Karol for the Macfadden reissue (1968):

TGRBTHTLND1964.jpg TGRBTHTLND1968.jpg
 
One of Nourse's early novels was an Ace Double with an Andre Norton book I loved as a kid, Star Rangers/The Last Planet. Here is the original hardback dust jacket by Richard Powers for Harcourt (1953) and Harry Barton's Ace cover (1955):

Norton_Star Rangers-Powers.jpg Last Planet Barton 1955.jpg

Alan Breese's cover for Gollancz (1968) and an uncredited Ace cover (1972)--the one on the copy I once owned:

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Ken Barr's Fawcett cover (1979) and Laurence Schwinger's for Del Rey (1985):

Fawcett 1979.jpg Schwinger 1985.jpg
 
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