THE SLAVES OF HEAVEN

The Slaves of Heaven by Edmund Cooper, 1978.
Cover "design" is credited to David Cox Studios, however the artist is Jim Burns.

The Slaves of Heaven, 1977 - clean image from Jim's book Lightship.

FRANK HERBERT: EYE

NEL paperback, 1988. Cover artwork by Jim Burns.

Rear cover, synopsis, etc.

Portrait of Irulan, interior illustration from The Road To Dune by Jim Burns.

Portrait of Duncan Idaho, interior illustration from The Road To Dune by Jim Burns.

VISIONS OF THE FUTURE: AN EXCITING AND NOVEL SELECTION OF SCIENCE FICTION ART OF TODAY

It's books like this that make me wish I had an A3 scanner. Actually, I do own one, but it's old (Windows 95/98) and only has a SCSI cable, which I don't think any of my PCs have had since 2005. Anyway... this is a large format paperback book published in 1976 featuring content previously featured either in New English Library's Science Fiction Monthly (an A3 sized poster magazine that run from the mid to late 1970s), or the covers of NEL's line of SF paperbacks. Artists featured include Brent Armstrong, Jim Burns, Gary Chalk, Gareth Colman, Lucinda Cowell, Gordon C. Davies, Roger Dean, Emlyn Duffy, Ray Feibush, Chris Foss, C. Foster, Bob Fowke, Bob Haberfield, David Hardy, G. W. Harrison, Colin Hay, David Higgins, P. Jepson, Josh Kirby, Bob Layzell, Mike Little, Brigid Marlin, Ian Miller, Kristine Nason, Michael Payne, David Pelham, Bruce Pennington, Time White and Chris Yates. There is a little biographical info on each, ranging from a line (date of birth, country) to whole pages. There's also an introduction by A. E. van Vogt.

The back cover, featuring the work of Karel Thole, who is not in the book, unfortunately. 

Rear-cover guff: 

"These imaginative visions of the future have all been culled from the pages of Science Fiction Monthly, Britain's top-selling sf colour magazine. They represent the work of established illustrators like David Pelham, Roger Dean, Bruce Pennington, David Hardy and Chris Yates and also the best of the new sf artists who have been featured over the past two years. Their range of interpretation and expression is quite exceptional - from the mysteriously innocent idylls of Bob Fowke, through the meticulously detailed space hardware of Chris Foss to the bizarre worlds of Ray Feibush. Like all good artists, they challenge us to think twice about our assumptions - whether the world of two hundred (or two million) years from now will be the technological heaven the scientists have promised, or whether it will be a nightmarish landscape in which we and our values have been hopelessly lost to the superiority of other civilizations 'out there'. As A.E. van Vogt says in his introduction, these pictures represent 'a new and remarkable. . .contribution to the slowly shifting balance of the human psyche as it once more tries to confront reality.' Through the airbrush and the photo-collage these artists tell us about ourselves and our place in the universe. At the same time they give us much of the fun of sf it has come down from the world of pulp fiction - bug-eyed monsters, rayguns, gigantic space battleships and fantastic planets. Their approach is wide-ranging and open, as it should be in tackling a world which looms nearer every day."

"Beyond Bedlam" by Jim Burns.

Painting for "Early Asimov 3" by Chris Foss.

Painting (detail) for Hughes Cooper's "Sexmax" by C. Foster.

"Purple Gas" by David Higgins.

"Invasion" (detail) by Bob Layzell.

"The Rat Catcher" by Ian Miller.

Painting (detail) by Bruce Pennington for M. John Harrison's "The Pastel City".

TRIPLE DÉTENTE

Sphere SF paperback, 1975. Cover painting by Jim Burns (I think).

Rear cover synopsis: 

"Victory! 

Our invincible space fleet has occupied the monsters' worlds. 

Victory! 

Our mighty space force has seized the aliens' home planet. 

Victory! 

Our triumphant space warriors have captured the enemy system. 

But then why are we suffering so beneath the tread of those heartless conquerors from the stars?"

THE AMTRAK WARS BOOK 1: CLOUD WARRIOR

Sphere paperback, 1983. Cover painting by Jim Burns.

"Ten centuries ago the Old Time ended when Earth's cities melted in the war of a Thousand Suns. Now the lethal high technology of the Amtrak Federation's underground stronghold is unleashed on Earth's other survivors - the surface-dwelling Mutes. But the primitive Mutes possess ancient powers greater than any machine..."

THE LOVERS

Corgi paperback, 1982. Cover painting by Jim Burns.

"Escaping the religious tyranny of a 31st-century Earth by a fluke assignment to the planet of Ozagen, linguist Hal Yarrow found that the worst of Earth had followed him - Pornsen, his personal Guardian Angel, vigilant for any evidence of a sin or wrong thinking. 

Conditioned by a lifetime of submission, Yarrow would have accepted Pornsen's constant spying as an unpleasant necessity, had it not been for Jeanette, the beautiful but dangerously different fugitive he found hiding in the ancient ruins..."

GALACTIC ENCOUNTERS: WORLDS AT WAR - AN ILLUSTRATED STUDY OF INTERPLANETARY CONFLICT

Intercontinental Book Productions, hardback, 1980. Cover painting by
Tony Roberts.

"Despite the vast breadth of the Galactic Federation, and the many worlds and races it encompasses, it is nevertheless a minute speck on the rum of the great wheel of our Galaxy. Other worlds and other races lie scattered among the innumerable stars beyond its frontiers, and many of these will have evolved at least as far as the worlds comprising the Federation. 

There will be the those beyond its boundaries within reach, who regard the existence of the Federation with alien eyes: sometimes with resentment, sometimes with fear. As long as this is the case there exists the threat of interstellar war. 

Worlds at War records the battles that have already taken place in the dark and airless wastes of space, describes the reasons behind them, the events which followed and the final outcome of each confrontation between the Federation and its enemies. Only three major wars have taken place during the last 150 years but each of them threatened the security of the hundreds of inhabited planets that make up the Galactic Federation, and each of them demanded considerable sacrifices from the brave creatures who offer their lives in defence of their fellows."

Painting by Chris Moore.

"The huge transmitting centers of the Federation's signalling stations played a key role in the desperate attempt to halt the advance of the nightmarish intruder, and proved more effective than the sophisticated weaponry of the entire Federation Defence Force."

Painting by Jim Burns.

"A grim sight met the eyes of the rescue teams rushing to the main camp on the planet of Bell's Lode in answer to the desperate cries for help of its occupants."

Painting by Bob Layzell.

"Operating from semi-permanent bases established near Bell's Lode, squadrons of military warships stood by to intercept any further raids by the Marauders."

Painting by Tony Roberts.

"Beneath the dense cloud cover of a Marauder planet a huge invasion fleet was massing."

Painting by Bob Layzell.

"Aware that they had advanced too far, and with supplies running low, the Phalan attack began to slow. The arrival of the Federation fleet from the battle with the support force turned the tide against the enemy. Here a Phalan command ship makes a dash for the safety of deep space."

THE STAINLESS STEEL RAT'S REVENGE

Bantam paperback, 1988. Cover painting by Jim Burns.

GALACTIC GUERILLA RAT! 

It was totally impossible for Cliaand to wage interstellar war...but the crazy little planet was winning, whatever the odds. And there wasn't much the peaceful galaxy could do...except send Slippery Jim di Griz - the Stainless Steel Ray - to wage his own kind of guerilla campaign against the grey men of Cliaand and their leader, the indomitable Kraj. But then the Rat was aided by a band of liberated Amazons and his own beloved, murderous Angelina...and they had to swing the odds in his favour."

THE STAINLESS STEEL RAT GETS DRAFTED

Bantam paperback, 1988. Cover painting by Jim Burns.

"When slippery Jim diGriz broke out so spectacularly from prison and found himself on the run on a planet so primitive it didn't even have the imagination to call itself anything except Planet (in the local lingo, of course), almost the last thing on his mind was joining the army. 

Thoughts of revenge on Captain Garth, the man responsible for his predicament, were uppermost. But one thing led to another and Captain Garth turned out to be General Zennor and General Zennor's defensive action was really a full-scale invasion. And somehow Jim seems to be the only thing standing between a small, defenceless planet and annihilation. 

Unfair odds, really - one Stainless Steel Rat against a merciless tyrant and his heavily armed troops. Zennor doesn't stand a chance..."

BROTHER TO DEMONS, BROTHER TO GODS

Sphere SF paperback, 1981. Cover painting by Jim Burns.

THE PERFECT ULTIMAN 

In the vast multiverse of the future, genetic engineering has created four human and superhuman breeds. 

The trumen - perfected human beings who are bright and beautiful, without defects or disease, living in perfect harmony. 

The mumen - specialized mutants reshaped for war or space or life on other worlds. 

The stargods - immortals created too much in the image of their blundering Creators, ruling the multiverse with more power than compassion. 

The Fourth Creation - a final attempt to restrain the tryrannic follies of the stargods who have killed the last Creator in their bid to rule supreme. 

Of the Fourth Creation only two young children survive; Davey Dunahoo and Buglet. Doomed to die with the premen on the desolate planet Andoranda V, Davey and Buglet face the awesome challenge of producing the Ultiman to destroy the mighty gods."

THE ALIEN WORLD - THE COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED GUIDE

Jacket illustration by Mick Brownfield.

"Professor Steven Eisler uses his immeasurable wit and razor-sharp intellect to assemble the currently available information from both established and obscure sources into the first sensible teatise on the fictitious world of expanding and contradicting galaxies and their alien life. When approaching this difficult task professor Eisler's initial problem was to establish a classification of alien cultures that would be acceptable to academics and, more importantly, clearly understood by the knowledgeable layman with a desire to study alien phenomena in depth. These criteria have been achieved with quite remarkable success. His five principle sectors, or divisions, satisfy all the wishes of his most eminent contemporaries as well as the publishers of this major contribution. The space that creates the galaxies universes and their forms is divided into, and named after, five groups: the Oisir-Raxxla; the Human; the Hiraldron; the Narathnu and the Uan-Irec. Professor Eisler has produced a coherent commentary of the geo -physical mediums that support the alien, their socio-political status, their economies, their communications and their alternative levels of consciousness. Using superbly adapted illustrations from the foremost artists on our planet, who have generously assisted in developing reconstructions of a selected number of the more significant aliens, the author presents an accurate and imaginative account within the organized structure necessary for any serious study of aliens, without losing sight of the many curious ambiguities that surround this subject."

Painting by John Schoenherr.

"The five sectors of the universe known to man are but five of hundreds, and the vast variety of life he has encountered is just a fraction of the life that must exist. We are most comfortable with the humanoid species, such as the Narathanan Astero Trader."

Painting by Michael Whelan.

"A particularly nasty piece of Raxxlan robotics. This skeletal machine was designed to spread alarm and despondency among races that the Oisir-Raxxla wanted to subdue without going to all the bother of genocide. This robot, which would normally be a MOLE class model well up on the ISAC (Integrated Sabotage/Assassination Capacity) scale, was sent to selected races disguised as a representative of the most holy caste. When a sufficiently large group of worshippers had gathered, the robot would run berserk or occasionally explode."

Painting by Graham Wildridge.

"A part of the Talmor Lens, built on the world Capralax VII. This is an 'edge-stabiliser', designed to hold the underspace tensions of five pyramidal lenses in control."

Painting by F. Jurgen Rogner.

"The Eye Of The Beholder. A Raxxlan projection which appeared above the primitive world Winter D, populated by sentient, but unadvanced insectoids. The Eye became an overwhelming symbol of the evil that stared from the heavens, so disorienting the creatures that the Oisir-Raxxla were able to build their structure and depart without life being lost."

Painting by David Hardy.

"An image from the Book Of Chaak, shows Oriathan ships attacking a Ranan Colony world. A Ranan defence vessel, disguised as natural landscape, rises to meet the offenders. This sort of skirmish seems to have gone on for many hundreds of years, necessitating the constant maintenance of borders between the various subdivisions of the Tholmathon Empire. When the Empire finally came back together it seems that our own Galaxy was chosen as the central Star World for the formation of a Peace Corps."

Painting by Jim Burns.

"Half machine, half Humanoid, the Ragass are strange intelligences of the fire-covered world Renefa IV. They turned to the Gestalt for help in cooling the vocalnic activity of their world. The Ragass do not appear to have a very high intelligence, and certainly seem incapable of having built the machine technology which they are so closeley linked. The Gestalt believe that, at some period in the distant past, another culture experimented with bionic machines, and Renefa IV has been the dumping ground for their failures. The Human race is suspected."

Painting by Eddie Jones.

"The Ologog. Human contact with the Ologog of Gabragorn II has been nearly as extensive as that by Uan-Irec; the warrior castes have little interest in intelligences that cannot instruct them in new ways of war, but the Ologog are sad and troubled creatures, and mankind has attempted to alleviate their burden. Communication with the Ologog is made using large message capsules, which sink to the immense machine-creatures as they bask on the sea-bed."

Published in 1980 by Crescent books The Alien World contains 90 large colour illustrations by talents such as Jim Burns, Tony Roberts, Angus McKie, Colin Hay, John Schoenherr, Michael Whelan and John Blanche. Each alien race included is featured with in depth information - generally the book is structured in a similar manner to other books that featured Young Artists artwork in the 1980s such as Alien Landscapes and Tour Of The Universe, etc.

As this is a re-post, I wanted to include a lot more scans from this book but either I've already posted the artworks in the form of their original covers or images I would've liked to have shared are printed across the spine, meaning scanning them would be a lengthy, messy and tedious process.

LIGHTSHIP

Paper Tiger paperback, 1985. © Jim Burns.

Painting for the cover of Larry Niven and Steven Barnes' Dream Park.

Big Boy Loco, from Planet Story; Burns' collaboration with Harry Harrison.

Spaceport, from Harry Harrison's book Mechanismo.

Painting from Richard Avery's The Deathworms Of Kratos.

Painting for Frank Herbert's Heretics Of Dune.

MECHANISMO

Pierrot softcover 1978. Cover painting Sentry Biot by Jim Burns.

 "In MECHANISMO the future has come. In MECHANISMO intergalactic space travel has arrived, biotic robots are a thing of the present, space ports to service the stars and planets are real, space cities are inhabited, fantastic machines, time machines, battle robots and massive computers exist here and now. 

In MECHANISMO you can see a gaussi fighter in full colour and then as an engineer's technical drawing with the armaments, drive power and all specifications given in great detail. Here you will discover the most startling machines illustrated specially for the book: troop carriers, personnel craft, giant time machines, a computer that would fill an entire city and cities built in the image of man, visited by alien races. You will see too the technical drawings for an actual planned NASA space colony, twenty five miles long and two miles in diameter. 

In MECHANISMO you become part of the future and can live through the illustrations in worlds that may one day exist."

Painting by Bob Layzell.

Painting by Bob Layzell.

Painting by Colin Hay.

Painting by Alan Daniels.

Painting by Tony Roberts.

PLANET STORY

Pierrot softcover, 1979.

 "This epic tale of a doughty band of space pioneers who forge a railroad across Strabismus, the frontier of space, is lifted into the stratosphere with 50 pages of the most spectacular illustrations known to man. Jim Burns's long-awaited collaboration with Harry Harrison has produced a breath-taking set of images in a wild and witty space opera where a robot track-layer emerges from a vast spacecraft to crash its way through alien cities and uninhabited wastes."

Text is copyright © 1979 by Harry Harrison, illustrations are copyright © 1979 by Jim Burns.

Scoutship Pilot.

Professor Shlek.

 "The man, a thin and seedy-looking individual with a wispy grey beard and terminal acne, checked his crates then plugged into the viewscreen."

Robot Reception Guard.

"The robot riflemen raised their atomic rifles and fired a volley into the air; all except one defective robot who blew the head off the robot standing next to him. Cursing a vile oath, the Colonel issued another command and all of the other robots turned and fired and disintegrated their erring comrade."