Monday, 23 August 2010

SCIENCE FICTION MONTHLY VOLUME 2 NUMBER 11 1975

Cover painting Space Cracker by Tim White.

Pirates Of The Asteroids by Bruce Pennington.

Fantastic Planet by reader's painting competition winner Peter Eelson.
This image was presented as an A2-sized poster and according to Peter's official
website, was his first (published?) work.

SCIENCE FICTION MONTHLY VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 1976

Cover painting: Paladin by Roger Dean.

Painitng by Chris Foss for Perry Rodan's The Planet Of The Dying Sun.

Painting by Robert Burton.

Painting by Mark Lowdon.

Blue Demon by Roger Dean, from his book Views.

Paladin by Roger Dean, from his book Views.

Sunday, 22 August 2010

SCIENCE FICTION MONTHLY VOLUME 1 NUMBER 5 1974

Cover artwork by Chris Yates.

Painting by Eddie Jones.

Artwork by Chris Yates, for Solar Lottery by Philip K. Dick.

Artwork by Chris Yates, for Toyman by E. C. Tubb.

Artwork by Chris Yates, for Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys.

Friday, 20 August 2010

98.4

Coronet paperback, 1975. Cover art by John Holmes (thanks, Zardoz)

"From the author of FISTFUL OF DIGITS 
another terrifying novel of computerisation gone berserk 
98.4 
The Nerve Controlled Ballistic Missiles described in this book are entirely imaginary and bear no relation to any living person"

FISTFUL OF DIGITS

Coronet paperback, second impression, 1975. Cover painting by
John Holmes (thanks, Zardoz).

"- A natural successor to 1984? 
Fistful of Digits 
- A fascinating story of high adventure and low science fiction? 
- One of the most terrifyingly prophetic novels of the decade? 
On any of these levels, fistful of digits is a book that cries out to be read, a book that will scare the mind out of your head."

Thursday, 19 August 2010

THE SANTAROGA BARRIER

NEL paperback, April 1979. Illustration: Tim White.

"Why are we forced to close down our branches in Santaroga? Why won't any single Santarogan trade with an outsider? What's this Santarogan barrier which keeps us from doing business there?
Intimations of mass tribal insanity urge Gilbert Dasein to investigate the Santaroga scene himself. And behind the solid, faceless, enduring barrier he finds to his horror that every Santarogan citizen has become an extension of every other Santarogan...The people have lost all personal identity...They are like rays spreading out from a thin hole in a black curtain. And behind the curtain lies...What?"

THE SANTAROGA BARRIER

NEL paperback, 1971. Cover by Jan Parker.

"Why are we forced to close down our branches in Santaroga? Why don't any single Santarogan trade with an outsider? What's this Santarogan barrier which keeps us from doing business there?
Intimations of mass tribal insanity urge Gilbert Dasein to investigate the Santaroga scene himself. And behind the solid, faceless, enduring barrier he finds to his horror that every Santarogan citizen has become an extension of every other Santarogan ..... the people have lost all personal identity ..... they are like rays spreading out from a thin hole in a black curtain. And behind the curtain lies - - - - what? 
Frank Herbert, who holds the Hugo and Nebula awards for his massively successful "Dune", here reveals a new facet of his brilliant talent."

PRELUDE TO FOUNDATION

Grafton paperback, 1990. Illustration by Tim White.

"THE KEY TO THE FUTURE 
It is the year 12,020 G.E. And the last Galactic Emperor of the Autun Dynasty, Cleon I, sits uneasily on the throne. These are troubled times and Cleon I is desperate to find a way to calm them. When young Hari Seldon arrives on Trantor to present a paper on psychohistory, his astounding theory of prediction, the Emperor believes that his future security may rest on Seldon's prophetic powers. Now Hari is the most wanted man in the Empire as he desperately struggles to keep his remarkable theory from reaching the wrong hands, while forging the key to the future - a power to be known as the Foundation! 
PRELUDE TO FOUNDATION 
marks the long awaited and eagerly anticipated re-appearance of the Outworld mathematician, Hari Seldon. What happened in the many centuries before the events told of in Asimov's other Foundation nobels- hitherto only hinted at- is now revealed."

MINDBRIDGE

Orbit paperback, 1977. Cover painting by Josh Kirby.

"A DAZZLING EPIC OF THE FAR FUTURE FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE FOREVER WAR 
MINDBRIDGE 
When sensors detect the presence of alien intelligence in the region of the star Achernar, a team of 'Tamers' is sent to investigate. They are never seen again. Another small team, the elite of the Tamer agency, is ordered out, primed with every defensive and offensive weapon the technology of earth can devise. What they find looks harmless enough at first, but develops into the most hideous confrontation mankind will ever have to endure."

THE FOREVER WAR

Orbit paperback, 1976. Cover painting by Patrick Woodroffe.

"My name is Private Mandella. 
I am one of the elite of the Earth. I have an IQ over 150: I have unusual health and strength and I have been conscripted to guard humanity against the Tauran menace on some lonely outpost of the galaxy. 
The catch is - the way to get back home is after a combat tour, which because of the collapsar jump could last a century or two. That won't matter, I'll only be a few months older, but I won't recognise the earth I left. And, of course, not fitting in I won't want to stay there so I'll re-enlist, and when I return as a veteran they won't even speak my language... 
The army is my home now. 
But that's what they planned all along wasn't it...Wasn't it?"

GALACTIC ODYSSEY

Berkley Medallion paperback, September 1967. Cover painting
by Richard M. Powers.

"IT WAS STRANGE 
enough to begin with - I, Billy Danger, stranded on a planet with the beautiful Lady Raire. After the massacre that took two of our party, we alone were left, waiting to be rescued. 
Hope filled my breast when a spaceship landed, but the batlike dwarfs that emerged, viciously beat me up, grabbed the Lady Raire...And when I came to, they were gone, with her. 
She was my charge - i was responsible for her safety, and i meant to find her, even if i had to Itravel to each and every planet in the galaxy. 
I was a bluff young lad in those days - and might have chosen differently, if i had known what grisly adventures were in store for me in the century's most hair-raising GALACTIC ODYSSEY."