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| Cover by Dan Adkins from A Code For Sam. |
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
Friday, 1 July 2011
THE HISTORY OF THE SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE PART 2
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| NEL hardcover, 1975. Cover illustration by Josh Kirby. |
"Part 1 of this history of the science fiction magazine traced the earliest development of pulp and science fiction magazines in the period 1926-35.
Part II takes up the story after the depression during which period, perhaps surprisingly, these magazines continued to flourish. By 1936 America, the home of science fiction publications, was feeling secure again, and people tended to ignore the gathering clouds of war. The science fiction magazine market became big business, reaching the first of its peaks, only to be matched again in the fifties. The leading magazines were still Amazing, Thrilling Wonder and Astounding, but there were countless others, such as Astonishing Stories, Cosmic Stories, Fanciful Tales, Flash Gordon's Strange Adventures, Stardust, Stirring Science Stories and many more. Magazine publishing in the late thirties also saw the expansion of science fiction into new markets in Britain and other countries outside the United States.
The main trend in the magazines' content was influenced by the adventure and other pulp creations, so that emphasis was towards action, and less 'thinking' sf. Series were particularly popular such as the brain stealers by John W. Campbell, written under the pen-name of Don Stuart. Many authors who were to become big names appeared regularly in print for the first time, among them A. E. Van Vogt and Robert Heinlein. The juvenilia sf magazines also burgeoned, especially the 'bug-eyed monster- variety. But this high time was interrupted by the second world war, and nearly all the magazines, apart from the old stalwarts such as Amazing, collapsed.
Included in this volume are extensive appendices covering the frequency of publication of various magazines; magazine editors and cover artists. Also reprinted are ten stories most representative of the writing of the period. These include an early Eric Frank Russell collaboration, Seeker Of Tomorrow; a classic Stanley G. Weinbaum tale, The Circle Of Zero; and a grim piece by Robert Bloch, Almost Human, plus many other delights."
Contents:
The Circle Of Zero by Stanley G. Weinbaum
Seeker Of Tomorrow by Eric Frank Russell and Leslie J. Johnson
The Dead Spot by Jack Williamson
The 4-Sided Triangle By William F. Temple
Hermit Of Saturn's Rings by Neil R. Jones
The Abyss by Robert A. W. Lowndes
Up There by Donald A. Wollheim
Almost Human by Robert Bloch
Wanderer Of Time by John Russell Fearn
The Power by Murray Leinster
Thursday, 23 June 2011
WEB OF THE CHOZEN
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| Del Rey SF paperback, second printing, May 1982. Cover art by Ralph McQuarrie. |
"Nobody Beats Bar Holliday
He was paid to find terraformable worlds, new planets for his corporation to plunder. Up until the day he came upon the Peace Victory, an abandoned generation ship hovering ominously above a definitely habitable planet, he believed nobody ever could.
Nobody Beats Bar Holliday
...because he was never satisfied with anything lower than first place, because he was always the oddball, in charge of his own welfare, his own destiny...A man determined to make his mark in the world and win all games at any cost.
Nobody Ever Beats Bar Holliday
...because he only took the wrong chances at the right times. But on the planet Patmos, where everything looked safe, but nothing was, Bar Holliday had at last met his match!"
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
THE CITY
"In the aftermath of mankind's final war the few survivors scratch an existence from the ruins. This is no brave new world. From the shattered fragments of a once great civilization crawl the Rats - to claim the domain as their own. The city and its pitiful human inhabitants finally belong to them. The people have become prey, the hunters the hunted. But now the traveller has arrived and he is no victim. In search of his past, he has come to take back the dream of life as it was before. But in the city the only dreams left are nightmares."
Monday, 20 June 2011
LONE SLOANE : DELIRIUS
"Philippe Druillet is one of Europe's most prominent and popular artists in the field of illustrated fantasy and science fiction. The adventures of Lone Sloane through time and space and on the incredible world of Delirius are here presented for the first time in English. Forthcoming books by druillet in the series include "Yragael" and "Urm".
He is at present working on further adventures of Lone Sloane. Druillet (pronounced dru-yay) has won numerous awards in Europe and America for his books.
He says that his ultimate ambition is 'to create a whole universe of science fiction. It would be terrible to think of not doing it. I have worlds to create, characters to develop. It's what i have in me, and i want to experiment. I believe that i will always draw comics; they are among the most beautiful things that can be imagined - and they are true.'"
YRAGAEL : URM
"Philippe Druillet is one of europe's most prominent and popular artists in the field of illustrated fantasy and science fiction. This book is the second in the series of English translations of Druillet's work published by Dragon's Dream; the first "Lone Sloane - Delirius" was released in 1977. Druillet (pronounced dru-yay) has won numerous awards in Europe and America for his books. He says that his ultimate ambition is 'to create a whole universe of science fiction. It would be terrible to think of not doing it. I have worlds to create, characters to develop. It's what i have in me, and i want to experiment. I believe that i will always draw comics; they are among the most beautiful things that can be imagined - and they are true.'"
Tuesday, 24 May 2011
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
INVADERS OF SPACE
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| Tandem SF paperback, 1968. Cover artist uncredited. |
"Things were quiet that night in the space port. Then the 'Theban' arrived without warning, bringing with it a surly crew, led by a blustering captain, Larson...
The 'Theban' was old, propelled by a totally obsolescent interplanetary drive. The only way Larson could get it off the ground was to kidnap the young engineer, Horn, who he hoped could at least manage to keep the ship in flight until it reached its final rendezvous.
Their destination was the spaceship 'Danae' - a ship loaded with millions in space credit notes. If horn wanted to save the 'Danae' from the onslaughts of the Space Invaders, he had his work cut out for him..."
ANYTHING YOU CAN DO...
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| Lancer paperback, 1969. Artwork by Bill Skurski |
"Aliens aren't Human!
No matter what the shape of an alien body or how great the intelligence of an alien brain, a creature born under another star and reared on another planet is not a man. He (or it) will not think, feel or react as a human would in the same circumstances - which doesn't mean that aliens cannot be thinking, feeling, or reacting creatures. When one Nipe is shipwrecked on earth, the entire race of man finds itself in a ten-year battle against a different mind - a battle to gain ten million years of alien knowledge - a battle to win the stars!"
TUNNEL IN THE SKY
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| Pan paperback, 1968. Cover artist uncredited. |
"In an age when rocket ships are museum pieces and interplanetary travel is carried out by means of the Ramsbotham jump. Rod Walker is one of a group of male and female students sent individually on a strenuous survival test to a distant planet. Retrieval arrangements go wrong and the young people are left to face the alarming challenge of an unknown world..."
RED PLANET
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| Pan paperback, 1967. Cover artist uncredited. |
"Through the amazing talents of Willis, an engaging Martian Roundhead, two boys at school in Syrtis Minor discover a plot by the resident agent general to make the colonists his slaves. The boys escape to warn their families in the south colony and survive many dangers before finding sanctuary with the true Martians, who return the boys home to face arrest and disbelief...In a savage battle for survival everything depends on Willis..."
Thursday, 28 April 2011
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