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| Panther SF paperback, 1979. Cover artist uncredited. Possibly Tony Roberts? |
"A WORLD AT PEACE WITH ITSELF, AND WITH ITS NEIGHBOURS-
The 22nd century world of Lila Makindi, a young African girl, is a world of simplicity and peace, where the greatest honour any citizen can hope for is to be chosen by Bardo (the Space Communications Administration) as a candidate for Starflight.
Lila is chosen. She begins to practise the tantric yoga exercises that will take her to the stars where she will communicate and exchange knowledge with their alien inhabitants.
But Lila soon discovers that galactic intercourse is not the sole purpose of Starflight. Bardo's purpose is much more urgent, for the galaxy is threatened by an immense, malignant energy force - the Starbeast. And the efforts of the Starflyers is the only way of containing the Starbeast. At least, that's Bardo's story..."
This almost looks like a Tony Roberts cover to me. The high detail foreground/less detailed background fits his style, as does the colouration - he did frequently use that yellow/amber background, and the lense-flare effect to the right. But I could be completely wrong
ReplyDeleteI think you may be right, the artwork is very similar to his "Dorsai!" covers.
ReplyDeleteI've been having second thoughts about this cover. Might it be Peter Gudynas? He was doing a lot of Panther cover artworks around this time, - including Ian Watson's Martian Inca, and he is adept with an airbrush.
ReplyDeleteGood point - though all the other Gudynas/Panther books I have he's clearly credited - though he was doing a lot of work for editions of Ian Watson's books at the time - this one has me stumped!
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