ALIEN EMBASSY

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..."

THE MIND RIDERS

Fontana SF paperback, 1977. Cover illustration by Tony Roberts.

"The boxers slugging it out in the ring were just holographs, patterns of light, but to millions of Network viewers they were genuine flesh and blood. They looked real, and with an E-link between the handler controlling the sim and the viewer's mind you could actually feel them emotionally - their excitement, power, anger...even their fear and crushing sense of defeat. 

After the fight, when the holos faded out and the handlers took off their headsets, the boxers ceased to exist. There were no scars to heal,  except mental ones - and Network wasn't interested in things like that. 

But for years one handler had been tortured by painful memories of a previous fight - so much so, that when he came back to the ring for the last time he was fighting not just to win, but to gain honour and self-respect in a world he had ceased to believe in."

RIP FRANK FRAZETTA

Painting for L. Ron Hubbard's Battlefield Earth.

Frank Frazetta died yesterday (10th May), he was 82. Admittedly, his work was never my cup of tea but nonetheless, he was an incredible artist with an astounding body of work, even if his few dalliances with sf were rendered with the clichés of heroic fantasy intact. RIP, Frank.

SCIENCE FANTASY JUNE 1958

Cover by Brian Lewis for Earth is But A Star.

GALAXY MAGAZINE OCTOBER 1962

Cover painting by Virgil Finlay.

Interior illustration by Virgil Finlay for The Ballad Of Lost C'mell.

WORLDS OF IF SCIENCE FICTION AUGUST 1965

Cover by Jack Gaughan from Keith Laumer's Trick Or Treaty.

FUTURE SCIENCE FICTION JUNE 1959

Cover by Virgil Finlay for Obey That Impulse!

Interior illustration by Emsh for Love And The Stars - Today!

Interior illustration by Emsh for Signs Of The Times by Brent Howell.

Illustration by Emsh that accompanied an ad for gummed bookplates.

IF WORLDS OF SCIENCE FICTION JANUARY 1953

Cover: Suggesting The Ultimate Re-Sowing Of The Human Race - 4000AD
by Anton Kurka.

John Schoenherr R.I.P.

Illustration from an unknown issue of Analog. Note the washing machine agitator in the background.

Extraordinary artist, sf art legend and my favourite illustrator in the whole wide world John Schoenherr passed away on Thursday the 8th of April. John received the Hugo award for best professional artist in 1965 and is best known for creating the definitive visualisations of Frank Herbert's Dune world. He was a regular contributor to Analog for nearly thirty years and outside of science fiction, he was known as one of the finest animal artists, illustrated many children's books, and authored one himself (The Barn).

RIP, John.

Interior illustration from Analog (August, 1980)
for Gordon R. Dickson's The Cloak And The Staff.

THE DUELLING MACHINE

Puffin paperback, 1977. Cover illustration by Peter Goodfellow.

"The Duelling Machine was invented to keep peace in the outer galaxies. But in the hands of ambitious and violent men it is misused, and not even its inventor seems able to put things right. Will war envelop the universe? Or will Lieutenant Hector Hector of the Star Watch police succeed in wrestling control from the sinister and ruthless Odal?"

BUG JACK BARRON

Panther SF paperback, 1979 reprint. Cover illustration by
Peter Gudynas.

"ONE OF THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL SCIENCE FICTION NOVELS EVER WRITTEN... 

The place: America. The time: not so very far in the future. Marijuana's legal and advertised on TV; politics are more screwed-up than ever; there's a black separatist state of Mississippi. Against this backdrop, Jack Barron, anarchic mass-media man and heroic womanizer, uncovers a conspiracy of evil cloaking a horrific secret. His choice is agonising. Should he throw in his lot with the conspiracy and gain the greatest prize anyone could hope for? Or should he use his power to blow the story open - and the world apart...? 

Vivid, brutal, erotic and chillingly plausible, Bug Jack Barron has been hailed as a masterpiece and condemned as 'depraved'. The reader must make up his own mind."

A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ

Corgi paperback, 1979 reissue. Cover painting by Peter Jones.

"After the Fallout, when the Atomic Rain had stopped, the plagues and madness began. And after that came the simplification when the people - those who were left - turned against the rulers, the teachers, the scientists who had turned the world into a barren desert. All knowledge was destroyed, all the learned were killed - only Leibowitz managed to save some of the books... 

And the monks of the order of Leibowitz inherited the sacred relics - spent their lives copying, engraving, interpreting the holy fragments, slowly fashioning a new Renaissance in a barbarous and fallen world..."

A SPECTRE IS HAUNTING TEXAS

Mayflower paperback, 1971. Cover artist uncredited.

"EL ESQUELETO! 

Christopher Crockett La Cruz (or "Scully") is an actor, an extrovert and a ladies' man. To most of the inhabitants of post-World War III he looks outlandish, even sinister. To their women he looks attractive. Earth looks equally odd to Scully. Hormone treatment has turned Texans into giants and their Mex slaves into unhappy dwarfs. 

To the Mexes, Scully is a sign, a Talisman, a Leader. To Scully the Mexes are a cause. The time is ripe for revolution..."

Dan O'Bannon R.I.P.

Dan O'Bannon and H. R. Giger during the production of Alien, 1979.

Creative genius Dan O'Bannon died yesterday at the age of 63. Dan is probably best known for co-writing the original script for the 1979 film Alien with Ronald Shusett, though he also worked on special effects for Star Wars, Dark Star, Alejandro Jodorowski's abandoned Dune project, wrote the best segment for Heavy Metal (B-17), and served as co-writer for the screenplay of two Philip K. Dick adaptations; Total Recall (again with Shusett) and Screamers (with Miguel Tejada-Flores).

RIP, Dan.

Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett.

Dan O'Bannon's original sketch for the Alien creature.

THE MARTIAN INCA

Panther SF paperback, 1978. Cover illustration by Peter Gudynas.

"BRAIN-BLAST ON MARS 

When a Russian spacecraft carrying soil samples from Mars crashes on a remote Bolivian village, the Indians who salvage it fall into a mysterious comatose condition. Only two recover, and on re-awakening, they are conscious of a strange new awareness of themselves and the world outside. Julio, indeed, believes himself to be the Inca - the divine imperial ruler - reborn. 

Meanwhile, up in space a manned American vessel is on its way to Mars. After the 240 million mile voyage, tension on the ship is high and when at last Mars is reached, the deadly soil adds an extra dimension to an already explosive situation... 

What constituent of the Martian soil is causing its literally mind-blowing effects? The answer may be the missing clue to a vital discovery about Man's evolutionary potential..."