Wednesday 24 November 2010

ANALOG JULY 1977

Cover by Mike Hinge.

Analog erroneously credited the cover artist as Rick Sternbach for this issue. Thanks to I. Richards who spotted the mistake; check out his blog Onyx Cube, for more info on the cover's actual artist Mike Hinge.

ANALOG FEBRUARY 1976

Cover by Rick Sternbach.

ANALOG SEPTEMBER 1974

Cover by Kelly Freas.

ANALOG JULY 1972

Cover by John Schoenherr.

Interior artwork by John Schoenherr from Collision Course.

ANALOG SEPTEMBER 1970

Cover by Kelly Freas.

ANALOG JULY 1970

Cover by Leo Summers.

Saturday 13 November 2010

THE BEST OF OMNI SCIENCE FICTION NO. 4

The Best Of Omni Science Fiction No. 4, 1982. Cover painting by Michael R. Whelan.

"Three never-before-published stories and two science fiction classics are included among the contents of this, the fourth in a very popular and widely-selling series. The volume is organized into five sections and is illustrated throughout with artwork that has earned for Omni magazine a reputation for superlative graphics. Two of the sections consist of outstanding stories and pictorials originally published in Omni and believed by the editors of this anthology to possess an extraordinary and still-unfolding talent. The section of sf originals is highlighted by Spider Robinson's story "Rubber Soul" - a new kind of science fiction in which the return of a martyred rock superstar puts right certain celebrated relationships. The science fiction classics section is comprised of a renowned story by Alfred Bester and one by Brian W. Aldiss. Each a giant of the genre."

Contains Our Lady Of The Sauropods by Robert Silverberg, Dreamtime, a pictorial of paintings by various artists, Marchianna by Kevin O'Donnel, Jr., Dark Sanctuary by Gregory Benford, Sigmund In Space by Barry N. Malzberg, Light Voyager, a pictorial of paintings by John Berkey, Valley Of The Kilns by James B. Hall, Fat Farm, Quietus, St. Amy's Tale and Deep-Breathing Exercises as part of an Orson Scott Card celebration, Noble Savage, a pictorial of paintings by Boris Vallejo, Rubber Soul by Spider Robinson, I Am Large, I Contain Multitudes by Melisa Michaels, Love Calls by Oxford Williams, Fondly Fahrenheit by Alfred Bester, My Lady Of The Psychiatric Sorrows by Brian W. Aldiss, Out Of Luck by Walter Trevis, Return From The Stars by Stanislaw Lem, Transformations, a pictorial of artwork by Bob Venosa and Marshall Arisman, The President's Image by Stephen Robinett, Future Books by Cynthia Darnell, Soul Search by Spider Robinson, Save The Toad! by Norman Spinrad, Giant On The Beach by John Keefauver, Strike! by Isaac Asimov, The Last Jerry Fagin Show by John Morressy and Eastern Exposures, a pictorial of paintings by various artists.

Painting by Don Dixon.

Painting by Morris Scott Dollens that accompanied Barry N. Malzberg's
Sigmund In Space.

Painting by John Berkey, from his pictorial Light Voyager.

Painting by John Berkey, from his pictorial Light Voyager.

Painting by John Berkey, from his pictorial Light Voyager.

Painting by John Berkey, from his pictorial Light Voyager.

Painting by Bob Venosa, accompanying Valley Of The Kilns by
James B. Hall.

Painting by Marshall Arisman, from Robert Sheckley's
Transformations pictorial.

"Transformation - its prediction, its control, its meaning - has always been the province of the priest, the shaman, and the artist. Magic itself, the precursor of science, is essentially the study and control of changes. Alchemy, the study of magical transformations, metamorphoses into chemistry, the study of transformations in substances. Scientists look to artists for insights into the nature of the world. Art delineates the processes of the imagination, creating syntheses of fantastic and factual elements too complex to be explained in words."

Painting by Marshall Arisman, from Robert Sheckley's Transformations
pictorial.

"We shuffle things and arrange them, not as they are, but as we want them to be."

Friday 12 November 2010

THE BEST OF OMNI SCIENCE FICTION NO. 3

The Best Of Omni Science Fiction No. 3, 1982. Painting by R. Bertrand.

Contains How Pro Writers Really Write - Or Try To by Robert SheckleyRent Control by Walter Tevis, Space Witness, pictorial of paintings by Bob T. McCall, Clap Hands And Sing by Orson Scott Card, The Future Lost by Robert Sheckley, The Test by Stanislaw Lem, Tour Of The Universe, pictorial of paintings by Robert Holdstock and Malcolm Edwards, A Hiss Of Dragon by Gregory Benford and Marc Laidlaw, Message From Earth by Ian Stewart, Newton's Gift by Paul J. Nahin, Celestial Visitations, a pictorial of paintings by Gilbert Williams, God Bless Them by Gordon R. Dickson, Adventure Of The Metal Murderer by Fred Saberhagen, The Rocks That Moved by John Keefauver, The Vacuum-Packed Picnic by Rick Gauger, The Man Who Was Married To Space And Time by Fritz Leiber, Stellar Technician, a pictorial of paintings by Vincent Di Fate, Graveside Watch by Edward H. Gandy, The Empath And The Savages by John Morressy, The Thousand Cuts by Ian Watson, Hell Creatures Of The Third Planet by Stephen Robinett, The Madagascar Event by Robert Haisty, The Eyes On Butterflies' Wings by Patrice Duvic, Oil Is Not Gold by Sam NicholsonThe Cure by Lewis Padgett and Orders Of Magnitude, a pictorial of paintings by John Harris.

Painting by Don Maitz that accompanied The Test by Stanislaw Lem.

Painting by Vincent Di Fate, from the pictorial Stellar Technician.

Painting by Vincent Di Fate, from the pictorial Stellar Technician.

Painting by John Harris, from Orders Of Magnitude - A Survey Of Megastructures In The Universe GG233,
central penitentiary cell block.

Painting by John Harris, from Orders Of Magnitude - A Survey Of Megastructures In The Universe GG233,
artificial meat factory of Carnivoron
(detail showing the immense salt and pepper mills).

Painting by John Harris, from Orders Of Magnitude - A Survey Of Megastructures In The Universe GG233,
The Albertus Magnus sets off fireworks.

Painting by John Harris, from Orders Of Magnitude - A Survey Of Megastructures In The Universe GG233,
View of the central memory banks of the big computer near Alcindor II.

Painting by John Harris, from Orders Of Magnitude - A Survey Of Megastructures In The Universe GG233,
big computer and XX3 information hunting module.

Painting by John Harris, from Orders Of Magnitude - A Survey Of Megastructures In The Universe GG233,
big computer showing data stacks in "open" mode, with XX3 module below.

Thursday 11 November 2010

OMNI VOL. 2 NO. 10, 1980

Omni Vol. 2 No. 10, 1980. Cover painting by Ute Osterwald entitled
A New Star In Heaven.

Contains an excerpt from Stephen King's Firestarter, Sigmund In Space by Barry N. Malzberg, Dune Genesis, an article by Frank Herbert and a pictorial of John Schoenherr's artwork for the book The Illustrated Dune.

Painting by John Schoenherr, from The Illustrated Dune pictorial.

OMNI VOL. 2 NO. 2, NOVEMBER 1979

Omni Vol. 2 No. 2, November 1979. Painting Ears Are Eyes by Ute Osterwald.

Contains an excerpt from Robert A. Heinlein's The Number Of The Beast, Malthus's Day by Jayge Carr and a pictorial of Chris Foss artwork taken from his book 20th Century Foss.

Tuesday 2 November 2010

THE 6 FINGERS OF TIME

Macfadden paperback, second printing, October 1969. Cover
painting: Jack Faragasso.

"ALL LIFE'S PROBLEMS HAD BEEN SOLVED. 
Man controlled time, overproduction, fantastically powerful weapons - even death. But universal happiness seemed farther away with each forward stride. 
These imaginative stories explore new dimensions of time and space, as man learns that even the most advanced technology cannot protect him against primitive nature, intergalactic enemies, and the weakness, greed and treachery of human beings."

Contents:

The Six Fingers Of Time by R. A. Lafferty
A Pride Of Islands by C. C. MacApp
Sitting Duck by Daniel F. Galouye
IOU by Edward Wellen
To Each His Own by Jack Sharkey
The Junkmakers by Albert Teichner

Monday 1 November 2010

ACE DOUBLE: NO TIME FOR HEROES + ALICE'S WORLD

Ace Double paperback, 1971. Cover painting by Josh Kirby.

"There's no time for heroes in the present," said General Superhawk, as he was relieved from his laundry duties to head the spaceship's invasion of the untouched-by-human-hands-or-feet planet, which had been dead for 200,000 years. 
"This is absolutely no time for heroes," said the planet's central brain computer which had, in its long, long loneliness, peopled its planet with fabled literary creatures created from its monstrous protoplasma vats. 
"I'm no hero!" screamed the small, fat man with the moustache as he was bullied onto the planet as the ship's Number One scout. But Fate and Old Ironjaw had thrust Bernhard Rordin into the role, and in his own bumbling way, he... 
But see for yourself...."

Ace Double paperback, 1971. Cover painting by Josh Kirby.

"Monteyiller stared at Alice. "This is supposed to be a rescue mission," he said. "There's a girl in danger somewhere on this mad world!" 
She looked covertly at him. "What is it that you want?" 
Monteyiller shrugged. "A city. A government center. Anything, as long as we get out of this." 
Alice was clearly bewildered. She looked from Monteyiller to Cat and back again, her gaze shifting back and forth as she struggled with an unfamiliar thought. Finally, she said, "Which city?" 
Monteyiller kept his face serious with an effort. "Any city," he said. "It's all up to you." 
"Anycity," she repeated. "Oh, I see." She looked out over the lush, rolling landscape, frowning thoughtfully. 
"And please make it a little bit more lively than this bloody place," Monteyiller said, grinning. 
The landscape shifted...."

ACE DOUBLE: THE WRECKS OF TIME + TRAMONTANE

Ace Double paperback, 1967. Cover painting by
Jack Gaughan.

"EARTH ZERO TO EARTH FIFTEEN - WHICH WAS THE REAL ONE? 
What the inhabitants of Greater America didn't realize was that theirs was the only inhabited landmass, apart from one island in the Philippines. They still talked about foreign countries, though they would forget little by little, but the countries were only in their imagination, mysterious and romantic places where nobody actually went. 
That was the way it was on E-3, one of the fifteen alternate Earths that had been discovered through the subspace experiments. 
Professor Faustaff knew that these alternate Earths were somehow recent creations, and that they were under attack from the strange eroding raids of the mysterious bands known as the D-Squads. But there were tens of millions of people on those Earths who were entitled to life and protection - and unless Faustaff and his men could crack the mystery of these worlds' creation and the more urgent problem of their destruction, it would mean not only the end of these parallel planets, but just possibly the blanking out of all civilization in the universe."

Ace Double paperback, 1967. Cover painting by
Jack Gaughan.

"IMMORTAL VENGEANCE 
About TRAMONTANE: 
This fourth science-fantasy novel based on the Finnish legendary epic Kalevala, seemed like a good idea because there are actually four important heroes in these wonderful legends, and this novel completes the cycle, concerning itself with the prophecy of the Great Return when the Vanhat seed shall return to Otava, the planet of their origin. Kullervo is the "bad one" of the legends. Ugly, sullen, despised, he was actually born out of evil. He kicked his cradle to pieces and refused to drown when the wise women flung him into the river. As a vindictive cowherd slave he changed cows into bears and this killed all of Ilmarinen's household. Like Manfred and Oedipus, he was predestined for tragedy and doom. However, he is surely one of the most fascinating characters in all mythology. Jean Sibelius, the great Finnish composer, chose his tragic life for the theme of his magnificent symphonic tone poem Kullervo, one of his finest works, involving choruses, soloists, and a sweeping Wagnerian nobility. My Kullervo Kasi, a prototype of his ancestor, is the spawn of a leakage from a dark dimensionof matter-energy that is invompatible with the life forces in this one. Therefore, Kullervo Kasi is the natural choice of the Starwitch Louhi to find the tag-end remnants of the Vanhat existing somewhere on despoiled Terra and destroy them...." 
-Emil Petaja.

ACE DOUBLE: THE SHIP THAT SAILED THE TIME STREAM + STRANGER THAN YOU THINK

Ace Double paperback, 1965. Cover painting by Jack Gaughan.

"OPERATION: TIME-SLIP 
Ensign Joe Rate, captain of the experimental Navy yawl Alice, figured that everything that could happen to him in one day had already happened. First, after a freak electrical storm at sea the Alice had somehow been thrown a thousand years back in time, and it looked like they were stranded in the past. They had provisions for two weeks at the most. Then there was the voluptuous barbarian girl they'd saved from captivity - her presence on board a ship full of normal sailors wasn't likely to lessen the problems of the situation. 
Then he saw the four Viking raiding ships bearing straight for him, and in a few minutes the first spear thunked into the Alice's foredeck. 
The ship that sailed the time stream is a novel of madcap adventure in a past much more lively than any historian ever dreamed!"

Ace Double paperback, 1965. Cover painting by Jack Gaughan.

"SECRETS THE WORLD MUST NEVER LEARN 
If you have a friend to whom strange things happen, you can never lack for excitement. And if your friend happens to be the famous Mad Friend of G. C. Edmonson's remarkably authentic accounts of improbable but possible happenings, then you can always count on the unexpected. 
This particular friend had a knack for turning up the unearthly, the off-the-record, the things that were "stranger than science." he could spot a time traveller across a restaurant - and then produce the sort of proof that would be more potent than tequila. He could find just where the meteor fell - and show you that it is not just a rock from space but far, far more ominous. He could... 
But read stranger than you think for yourself and then start looking around your supposedly workaday world. Things may look different!"