Thursday, June 15, 2006

WHICH REMINDS ME

Speaking of crappy covers for paper backs. Science fiction novels seemed to get hit the worst back in the seventies and eighties. The art might be good but you had to wonder if anyone had told the artist what the book was about or where it was set. You know, the space age bimbettes with hardly any clothes who are supposed to be scrambling around in a jungle full of creepers, spiky plants and critters with lots of claws and fangs.

One I really got a kick out of was Hal Clement's Mission of Gravity. It was set on a high grav planet with oceans of liquid methane. Three g's at the equater, much, much higher at the poles. So what was on the cover? Something that looked suspiciously like a taller, skinnier version of Seattle's Space Needle. Go figure.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here's a fun site where you can play with sci fi mag cover art:

http://www.coverpop.com/visco.php

Yes, they are bad!

Anonymous said...

Wow!  Great rant, Amy!!  It always pisses me off when the illustrator has so obviously not read the text of the book he/she's illustrating.  'Pet Semetary' is the example I can think of now.  The cat on the cover was a gray tabby -- yet the cat in the story was black.  Right?  It's been awhile.  Even if I'm wrong on that, I'm still angry along with you!  ;)  

Muchos Smooches,
Russ