Month: October 2018

I first posted these cover images in June of 2017.  After “re-visiting” this post, I wanted to display more of the detail in Powers’ art.  So, the two close-ups, below… 

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A space explorer.  Though Powers incorporates a measure of attention to the astronaut’s suit (note the very fine detail in the antenna, and the orange gripping claw extending from the figure’s left hand), he places more emphasis on shapes, curves, and contrasting colors.  The greenish yellow-hue of the suit is particularly effective against the reddish-purple sky. 

Contents

Country Doctor, by William Morrison

Dominoes, by Cyril M. Kornbluth

Idealist, by Lester del Rey

The Night He Cried, by Fritz Leiber

Contraption, by Clifford D. Simak

The Chronoclasm, by John Wyndham

The Deserter, by William Tenn

The Man With English, by Horace L. Gold

So Proudly We Hail, by Judith Merril

A Scent of Sarsaparilla, by Ray Bradbury

“Nobody Here But”, by Isaac Asimov

The Last Weapon, by Robert Sheckley

A Wild Surmise, by Henry Kuttner and Catherine L. Moore

The Journey, by Murray Leinster

The Nine Billion Names of God, by Arthur C. Clarke

A closer look at the back cover.  A spider-like spacecraft (again, Powers’ emphasis on curved, semi-organic shapes) rests on a crater-pocked surface in shades of red, carmine, and brown, while a group of explorers climb a nearby hillside.  Perhaps they’re joining their friend, on the front cover?

Notice that the sky is finished in tones of purple, through, pink, through orange, unlike the image appearing above.  That’s because this image is actually from the 1953 (first edition) of Volume 1 of Star Science Fiction, while on the rear cover of the 1961 reprint (both of the cover images in this post) the sky is white.

Though Powers’ cover primarily appears in muted shades of gray and brown, a close-up – below – reveals a level of complexity and mystery not readily apparent upon a cursory glance: Two enigmatic figures signal one another across a barren landscape, while a bird-like tower stands in the distance, and a ragged sphere – a planet? – a moon? – rises above the horizon, on the left. 

Above all, the scene imparts an absence of visual and thematic certainty, typical of Powers’ work.

Contents

A Cross of Centuries, by Henry Kuttner

The Advent on Channel Twelve, by Cyril M. Kornbluth

Space-Time for Springers, by Fritz Leiber

Man Working, by Richard Wilson

Helping Hand, by Lester del Rey

The Long Echo, by Miriam Allen deFord

Tomorrow’s Gift, by Edmund Cooper

Idiot Stick, by Damon Knight

The Immortals, by James Gunn