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.
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.