Science Fiction Cover Art

[Graham1973]

Paul Alexander's cover to the 1992 novel 'Crusade' by David Weber and Steve White. It was one of a series of novels published by Baen that made use of the setting for Task Force Games 'Starfire' wargame for which both authors had made contributions.

 

[southwestforests]

It was one of a series of novels published by Baen that made use of the setting for Task Force Games 'Starfire' wargame for which both authors had made contributions.

(this has turned in to one of those 'stream of consciousness' posts)
When having to move after my health crashed bigtime in 2005 I reduced weight and volume by letting go of paperback novels; for this series and one titled The Fleet, I removed the covers so as to keep the art for ideas for game miniatures, and yes, discarded the books.
Also gave away or sold almost all of my sci fi games, board and miniature, including Star Fleet Battles, Silent Death, Full Thrust, and others.
The health effects dramatically reduced my ability to sustain concentration and focus when playing these games, and when reading novels.

So, let the games and miniatures go to people who can and will use them as their creators intended.
BUT ...
... kept and still have the edition of Starfire, Imperial Starfire, and associated publications purchased in 1990s.
Game goes back to the 1970s and both game and background have grown substantially since then.

Very much like the game ideas, the ships, the art in the rules and other publications, the stories.
(for some now unknown reason never did get miniatures for it any of the times they were available)

So, I kept it, because.

Now,
This,

4 January 2024
#1
This is a thread for interesting or unusual science fiction cover art.

I'm going to interpret as including box top art for board games since the box top is a cover and the game background story and the scenario background stories are science fiction storytelling ...

I want game miniatures and plastic model kits of those ships, and that's Want as in NEED ...

Have pondered a scratchbuild of the white ship starting with one of those clear plastic fillable ornament balls which are available in diameters of 30mm to 100mm.
But ... same health has very much slowed down my ability to do that kind of thing.

What if we called it an Escort class ship and made a 1/144 scale model ...?

 

[Graham1973]

John Berkey's cover for Arthur C. Clarke's 1963 novel 'Glide Path', a fictionalised account of the wartime development of what became known as 'ground controlled approach'. This is often held as the authors only non-SF novel, but with a cover as cool as this I'm willing to make an exception.

 

[Justo Miranda]

Artwork by Derek Meddings, a man more well known for his model work for Gerry Anderson, this appears to be a production artwork for the 1970s series 'UFO'.

Hi

 

[Justo Miranda]

The plane looks like it is inspired by the SO Trident

In my opinion the configuration with two vertical tailfins represents some kind of VTOL fighter.

 

[Graham1973]

An artwork by Fred Gambino for an unknown publication, depicting a moment of submission....

 

[Graham1973]

A mystery, a poster advertising a recording of an organ transcription of the Star Wars theme music, artist is unknown, but also just how 'authorised' the transcription was, though based on the artwork I'd say it probably was not. Discogs indicate this was released the same year the film came out, another pointer to just what a cultural impact the original film had.

 

[Graham1973]

Pauline Ashwell (Who also used the masculine psyudonym 'Paul Ash') was a female author who's published work appeared in the late 1950s and 1960s, two 'fix up' novels appeared in the 1990s, the first 1992s 'Unwillingly to Earth' combined four stories featuring the character Lysistrata "Lizzie" Lee, the cover for the Tor edition of the work was by Boris Vallejo. 1995s 'Project Farcry' was a reworking of stories dating back to the 1950s. Gary Ruddel's cover art shows influence from the Star Trek series of the era the book was published in.

 

[Graham1973]

An early 'Star Wars' poster design by Ralph McQuarrie, the place I found it dated it to 1977, but given the fact that C-3PO has a distinct resemblance to the robot in the film 'Metropolis' (1927) by Fritz Lang I'd suspect it's from much earlier in the films evolution. As to the appearance of Skywalker, I've heard rumors that very early artwork featured a female version of the character, so this could be at an intermediate point between that idea and what we got in 1977.

 

[siegecrossbow]

Illustrations of fictional extraterrestrials. Featured prominently on the main cover is an Overlord from Childhood’s End.

 

[Hicks]

Moved to the-interlude-theme-music-you-are-touched-by

 

[takacosta]

The cover of a novel I like

 

[Justo Miranda]

July is flying saucers time !

If any member of the forum has not yet seen one, this is your chance.

 

[Justo Miranda]

Post-2

 

[Justo Miranda]

Post-3

 

[Justo Miranda]

Post-4

 

[Justo Miranda]

Post-5

 

[Justo Miranda]

Post-6

 

[Justo Miranda]

Post-7

 

[Graham1973]

It's available on Youtube, for those who'd like to listen to a few bars.
You may need to turn up the volume a little to listen properly.

That's already been posted to the '...interlude/theme music you are touched by...' thread.

 

[takacosta]

Good sense.

 

[Michel Van]

July is flying saucers time !

Moebius

 

[robunos]

An early 'Star Wars' poster design by Ralph McQuarrie, the place I found it dated it to 1977, but given the fact that C-3PO has a distinct resemblance to the robot in the film 'Metropolis' by Fritz Lang I'd suspect it's much earlier in the films evolution. As to the appearance of Skywalker, I've heard rumors that very early artwork featured a female version of the character, so this could be at an intermediate point between that idea and what we got in 1977.

Also note R2-D2 is 'backwards' compared with the final version . . .

cheers,
Robin.

 

[robunos]

Hi

That Lunar Module just screams 'trilobite' at me . . .

cheers,
Robin.

 

[Graham1973]

In 'Post-5'. In the image where the title starts '500_F...' the figures heads are on backwards......

 

[Graham1973]

One of the outcomes of science fiction writer Lester Del Rey being put in charge of his own science fiction imprint by Random House was the chance to reprint several of his early stories that had never been reprinted, one such was 'The Mysterious Planet' (1953) which had been published as what would today be called 'Young Adult' fiction. In 1978 it was reprinted by Del Rey Books with a cover by Dean Ellis that featured a key moment from the story.

 

[Graham1973]

Courtesy of the ISFDB, the full run of covers for the second (1975 - 1977) series of 'Ace Science Fiction Specials'.

 

[martinbayer]

Moebius

Let me guess - that flying saucer just came in for a landing on the famed Möbius strip in the US Southwestern desert?

 

[martinbayer]

That Lunar Module just screams 'trilobite' at me . . .

cheers,
Robin.

Decades ago I came across a very similar design in a long lost astronautical yearbook article. Based on what I have seen over the decades, I have come to believe that many of Derek Meddings' silver/telly screen designs genuinely had a root in actual speculative aerospace concepts.

 

[Hood]

Commando Comics No. 2774, 1994, reprinted as No. 4376 in 2011.

 

[Justo Miranda]

In 'Post-5'. In the image where the title starts '500_F...' the figures heads are on backwards......

In 2167 it was discovered that the DNA of owls greatly increased the visual capacity of astronauts.

 

[Justo Miranda]

That Lunar Module just screams 'trilobite' at me . . .

cheers,
Robin.

Dorsal radiator

 

[Justo Miranda]

Moebius

Hi

 

[southwestforests]

Post-3

Those would make great ships in a miniatures game,

 

[Graham1973]

A selection of Boris Vallejo science fiction cover artwork.

 

[Justo Miranda]

Commando Comics No. 2774, 1994, reprinted as No. 4376 in 2011.

View attachment 776930

Dan Dare Phant fighter

 

[Justo Miranda]

Post-8

 

[Justo Miranda]

Post-9

 

[Justo Miranda]

Post-10

 

[Justo Miranda]

Post-11