Ontario Trip 2

More treasures from the trip East.

 Three Richard Powers covers  

The Anderson cover is by Gene Safran

A very atmospheric cover for Needle by Hector Garrido

The Conklin is uncredited, The Dillons did Synthajoy

and a very mod? cover by Kelly Freas for the Bulmer

The Status Civilization by Robert Sheckley

The Status Civilization, Robert Sheckley, Signet S1840, 1960, cover by Richard Powers.                                                                                                                                I have decided to make a concerted effort to read some authors from the 1960's and 1970's which I had previously neglected for no good reason. This impulse has been strengthened by following Joachim Boaz's wonderful blog, Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations which has covered a number of intriguing titles and authors from this period. I have to admit the wonderful Richard Powers cover made my first choice easy. The novel starts when the protagonist, Will Barrent wakes up on a space ship with no memory of his previous life. Upon landing he finds out he is a convicted murderer sentenced to the prison planet Omega. He also learns that the life expectancy of a new prisoner is 3 years and that once on the planet the society is run entirely by the prisoners with no intervention by the guards or earth authorities. On Omega Barrent finds a highly stratified society where murder is a perfectly legitimate method of raising one's status. And so he begins to rise in Omega society assisted on occasion by a mysterious young lady who provides both weapons and information that help Barrent survive. Omega does have laws, but these are not shared with new arrivals who must learn them by trial and error if they can live long enough. Thus Barrent is launched into a series gunfights and gladiatorial contests in an attempt to stay alive and learn how Omega society functions. Barrent also realizes that he has no affinity for criminality and murder despite his obvious success in these areas. I really enjoyed this novel, Sheckley has a reputation as a satirist and humorist, writing styles that do not normally attract me. The creation of a crime based society leading to the inversion of "normal" societal values offers many opportunities for satire and parody, for example at one point Barrent is brought before the Kangaroo Court for the crimes of non-drug addiction and religious impiety. However in this novel I think Sheckley avoids going overboard, instead he tempers comedic elements by presenting an interesting plot and characters. The reader can focus on the events that shape Barrent's actions as he attempts to navigate the complexity of Omega society and the conflicts that arise from his own memory loss. For as he begins to talk to other prisoners he realizes that none of them can agree even on the most basic facts about the Earth, the planet they have left behind. 

In the Status Civilization, Sheckley has taken a fairly hoary sf trope, the prison planet and elevated it to a higher level. He fits a lot into a slender 127 page novel. There is a great deal of action but also a great deal of mystery adding to the suspense. The new prisoners have to deal not only with their own memory lost, but also the veiled nature of Omega society and their lack of agreement of the nature of the society and planet that has sentenced them to Omega in the first place.

Spoilers

 The elevation on this novel over the normal prison planet novel occurs when Barrent escapes and Sheckley shifts the focus from Omega to Earth.  By this point I had began to ask myself questions about the organization of Earth's judicial system and Earth society as a whole. It is a tribute to Sheckley's skill in plotting this novel that he avoids the all too common info-dump to answer these questions. Instead Barrent assumes the role of Opinioner (a type of government researcher or census taker) which allows him to delve into the layers of Earth society by interviewing citizens and then follow the various threads these interviews reveal. The novel's conclusion is satisfying in part because, like real life there are still questions and challenges ahead and Sheckley has avoided a tripe and predictable denouncement with everything neatly resolved.

Ontario Trip

My wife and I have spent the last 10 days in Ontario visiting family and friends. We have not been back for several years due to work on the cabin and it was great to see everyone so happy and healthy. This of course, also meant visiting some bookstores. The haul was particularly good and so will require a couple of posts. The first group really sums up sf for me, Ace doubles, atmospheric  Lehr covers, a spiffy juvenile and titles like Spacehive, The Mutant Weapon, The Genetic General, Time to Teleport and Rocket Man. I did retouch a couple of photos but overall the books are in good shape.

I have wanted this one for quite some time, The Pirates cover is by Emsh, Mutant Weapon is not credited

 

These are upgrades on existing copies. Time to Teleport cover Emsh, Genetic General cover by Ed Valigursky, Recruit cover by Emsh.

  

Spacehive, Ace D-478, 1960, cover uncredited. From the back it looks like those pesky "Reds" are at it again.

  

Two beautiful Lehr covers I have never seen before, and a plus Assignment Nor'Dyren is by Sydney Van Scyoc author of the stunning novel Saltflower.

   

I never encounter the type of juvenile novels that might have graced the library shelves of my youth and if I do they are far too expensive. So finding this in the London Goodwill store was amazing.

Rocket Man by Lee Corry, Illustrated by William J Wagoner, Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1955.

 

  

Paul Lehr 1, look for youtube trailer to The Visionary World of Paul Lehr

One event that really started me collecting, rather than just reading science fiction was the gift of a number of books on SF movies and especially the art of sf illustration

 from a friend. I was enthralled with the history of SF 

illustration, the pulps, the small press hardcovers, and the wonderful paperback covers. I was fascinated by the 

artists visions of the story, sometimes true to the text, sometimes totally unrelated, so thanks Gerhard. I was also interested in how, just as the stories reflect the current 

issues of science, politics and society, the art reflected current trends in the wider world of art, design and even adverting. I also, as one would expect picked my favourite artists. I have long considered Richard Powers to be my favourite paperback cover artist, but I Paul Lehr is a close second.

I also wanted to mention the wonderful trailer for an 

upcoming film concerning Paul Lehr that is available on youtube. As an added bonus the trailer also shows some of Lehr's beautiful wooden sculptures.

" Published on Apr 30, 2015
THE VISIONARY WORLD OF PAUL LEHR is a landmark documentary that will explore the life of one of the most important science fiction artists of the 20th century."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhRVSvcFdYE

I also want to mention my favourite book on SF Illustration, a gift from my wife, Infinite Worlds: The Fantastic Visions of Science Fiction Art, by Vincent Di Fate, The Wonderland Press, 1997. (It is interesting to note the book's cover image was from Paul Lehr's work)

Lehr like Powers is considered to have been be strongly influenced By Surrealism. He trained with another great of SF illustration, Stanley Meltzoff, and his influence can be seen in Lehr's early work. However Lehr did develop his own, very recognizable style, with enigmatic figures, and architecture composed of highly stylized geometric shapes including dense interwoven landscapes/cityscapes? of domes, cones and pyramids, So I have raided my shelves for some of my favourite covers. Hopefully you will enjoy seeing his work as much as I do.

This edition of Soldier, Ask Not is the most vividly remembered paperback of my youth. The brilliant 

Lehr cover really complimented, what was for me, 

the best story Dickson ever wrote.

Still working on the Watson but it seems pretty good so far. 

The cover is spectacular.

Salt flower is a really unusual alien contact story: 

quite well written.

Silververg's version of Pirates VS Aliens, I loved this as a teenager. This would make a fun movie.

Is this a great alien autopsy cover?

As mentioned Infinite Worlds is a great resource for the SF art lover.

New Arrivals

A couple more trips to various Fair's Fair outlets and some more treasures. These trips had a distinctly British Feel.

Yes I did get two editions of The Time Dweller

One cover is by Paul Lehr the other by Alberto Pujolar

A lovely Steampunkish Stephen Jones cover for Before Armageddon

And a  beautiful Jim Burns cover for The Ice Schooner

Three Richard Powers and one Paul Lehr, does it get much better? I have been collecting all the volumes of this Ballantine horror series with the Powers covers that I can find.

Unfortunately the cover of this Laumer is not attributed in the isfdb database. That is too bad because it is absolutely stunning. I have been looking for it for some time. It is much better, gasp, than the Powers cover the same title, see March 7th. 

Yes I came home with a lot of Moorcock. 

I love dinosaurs, so Cryptozoic was impossible to pass up and this cover by Don Punchatz is my favourite of all the covers I have seen for this title.

The Land Leviathan cover is by Michael Whelan, but it goes nicely with the vibe of the Before Armageddon cover above.

The Stainless Steel Rat falls into the very large category of classics that I have not yet read, I liked this cover by Bryn Barnard so it is time I give it a try.

The NEW Atoms BOMBSHELL just sounds intriguing, the cover is by H. R. Van Dongen.