from the October, 1981 issue of Epic Illustrated
Timothy Leary gets Cosmic....with the help of some great artwork by Tim Conrad.
Friday, September 6, 2013
Contact by Tim Conrad
'Contact' by Tim Conrad
from the October, 1981 issue of Epic Illustrated
Timothy Leary gets Cosmic....with the help of some great artwork by Tim Conrad.
from the October, 1981 issue of Epic Illustrated
Timothy Leary gets Cosmic....with the help of some great artwork by Tim Conrad.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Book Review: Cheon of Weltanland
Book Review: 'Cheon of Weltanland' by Charlotte Stone
Gor Fanboy score: 4 / 5 Stars
‘Cheon of Weltanland’ (205 pp) was published by DAW Books in November, 1983. It is DAW Book No. 552, and features a quintessential ‘barbarian wench’ cover illustration by Boris Valejo: our heroine, wearing – naturally enough- a metal bikini, totes the severed head of an enemy, while behind her, a a big-bootyed black girl, sporting an afro-puff, clings to a pillar, overcome with shock and awe.
Gor Fanboy score: 4 / 5 Stars
‘Cheon of Weltanland’ (205 pp) was published by DAW Books in November, 1983. It is DAW Book No. 552, and features a quintessential ‘barbarian wench’ cover illustration by Boris Valejo: our heroine, wearing – naturally enough- a metal bikini, totes the severed head of an enemy, while behind her, a a big-bootyed black girl, sporting an afro-puff, clings to a pillar, overcome with shock and awe.
According to the Science Fiction Encyclopedia, 'Charlotte Stone' is the pseudonym of Charles Nightingale and Dominique Roche. 'Cheon' apparently is their first and only published novel.
By the late 70s, the commercial success of the Gor books had cued sf and fantasy publishers to the fact that there was a huge readership available for tales of warrior woman in chain-mail bikinis who regularly underwent abuse and humiliation at the hands of mightily-thewed barbarians.
Janet Morris’s 1977 Bantam book ‘The High Couch of Silistra’ was the first series to capitalize on the 'barbarian wench' trend, followed by Sharon Green’s ‘Mida’ series for DAW.
So it was only natural for DAW to want to expand the genre, and thus, ‘Cheon’ appeared as volume one ('The Four Wishes') of a proposed series. For whatever reason, however, the remaining volumes never appeared, leaving Cheon stuck in the fantasy fiction publishing version of limbo.
‘Cheon’ is designed to cater to the Gor fanboy:
Our heroine has the looks of a swimsuit model, the body of an Olympic pole vaulter, and…..she’s SUPER BUTCH !
That last characteristic gives author Stone the excuse to regularly spice up her narrative with softcore porn scenes, in which Cheon seduces yet another nubile, innocent, teenage girl - !
Throw in assorted bloody battles against raiders and monsters, a first-person narrative that studiously adopts the stilted style of the Gor books, and you’ve got the ideal package to capture, and hold, the fanboys.
[In fairness, author Stone provides a passage in which Cheon openly mocks the premise of the Gor novels, thus making clear that, in this series at least, no barbarian warrior would come ‘round to persuade Cheon to wear slave bracelets and succumb to the dominance of a man.]
In summary, I give ‘Cheon of Weltanland’, despite its orphan status, a Gor Fanboy Score of 4 Stars.
By the late 70s, the commercial success of the Gor books had cued sf and fantasy publishers to the fact that there was a huge readership available for tales of warrior woman in chain-mail bikinis who regularly underwent abuse and humiliation at the hands of mightily-thewed barbarians.
Janet Morris’s 1977 Bantam book ‘The High Couch of Silistra’ was the first series to capitalize on the 'barbarian wench' trend, followed by Sharon Green’s ‘Mida’ series for DAW.
So it was only natural for DAW to want to expand the genre, and thus, ‘Cheon’ appeared as volume one ('The Four Wishes') of a proposed series. For whatever reason, however, the remaining volumes never appeared, leaving Cheon stuck in the fantasy fiction publishing version of limbo.
‘Cheon’ is designed to cater to the Gor fanboy:
Our heroine has the looks of a swimsuit model, the body of an Olympic pole vaulter, and…..she’s SUPER BUTCH !
That last characteristic gives author Stone the excuse to regularly spice up her narrative with softcore porn scenes, in which Cheon seduces yet another nubile, innocent, teenage girl - !
Throw in assorted bloody battles against raiders and monsters, a first-person narrative that studiously adopts the stilted style of the Gor books, and you’ve got the ideal package to capture, and hold, the fanboys.
[In fairness, author Stone provides a passage in which Cheon openly mocks the premise of the Gor novels, thus making clear that, in this series at least, no barbarian warrior would come ‘round to persuade Cheon to wear slave bracelets and succumb to the dominance of a man.]
In summary, I give ‘Cheon of Weltanland’, despite its orphan status, a Gor Fanboy Score of 4 Stars.
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Mechanismo by Harry Harrison
'Mechanismo' by Harry Harrison
In the late 70s Harry Harrison authored several trade
paperback, sf art books : 'Great Balls of Fire' (1977), 'Mechanismo' (1978) and
'Planet Story' (1979). This was something of an adventure in sf publishing, for
at that time, art books with sf or fantasy themes were comparatively rare, and
the chain stores (Waldenbooks, Coles, and B. Dalton) that dominated the retail
sphere in those days were only just beginning to realize that additional shelf
space and inventory should be devoted to the genre.
Mechanismo (120 pp) is printed on quality stock, and at 10 ¼
x 10 ¼ “, couldn’t entirely fit onto the platen of my scanner. So the images I’m
posting here are cropped to some extent.
Angus McKie
Harrison’s contribution are 6 short essays on ‘Star Ships’, ‘Mechanical
Man’, Weapons and Space Gear’, ‘Space Cities’, ‘Fantastic Machines’, and ‘Movies’.
Additional text, apparently supplied by the publisher, provides commentary –
some of it fictional – for the illustrations. Most (all ?) of the artwork in
Mechanismo was previously published, usually as cover art for sf paperbacks
published in the UK.
Colin Hay
Jennifer Eachus
Richard Clifton-Dey
Overall,
Harrison’s essays are entertaining rather than pedantic, and written with a
note of humor. There are some tidbits dropped that may move readers to seek out
70s sf novels and story collections (for example, I’d never been aware of
Harrison’s matter transmission anthology, 'One Step from Earth' (1970), prior to
reading about it in Mechanismo).
Robin Hiddon
Jim Burns
Angus McKie
The quality of pieces (which are reproduced in black and
white and color) from the 19 participating artists varies; some are well done,
while others are mediocre. The works by Jim Burns, a rising star in the sf
illustration field, are among the most eye-catching. There are a large number
of contributions from Angus McKie, the leading sf illustrator in the late 70s
and a frequent contributor to Heavy Metal magazine. Ralph McQuarrie provides
some paintings from Star Wars, and there are a couple of H. R. Giger
submissions, too.
Angus McKie (cover of the March, 1979 issue of Heavy Metal)
‘Mechanismo’ may not draw much enthusiasm from contemporary
sf fans, who are used to the revolutionary changes in sf and fantasy
illustration wrought by the use of computers and illustration software. But
those with a nostalgic bent may want to pick up Mechanismo and take in the
flavor of Old School sf illustration.
Angus McKie
Ralph McQuarrie
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