Yestderday’s effort http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/2013/11/i-the-machine/ looked as if someone had heard Robert Rauschenberg and John Heartfield described down the phone and thought ‘I can do that’. Today, David Pelham demonstrates how hard it is to be Terry Gilliam if you aren’t actually Terry Gilliam.
Nonetheless, it’s better than most covers this book’s had.
David Pelham gives you the finger. And he doesn’t give a Hoot von Zitzewitz what you think of his science fiction cover art.
I can’t write better snark than this critique:
Casting its eponymous orb over Pelham’s covers a quarter of a century later, the Autumn 1996 issue of Eye Magazine commented that they ‘dignify the books with symbolic images that help to convey the conceptual sophistication of the writing inside’.
“With a name like Kornbluth, it has to be good!”
{Looks at cover. Looks at cover again. Checks wallet}
“Maybe I’ll just go with the Pohl/Moorcock/Dick collection. At least I can read that on the train without being embarrassed.”
Instead of the perpetually growing giant chicken heart which people in this book use for protein, the publisher opted to show the giant finger they use for interplanetary transportation. Fair enough, I suppose.
In the future they discover an object on Mars, shaped, oddly enough, like a giant button with the letters “DO NOT PUSH” inscribed on it. After years of discussion and arguments amongst the scientific community, Earth’s finest minds finally decided that they were going to see what would happen…
I’d definitely notice if I was at the receiving end of that finger.
Those space merchants seem like a bit of dicks.
And possibly Australians: “That’s no fingah, …”
@Tom Noir: Maybe they are brains traveling in giant finger rockets selling lingerie..
..and after each deal, they would say: “You just got fingered, boy/girl.”
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November 15th, 2013 at 9:49 am
@GoodShowSir I like it! I am also biased…
November 15th, 2013 at 10:35 am
If I had to put my finger on it I’d say you nailed it by knuckling down with this joint. Digit make a good point?
November 15th, 2013 at 11:38 am
Yestderday’s effort http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/2013/11/i-the-machine/ looked as if someone had heard Robert Rauschenberg and John Heartfield described down the phone and thought ‘I can do that’. Today, David Pelham demonstrates how hard it is to be Terry Gilliam if you aren’t actually Terry Gilliam.
Nonetheless, it’s better than most covers this book’s had.
November 15th, 2013 at 11:52 am
My first thought was that the medial side of the finger is MUCH too close to the tower, and it will never clear launch.
My second thought was, ‘How does that work?’
November 15th, 2013 at 12:21 pm
The Dicky Bird Memorial Starship was ready to launch …
November 15th, 2013 at 1:32 pm
David Pelham gives you the finger. And he doesn’t give a Hoot von Zitzewitz what you think of his science fiction cover art.
I can’t write better snark than this critique:
Casting its eponymous orb over Pelham’s covers a quarter of a century later, the Autumn 1996 issue of Eye Magazine commented that they ‘dignify the books with symbolic images that help to convey the conceptual sophistication of the writing inside’.
from: http://www.penguinsciencefiction.org/18.html#2224
November 15th, 2013 at 5:02 pm
We’re Proctologists out in space
We’re zooming along
protecting the males of the Human race
November 15th, 2013 at 6:31 pm
When NASA said they wanted “to point in a new direction,” I’m fairly sure this isn’t what they meant.
November 15th, 2013 at 6:32 pm
Wow, those must have been some budget cuts at SpaceX…
November 15th, 2013 at 8:17 pm
You could count the rocketships on the fingers on one hand. I’m sure there’s a witty joke in there somewhere, but I can’t quite pin it down.
November 15th, 2013 at 10:49 pm
I think someone misunderstood the term ‘digital graphics’.
November 16th, 2013 at 3:07 am
“With a name like Kornbluth, it has to be good!”
{Looks at cover. Looks at cover again. Checks wallet}
“Maybe I’ll just go with the Pohl/Moorcock/Dick collection. At least I can read that on the train without being embarrassed.”
November 16th, 2013 at 7:42 am
“Let your fingers do the spacewalking!”
November 16th, 2013 at 1:30 pm
It wasn’t Rosie Palms, but one of her five sisters, who first made the journey to space.
November 16th, 2013 at 2:51 pm
Artwork by Bill Finger
Editor: Elizabeth Hand
Publisher: Tom Thumb
November 16th, 2013 at 8:05 pm
It’s the “Flying Fickle Finger of Fate”!
November 18th, 2013 at 4:12 am
Just finished this book, not with that trippy cover though.
November 18th, 2013 at 10:48 pm
So the title of this book is Pohl/Kornbluth: The Space Merchants? I hope it is non-fiction.
November 19th, 2013 at 7:03 pm
I hope the liquid fuel in the rockets is mixed with a nice moisturizing balm; deep space is soooooo tough on dry skin.
November 26th, 2013 at 4:04 am
I have got to find a cross-your-fingers/cross-hatching joke somehow.
Also
Crossovers can happen anywhere, at anytime.
(metajoke)
November 26th, 2013 at 9:17 pm
Instead of the perpetually growing giant chicken heart which people in this book use for protein, the publisher opted to show the giant finger they use for interplanetary transportation. Fair enough, I suppose.
December 9th, 2013 at 5:56 pm
In the future they discover an object on Mars, shaped, oddly enough, like a giant button with the letters “DO NOT PUSH” inscribed on it. After years of discussion and arguments amongst the scientific community, Earth’s finest minds finally decided that they were going to see what would happen…
December 9th, 2013 at 8:31 pm
Trust me, this is one finger you should not pull.
December 9th, 2013 at 11:33 pm
@A-S: Maybe it’s out to explore that mysterious purple moon in the upper right hand corner.
December 11th, 2013 at 3:12 pm
@DSWBT – I think you are mistaking that Penguin Moon for the Pillsbury Dough Boy Moon.
December 28th, 2013 at 11:11 am
I’d definitely notice if I was at the receiving end of that finger.
Those space merchants seem like a bit of dicks.
And possibly Australians: “That’s no fingah, …”
July 2nd, 2015 at 3:51 pm
This book definitely inspired some odd covers. Apparently these space merchants were selling lingerie, human brains, and giant finger rockets?
Wait, was the star of this book Donald Trump?
July 3rd, 2015 at 10:00 am
@Tom Noir: Maybe they are brains traveling in giant finger rockets selling lingerie..
..and after each deal, they would say: “You just got fingered, boy/girl.”