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San Francisco, 2:46 PM
Fri Nov 27
19 posts in the last 24 hours

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  • posts about #georgeorwell more →

    A History of 16 Science Fiction Classics, Told In Book Covers

    Don't Ask The Wall Street Journal How To Wean Your Kids Off Reading Science Fiction

    British Libertarian Party Fights Surveillance with George Orwell

    George Orwell Is Composing More Science Fiction Without Even Trying

    Ridley Scott Confirms He's Making Brave New World
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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Dirk Anger Dirk Anger
    11/18/09

    In reply to A History of 16 Science Fiction Classics, Told In Book Covers
    De Elektrische Nachtmerrie? And here I thought title translations to Spanish were lame
     Reply
    Dirk Anger was starred Dirk Anger was unstarred
    Image of Bigdamnhero Bigdamnhero
    11/17/09

    In reply to A History of 16 Science Fiction Classics, Told In Book Covers
    Thank you. That was a wonderful waste of an hour.

    I got a kick out of the Dick covers. You can just hear the designers thinking, "I gotta stick some damn sheep on the cover somewhere? Christ. How the hell am I gonna do that?"
     Reply
    Edited by Bigdamnhero at 11/17/09 9:14 PM Bigdamnhero was starred Bigdamnhero was unstarred
    Image of SJ_Edwards SJ_Edwards
    11/17/09

    @Bigdamnhero:
    I bet the answer came to them in their sleep. #bookcovers
     Reply
    SJ_Edwards was starred SJ_Edwards was unstarred
    Image of gods-n-clods gods-n-clods
    11/17/09

    In reply to A History of 16 Science Fiction Classics, Told In Book Covers
    Water from the well, this is. Must preserve them for future generations. #bookcovers
     Reply
    gods-n-clods was starred gods-n-clods was unstarred
    Image of SJ_Edwards SJ_Edwards
    11/17/09

    In reply to A History of 16 Science Fiction Classics, Told In Book Covers

      #bookcovers [www.chrisfossart.com]
     Reply
    Edited by SJ_Edwards at 11/17/09 7:37 PM SJ_Edwards was starred SJ_Edwards was unstarred
    Image of RizzRustbolt RizzRustbolt
    11/18/09

    @SJ_Edwards: Oooo... I love Chris Foss's work.
     Reply
    SJ_Edwards promoted this comment RizzRustbolt was starred RizzRustbolt was unstarred
    Image of SJ_Edwards SJ_Edwards
    11/17/09

    In reply to A History of 16 Science Fiction Classics, Told In Book Covers
    Awesome!
    For me, it's the polychrome space derelicts of Chris Foss's covers, that will forever populate the endless Oort cloud of my mind........
    [en.wikipedia.org] .
     Reply
    Edited by SJ_Edwards at 11/17/09 7:29 PM SJ_Edwards was starred SJ_Edwards was unstarred
    Image of Chip Skylark of Space Chip Skylark of Space
    11/18/09

    @SJ_Edwards: Berkey did some really nice giant space ship covers. I keep coming back to THE SKY IS FILLED WITH SHIPS. Great cover, great title, just above average novel. The same author (Richard C. Meredith) did another long titled book- WE ALL DIED AT BREAKAWAY STATION. That one had another Berkey cover, but it was much muddier. Then Meredith died incredibly young (41?).
     Reply
    Chip Skylark of Space was starred Chip Skylark of Space was unstarred
    Image of gd01skorpius gd01skorpius
    11/17/09

    In reply to A History of 16 Science Fiction Classics, Told In Book Covers
    Lol at the Enterprise in the spanish War of The Worlds #bookcovers
     Reply
    gd01skorpius was starred gd01skorpius was unstarred
    Image of Chip Overclock Chip Overclock
    11/17/09

    In reply to A History of 16 Science Fiction Classics, Told In Book Covers
    This is an awesomely cool idea. After all, it's the cover that catches our eye. And covers are representative of the time and space from whence they came. So these covers should tell us as much of their era and culture as they do about the book they illustrate; for some covers, more.

    I frequently order British editions of my favorite UK authors from Amazon.co.uk because I get paperbacks a year sooner than their American release. I find I generally like the UK cover art better.

    When I order older or used books from Amazon.com and there are several paperback editions available, I usually choose the one with the prettiest cover art. #bookcovers
     Reply
    Chip Overclock was starred Chip Overclock was unstarred
    Image of golddiggersof2033 golddiggersof2033
    11/17/09

    @Chip Overclock: I concur- British cover art is generally more interesting and prettier. Penguin UK does a really good job of it.

    This post made me warm and fuzzy- thanks Lauren! #bookcovers
     Reply
    golddiggersof2033 was starred golddiggersof2033 was unstarred
    Image of TallyCola TallyCola
    11/17/09

    @Chip Overclock: I totally go out of my to order British editions as well, especially when I'm giving a beloved book as a gift.

    I picked up Michael Marshall Smith's "Only Forward" and "Spares" completely on a whim in a UK bookstore because the covers looked so awesome and they became two of my favourite books of all time. A good cover art designer is... well they're good because they make me want to read books. #bookcovers
     Reply
    SJ_Edwards promoted this comment TallyCola was starred TallyCola was unstarred
    Image of MonkeyT MonkeyT
    11/17/09

    In reply to A History of 16 Science Fiction Classics, Told In Book Covers
    War of The Worlds #18 looks like a giant Disney character about to eat people. #bookcovers
     Reply
    MonkeyT was starred MonkeyT was unstarred
    Image of MonkeyT MonkeyT
    11/17/09

    In reply to A History of 16 Science Fiction Classics, Told In Book Covers
    I'm surprised the collection of Farenheit 451 covers didn't include what I would consider the obvious design answer: the cover itself appearing heat damaged, cracked and partially burned as if it was one of the books destroyed within the tale. #bookcovers
     Reply
    MonkeyT was starred MonkeyT was unstarred
    Image of Discodave: R.O.A.C.H. M.O.T.E.L. Discodave: R.O.A.C.H. M.O.T.E.L.
    11/17/09

    In reply to A History of 16 Science Fiction Classics, Told In Book Covers
    I love these posts, except for one thing - I look at some of the copies I have of these and realise there are much, much better editions out there I should have got instead.

    Having said that, I've got that iconic edition of A Clockwork Orange and I'm really quite smug about it. #bookcovers
     Reply
    Discodave: R.O.A.C.H. M.O.T.E.L. was starred Discodave: R.O.A.C.H. M.O.T.E.L. was unstarred
    Image of RandomFrequentFlierDent RandomFrequentFlierDent
    11/17/09

    @Discodave: R.O.A.C.H. M.O.T.E.L.: I feel your pain. I'm continually annoyed by the fact that Will Smith stares back at me every time I pick up my copies of I, Robot and I am Legend (which is actually a collection of Richard Matheson's work to which Will Smith’s face has been randomly plastered). If only the movie-tie-in version of books weren't significantly cheaper and I weren't a poor, poor university student. #bookcovers
     Reply
    RandomFrequentFlierDent was starred RandomFrequentFlierDent was unstarred
    Image of PlasmaGlory PlasmaGlory
    11/17/09

    @Discodave: R.O.A.C.H. M.O.T.E.L.: Which edition is that? #bookcovers
     Reply
    SJ_Edwards promoted this comment PlasmaGlory was starred PlasmaGlory was unstarred
    Image of Discodave: R.O.A.C.H. M.O.T.E.L. Discodave: R.O.A.C.H. M.O.T.E.L.
    11/17/09


    @PlasmaGlory: This one. #bookcovers
     Reply
    Discodave: R.O.A.C.H. M.O.T.E.L. was starred Discodave: R.O.A.C.H. M.O.T.E.L. was unstarred
    Image of psychiccheese psychiccheese
    11/18/09

    @Discodave: R.O.A.C.H. M.O.T.E.L.: Is that the US or the UK version?
    I happen to own both, and while the cover is the same, the book itself is different. The US version doesn't come with the last chapter, which completely changes the ending, but it also has the Nadsat glossary in the back. The UK version doesn't have the Nadsat translations, but has all 21 chapters.
     Reply
    psychiccheese was starred psychiccheese was unstarred
    Image of Grey_Area Grey_Area
    11/17/09

    In reply to A History of 16 Science Fiction Classics, Told In Book Covers
    Oh sweet. There goes my afternoon... staring at cool book covers. #bookcovers
     Reply
    Grey_Area was starred Grey_Area was unstarred
    Image of Perhaps Not Perhaps Not
    11/17/09

    In reply to A History of 16 Science Fiction Classics, Told In Book Covers
    You know, I really love these posts. I'm not just saying that - I think they're awesome, and I love all the art Lauren digs up. (Go find the Travis Charest gallery and link to it, L!) But please, please tell me, isn't there some way to stop you people from making each gallery a separate story? It totally screws up the homepage for like, hours. #bookcovers
     Reply
    Perhaps Not was starred Perhaps Not was unstarred
    Image of Roklimber Roklimber
    09/26/09

    In reply to Don't Ask The Wall Street Journal How To Wean Your Kids Off Reading Science Fiction
    Charlie, I think you're judging this woman too harshly. She didn't ask for a way to *stop* the kid from reading sci-fi (as you suggest), but only for a way to "expand his horizons to include other genres." I think hers is a valid point of view.

    Inclusion of other genres does not have to be at the exclusion of sci-fi.
     Reply
    Roklimber was starred Roklimber was unstarred
    Image of bookwench bookwench
    09/26/09

    In reply to Don't Ask The Wall Street Journal How To Wean Your Kids Off Reading Science Fiction
    My favorite thought about kids reading is actually from the Ghostbusters animated series, where Ray is describing his reading habits as a child and his parent's reaction to them.

    Apparently he only read comic books, but his parents were just so grateful he was reading at all that they encouraged it. That's the key for non-geek moms and dads: just be grateful your kid reads, never mind complaining about his choice of genre.
     Reply
    bookwench was starred bookwench was unstarred
    Image of Anekanta - killed by a cacodemon Anekanta - killed by a cacodemon
    09/25/09

    In reply to Don't Ask The Wall Street Journal How To Wean Your Kids Off Reading Science Fiction
    Whenever I read something like this, I realize that I was lucky enough to have a really really good high school English curriculum. We had a good mix of "mainstream" and speculative fiction.

    Every year we read one play by Shakespeare, along with one or two other books. On year it was To Kill A Mockingbird and Oliver Twist, and another year it was Wuthering Heights. One year it was even Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde back to back.

    But what I remember most was the year we were asked to read 1984 and Brave New World.

    We spent that whole year talking about conformity and Utopian & Dystopian societies, and the language of persuasion and deception.

    The first Gulf War was going on at the time, and we examined some of the language the newspaper journalists were using. American troops were called "Our boys" and "G.I.'s" and that sort of thing, while Iraqi soldiers were called "Angry hordes of death," and things like that.

    More than any other subject, all the English teachers I had really made me think. I only wish I'd paid more attention.
     Reply
    Anekanta - killed by a cacodemon was starred Anekanta - killed by a cacodemon was unstarred
    Image of Bongoes Bongoes
    09/25/09

    @Anekanta: "But what I remember most was the year we were asked to read 1984 and Brave New World.

    We spent that whole year talking about conformity and Utopian & Dystopian societies, and the language of persuasion and deception."

    Hopefully my class this year will be like that, we are reading 1984.
     Reply
    NerD: Blattella promoted this comment Edited by Bongoes at 09/25/09 3:57 PM Bongoes was starred Bongoes was unstarred
    Image of Sunshineyness Sunshineyness
    09/25/09

    @Anekanta: This is completely another topic for another day but I've always felt that HS English classes could do with a good shakeup. I feel like they've been reading the same books for thirty years and whislt a lot of those are great books I wish there'd be a push to include more sci-fi or fantasy. About all I remember is in 7th grade we read The Hobbit (and then for an extra credit assignment/love of The Hobbit I read Lord of the Rings)... and that was it if you exclude the Shakespeare stuff we did (the only two fantasy ones we did being The Tempest and Macbeth) but of course Shakespeare was over analyzed and decidedly made un-fun.
     Reply
    Sunshineyness was starred Sunshineyness was unstarred
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