Customer Reviews

Lightship: Jim Burns, Master of SF Illustration

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Okay, so I know I said lots of good things about this amazing artist already, in my review of his collection "Transluminal", but it bears repeating, especially when I just found out that "Lightship" was back in print. This book shows off a lot of the great work from Jim Burns's early career, and is worth daydreaming over for hours on end. Many British covers are featured, stuff that never made it across the sea to American bookshelves. I am personally most fond of the interpretations of Jack Vance, which for me captured the essential spirit of this master of exotic adventure SF. But I also enjoy all the Silverberg covers, all of which which evoke a sense of futuristic decadence and wild tech run amok. Nobody is as good at turning Mr. Silverberg's wonderfully descriptive prose into jaw-droppingly gorgeous imagery, and when I think of Majipoor I think of Burns's baroque architecture and ornate flying cars, as well as his mysteriously beautiful ladies and aliens. If only more SF movies could look half as good as these paintings; if only more production designers would fess up and admit that they've been ripping off Burns for years.

Transluminal and Lightship are both excellent art books covering the prolific artistic career of Jim Burns, a world famous sci-fi artist. This book is full of large colourful reproductions of his paintings. All of the work is grouped into themes. Well worth buying.