Customer Reviews

Worlds of Tomorrow: The Amazing Universe of Science Fiction Art

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3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First let me say that this is a beautiful volume, full of lush reproductions of rare old book and magazine covers. Any fan of science fiction art or the pulps will find this an excellent addition to their library.
But there is a problem, and it is fully as irritating as it is strange. And it's pretty damn strange.
In compiling a historical retrospective of science fiction art, the editors have failed to credit the very artists they celebrate. Every single one of the hundreds of cover images reproduced here is accompanied by the name of the magazine, the month and year it appeared, and the name of the publisher. Book covers also add the name of the book's author, which is generally prominently displayed on the cover itself.
The artist is NEVER listed.
Not when the artist's name is credited in the magazine or book displayed.
Not when the artist is well known.
Not when the artist's style is unmistakable.
Not when the artist's signature is plainly visible in the image.
The editors, Forrest J. Ackerman and Brad Linaweaver, each provide several essays throughout the book. Every one of these has a byline so that we never confuse Linaweaver's prose with Ackerman's. I wish they had been half as meticulous about giving credit where it is due when dealing with the artists who supposedly inspired them.

Caveat emptor! Over ninety percent of the cover art images reproduced in this book are the size of bubble gum trading cards. I was under the impression that the images were all full page but no such luck. Once again quality is sacrificed for cheapness.

"Worlds of Tomorrow" is a truly wonderful and nostalgic look back at science fiction art of the golden age of pulp magazines and science fiction books. Written by Mr. Sci-Fi himself, Forrest Ackerman, along with Brad Linaweaver this is a dazzling look into the past at the wonderful art of the 20's through the 50's that graced the covers of those early sci-fi books and pulps such as Amazing Stories, Startling Stories, Astounding Stories, Galaxy, and many more. No one knows Sci-Fi like Uncle Forry and many credit him with coining that term in the first place. It was the very first issue of Amazing Stories that inspired Ackerman's life-long love of the genre and set him on his pace to accrue one of the most fabulous collections of memorabilia ever assembled.

The book reprints hundreds of these classic pulp and book covers along with running anecdotes from both Ackerman and Linaweaver. We look back at these great covers and discover just how visionary the artists were sixty plus years ago. Their works had a perhaps over-spectacular flair to them, but they foreshadowed much of the technology we use today like computers, cell phones, atomic power, spacecraft, and robots. Frank R. Paul was the first star of pulp art as his work graced many covers of Hugo Gernsback's amazing stories and now sells for thousands of dollars today.

Each chapter takes on a different subject such as chapter two's look at space travel with all manner of fantastic rockets, and ships and saucers. It's interesting to see how designs changed from the earliest pulps of the 20's to the 1950's when actual space programs were able to provide inspiration to the artists. One can even see our present day space shuttles in the works of these early talents.

Chapter three covers robots and again these covers don't disappoint as they imagine robot designs both functional and sublime. There are humanoid robots, insectoid robots, even robots that look incredibly like the Transformer robots so popular today. One great cover to Galaxy from September 1954, shows a scientist working on a female android who looks entirely human, but with her skin peeled away over one arm and shoulder showing her internal circuitry, inspiring views of The Terminator, some thirty years before that film came out.

It is then interesting to see how when we move to the 1950's, aliens become the one of the main subjects for covers. With no limits but their own imaginations we are treated to a veritable treasure trove of scaly, hairy, slithering beasts and it's clear that many of the "B" filmmakers of the 1950's used the pulps as their inspiration in creating their latex monsters.

It's truly a magnificent book and I was especially captivated by the covers of the old Sci-Fi novels as you so rarely encounter them these days. A must have for Sci-fi collectors and fans! And as a side note, this book, like all of the Collector's Press books are well made using thick, coated stock, heavy covers and bound beautifully with the collector in mind.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

This highly anticipated book is gorgeous. It has innumerable SF covers, mostly from the pulps. Ackerman's encyclopedic knowledge in this area enables the book to have a historical as well as aesthetic perspective. The book also has superb production values. This one's a keeper!

I have to agree with the reviewers who said there are no credits on the great works of art in this book. They are some of the best I have seen to represent the genre. It gives me inspiration to start painting and drawing again in my favorite of all genres...sci fi. The only fault in this book is that it should have been longer and had more art reproductions of the covers. I loved every page of this. I can see some of the ships slightly resemble the U.S.S. Enterprise. Probably that's where Matt Jeffries got his inspiration. From these pulp covers there are images that can be retro fitted for today's sci fi movies.

Back more years ago than I want to admit when I was first getting interested in science fiction the main source was a series of magazines and paperback (or as wee called them at the time pocketbooks) with fantastic covers designed to attract the eye to the contents.

Modern book covers just don't seem to convey the same feeling. They are more modern, they realize that bug eyed monsters, sleek space ships (that all look surprisingly like the German V-2), cities on the moon, rainy jungles on Venus don't and even can't exist. The new covers certainly don't have the same feel as the old ones.

This book brings back the images from the past. And these were the books/magazines where the first of many of the classic writers Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, H. G. Wells, Robert Heinlein and more. Here is the first illustration of Ae van Vogt's 'The Weapon Shops of Isher.'

It's a fascinating book to look through, over and over. Oh yes, there's some text here too, but frankly I haven't read it. I've tried, but I get so distracted by the pictures that I'm soon just looking. I'll read it one day.

This is a beautiful book with magnificent color throughout. Let me say that I disagree with the previous reviewer who complained about the size of the images. Speaking as the owner of a decent pulp collection, my feeling is that the image size is entirely adequate; indeed distortion might arise if they were shown much larger. The pictures are clear and crisp, and the color tones superb.

Forrest has made a very interesting selection of publications to feature in this book, with a large representation of UK Curtis Warren, Vargo Statten-era books that are not seen all that often. Books on pop culture collectibles (e.g. Future Toys by Emchowicz) often have great items and art, but there's one drawback; one's seen them all in other books. Here Forry steers a very well chosen course, incorporating enough of the well known covers that have appeared in Robertson/Davidson's great Pulp Culture, or in the definitive work that started my personal lust for pulp art, Brian Aldiss' Science Fiction Art; but adding enough new and less well known, albeit excellent, material. There's virtually no current stuff, which suits me fine.

Nice work, Forry! Not that we've come to expect anything else from you. From the days in the mid sixties when I would sneak into a tiny side street newsagent shop, that smelled of old fried food, in Winchester, England to buy Famous Monsters, Forry has been a shining light in the present day surreal. I've heard that the collection he so generously shared with the public may have been sold to pay legal bills; if so, may he come across that painting of Dracula by Bram Stoker one day!

Fans of science fiction art have had other titles to turn to over the years; but none so visually packed with color and scope as Forrest J. Ackerman and Brad Linaweaver's Worlds Of Tomorrow. Ackerman has been a part of the science fiction genre for over 70 years, writing and publishing some of the earliest articles about the genre's films and even playing bit parts in low-budget horror. Linaweaver is a Nebula finalist for his novel and has written numerous short stories and media-tie in books. Together the two provide gorgeous reproductions of fantasy and science fiction art from magazine and book covers of the 1930s through the 1950s. Gorgeous reproductions and explanatory history on all pages.

It's an interesting book with some rather humorous comments and great sources of information. Has a good collection of comic/pulp art. While it is still going to be kept in my collection, I was hoping for a lot better book. It does offer some interesting artwork, but the work doesn't have a great variety of artistic styles. I have this as well as a couple other pulp on my coffee table at home and in my office for people to see. Everyone that has picked up the book says it looks interesting but "the pictures all look kinda the same" is the typical response to it. The best image out of the entire book is the cover art (which does make sense...but), and that was the one that seemed to be the most unique. They did discuss some of the artists, but the authors develed greatly into L. Ron Hubbard for a handful of pages and discuss his work rather fervently. Which didn't seem to be the case with other author/artist from previous eras. These consisted of blurbs here and there of other talented artists. The way this portion sort of popped up 3/4 way through the book started to make me kinda wonder if one or both of the authors are followers of Scientology. It's a good average book. I don't see it winning any awards.

TOMORROW! Forrest J. Ackerman and Brad Linaweaver take us on a tour of tomorrow from the book covers and science fiction art of yesteryear. Giant bug, ugly aliens, lovely heroines, flashy spaceships and well armed heros fill the pages of this book. It is so much fun, they talk about everything from rockets to Mystery Science Theater 3000.