Worlds of Tomorrow

Hi all,

Worlds of Tomorrow is a coffee-table book that would interest anyone who enjoys the art from the covers of the early science fiction pulps. It's an attractive volume that features dozens of great covers, many of which may be new to you since the book features not just the usual North American magazines, but also covers from many British publications as well.

The book is divided into four sections that present paintings that represent certain themes. These themes are future cities, rocket ships, robots and aliens. Each chapter has an introduction by Forrest J. Ackerman and further text by Brad Linaweaver.

While the art is lavish and plentiful, the text is nearly useless. Forry's introductions are pretty random and the text in each chapter isn't much better. The author rambles on and describes some of the covers that appear in the chapter, but those descriptions are rarely on the page where the actual painting resides, so you either have to remember what he's talking about or flip back until you find it. Even then, it's not worth it since he's not saying anything interesting. The text doesn't really provide any historical context for the paintings and virtually none of the artists are even mentioned.

That was also a problem with the cutlines for the cover illustrations. Instead of saying who created the painting, it would say the name of the publication, the year of publication and the publishing house all of which could be gleaned from the lettering on the cover reproduction anyway. Talk about useless.

Despite the shortcomings of the text, the book is really about the art and if you like pulp art with big-eyed monsters and streamlined rocket ship, then this is a book for you. If you're interested, you can get a discounted copy from Bookcloseouts.com by clicking on this link.

Capt. Xerox