Rayguns and rockets! Space-suited heroes caught in the tentacles of evil insectoid aliens! Who could resist such wonders?

Science-fiction paperbacks exploded over the 1940s and ’50s literary landscape with the force of an alien gamma bomb. Titles such as Rodent Mutation, The Human Bat vs The Robot Gangster, Dawn of the Mutants and Mushroom Men from Mars appeared from fly-by-night publishers making the most of the end of post-war paper rationing.

They were brash and seductive – for around a shilling the future was yours. The stories were often conceived around a pre-commissioned cover and a title suggested by the publisher, and the writers were paid by the word, and sometimes not paid at all. Titles were knocked out at a key-pounding pace, sometimes over a weekend, by authors now lost to literary history (plus a few professionals who could spot an opportunity) who were forced to write under pseudonyms like Ray Cosmic, Steve Future, Vector Magroon or Vargo Statten.

Despite the tight deadlines and poor pay, the books’ cover artists still managed to produce works of multi-hued, brain-bending brilliance, and collected here is an overview of their output during an unparalleled period of brash optimism and experimentation in publishing.

(images below) These pieces by British artist Josh Kirby, most renowned for his cover artwork on the Discworld novels fascinated me the most in this book. I’m starting to wonder if the Japanese artist Kuri Ippei of Gatchaman ( Battle Of The Planets ) fame was ever influenced by him.

This huge 450 pages hardcover volume is an invaluable resource for vintage sci-fi art, and it’s fascinating to see how the world’s vision of our future looked like back in the 40/50s. This is a fun one to flip through and a great depository of sci-fi reference for any artist. Recommended.

“Rayguns and Rocketships: Vintage Science Fiction Book Cover Art” art book details :

– Dimensions – 6 x 1.3 x 9 inches
– Hard cover, 456 pages
– Full color

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