Dec 09
Click for full imageMark E’s Art Direction: You know how when you cross a fly, an elephant and a ram you get something really awesome that can outfly a fighter plane? Well give me some of those. Oh – and its Sci-fi so best put a stock image of a planet looming far to close in the sky as well.
Published 1990
(Average: 7.52 out of 10)
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December 9th, 2015 at 9:21 am
Thanks 😀
Saw this in a charity shop and knew it had a home here.
I’ve seen worse covers – I spend far too much time on here not to – but those weird elephant/fly/ram creatures are just too perfect.
December 9th, 2015 at 10:14 am
This is a real Mona Lisa of a cover, the eyes follow you around the room.
Which one’s Alacrity and which is Hobart?
December 9th, 2015 at 10:41 am
“Why are our Moth-steeds flying so fast?”, asked Floyt.
“They’re headed towards that giant cardigan!” responded his companion, with alacrity.
December 9th, 2015 at 10:55 am
“We shall defeat Pikachu at last, with our superior Pokémons!”
December 9th, 2015 at 11:00 am
“Hey man, how can you keep your eyes open when we’re flying through a sandy desert at 300 miles per hour?”
“Because I use… SPEED-O-VISION Contact Lenses!”
December 9th, 2015 at 12:22 pm
I like the fact they needed to signal that this is Sci-fi with the inclusion of a moon/planet hovering in the sky – you know, in case it was mistaken for the next lit-fic Booker prize contender.
December 9th, 2015 at 1:15 pm
What’s the theme song of this cover? Yakety Yak?
December 9th, 2015 at 2:27 pm
On the American cover the beasts are more like longhorn steers and the handgun is more like an umbrella!
December 9th, 2015 at 2:28 pm
‘Whoa, man. I’m trippin’ BALLS here.’
‘Hey, dude…is there like…do you feel..heavy?’
‘Yeah, like, I got somebody ridin’ on my shoulders.’
‘Naw, naw, naw, dude, like…somethin’s wrong with gravity, an’ stuff.’
‘Hey, man, look. Look at me, look at me.’
‘…what?’
‘I’m flyin’ with my ears, man! I got bat ears, man! Flap! Flap! Flap!’
‘Ha! That’s so messed up, dude!’
‘…was that just pot we smoked?’
December 9th, 2015 at 2:40 pm
These boys just loves the funky animals.
http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1262125610l/1007336.jpg
Still can’t touch the total awesomeness that is the cover of ‘The Doomfarers of Coramonde’ though. Surprised that cover hasn’t reached these shores. Won’t spoil it with a link. GOOGLE it if you wish.
December 9th, 2015 at 3:08 pm
@fred – Beat ya to it. Alacrity!
December 9th, 2015 at 3:21 pm
This was originally going to be the poster for ‘Young Guns IV’ – Emilio was on board but Kevin bailed and made ‘Waterworld’ instead.
December 9th, 2015 at 5:19 pm
About the elephant-moths: There’s got to be some bat in the mix as well. I mean, look at the ears! And, you know, maybe even some woolly mammoth.
On another note: What kind of a first name is “Alacrity”, anyway? I feel sorry for that guy.
December 9th, 2015 at 8:18 pm
@Anna T: Screw you!!!
December 9th, 2015 at 8:31 pm
@Bibliomancer- I’ll give you this one, life intervened while I was in the middle of posting. Does fall pertain to a season, or is it a metaphor for age or a loss of standing? Is the ship colored white? Is it owned/piloted by White or a planet/corporation/faction named White/white? Is the ship named Avatar or is this a precursor to Andromeda avatar wise ? Is it even an intergalactic vessel and not a row boat? Are they wearing spurs?
And Mr. Brian Daley did very well for himself in life afore he passed. Very well indeed.
http://www.luciastclairrobson.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Lucia-Brian.jpg
December 9th, 2015 at 9:20 pm
I wonder where this book falls in Moths Scale of Sci-fi Hardness?
December 9th, 2015 at 11:51 pm
“Dang it Alacrity, I’m tired of riding in the sidecar, and I dropped my gun again!
December 9th, 2015 at 11:52 pm
Oh, and just what kind of dumb-ass name is ‘Alacrity” anyway?”
“I don’t know. You tell me—Floyt.”
December 10th, 2015 at 1:01 am
Ah, yes, Hobart Floyt. Composer of such famous ditties as Tark Site of the Wooloomooloo and Wish Darwin Were Hert.
December 10th, 2015 at 3:50 am
Written of course under his nom de plume “Ping Floyt.”
December 10th, 2015 at 12:44 pm
‘I saw on the Internet today…the BBC says that someone named “Hhhhobart Floyt” helped bring down a White Ship Avatar yesterday. “Fall” was their exact word, “Fall a White Ship Avatar”. Now what I want to know is, who’s this “Hhhhobart Floyt” they mentioned? Of “Alacrity Fitzhugh aaaaand Hhhhhobart Floyt” fame? I don’t know. I don’t know any bloody “Hhhhobart Floyt”. I do…I do seem to recall a “Bartholomew MacFloyt”. Aye, there’s a name I remember! Flying here and there across the whole galaxy, setting right wrongs and standing up for the weak, the poor and the small. Him and his sidekick, “Capability Fitzhugh”. Oh, what a team they made! “Bartholomew MacFloyt and Capability Fitzhugh”, they called them. You knew! You knew you were safe if “Bartholomew MacFloyt and Capability Fitzhugh” were there!’
–the protagonist’s father, round the Sunday lunch table
December 10th, 2015 at 5:50 pm
@Alacrity B. Snoodhouse: If that’s your real name, then I’m the Queen. (I’m not, by the way.)
December 10th, 2015 at 8:06 pm
I assure you, the Snoodhouses are a fine old family and the name ‘Alacrity’ has been passed down for generations. I swear it on the grave of my mother Effervescence Matilda Snoodhouse.
December 10th, 2015 at 9:11 pm
Why oh why do I let my obsessive side loose? I’ve spent hours now pondering this overwhelming question: Just what has fallen? Is it a ship avatar that is white, or an avatar of a white ship, or a white ship that’s named “Avatar”?
None of it makes any sense of course, but that doesn’t stop me.
December 10th, 2015 at 9:29 pm
Looking at the background…what is a [PERNATURALIS], and where can I get one?
December 10th, 2015 at 9:32 pm
On the White Ship Avatar
It’s a sweet trip to a leather bar
Where stun-guns play
On the ele-moths of Michael Bay
Fighter jet-planes fill the air
Lacquered hair-dos everywhere
And there you are
Falling on the White Ship Avatar
December 15th, 2015 at 12:46 pm
Alacrity Fitzhugh?
Hobart Floyt?
I can’t stop laughing..
March 7th, 2023 at 2:42 am
You can never tell when and how an SF cover will incite a GSS riot. I’m sure @Mark E was thinking “This will be fun”, and then this happened…
@Tat Wood: GSS on the musical stylings