My favourite bit of this cover: the wallpaper in the background. If I could buy a few rolls of that, I’d do my bedroom in it. Course, my wife wouldn’t be happy.
Looks to me like the HUGE 70s hair kitty, along the Hans Solo and Princess Lea wanna-be’s, is terrified by “his big one”…whatever that means… Apparently he just whipped it out and the three on the cover are crouching is disbelief and terror.
Why didn’t I think to submit this? Everything is wrong. The artwork is appalling and manages to look photoshopped even though it was printed in the late seventies. Even the blurb is wrong: far from being a ‘long-awaited masterpiece’ it’s a never-reprinted forgettable lump, notable mostly for an interesting FTL drive (Tipler cylinders) and for Anderson letting his inner skald out to play a bit.
Artist on this one is Greg Theakston, for the tags.
And the guy with the suspicious bulge is Steve Holland, who modeled for an insane number of paperback covers for a couple of decades (most notably the Bantam DOC SAVAGE reprints in the ’60s & ’70s.)
Man in macho crouch pose with gun: “Run sweetcheeks! I got you covered!”
Woman already in running away pose: “I’m just a woman in heels so I’ll just assume there’s nothing behind us and start running!”
Is the main character by any chance a space handyman? I don’t know if he should be pulling a space pistol out of that belt or a measuring tape. What space-aged hero wears Lee jeans? :\
Hmmm, maybe Poul Anderson should sue James Cameron. After all, it would appear that Anderson’s book had giant, brown, cat-like people with tails, whearas Cameron’s movie had giant, blue, cat-like people with tails, but it seems a minor change…..Especially since Cameron forced a television show, that had been on for three years (and had nothing even similar to his movie), to change it’s name, claiming that he had already copyrighted “Avatar” several months before the show was produced. Seems someone else copyrighted it even sooner.
The woman’s spine is broken. She’s really not in any position to be running anywhere. And the man’s bulge makes me thing he’s likely going commando. And Catman’s clearly dancing. Yeah, it would seem that “Charlie’s Angels” was indeed something of an inspiration for this cover. Along with “Star Wars”.
It’s Agent Scully in Han Solo’s outfit, wondering why, wondering where she is, wondering where Mulder is, wondering why the janitor is packing heat.
(The giant cat person, she’s “whatever”. She’s used to those kinds of things.)
@GSS Agent: I remember the X Files. And in season one, even if there was a bloody great cat person with pectorals the size of Persia standing not a metre from her, Scully WOULD miss it!
While I am/was slightly acquainted with him and his wife, I never wanted to ask the Mrs. about his “big one” (Although they did have a daughter). We had a delightful schadenfreude chortle about the failure of the “Battlefield Earth” movie (Poul knew LRH before the “religion”; the story about him betting the other SF writers he was going to make money with a cult is true).
I always enjoyed talking to him at cons. Interesting guy. I was out of town during the funeral so couldn’t attend.
But I would have loved to hear his thoughts on this generation’s scifi movies and the chortle about Battlefield Earth, which was a giant stink bomb, which is an insult to stink bombs…
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April 28th, 2010 at 8:50 am
“I’ll take that kitten in the window, the one with six arms, muscle bound chest and the seventies hair do!”
April 28th, 2010 at 9:03 am
“So, how are you thinking of marketing my new novel?’
‘Our plan is to go up to people and scream “IT’S HIS BIG ONE!!” at them. Cast-iron plan, that.’
April 28th, 2010 at 9:11 am
My favourite bit of this cover: the wallpaper in the background. If I could buy a few rolls of that, I’d do my bedroom in it. Course, my wife wouldn’t be happy.
April 28th, 2010 at 9:30 am
Looks to me like the HUGE 70s hair kitty, along the Hans Solo and Princess Lea wanna-be’s, is terrified by “his big one”…whatever that means… Apparently he just whipped it out and the three on the cover are crouching is disbelief and terror.
April 28th, 2010 at 10:04 am
Why didn’t I think to submit this? Everything is wrong. The artwork is appalling and manages to look photoshopped even though it was printed in the late seventies. Even the blurb is wrong: far from being a ‘long-awaited masterpiece’ it’s a never-reprinted forgettable lump, notable mostly for an interesting FTL drive (Tipler cylinders) and for Anderson letting his inner skald out to play a bit.
April 28th, 2010 at 10:23 am
Bit cruel, calling it a “long-awaited masterpiece”.
Poul Anderson: “What about all my previous other books?”
Publisher: “Oh, they weren’t masterpieces. We’ve been hanging on for twenty years for you to produce something worth calling that.”
Poul Anderson: *sobs*
April 28th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
lol that cover is awesome. Look at the bulge down the trouser leg of the dude
April 28th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
CSA> Wow… His big one!
April 28th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
i’d say its his long a’ weighted
April 29th, 2010 at 3:41 am
Artist on this one is Greg Theakston, for the tags.
And the guy with the suspicious bulge is Steve Holland, who modeled for an insane number of paperback covers for a couple of decades (most notably the Bantam DOC SAVAGE reprints in the ’60s & ’70s.)
April 29th, 2010 at 9:56 am
What more can I say..I love this site 😀
The bad covers makes me laugh and cringe
April 29th, 2010 at 10:21 am
Thanks for the info Don! We’ve changed that now 🙂
Welcome aboard blodeuedd! 🙂
April 29th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
Man in macho crouch pose with gun: “Run sweetcheeks! I got you covered!”
Woman already in running away pose: “I’m just a woman in heels so I’ll just assume there’s nothing behind us and start running!”
April 30th, 2010 at 1:54 am
iirc, those are actually the major characters in the book. So it’s not a TOTAL fail.
Admittedly, posing them like the opening credits from “Charlie’s Angels” is an interesting design decision.
May 6th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Is that Roy Scheider with the flashlight on his belt? I always liked Roy Scheider.
The author’s name is really “Poul”? Ouch.
May 19th, 2010 at 11:44 pm
Is the main character by any chance a space handyman? I don’t know if he should be pulling a space pistol out of that belt or a measuring tape. What space-aged hero wears Lee jeans? :\
May 21st, 2010 at 1:54 am
Or a Space Janitor. Who appears to be firing Space Thing’s penis in a bid to protect Space Drama Teacher.
March 30th, 2012 at 9:29 pm
It looks so 1980 to my eyes. Further surrealism: that guy wearing the colors and clothing style of my local police.
Is this one of those wacky mismatched cop buddy comedies?
October 21st, 2013 at 6:42 pm
Hmmm, maybe Poul Anderson should sue James Cameron. After all, it would appear that Anderson’s book had giant, brown, cat-like people with tails, whearas Cameron’s movie had giant, blue, cat-like people with tails, but it seems a minor change…..Especially since Cameron forced a television show, that had been on for three years (and had nothing even similar to his movie), to change it’s name, claiming that he had already copyrighted “Avatar” several months before the show was produced. Seems someone else copyrighted it even sooner.
August 27th, 2015 at 1:19 am
The woman’s spine is broken. She’s really not in any position to be running anywhere. And the man’s bulge makes me thing he’s likely going commando. And Catman’s clearly dancing. Yeah, it would seem that “Charlie’s Angels” was indeed something of an inspiration for this cover. Along with “Star Wars”.
November 25th, 2015 at 2:23 pm
“Poul, dear, what are you doing in the bathroom?”
” [*groan*] My big one!”
January 19th, 2017 at 5:33 am
It’s Agent Scully in Han Solo’s outfit, wondering why, wondering where she is, wondering where Mulder is, wondering why the janitor is packing heat.
(The giant cat person, she’s “whatever”. She’s used to those kinds of things.)
January 19th, 2017 at 11:16 am
@GSS Agent: I remember the X Files. And in season one, even if there was a bloody great cat person with pectorals the size of Persia standing not a metre from her, Scully WOULD miss it!
January 19th, 2017 at 9:58 pm
Nowadays, she’d be “giant mancat, yeah, fine, who’s shooting? And why have I been abducted again, I thought that was Mulder’s job!”
May 4th, 2017 at 4:08 am
C’mon. Nobody wants to see Poul Anderson’s “big one.”
May 5th, 2017 at 1:13 am
@Tom: Poul died in 2001, so yeah.
While I am/was slightly acquainted with him and his wife, I never wanted to ask the Mrs. about his “big one” (Although they did have a daughter). We had a delightful schadenfreude chortle about the failure of the “Battlefield Earth” movie (Poul knew LRH before the “religion”; the story about him betting the other SF writers he was going to make money with a cult is true).
I always enjoyed talking to him at cons. Interesting guy. I was out of town during the funeral so couldn’t attend.
April 4th, 2022 at 12:07 am
The Curse of Poul – crazy cover art.
But I would have loved to hear his thoughts on this generation’s scifi movies and the chortle about Battlefield Earth, which was a giant stink bomb, which is an insult to stink bombs…