Nov 06
Billy Awesome’s Art Direction: This cover needs a reptilian lady of the night and her pimp, and a pixie-hatted space businessman. Oh, and something something time travel, so put a couple of proper Victorians and one of those tricorn hat guys in there somewhere. Tie it all together with an orange Creamsicle theme.
Published 1977
November 6th, 2015 at 12:03 pm
“Man in a top hat… kid with knife… cowboy shootng up the place… a couple of oddly sexual lizard people…. I gotta stop taking public transport.”
November 6th, 2015 at 12:10 pm
The time-travellin’ gent’s…er…endowment…seems to be…ah…on display.
Some things cannot be unseen.
November 6th, 2015 at 12:23 pm
So that’s where the little man who tells us it’s safe to cross on the traffic signs goes on holiday.
November 6th, 2015 at 1:09 pm
Time Hoppin’ into Washington D.C.
Bringin’ in a couple of keys
Don’t touch my bag if you please
Mr. Lizard Man
November 6th, 2015 at 1:21 pm
“Hello, did you lovelies know you can save 15% if you switch to Geico?”
November 6th, 2015 at 1:37 pm
The time hopper clearly is not aware that his phone booth teleporter is hovering about a foot off the ground, and you can tell by the stiff-legged exit that a somewhat awkward tumble right into the lizard strumpet is about to occur.
November 6th, 2015 at 1:54 pm
By the 23rd century, Jurassic World’s DNA-splicing legacy continues apace.
November 6th, 2015 at 2:28 pm
A fault on the Chameleon Circuit means that this TARDIS looks like a giant chrome version of the Pez-dispenser released to tie in to the big-screen adaptation of ‘RX For Chaos’.
November 6th, 2015 at 2:39 pm
‘VP Runningwater is also running around with a lady with android boobs. She uses them as stunguns, among other things, but really that part of the story doesn’t go much anywhere. Nor does most of the rest of the book.’
I’m sure a BAEN cover would make you think that part of the story goes everywhere.
http://schlock-value.com/2014/02/09/the-panchronicon-plot/
November 6th, 2015 at 6:01 pm
@fred: This is the counterargument to the old chestnut, ‘Well, the scene appears in the book!’ Transvestite lizards from Venus appear in this book, should they be the focus of the cover???
November 6th, 2015 at 6:44 pm
@Tat Wood: *laughing too hard at comment to think up a snarky response*
That’s just what I was thinking!
November 6th, 2015 at 10:01 pm
It just hit me: Any book cover showing “commuters” from the immediate present to the near future must include people who look down on their smartphones (or near-future equivalents of smartphones). Or at least use them for phonecalls.
Name ONE SF book cover from 1980-2015 that shows a single commuter using a cellular phone or similar gadget in a casual, everyone’s-got-one fashion…
November 6th, 2015 at 10:57 pm
@A.R.Yngve: Interesting point, and even haters of Star Trek gotta admit the 60s series got personal communication devices pretty much right. Compare and contrast to Lost in Space, in which every weird phenomenon had to be reported by… running back to the ship!
Then there’s the most prescient example of all, with Get Smart’s eerily accurate prediction of phones obnoxiously going off in the theatre…
November 7th, 2015 at 12:51 am
@Perry Armstrong: do these count?
http://people.uncw.edu/smithms/D-series/D-345a.jpg or the one on the right here http://people.uncw.edu/smithms/D-series/D-331.jpg
November 7th, 2015 at 12:54 am
The time-nappers of Washington D.C. instructed pixie hat guy to leave the ransom-containing suitcase near the lizard-hooker, and, only then, would time be released from captivity.
November 7th, 2015 at 12:59 am
@Tat Wood: at the very least, they count as GSS worthy covers!
November 7th, 2015 at 8:28 am
Still, this scene ain’t half as weird as a regular cosplay convention…
May 30th, 2017 at 3:26 am
“This is the world liberals would like to see.”
May 30th, 2017 at 7:10 am
I don’t think Billy’s art direction was followed — I’m only seeing tricorn hat guy, one Victorian, and a cowboy.
Fairly sure I have seen those lizards at some cosplay event, or at least photos of them. Whether they were cosplaying an obscure old book cover or just spontaneously decided a blonde hooker lizard was the thing to be, who knows.