May 16
Click for larger imageOutis Comments: A valiant attempt to describe an actual scene from the book. Yes, that’a foxlike alien with humanlike hands, then a different one with a beak, plus two perplexed looking humans. An ordinary day in the Humanx Commonwealth.
Published 1977
(Average: 6.75 out of 10)
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May 16th, 2019 at 8:44 am
The big alien looks like an annoyed Muppet monster.
May 16th, 2019 at 10:32 am
I fear someone has made a snide comment about a certain moustache.
May 16th, 2019 at 12:06 pm
Like an encounter in an AD&D game. AC0 5HD. Is that a giant sarcophagus-sunbed behind that the owlbeetleturtle was resting in before interruption?
May 16th, 2019 at 12:46 pm
Looking at this cover, the rope in that block and tackle has to be made from hemp.
May 16th, 2019 at 1:49 pm
@Fred—You may be on to something there. From Wikipedia:
The novel takes its title from a deadly and addictive drug, for which there is no known antidote, which causes instant addiction followed by a long, slow, painful death unless the user continues to take increasingly greater doses.
Sounds like the experience of being hooked on GSS, only less fun! 😉
May 16th, 2019 at 2:38 pm
@Bruce
I’ve always said the lack of a tardigrade muppet is a disgrace. Visibility for Tardigrade Americans! (Or whatever this guy is.)
May 16th, 2019 at 5:41 pm
Her outfit is designed for showing off a tramp-stamp, but I see no tramp-stamp.
May 16th, 2019 at 6:12 pm
@JP—Speaking of her outfit, I hope moustache man is a good shot, because there’s no way she’s gonna run in those slip-on heeled sandals!
May 16th, 2019 at 6:32 pm
Speaking of her outfit, that seems like an awfully small bum for a woman. I wonder if “minidrag” applies to the clothing.
May 16th, 2019 at 6:38 pm
“Why have you brought US here Lassie?”
The handlebar moustache never really goes away. The stamp could be inlaid gold.
May 16th, 2019 at 6:44 pm
Thanks to these excellent posts, I keep coming back to this cover. Now I notice what appears to be a spirited game of bocce going on in the background.
May 16th, 2019 at 6:48 pm
The lady looks as if she has come straight from the freestyle gymnastics floorshow at the Peking Olympics. She expects gold. Or Oddjob got to her with his pot of paint.
May 16th, 2019 at 6:58 pm
Owl had changed a good deal since Christopher Robin last saw him. So had Christopher.
May 16th, 2019 at 9:00 pm
I think we have this one in the xNoob household library. I don’t recall the people being so… colorfully dressed. However, as it would have been purchased by Mr. xn, who was then a young geek, Ms. Gold Mix-a-Lot would have gotten his attention (Although, technically, her butt is not very big).
(It’s really an entertaining series — don’t let the daft covers put you off.)
Mr. Sweet always attempts to show actual scenes from the book, which is admirable in a cover artist, but somehow the execution fails.
@Ray P: Spot on.
@Francis: now I want one too! Tardigrade Muppet would rule.
@BC: It’s quite the exciting game, with them all ignoring the odd collection of beings in the foreground. Must be a tie score near the end of the match.
May 17th, 2019 at 1:53 am
“…and you just try putting me, my lady friend or my alien dog in your giant floating microwave oven, I’ll fill you full of-”
a) lead.
b) smouldering laser holes.
c) accelerated subatomic particles.
I’m unfamiliar with the book so delete as appropriate
May 18th, 2019 at 2:25 pm
@GSS: indeed the problem is not with the artist, but with the impossible brief: “humans/aliens meeting, and make it look good”. A headache for anybody, that’s for sure.
As for the book, I find myself preferring calmer storylines, while in the humanx series people always seem to be facing universe-shattering disasters, and everyone is running around with their hair on fire. Adrenaline ahoy!
May 19th, 2019 at 1:08 am
@Outis: I’ve noticed Alan Dean Foster tends to write stories like a D&D game, and you need to have an exciting Encounter of some sort every couple chapters or so. It’s worse in his fantasy novels, but it crops up in his SF as well.
May 21st, 2019 at 12:45 am
@Outis and/or GSSxn: As you have the book, do you know if grumpy muppet faced monster has four eyes? The ‘ears’ look like a second pair of eyes in the enlarged image. It could be ‘alien ears are hard to draw’ but it would fit in with the generous number of limbs – and with tentacle arms, insect(?) legs and a turtle shell with fur on the back, anything’s possible.
@Bruce: With other authors I assumed that indicated the stories were originally serialised in magazines, that’s just a guess though.
May 21st, 2019 at 7:18 pm
@Verylatetotheparty: the cover is indeed correct, Grumpy Alien does have four eyes, two large, two small, and the rest of the body closely follows the author’s specs, so kudos to Mr. Sweet. No spoilers, but in this particular scene the alien is shown to be quite the affable chap: it’s not going to murderize anyone. Yet.
May 22nd, 2019 at 1:07 pm
@Outis: So it might be grumpy looking with a heart of gold or, given it’s general anatomy, two hearts of gold. And definitely credit due to Darrell Sweet for rising to the challenge.
May 22nd, 2019 at 4:33 pm
Ceci n’est pas une beak.
December 20th, 2019 at 8:01 pm
BLOODHYPE
The Lance Armstrong Story
August 17th, 2020 at 11:03 pm
He: “Shall I shoot it?”
She : “No – I want to ask it what it did with the rest of my clothing.”