Aug 09
Click for full imageShelley’s Art Direction: We’re looking for a sort of lion-centaur. And a spaceship. And gore. And…could you do something with foreshortened perspective? Thanks.
Published 1977
That is… awesome.
Many thanks to Shelley!
(Average: 7.92 out of 10)
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August 9th, 2010 at 9:28 am
Interesting creature design, but as you can see by the fact he’s tangled his hands up in bloody flesh, it is not without flaws. I suppose that’s why there were tits included, so no one would notice.
August 9th, 2010 at 10:35 am
I’m no animal design scientist but I agree with cutman, there are serious flaws in that monsters design. Could it have reached down to rip that carcass with it’s tiny arms?
The naked centaur is clearly in agony that she was included on this cover.
August 9th, 2010 at 11:35 am
Stunning new concept in S.F. – Slugfrogosaurus Rex
August 9th, 2010 at 11:45 am
At first, I didn’t see the disemboweled creature on the floor (it was off the bottom of my screen), so I thought the large monster was holding badly shredded red underpants, as if ruined by a fierce spin-dry cycle.
The centaur thing (which ain’t no centaur, because it’s half-lion instead of half-horse (or maybe it’s half-centaur and half griffin!)) seems to be in a bit of a flap, or having an attack of the vapours like a victorian lady whose corsets are too tight.
And what the heck is happening to the sky?
August 9th, 2010 at 11:54 am
This has GOT to be my wallpaper this week!
August 9th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Since WHEN have sequels been considered a new concept in science fiction? Let alone, a stunning one? Unless S.F. stands for “Slobbering Frogosauruses”.
And wouldn’t something called “Continuum” be assumed to have sequels?
August 9th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
I don’t know, I think that this is really a pretty good cover… lots of loving detail on the big beastie and everything. I believe this book was supposed to be displayed on the shelves with two others in the series as part of a triptych.
August 9th, 2010 at 9:21 pm
The fortuitous combination of pesticides and GM lettuce has produced- Slugszilla!!
(Radioactive salt just out of shot…)
August 10th, 2010 at 12:19 am
In D&D, they call the “like a centaur but with a lion body” a Wemic. Not sure if that’s actually from a real myth, or just something the monster-maker made up.
August 10th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
That creature on the cover looks like Chet from Weird Science:
http://blogs.tampabay.com/.a/6a00d83451b05569e20133edbc8aec970b-450wi
August 10th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
That cover looks like a Patrick Woodroffe effort – his style is fairly ummistakable plus he admitted that his spaceships look like child’s toys…
August 10th, 2010 at 8:19 pm
I was losing faith in this site, or perhaps in the existence of really bad covers, checking back periodically with Baen’s Universe to remind myself of the spirit of dire. Then *this* came up.
August 10th, 2010 at 8:22 pm
What do you mean ‘just’ nitpicking? It is the essence of online existence, the tao of troll if you will.
August 11th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
I read these anthologies in the 80s (copies in the school library). The “stunning new concept in S.F.” was that the subsequent volumes of the anthology included sequels to the stories in the previous volume – i.e. they were a collection of serials spread over four volumes. As such, the covers of this edition were designed to join up laterally, and with the foreground creature in the previous volume appearing in the background of the next. Here (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/e/roger-elwood/continuum-1) is Volume 1 to give you the idea – might be NSFW if your workplace frowns on topless lion-centaur women.
August 13th, 2010 at 3:42 pm
@weaver – Let me check the Employee Handbook. Nope! Absolutely nothing about topless lion-centaur women, if you can imagine. Bring ’em on.
August 20th, 2010 at 9:44 pm
What you’re maybe not aware of is that the covers in this anthology series adopt different views of the same event. The creature in the foreground here appears in the distance in the other covers. The distant spacecraft takes centre-stage on one of the other covers. There were four books in the sequence, as I recall. I agree it’s not exactly successful, but there was a reason for the curious layout.
July 9th, 2011 at 12:48 am
That is the awesomest cover ever.
So there.
July 13th, 2011 at 5:19 pm
The thing that actually bothers me about the topless lion woman is that one of her forelegs is WAY shorter than the other. Now, I’m not quadrupedal (anymore) but that seems like a bad idea!
January 21st, 2014 at 12:43 pm
The lion woman appears to be wafting a fart. There is no other explanation.
She also has one exceptionally large arm, presumably from playing tennis.
The hideous beastie has an arm growing from his elbow. This would make tennis difficult.
April 29th, 2015 at 4:27 pm
Wow. This reminds me of Moebius.
August 27th, 2015 at 1:02 am
I’ve seen those background cracks before on another cover on this site. Maybe they lead to each other.
October 15th, 2021 at 8:49 pm
A Stunning New Concept in SF:
COVERS THAT ACTUALLY HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE CONTENT