Sep 02
Click for full imageScience fiction is mainly read by what gender? Males! Exactly! So therefore we should have a big hunk of a long haired lumberjack man, topless, showing off his muscles and tugging on his rope. Don’t forget to add a bird in there! If ya know what I mean, nod nod wink wink!
Thanks so much to Chris R!
(Average: 8.50 out of 10)
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September 2nd, 2009 at 11:11 am
Think Hugh Jackman modeled his wolverine look on this?
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:25 am
wow…
I’m speechless… thats so beautiful :'(
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:35 am
It is glorious.
Wonder if Putin modeled himself on this guy too:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2009/aug/04/vladimir-putin-russia-holiday
September 2nd, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Manly yet sensitive too. See how he is friends with the birds and the butterflys, plus he clearly spends quite a lot of time doing his hair. I feel quite weak, I think I might just swoon…
September 2nd, 2009 at 2:04 pm
I’m afraid I agree with little mi: gay, so gay.
I just love the hair on his stomach disappearing into his low slung jeans and sprinkled across his manly, bulging chest…It’s just not fair.
I think I’m going to have to go lie down.
September 2nd, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Pheww is it getting hot in here?
September 2nd, 2009 at 5:31 pm
He is starting to make me think strange thoughts too…
That massively disfigured right pectoral muscle is really very attractive… mmmm… *cough* i mean… he’s a deformed circus performer, IQ = 42, and has a rope fetish… wasn’t he in an X-files episode?
also… his belt is really cool. I want one. now
March 27th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
This is actually a really good book. Too bad about the sucktastic cover.
April 19th, 2010 at 5:51 pm
Good book. Good series. BAAAAAAAAAAD cover.
April 22nd, 2010 at 4:30 pm
I’m not 100% positive but I think this is a Patrick Woodroffe illustration.
April 22nd, 2010 at 4:58 pm
You are indeed correct it seems. The tag now reflects this fact, thanks for correcting us.
It had been originally tagged with Jack Gaughan’s cover art.
April 24th, 2010 at 5:43 am
Is it just me or does it seem like this author’s books are known for supremely bad covers? This is like the third one I’ve seen and I only just found this site today 😛
April 24th, 2010 at 11:30 am
Dara> You have no idea. I have some ‘inside’ info that when a couple of people here went to three second hand book shops over Christmas Piers Anthony was a clear winner in amazing covers! They might have collected quite a few still awaiting to be published. Right CSA? 😛
April 24th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
I have no idea what you could possibly mean. I certainly didnt spend an entire afternoon laughing and getting strange looks from people in secondhand bookshops.
Actually i think Sos is a masterpiece of a cover, it never fails to make me smile. Probably not its intended reaction, but its better than Piers’ other covers which make my eyes bleed 😉
April 24th, 2010 at 9:09 pm
No – this is Dr. Ronald Chevalier on the cover. This book must be a prequel to the Cyborg Harpies Trilogy!
April 30th, 2010 at 4:21 am
How could his head be turned like that? Why is his face so flat?
April 30th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
I thought it was one of his better or at least more interesting series rather than some of the pun infested puerile pap he dished out in other series ie “Xanth”. Certainly it is a shame about the cover but maybe the artist read the text and tried to recreate the spirit of the book.
I can’t remember any annoying little birds and butterflies but the rest is true to the text with a bit of artistic licence. I’m going to have to send this to my gay brother in London he would probably appreciate….Bas
May 26th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
Too “bookworm” the annoying bird is called stupid and the butterfly moth things are deadly radioactive biting bugs =/. I actually like this book and i think i was even attracted by the bizarre cover, i have it close to hand and threaten to read it again but i would love to get my hands on the rest of the series. any ideas where i can get them?
June 22nd, 2010 at 2:04 pm
Phew … at first sight I thought that was Chuck Norris.
June 27th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
Re:Admin’s comment
Well, considering Sos has surgically implanted sub-dermal armour, to protect key organs, & titanium sheathed bones in his arms & legs, one could argue yes…
As for CSA’s comment, Sos is revealed in the book to be a ex Covert Operations/Assassin type figure that was trained in combat techniques using the rope.
Sos himself uses the rope as his “Signature Weapon”, in that it’s fairly common, & as a result, people don’t think it’s a weapon, with usually fatal results…
June 28th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
…like rope burn!
October 5th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
You know, what gets to me about this cover is – wait a sec, gotta get my ferret out of my jeans –
Oh, not that again!
September 13th, 2011 at 12:04 am
If you think this cover is bad, you should see the cover for the sequel (Var the Stick). I’ll see if the copy is still in my local 2HBS, because it belongs on this blog like nothing before or since.
September 13th, 2012 at 4:20 am
I read this book in ’69 I think. It was my first Science Fiction novel. The original covel was terrific, wonderfully evocative, I loved the cover and the story. This cover art makes me ill. Was this supposed to be some kind of romance novel? Well yeah, but why not put Soli on the cover? I can’t see the story having much appeal for the ladies.
September 14th, 2012 at 2:41 am
I actually have fond memories of this – not claiming great artistic merit for the cover, but it was on the copy I enjoyed at a young age.
If I remember correctly this picture formed a larger panorama with the covers of two sequel? I will hunt through boxes when Im next in the loft.
July 15th, 2014 at 9:29 pm
Curious that this is not the only cover for this book that gives off a gay vibe. Check out the following:
http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1285005116l/6348350.jpg
July 20th, 2014 at 9:21 pm
Egad! I’m having flashbacks to ‘Megaforce’, a film BBC 1 showed once in 1985-ish and nobody believes really happened. Barry Bostwick, disguised as the fourth Bee Gee, led a militia of hi-tech warriors in tight jump-suits against a comic-opera third world leader and yet only just prevailed. His look of ‘hey, check me out’ as he rode a flying motorbike to the escaping transporter plane is exactly this dude’s.
October 9th, 2015 at 5:16 pm
A nice Patrick Woodroffe cover. Why all the hate for covers that actually show things from the story, like Sos, his weapon the rope, his bird Stupid, the moths, the battle circle etc.
October 9th, 2015 at 5:45 pm
@Bastiaan – Before you comment, why not read the “About” page for this site. There is no “hate” here.
October 9th, 2015 at 7:22 pm
Sos your old man.
January 1st, 2016 at 1:15 pm
I am Sos The Rope and I’m okay
I sleep all night and I rope all day…
January 1st, 2016 at 11:53 pm
@A.R.Yngve: What about pressing wild animals and wearing women’s bracelets?
January 3rd, 2016 at 4:22 pm
*Ahem*…
I am Sos The Rope and I’m okay
I sleep all night and I rope all day…
Chorus of Orc and Elf cosplayers:
He is Sos The Rope and he’s okay
He sleeps all night and he ropes all day!
I use my ropes
I cut down orcs
I go to the see-through house
On Wednesdays I go raiding
And tear a maiden’s blouse
Chorus of Orc and Elf cosplayers:
He uses ropes
He cuts down orcs
He goes to the see-through house
On Wednesdays he goes raiding
And tears a maiden’s blouse
He is Sos The Rope and he’s okay
He sleeps all night and he ropes all day!
I use my ropes
I cut down orcs
I like to press wild flowers
I put on wenches’ clothings
and hang around in bars
Chorus of Orc and Elf cosplayers:
He uses ropes
He cuts down orcs
He likes to press wild flowers
He puts on wenches’ clothings
and hangs around in bars…??
He is Sos The Rope and he’s okay
He sleeps all night and he ropes all day!
I use my ropes
I wear high heels
suspenders and a bra
I wish I was a girlie
just like my dear mama!
Chorus of Orc and Elf cosplayers:
He uses ropes
He wears high heels
suspenders and a bra…???
January 21st, 2017 at 11:22 pm
@Tat Wood: In the early 80’s, before HBO did Important Television, they showed “Megaforce” about once a week. So I believe you.
It was not 1% as gay as this cover, though, and at least real people remain in proper 3D perspective.