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Feb 04

Squids love women.... thankfully Space Sheep helps protect our innocent minds!Click for full UNSHEEPED image

Hakan’s Art Direction: OK, we’re printing the translation of The Pebble in the Sky by Prof. Asimov. I’m open to suggestions for the cover… Come on people! The story happens in a planet, so let’s have the Earth in the background, did you see the last episode of the Galactica? Let’s put that in the title! And some women! NAKED women! And some squid! NO! MAKE THAT A SPACE SQUID! GOLDEN! So, the title we’re using is now “Sinister Planet Galactica,” it suits better, the book has no pebbles in it but has a planet so there you go. Now I want the whole lot on my desk by tomorrow or bad things will happen to you, Sir!
Published 1983

Actually, that cover IS a classical work of art!I would touch it without protective gloves.I've seen worse. Far, far, worse.Interesting, but I would still read it in public.Middlng: Neither awful nor awfully goodWould not like to be seen reading that!Awful... just awful...That belongs in a gold-lame picture frame!Gah... my eyes are burning! Feels so good!Good Show Sir! (Average: 7.96 out of 10)
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22 Responses to “Uursuz Gezegen Galactica (The Pebble in the Sky)”

  1. GSS Admin Says:

    More From Hakan:

    The book is titled “Ugursuz Gezegen Galactica”, translating to “Sinister Planet Galactica”…Well, obviously it was published just after the Galactica TV series were aired in early 80s (I was a little lad at that time and damn those now-cheesy stuff really affected me, turning me into an avid SF reader).

    The actual book is “The Pebble in the Sky” by good Professor Asimov… Luckily I had read an other translation of it and the original in English, and later this one, I had to scratch my head for a couple of minutes before I could figure out which book it was!. Baskan was/is very famous with their very cheesy covers and extremely bad translations, a lot of their stuff were translated from French to start with so we had to endure a double-translation. Never understood why since a lot of the books they published were very famous SF books & writers where obtaining an English print shouldn’t have been a big problem. I believe some were unofficial translations where they didn’t actually pay the writers and original publishers a dime.

    Some more covers from Baskan publishing house can be found here: http://www.kayiprihtim.org/portal/seri/baskan-kurgu-bilim-dizisi/

  2. A.R.Yngve Says:

    Oh the humanity!
    Lots of raincoats in the bookstore the day they sold that one, eh?

  3. space_merchants Says:

    RT @GoodShowSir: New Book Cover: The Pebble in the Sky http://t.co/RFt9nOGmRR

  4. Bibliomancer Says:

    Welcome to Squids and Nudes Week at Good Show Sir!

  5. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:

    Oh, hey, I know that guy.

    Maybe it should’ve been ‘Sinister Moon Galactica’.

  6. Ernest The Yak Says:

    Now if this was the Japanese cover, I would be less surprised.

  7. THX 1138 Says:

    This was no boating accident! Wait, wrong Benchley book…

  8. A.R.Yngve Says:

    It’s hard to imagine that SF publishers could get away with this stuff in a Communist country during the Cold War… I’d like to know whether the Secret Police questioned Baskan about this cover.
    “Comrade, is this an attempt at subversion?”
    “No, no, comrade officer, this is merely scientific speculation about life on other planets!”
    “Really.”
    “Really.”
    “All right, I’ll have a copy… for STUDY purposes!”

  9. rev Says:

    Exactly how well would a pile of naked women cope with the vacuum of space?
    Shouldn’t they be hideously sunburned and somewhat dead?

  10. RachelJ Says:

    @rev. Well, I wouldn’t say they’re looking particularly lively, now you mention it.

    By the way, my theory is that the art direction was much more concise, more like, “Hey, just slap on that rejected artwork for ‘Medusa’s Children’. All done!”

  11. Jon Says:

    But…but….but….

  12. Tom Noir Says:

    “You’ve tangled with the wrong octopus!”

  13. fred Says:

    If remake Gaius Baltar worshipped Cthulhu this cover actually makes sense for Galactica, not so much for Asimov.

  14. A.R.Yngve Says:

    So in the future there’s absolutely no shame?

  15. Phil Says:

    At last, space sheep as they should be seen: in a flock.

  16. Alessandra Kelley Says:

    Good lord.

    “Pebble in the Sky” was one of the first science fiction novels I can remember deliberately reading, around the age of nine or ten.

    It’s about a middle-aged-to-elderly Jewish man who is accidentally transported millions (or thereabouts) of years into the future where there is a galactic civilization and everyone has forgotten that the radioactive backwater Earth is where humanity started.

    I recall the book had a department store, and neuronic whips.

    But it was *Asimov.* There were no bare bums that I can recall.

  17. Pete Says:

    This is what I hate about foreign publishers who don’t commission their own covers. This is Tim White’s painting which was commissioned for Christopher Priest’s novel “The Space Machine” in 1981, and hence has absolutely nothing to do with a Galactica novel. My friend owns the original painting.

  18. Bibliomancer Says:

    @Pete — Commissioned but not used on the book?

    http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/titlecovers.cgi?4688

  19. Jaouad Says:

    Must say I’m not really surprised a Turkish publisher reuses artwork. Indeed, many non-US/UK publishers do. Often, the choice is simply: given the budget, do we pay a translator and skimp on the artwork, or do we commission an artist and have a bad translation? Especially when the chance such a recycled cover is seen by the domestic audience is quite small.

    Still easier, of course, not to pay for either. Economic reality for much SF outside of the Anglosphere, I’m afraid.

  20. Stevie T Says:

    Maybe they thought the art was going on a Japanese edition….

  21. Tom Noir Says:

    More like Isaac ASSimov.

    Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyy

  22. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:

    @Tom: here. Coat. G’bye. 🙂

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