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Rayguns and Rocketships: Vintage Science Fiction Book Cover Art - Hardcover

Hughes, Rian

 
9781912740048: Rayguns and Rocketships: Vintage Science Fiction Book Cover Art
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 1912740044 ISBN 13: 9781912740048
Publisher: Korero Press, 2022

Synopsis

Rayguns and rockets! Spacesuited heroes caught in the tentacles of evil insectoid aliens! Who could resist such wonders? Science-fiction paperbacks exploded over the 1940s and '50s literary landscape with the force of an alien gamma bomb. Titles such as Rodent Mutation, The Human Bat vs The Robot Gangster, Dawn of the Mutants and Mushroom Men from Mars appeared from fly-by-night publishers making the most of the end of post-war paper rationing. They were brash and seductive for around a shilling the future was yours. The stories were often conceived around a pre-commissioned cover and a title suggested by the publisher, and the writers were paid by the word, and sometimes not paid at all. Titles were knocked out at a key-pounding pace, sometimes over a weekend, by authors now lost to literary history (plus a few professionals who could spot an opportunity) who were forced to write under pseudonyms like Ray Cosmic, Steve Future, Vector Magroon or Vargo Statten. Despite the tight deadlines and poor pay, the books' cover artists still managed to produce works of multi-hued, brain-bending brilliance, and collected here is an overview of their output during an unparalleled period of brash optimism and experimentation in publishing.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author

Rian Hughes is an award-winning graphic designer, illustrator, comic artist, writer, and typographer who has worked extensively for the British and American advertising, music, and comic book industries. His recent books include Custom Lettering of the '20s and '30s, Soho Dives, Soho Divas and XX: A Novel, Graphic. He has an extensive collection of Thunderbirds memorabilia, a fridge full of vodka, and a stack of easy listening albums which he plays very quietly in his home in London. Steve Holland began collecting books and comics at the age of seven. He began researching and writing about authors and artists in fanzines and collectors' magazines, since when he has published 1,600 features, interviews, news columns and obituaries in publications around the world. He has written, co-written, edited or co-edited over 100 books, including the Anthony Award-nominated The Mushroom Jungle and The Trials of Hank Janson, a runner-up for the Silver Dagger Award of the Crime Writers' Association. Since 2011 he has published over 30 titles under the Bear Alley Books imprint, including histories of comic papers ranging from Rocket to Countdown.

From the Back Cover

Rayguns and rockets! Spacesuited heroes caught in the tentacles of evil insectoid aliens! Who could resist such wonders? Science-fiction paperbacks exploded over the 1940s and ?50s literary landscape with the force of an alien gamma bomb.Titles such as Rodent Mutation, The Human Bat vs The Robot Gangster, Dawn of the Mutants and Mushroom Men from Mars appeared from fly-by-night publishers making the most of the end of post-war paper rationing. They were brash and seductive ? for around a shilling the future was yours. The stories were often conceived around a pre-commissioned cover and a title suggested by the publisher, and the writers were paid by the word, and sometimes not paid at all. Titles were knocked out at a key-pounding pace, sometimes over a weekend, by authors now lost to literary history (plus a few professionals who could spot an opportunity) who were forced to write under pseudonyms like Ray Cosmic, Steve Future, Vector Magroon or Vargo Statten.Despite the tight deadlines and poor pay, the books? cover artists still managed to produce works of multi-hued, brain-bending brilliance, and collected here is an overview of their output during an unparalleled period of brash optimism and experimentation in publishing.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
Korero Press
Publication date
2022
Language
English
ISBN 10 
1912740044
ISBN 13 
9781912740048
Binding
Hardcover
Edition number
1
Number of pages
384