3.20.2008

Let's Do the Time Warp


Hey, kids! It's the long-lost sequel to Moonraker!

There are bad covers, and there are bad covers, but there's just something about science fiction that brings out the worst in a graphic designer. I'll bet there are some halfway decent stories in this volume, but you wouldn't know it from the front.

This book appeared in 1997, yet this image can't have been worked up any more recently than 1975. With the Farrah Fawcett hair and the classic Bond-girl pose, this chick is ready to boogie oogie oogie. Meanwhile, John Travolta's close personal friend Xenu is working on his night moves.

Um...where, exactly, is her other leg?

14 comments:

Snow said...

You don't want to know where it is, DocTurtle. Trust me.

This cover appears to have been inspired by Star Wars poster art. The gun, the leg, the drapery, the ugly guy.

Anonymous said...

is that heather mills?

Anonymous said...

What's with her hip? I mean, I have plenty of cellulite myself, but I don't get to be airbrushed and perfected, and I sure as heck won't wear a dress that shows a fat roll like that!!

Anonymous said...

Maybe her pose was copied off of a broken posing figurine. That would explain the missing leg and the strange hip lump.

Clifford D. Simak is a pretty good writer. I wonder-- how many people were turned away from this book due to the cover?

Anonymous said...

You mean they couldn't even get original artwork for this book? I have a copy of Samuel Delany's Babel 17, and it has the exact same cover. Same gal w/Farrah Fawcett 'do wearing a Towering Inferno dress and wielding a gun, same ugly alien dude.

Miss Maggie said...

Is anyone else worried about the Tylenols they seem to be purched upon? Tablet shaped spacecraft. It must be...THE FUTURE!

xenobiologista said...

*sigh* So true about sci-fi covers. It's hard to understand how Boris Vallejo can be considered classy cover art until you see some of the other stuff out there.

Anonymous said...

It looks like her leg might be twisted back into Xenu's crotch. o.O

Archipictor said...

The artist is David Bergen and the title of the painting is Babel/17, so most likely it's been originally made for book by Samuel R. Delany. It is made before Star Wars. The leg is positioned leaning on the lap of the ugly dude. Her "hip lump" is quite correctly done. Not the best cover I have seen but I have seen loads of worse. Maybe it is bit outdated for a new novel.

I would actually like to see more details about the illustrators and designers on this site. Keep up the good work!

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Martin Wisse said...

Yup, this artwork was used for an edition of Babel 17, as you cans ee.

John McMullen said...

Obviously they bought some art in job lots, and used it for this novel. It has, as other commenters have mentioned, already been used for Babel 17.

Anonymous said...

What the hell is that ugly thing on the cover? It doesn't hook up with the blonde girl, does it?

Anonymous said...

My father had that book when I was growing up.

I am almost ashamed to admit how much time I spent trying to find that poor woman's other leg.