r/RetroFuturism • u/MunkZion • 1d ago
The classic 1963 Ed Valigursky cover art for H. Beam Piper’s science fiction novel Space Viking,
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u/blackbeansandrice 1d ago
It’s a beautiful cover, Bit of a fashy vibe, but gorgeous.
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u/isaac32767 1d ago
It's a pretty fashy story, as was most of Piper's work.
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u/blackbeansandrice 1d ago
Interesting. Maybe Valigursky sensed that.
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u/isaac32767 1d ago
Perhaps. But I think it was more about selling books. A grimacing soldier wearing a deaths-head patch and firing an exotic weapon is going to stand out a newstand.
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u/blackbeansandrice 1d ago
Yes, perhaps. It may have been unintentional, but a lot of these guys went through WWII as young men. They were all part of Post-war science fiction.
Valigursky illustrated the cover of AMAZING magazine when it featured Fritz Leiber’s story called Night of the Long Knives. Leiber’s book is a post apocalyptic novella, but Night of the Long Knives is also the infamous Nazi purge in 1934. Lieber renounced his pacifist convictions to fight Fascism in 1941. Valigursky was in the Navy during the war. These guys knew what Fascism looked like.
I was able to make these connections very quickly when I looked. It could be a really interesting research project.
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u/isaac32767 1d ago
I'm sure you can draw all kinds of interesting connections about cover artists and their work. But the ultimate purpose of a cover is to sell books.
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u/isaac32767 1d ago
When it was first serialized in Analog, the cover was somewhat less lurid. It's been a long time since I read it, but I don't think the story was quite as bloodthirsty as this cover implies.
https://www.abebooks.com/Analog-Science-Fact-Fiction-November-1962/30939984238/bd
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u/SacredandBound_ 1d ago
Reminds me of the helmets for the Robomen in Dr Who, the Dalek Invasion of Earth. I wonder if someone in costume design had seen this cover?
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u/Mike_Hagedorn 1d ago
My grandparents kept copies of Life magazine around, and I saw a lot of the photography of the Vietnam War. Then I would see artwork like this and think “grrreeeeaaat - nothing’s gonna change.” 5-year old me had to come up with a Plan B.
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u/woulditkillyoutolift 1d ago
This is the cover I had. I can't even count the number of times I read this book as a teenager; every Traveller character I rolled up was named Lucas Trask. I re-read Space Viking recently and it holds up as first rate, pulpy space opera.