Alien Landscapes

by Robert Holdstock, Malcolm Edwards, Angus McKie (Illustrator)

Alien worlds have always been a central excitement in science fiction. Imaginary landscapes, some surreal, others realistic, are highly important to the novels in which they are contained. Many of these worlds are carefully contructed, realistically detailed and vividly imagined.

Alien Landscapes explores ten of the best-known worlds with a detailed text explaining their history and politics, climate, geography, flora and fauna and their location in the Galaxy. All are brilliantly visualised in 30 original paintings, specially commissioned from ten of the best sf and fantasy illustrators.

See in full color the spectacular worlds of Arthur C. Clarke's Rama; Anne McCaffrey's Pern; the Okie Cities of James Blish; Hal Clement's Mesklin; Harry Harrison's Eros; the Arrakis of Frank Herbert's Dune; Larry Niven's Ringworld; Trantor from Asimov's Foundation Trilogy; Brian Aldiss's Hothouse and the End of the World of H.G. Wells. These illustrations give an inspired reality to life and times "out there" from the full planetary view right down to the details of landscapes and society.

Illustrators:

Rama by Jim Burns
Pern by Roger and Linda Garland
Okie Cities by John Harris
Mesklin by Tony Roberts
Eros by Colin Hay
Arrakis by Terry Oakes
Ringworld by Stuart Hughes
Trantor by Angus McKie
Hothouse by Bob Fowke
End of the World by Les Edwards

Genres: Art, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction

116 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Robert Paul Holdstock was an English novelist and author who is best known for his works of fantasy literature, predominantly in the fantasy subgenre of mythic fiction.

Holdstock's writing was first published in 1968. His science fiction and fantasy works explore philosophical, psychological, anthropological, spiritual, and woodland themes. He has received three BSFA awards and won the World Fantasy Award in the category of Best Novel in 1985.

Pseudonyms are Chris Carlsen, Robert Faulcon,Robert Black, Steven Eisler and Richard Kirk.

Reviews

[reherrma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ein wunderschöner Bildband, der viele bekannte Utopien der literarischen SF eindrucksvoll künstlerisch visualisiert durch die Kunst vieler bekannter SF-Grafikern wie Angus McKie, John Harris, Jim Burns u.a. Dazu steuert Robert Holdstock & Malcolm Edwards noch Texte dazu, die viele Details dieser utopischen Welten herausstellt.
So wird Arthur C. Clarkes “RAMA”, Anne McCaffreys “Pern”, die „Okie-Städte“ von James Blish, „Ringwelt“ von Larry Niven, „Arrakis“ von Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov’s „Trantor“ oder auch Bilder aus H.G. Wells „Die Zeitmaschine“ eindrucksvoll visuell erlebbar gemacht. Besonders das großformatige Bild „Das Ende der Welt“ von Les Edwards aus „Die Zeitmaschine“ hat mit begeistert.
Wer Freude an eindrucksvollen Gemälden aus bekannten phantastischen literarischen Welten hat, der ist hier genau richtig !

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although not officially a Paper Tiger publication I still consider it one. It takes the subject of some of the most famous and well loved science fiction stories and looks at their most iconic locations - from Dune's Arrakis to Foundations Trantor and the worlds of the Time Machine. They are lavishly rendered in this full colour large format book. Now I will admit that not all the artwork is to my liking but it does bring these stories to life and from there (well at least for me) it brings my imagination to life and give depth to the stories. So if you ever get a chance to flick through this book do so - its a fascinating read.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an oversize collection of stunning artwork and fun descriptions of a handful of notable sci-fi worlds, written non-fictionally, like a giant travel guide and as though they all exist in the same universe. Lots of fun features like a huge galactic timeline, a fake newspaper from Trantor, references from the Encyclopedia Galactica.

I was flipping through my copy of this book again and thought I should check it in on Goodreads because I love is so darn much. I grew up with this in the house and read all the text several times and flipped through it to look at the artwork one million additional times. It was my Dad's book, though I was the one truly obsessed with it. (In fact, I rescued it when he did a household book donation roundup.) It captures what can be special, fascinating, and inspiring about the genre, and serves as a great reading checklist of some of the classic books and series.

[Feliks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its a superb, large-format, glossy, coffee-table art book filled with artist's renderings of famous SF literary 'worlds'. Very powerful and entrancing to flip through. A must-have for any fans of 'Dune'; 'Pern'; 'Earthsea'; 'Pern'; etc

Here are the 'worlds' depicted:

Arrakis (Herbert)
Okie Cities (Blish)
Rama (Arthur C. Clarke)
Pern (McCaffrey)
Mesklin (Hal Clement)
Ringworld (Niven)
Trantor (Asimov)
Hothouse (Aldiss)
Eros (Harry Harrison)
End of the World (HG Wells)

[Judity · Rating 5 out of 5]

I own many art books related to science fiction, a favorite genre of mine since childhood. In this book, I get to see the Okie Cities, something I could only imagined when reading "Cities in Flight" by James Blish.

This book is filled with pictures of other worlds, both beautiful and bizarre. I feel like a child again when I go through this book once again.

[Bracton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This art book had a huge influence on me growing up. Probably turned me into a SFF fan. I read every single book that it referenced.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an extremely fun blend - science-fictional literary criticism of science fiction! Presented as excerpts of a "gazetteer" of a temporal-spatial travel agency, the different sections of the book examine the planets of certain classic sf stories, where the landscape itself is essential to the story. The main examples are:

- Arthur C. Clarke's Rama (Rendezvous with Rama [1973])
- Anne McCaffrey's Pern (Dragonflight [1968] etc.)
- The Okie Cities of James Blish (Cities in Flight series [1950-1962])
- Hal Clement's Mesklin (Mission of Gravity [1953])
- Harry Harrison's Eros (Captive Universe [1969]
- the Arrakis of Frank Herbert's Dune (Dune [1965])
- Larry Niven's Ringworld (Ringworld [1970])
- Trantor from Asimov's Foundation Trilogy (Foundation series [1951-1953])
- Brian Aldiss's Hothouse (Hothouse [1962])
- the End of the World of H.G. Wells (The Time Machine [1895])

I've read some of these books - some of them because of their inclusion in this book - but even if you aren't familiar, the illustrations and "travel catalog" style are weird and lovely. As for justifying the selections, I think they're evenly split into absolute classics (Wells, Asimov, Herbert, Niven, McCaffrey), sleepers (Clarke, Blish), and ones I haven't even seen copies of in used bookstores (Clement, Harrison, Aldiss). That's a decent score. But the book contains many, many more little side references to the sf scene as of the late Seventies, as part of pretending that they're all part of the same fictional universe, so it becomes even more fun the more familiar you are with the material.

So 3.5 stars rounded up - it's a coffee table book, sure, but also a really cool example of the "Silver Age" of science fiction.

[Manuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book years ago and spend many hours lost in these illustrations and imagining the adventures in them (I was 10 or so and hadn't read most of the books the illustrations are based on. I remember it fondly.