Signature Art

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Marilyn Dahl at Shelf Awareness reminisces about Leo and Diane Dillon’s Ace Specials book covers:

I began with Ursula Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness–I was not a science fiction fan, but I couldn’t resist the cover. And then Keith Roberts’s masterwork Pavane (just reissued by Old Earth Books with the same cover), Harlan Ellison, Joan Vinge, Roger Zelazny–drawn in by the Dillons’ art, I explored science fiction. I also embarked on collecting picture books, with the Dillons making up a major percentage or my purchases.

Dahl’s passing reference to Old Earth Books is quite enough reason to mention this post, don’t you agree, Michael Walsh?

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7 thoughts on “Signature Art”

  1. I feel nostalgia for the days when an SF or fantasy cover didn’t have to be hyper-realistic, with the sort of gleam on it and sharp-edges you only experience with a 102 degree fever.

    Of course, the Dillons painted in the same era as all those cheap photographic covers on paperbacks from the UK. I remember a copy of “I, Robot” with a photo of a man wearing the front half of the clear plastic shell from a Visible Head model kit. I presume, he was meant to resemble a robot.

    “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… “

  2. “Dahl’s passing reference to Old Earth Books is quite enough reason to mention this post, don’t you agree, Michael Walsh?”

    My creditors thank you for the publicity; they are sure the huge File 770 readership will order vast numbers of copies.

  4. A commercial request to the half-vast readership … those who can, if they could post a review and mult-star review of the book on Amazon, B&N, etc etc … it would be appreciated.

    Ah, the joys of publishing.

  5. What, no credit for the guy who sent you the stuff from Shelf Awareness in the first place? Wait till I see you at Chicon, sir!

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