45The Legion of Space
1969, Pyramid Books, USA.
The Legion of Space was a far-future space-
opera adventure from the mid 1930s, similar
to the pioneering Lensman series but playing
to Williamson’s strengths in characterisation,
rip-roaring plotting, and the creation of vivid
monster-planets. Like many 1930s series, it
had a cheap paperback reprint in the 1960s.
Here the sedate cover by artist Paul Lehr
appeals to potential readers among the new
‘hippy generation’ and also to the wider
interest in UFOs — it certainly is a very
appealing take on the UFO shape, but
suggests none of the novel’s monsters and
action-adventure.
Lehr’s slightly impressionistic and slightly
abstract work adorned many paperback
covers of the 1960s, being well-suited to the
atmospheric ‘futurescape’ landscapes of a
certain type of science-fiction book.Alien Worlds
1969, Popular Library, USA
The prolific Roger Elwood’s very first
anthology was put together in 1964, and
this cover is from the cheap U.S.
paperback edition of 1969. Elwood was
assisted by the great Sam Moskowitz,
though Sam went uncredited. The
collection still holds up today, as a themed
collection of ‘desert planet’ monster stories
that you are unlikely to have read before.
The artist is John Schoenherr, and his art
has been ‘worked around’ rather than
ignored by the cover designer. Schoenherr
had also done covers for Dune, making his
the natural choice for this anthology. He
did concept work for NASA, and was also
an accomplished animal artist. As one can
see here, he also had a fine sense of layout
— note how the rocket ‘points’ the eye
upward to the struggling man.CREATIVE IDEA: plant-like monsters seen from below. CREATIVE IDEA: a beautiful and elegant UFO shape.