The Machinery of Night

Posted 1:56 PM by Angie Schultz

A Look Back at THE FUTURE!

The other day, while hunting for something else, I came upon this beautiful site displaying old science-fiction magazine covers, with witty commentary. Not exactly the Gallery of Regrettable Food, but we wouldn't want that anyway.

A pity that we now know that the planet [Venus] has a surface temperature of 900° C, pressure that would flatten Don King's hair, and a constant rain of sulphuric acid. Still, rates are reasonable.

From that last sentence, I'm guessing he's an MST3K fan.

I particularly recommend the Life on Other Worlds pages, featuring the work of Frank R. Paul. Start with the Life on the Planets page, where sparkly space babes give you saucy looks while downing tiny mysterious cocktails. (Despite the mention of Paul, this cover is by Earle Bergey. Earle, baby, those gloves: no. What's up with you and the gloves? See some of the covers here).

Oh, and sometimes a spaceship is only a spaceship. Not, however, in this instance.

Man, those were the days, eh? Leigh Brackett and Edmond Hamilton. Sigh.