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Worlds of Tomorrow: The Amazing Universe of Science Fiction Art
From deep in the heart of imagination, where galaxies grow, robots rule, and Martians cause mayhem, comes WORLDS OF TOMORROW: THE AMAZING UNIVERSE OF SCIENCE FICTION ART. Teeming with gigantic insects, spaceships, and scantily clad heroines, the science fiction pulp and paperback covers of the 1920s to 1960s represented a generation�s vision of the future. Wartime technology and increased information about space travel fueled the minds of artists and writers. Predictions of planetary doom stood side by side with visions of Utopia on bookshelves and magazine racks worldwide. In WORLDS OF TOMORROW, more than 300 beautifully displayed science fiction covers come back to life in text and chapters grouped by theme. Explore the creative geniuses that molded our vision of the great unknown into what it is today.
- GenresArtScience Fiction
176 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2004
92 people want to read
About the author
Forrest J. Ackerman
257 books33 followersForrest J Ackerman (born Forrest James Ackerman; November 24, 1916 – December 4, 2008) was an American collector of science fiction books and movie memorabilia and a science fiction fan. He was, for over seven decades, one of science fiction's staunchest spokesmen and promoters.
Ackerman was a Los Angeles, California-based magazine editor, science fiction writer and literary agent, a founder of science fiction fandom, a leading expert on science fiction and fantasy films, and possibly the world's most avid collector of genre books and movie memorabilia. He was the editor and principal writer of the American magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland, as well as an actor, from the 1950s into the 1980s, and appears in two documentaries related to this period in popular culture: writer and filmmaker Jason V. Brock's The Ackermonster Chronicles!, (a 2012 documentary about Ackerman) and Charles Beaumont: The Life of Twilight Zone's Magic Man, about the late author Charles Beaumont, a former client of The Ackerman Agency.
Also called "Forry," "The Ackermonster," "4e" and "4SJ," Ackerman was central to the formation, organization, and spread of science fiction fandom, and a key figure in the wider cultural perception of science fiction as a literary, art and film genre. Famous for his word play and neologisms, he coined the genre nickname "sci-fi". In 1953, he was voted "#1 Fan Personality" by the members of the World Science Fiction Society, a unique Hugo Award never granted to anyone else.
He was also among the first and most outspoken advocates of Esperanto in the science fiction community.
Ackerman was born Forrest James Ackerman (though he would refer to himself from the early 1930s on as "Forrest J Ackerman" with no period after the middle initial), on November 24, 1916, in Los Angeles, to Carroll Cridland (née Wyman; 1883–1977) and William Schilling Ackerman (1892–1951). His father was from New York and his mother was from Ohio (the daughter of architect George Wyman); she was nine years older than William.[13] He attended the University of California at Berkeley for a year (1934–1935), worked as a movie projectionist, and spent three years in the U.S. Army after enlisting on August 15, 1942.
He was married to teacher and translator Wendayne (Wendy) Wahrman (1912–1990) until her death. Her original first name was Matilda; Forry created "Wendayne" for her. Wendayne suffered a serious head injury when she was violently mugged while on a trip to Europe in 1990, and the injury soon after led to her death.
Ackerman was fluent in the international language Esperanto, and claimed to have walked down Hollywood Boulevard arm-in-arm with Leo G. Carroll singing La Espero, the hymn of Esperanto.
Ackerman was an atheist.
More: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0009969/
http://fancyclopedia.org/forrest-j-ac...
http://www.amazon.com/Forrest-J.-Acke...
http://content.time.com/time/magazine...
Ackerman was a Los Angeles, California-based magazine editor, science fiction writer and literary agent, a founder of science fiction fandom, a leading expert on science fiction and fantasy films, and possibly the world's most avid collector of genre books and movie memorabilia. He was the editor and principal writer of the American magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland, as well as an actor, from the 1950s into the 1980s, and appears in two documentaries related to this period in popular culture: writer and filmmaker Jason V. Brock's The Ackermonster Chronicles!, (a 2012 documentary about Ackerman) and Charles Beaumont: The Life of Twilight Zone's Magic Man, about the late author Charles Beaumont, a former client of The Ackerman Agency.
Also called "Forry," "The Ackermonster," "4e" and "4SJ," Ackerman was central to the formation, organization, and spread of science fiction fandom, and a key figure in the wider cultural perception of science fiction as a literary, art and film genre. Famous for his word play and neologisms, he coined the genre nickname "sci-fi". In 1953, he was voted "#1 Fan Personality" by the members of the World Science Fiction Society, a unique Hugo Award never granted to anyone else.
He was also among the first and most outspoken advocates of Esperanto in the science fiction community.
Ackerman was born Forrest James Ackerman (though he would refer to himself from the early 1930s on as "Forrest J Ackerman" with no period after the middle initial), on November 24, 1916, in Los Angeles, to Carroll Cridland (née Wyman; 1883–1977) and William Schilling Ackerman (1892–1951). His father was from New York and his mother was from Ohio (the daughter of architect George Wyman); she was nine years older than William.[13] He attended the University of California at Berkeley for a year (1934–1935), worked as a movie projectionist, and spent three years in the U.S. Army after enlisting on August 15, 1942.
He was married to teacher and translator Wendayne (Wendy) Wahrman (1912–1990) until her death. Her original first name was Matilda; Forry created "Wendayne" for her. Wendayne suffered a serious head injury when she was violently mugged while on a trip to Europe in 1990, and the injury soon after led to her death.
Ackerman was fluent in the international language Esperanto, and claimed to have walked down Hollywood Boulevard arm-in-arm with Leo G. Carroll singing La Espero, the hymn of Esperanto.
Ackerman was an atheist.
More: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0009969/
http://fancyclopedia.org/forrest-j-ac...
http://www.amazon.com/Forrest-J.-Acke...
http://content.time.com/time/magazine...
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 18, 2025
This was a disappointing book. It's nice to leaf through and see some of the old classic magazine covers, both pulp and digest, but it's absolutely useless as a source of information since none of the artists are credited. It leans a little heavily towards low-quality English and Australian juvenile covers, but there is some very good stuff along with it. They mention some movies and some stories and authors, but nothing about the artists. (I noticed a few erroneous statements, too, so perhaps it's just as well.) They describe a few of the paintings, but the comments usually aren't located anywhere near the work under discussion. Ackerman is enthusiastic about the subject, but it doesn't seem to relate to what they present. I wanted to like it, but a book about art should acknowledge artists.
December 28, 2016
If all you want is a collection of science fiction book and magazine covers from the 30's to the 50's, you can add another star - most of the art has attributions (though only half include the artist responsible, instead illlogically favoring the writers over the artists), and you can make a game out of looking for the full version of the blown up pages, since there is no attribution for those by the full pages, only the originals. The art is sorted into four categories (generic, vehicles, robots, and aliens), although there's no clear organization beyond that. Not by magazine, or time period, or artist, or even type of vehicle/robot/alien.
And if you're planning on reading the content, whoo boy are you going to be unimpressed. The text is borderline nonsensical, often repetitive, embarrassingly sophomoric, and occasionally utterly unrelated to the book (it spends paragraphs talking about science fiction movies despite the fact that no movie posters are included). Its views on women in Science Fiction art are horrifying.
And editorially, this book is laid out unbelievably poorly. On the occasions when the text refers to specific covers, those covers are NEVER on the spread. They may be 18 pages earlier or 10 pages later. There's no way to tell. I would have either a) included the relevant art on the page discussing it (since there's no other organizational principle) or b) at the minimum included the page number where the art is found. To do neither is so lazy that it smacks of indifference or outright hostility to the reader. Why should I value your opinion on a piece of art if you can't even provide the art as an argument for your point?
This doesn't even serve as a reference piece, because again there is minimal organization in the artwork - magazine covers from the 20's are next to book covers from the 50's with no rhyme or reason. You can't tell if the artist is the same since most of the pieces don't even name the creator.
The fantastical science fiction art of the 30's-50's era magazines and science fiction books is very unique and is worthy of display. But it deserves a much more dedicated effort than this slapdash selection.
And if you're planning on reading the content, whoo boy are you going to be unimpressed. The text is borderline nonsensical, often repetitive, embarrassingly sophomoric, and occasionally utterly unrelated to the book (it spends paragraphs talking about science fiction movies despite the fact that no movie posters are included). Its views on women in Science Fiction art are horrifying.
And editorially, this book is laid out unbelievably poorly. On the occasions when the text refers to specific covers, those covers are NEVER on the spread. They may be 18 pages earlier or 10 pages later. There's no way to tell. I would have either a) included the relevant art on the page discussing it (since there's no other organizational principle) or b) at the minimum included the page number where the art is found. To do neither is so lazy that it smacks of indifference or outright hostility to the reader. Why should I value your opinion on a piece of art if you can't even provide the art as an argument for your point?
This doesn't even serve as a reference piece, because again there is minimal organization in the artwork - magazine covers from the 20's are next to book covers from the 50's with no rhyme or reason. You can't tell if the artist is the same since most of the pieces don't even name the creator.
The fantastical science fiction art of the 30's-50's era magazines and science fiction books is very unique and is worthy of display. But it deserves a much more dedicated effort than this slapdash selection.
April 21, 2019
The book covers are good, the text is terrible. They would be have been better to have had the book go out with no text rather than the useless, uninformed drivel that's been provided. It reads as if it was written in fifteen minutes by a student trying their first essay. It basically just enumerates the kind of pictures on the covers. The text will reference a book cover that's nowhere to be seen. You have to spend several minutes flipping through pages to find the cover of the book referenced, and there is no credit given to any of the artists. It's an interesting decision on a book about science fiction art not to include artist information, or to do any kind of research to provide insight into the art of science fiction.
Three stars for the cover images ; 0 stars for the text. Ackerman and Brad Linaweaver are a couple of hacks who have no business having their worked published anywhere.
Three stars for the cover images ; 0 stars for the text. Ackerman and Brad Linaweaver are a couple of hacks who have no business having their worked published anywhere.
November 10, 2024
I'm not the greatest scifi-fan but having a look at all those brilliant covers was amazing: places to dwell, trails of fuel and fire, with the touch of a button, not of this world stuff. The book is very colourful and all the covers come from Startling Stories, Amazing Stories, Wonder Stories and so on. Nice stroll through other universes. Really recommended!
October 5, 2022
Great cover collection of classic sci fi. Would love to see more books like this preserving this artwork
November 11, 2012
This is a beautiful book. It's got a high-quality binding and paper, and the full-color reproductions of sf book covers and pulp magazine covers look stunning. It was clearly a labor of love, and one can get a great deal of enjoyment just flipping through the pages and perusing the images.
Unfortunately, it lacks organization! In general, the images are grouped by the themes discussed in each chapter, such as space vehicles, aliens, and architecture. Other than that, the images seem to be in a fairly random order. You won't get any sense of the development of sf, whether it be from the perspective of a given magazine series or a particular author's or artist's oeuvre.
Furthermore, the text often discusses art that appears several pages ahead of or behind the narrative! The narrative itself fails to hold my attention and does not seem to add much to the images.
It's a great coffee-table book, but don't expect much beyond that.
Unfortunately, it lacks organization! In general, the images are grouped by the themes discussed in each chapter, such as space vehicles, aliens, and architecture. Other than that, the images seem to be in a fairly random order. You won't get any sense of the development of sf, whether it be from the perspective of a given magazine series or a particular author's or artist's oeuvre.
Furthermore, the text often discusses art that appears several pages ahead of or behind the narrative! The narrative itself fails to hold my attention and does not seem to add much to the images.
It's a great coffee-table book, but don't expect much beyond that.
November 8, 2014
There are a number of problems with this one. Yes, there are a lot of very nice Golden Age magazine covers, but unfortunately (and this is the main fault here) the book is padded out with tons of schlocky paint-by-numbers stuff from England and Australia (it would've also been nice by the way to have the cover artists credited in the captions). Then too there's Brad's commentary, which often sounds like the disjointed ramblings from some fanzine--said rambling effect only being accentuated by the fact that Brad's text is not keyed to any specific pages. Oh yeah, and speaking of facts...a facts-checker/proofreader would've been a nice addition to the staff. (Orson's Mars scare in 1939? Jules Verne wrote In the Days of the Comet? Bob Dylan sang "Where Have All the Flowers Gone"?)
January 15, 2016
The best part of this book is the excellent reproduction of the many science fiction cover illustrations from classic books, pulps and magazines. Unfortunately, the narrative from Forrest Ackerman and Brad Linaweaver wasn't worth reading. The text rambled and referenced covers not on the same page or opposite page. The biggest disappointment was that this book was focused on the beautiful cover art and never gave credit to various artist and illustrators except some comments in the text. Still the book is worth having due to the excellent selection of covers and their reproduction. There are a lot of British book covers.
June 23, 2012
I would definitely recommend this to any lover of the scifi aesthetic. It's a beautiful book.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews