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Hardware: The Definitive SF Works of Chris Foss
Foss’s groundbreaking and distinctive science fiction art revolutionized paperback covers in the 1970s and 80s. Dramatically raising the bar for realism and invention, his trademark battle-weary spacecraft, dramatic alien landscapes and crumbling brutalist architecture irrevocably changed the aesthetic of science fiction art and cinema.
Featuring work for books by Isaac Asimov, E. E. ‘Doc’ Smith, Arthur C. Clarke, A. E. Van Vogt and Philip K. Dick, and film design for Ridley Scott and Stanley Kubrick, this volume brings together many rare and classic images that have never been seen or reprinted before. The first comprehensive retrospective of Chris Foss’s SF career.
“Chris Foss’ name has become pre-eminent among sf artists... He is in love with the monstrous, with angular momentum, with inertia-free projectiles and irresistable objects.” — Brian Aldiss
“[Foss’] creations are real machines, not just an artist’s dreams. They combine the two elements so essential to science fiction: realism and a sense of wonder... A medieval goldsmith of future eons.” — Alejandro Jodorowsky
Featuring work for books by Isaac Asimov, E. E. ‘Doc’ Smith, Arthur C. Clarke, A. E. Van Vogt and Philip K. Dick, and film design for Ridley Scott and Stanley Kubrick, this volume brings together many rare and classic images that have never been seen or reprinted before. The first comprehensive retrospective of Chris Foss’s SF career.
“Chris Foss’ name has become pre-eminent among sf artists... He is in love with the monstrous, with angular momentum, with inertia-free projectiles and irresistable objects.” — Brian Aldiss
“[Foss’] creations are real machines, not just an artist’s dreams. They combine the two elements so essential to science fiction: realism and a sense of wonder... A medieval goldsmith of future eons.” — Alejandro Jodorowsky
240 pages, Hardcover
First published June 14, 2011
10 people are currently reading
178 people want to read
About the author
Chris Foss
222 books17 followersChristopher F. Foss (born 1946 in Guernsey, Channel Islands) is a British artist and science fiction illustrator. He is best known for his science fiction book covers and the black and white illustrations for the original editions of The Joy of Sex.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
July 30, 2011
Hardware: The Definitive SF Works of Chris Foss by Rian Hughes and Chris Foss
Published by Titan Books, May 2011
The title page of this large format art book sums up the background to this book. There is, across the large double page, a row of over fifty books, their spines showing. These include books by Isaac Asimov, James Blish, EE ‘Doc’ Smith, AE van Vogt, Edmund Cooper, Jack Vance, JG Ballard, Philip K. Dick, Piers Anthony and books in the Perry Rhodan series.
For much of the 1970’s and 1980’s Chris Foss was THE cover artist for SF in the UK. His paintings adorned most of Isaac Asimov’s paperback covers, including the iconic Foundation trilogy, Doc Smith’s Lensmen series, and James Blish’s Cities in Space series. He was an artist whose covers were a sign of a quality read, or at least they were to the teenage me, when I would buy a book on the strength of its Foss cover.
Awesomely sized and detailed spaceships and buildings with people reduced to the size of mere dots, brightly painted in lines and stripes and with backgrounds not just of black, blue and grey, but vibrant greens, yellows and red, Chris’s work is a triumphant sign of technology. It’s not by accident that this book is called Hardware.
Sadly, over time, finding a book with a collection of these iconic covers has been difficult. Since saving up my pocket money to buy 21st Century Foss in 1980, a slim 140-odd pages, there has not been a collection of Chris’s work. Something which I, and I’m sure many other fans, have bemoaned.
This latest large format art book from Titan Books puts this right. Over its 240 pages, there are more than 500 paintings from Chris’s career, mostly in energetic colour.
As well as the pictures, there are some details included to fill out the artist’s CV. The Introduction, by Rian Hughes, sums up much of what is great about Chris’s paintings. Then there is an interview with Chris by his daughter Imogene, which gives us a career summary and points to future work from Chris: he’s still working. There are also two Forewords – one by artist Moebius, writing about the artistic influence Chris has had on today’s artists, and one by Alejandro Jodorowsky, updating the Introduction he first wrote in 21st Century Foss.
Not all of the material here is SF in nature: there are pictures from book covers Chris did for war books and other media events. This includes not only his book cover work but also his production sketches from Alien and Superman and the first ill-fated Dune film production in 1975.
As is the nature of such collections, not all of the pictures are great - I never did appreciate his cover for JG Ballard’s Crash, for example – but most of them are still as visually stunning as when I first saw them: many of the Asimov covers, the Lensmen covers, many of which I still have on the Hobbit Towers bookshelves.
If I had any quibbles, it would be that there are still pictures of Chris’ work not included, though that is perhaps to be expected: at one point Chris says he was producing two or three book covers a week!
On a practical note, what would have been also useful would have been an index to the book, so that pictures, or the books they were used for, could be referenced easily. Although the pictures are individually titled and dated, there is no order to the book’s pictures – they are not chronological, nor collected by series. There are general groupings - pages that have spaceships together, battleships together, airplanes together, robots together and so on, but other than that the reader is left to discover each double page spread on its own merits, which may be its purpose.
Nevertheless, as a fan, it is wonderful to see these paintings in one collection and so clearly printed. Many of the originals are now lost and so in some cases book covers have had to be scanned in for use, not that I could tell a difference.
This is a collection that awes and entertains, and is a very useful primer to Chris’s body of work. The legacy of what is shown here is seen throughout today’s visual domains, having inspired and continuing to inspire book, film and game artists. For some, like me, it is a wonderful reminder of books gone by. As the digital revolution means that book covers become increasingly irrelevant, books such as these are important for archiving what has gone before. Over thirty years on, these images still ignite the imagination.
Recommended.
Published by Titan Books, May 2011
The title page of this large format art book sums up the background to this book. There is, across the large double page, a row of over fifty books, their spines showing. These include books by Isaac Asimov, James Blish, EE ‘Doc’ Smith, AE van Vogt, Edmund Cooper, Jack Vance, JG Ballard, Philip K. Dick, Piers Anthony and books in the Perry Rhodan series.
For much of the 1970’s and 1980’s Chris Foss was THE cover artist for SF in the UK. His paintings adorned most of Isaac Asimov’s paperback covers, including the iconic Foundation trilogy, Doc Smith’s Lensmen series, and James Blish’s Cities in Space series. He was an artist whose covers were a sign of a quality read, or at least they were to the teenage me, when I would buy a book on the strength of its Foss cover.
Awesomely sized and detailed spaceships and buildings with people reduced to the size of mere dots, brightly painted in lines and stripes and with backgrounds not just of black, blue and grey, but vibrant greens, yellows and red, Chris’s work is a triumphant sign of technology. It’s not by accident that this book is called Hardware.
Sadly, over time, finding a book with a collection of these iconic covers has been difficult. Since saving up my pocket money to buy 21st Century Foss in 1980, a slim 140-odd pages, there has not been a collection of Chris’s work. Something which I, and I’m sure many other fans, have bemoaned.
This latest large format art book from Titan Books puts this right. Over its 240 pages, there are more than 500 paintings from Chris’s career, mostly in energetic colour.
As well as the pictures, there are some details included to fill out the artist’s CV. The Introduction, by Rian Hughes, sums up much of what is great about Chris’s paintings. Then there is an interview with Chris by his daughter Imogene, which gives us a career summary and points to future work from Chris: he’s still working. There are also two Forewords – one by artist Moebius, writing about the artistic influence Chris has had on today’s artists, and one by Alejandro Jodorowsky, updating the Introduction he first wrote in 21st Century Foss.
Not all of the material here is SF in nature: there are pictures from book covers Chris did for war books and other media events. This includes not only his book cover work but also his production sketches from Alien and Superman and the first ill-fated Dune film production in 1975.
As is the nature of such collections, not all of the pictures are great - I never did appreciate his cover for JG Ballard’s Crash, for example – but most of them are still as visually stunning as when I first saw them: many of the Asimov covers, the Lensmen covers, many of which I still have on the Hobbit Towers bookshelves.
If I had any quibbles, it would be that there are still pictures of Chris’ work not included, though that is perhaps to be expected: at one point Chris says he was producing two or three book covers a week!
On a practical note, what would have been also useful would have been an index to the book, so that pictures, or the books they were used for, could be referenced easily. Although the pictures are individually titled and dated, there is no order to the book’s pictures – they are not chronological, nor collected by series. There are general groupings - pages that have spaceships together, battleships together, airplanes together, robots together and so on, but other than that the reader is left to discover each double page spread on its own merits, which may be its purpose.
Nevertheless, as a fan, it is wonderful to see these paintings in one collection and so clearly printed. Many of the originals are now lost and so in some cases book covers have had to be scanned in for use, not that I could tell a difference.
This is a collection that awes and entertains, and is a very useful primer to Chris’s body of work. The legacy of what is shown here is seen throughout today’s visual domains, having inspired and continuing to inspire book, film and game artists. For some, like me, it is a wonderful reminder of books gone by. As the digital revolution means that book covers become increasingly irrelevant, books such as these are important for archiving what has gone before. Over thirty years on, these images still ignite the imagination.
Recommended.
March 24, 2024
Well I knew that when I bought this book it would be read and re-read many times over (I guess that is what makes a great book) so yes when I stumbled across this while looking through my artwork collection I knew I could not hold out any longer and took it down for a reading. It is still as amazing as ever and it just takes me back to my early days of reading when things were it felt like the world was a lot simpler and hiding away with a book was so easy. I think we all need books like this.
Ok I love this book- from the sheer size of it to the amount of art it covers - the book is over 200 pages long and there are usually 4 images to the page its a lot of work its showing off. And the amazing thing is that I recognise so much of it its a amazing.
When I was just getting in to reading I was hitting science fiction the most - and as part of that I hit the end of the 70s and 80s trend of putting images on to the covers that held no relation to the story inside - for example Chris Foss did the book cover for Isaac Asimov's Robots of Dawn - and yes there is a robot but the robot in question didn't feature is any of the book at all. But still the cover had a giant robot!!! And so the trend went on but hey I didnt mind was I was getting to see all the amazing creations of Chris Foss who it seemed did the cover of every title I either wanted, or owned or just kept on seeing.
And now along comes this book with all those pieces of art in their original context and full of colour and its amazing - the book is like a catalogue of all those books that made me the reader I am today. So if you are a fan of impossible space ships then this is the book for you. And you may find the odd gem you didnt even know about hidden away in these pages (did you know he put forward design for the original Dune movie and Alien?)
Ok I love this book- from the sheer size of it to the amount of art it covers - the book is over 200 pages long and there are usually 4 images to the page its a lot of work its showing off. And the amazing thing is that I recognise so much of it its a amazing.
When I was just getting in to reading I was hitting science fiction the most - and as part of that I hit the end of the 70s and 80s trend of putting images on to the covers that held no relation to the story inside - for example Chris Foss did the book cover for Isaac Asimov's Robots of Dawn - and yes there is a robot but the robot in question didn't feature is any of the book at all. But still the cover had a giant robot!!! And so the trend went on but hey I didnt mind was I was getting to see all the amazing creations of Chris Foss who it seemed did the cover of every title I either wanted, or owned or just kept on seeing.
And now along comes this book with all those pieces of art in their original context and full of colour and its amazing - the book is like a catalogue of all those books that made me the reader I am today. So if you are a fan of impossible space ships then this is the book for you. And you may find the odd gem you didnt even know about hidden away in these pages (did you know he put forward design for the original Dune movie and Alien?)
October 3, 2014
If you ever wondered why modern science-fiction looks the way it does, from book covers to TV, comics and movies, the answer is here. Page after page of wonders conveys a sense of a master of his craft with a truly humbling talent not to say remarkable body of work. A real visual feast for fans of sci-fi art or illustration in general.
October 24, 2025
This is what I would expect from an art book - introduction on a few pages and then hundreds of pages of art. This is a massive book full of reproductions marking a very productive career.
While SF dominates the book, there are some earlier works like Penthouse comics and car decals (which look awesome, wonder if there is more of it). While start is pretty well paced, with peppered earlier works, we then get Dune related art followed by initial Alien concept art culminating with some very beautiful renditions of spaceships and magnificent buildings. Book ending is on the note as expected by artist :) Collection ends like Monthy Python's sketch 😀
It is interesting how author got commissioned for Warhammer "Cathedral in space" art. For me this is most hilarious piece of art in the book. Entire ship is like something from Flash Gordon, original comics. Artist's organic approach to starships is just not applicable to brutal industrial design of W40k. Fascinating nevertheless.
It is also great to see artist's interpretation of what needs to be on the book cover taking into account only the title. Sometimes it is hit, sometimes not, but overall it makes for some beautiful and eye catching art, that definitely helped book sales.
Great art book, highly recommended.
While SF dominates the book, there are some earlier works like Penthouse comics and car decals (which look awesome, wonder if there is more of it). While start is pretty well paced, with peppered earlier works, we then get Dune related art followed by initial Alien concept art culminating with some very beautiful renditions of spaceships and magnificent buildings. Book ending is on the note as expected by artist :) Collection ends like Monthy Python's sketch 😀
It is interesting how author got commissioned for Warhammer "Cathedral in space" art. For me this is most hilarious piece of art in the book. Entire ship is like something from Flash Gordon, original comics. Artist's organic approach to starships is just not applicable to brutal industrial design of W40k. Fascinating nevertheless.
It is also great to see artist's interpretation of what needs to be on the book cover taking into account only the title. Sometimes it is hit, sometimes not, but overall it makes for some beautiful and eye catching art, that definitely helped book sales.
Great art book, highly recommended.
February 10, 2024
(Who else is here because of “Jodorowsky’s Dune”?)
A great cross-section of the work of one of the most influential sci-fi artists of all time. Although this shows its 2011-ness in its design and its dreadful typography (all captions are written sideways to fit in the margins and they’ve selected a borderline illegible font), the the sf work of Chris Foss is grouped by ideas rather than chronologically, so you might have an Ben Bova cover next to an EMI advertisement.
Tracking Foss’ inspiration and themes, as well as the growing fidelity, asymmetry and overall grunge of his sf work is inspiring. Although this is commercial art made for specific purposes on deadlines, he never fails to capture the immediate paradoxes and what-ifs of the genre.
A great cross-section of the work of one of the most influential sci-fi artists of all time. Although this shows its 2011-ness in its design and its dreadful typography (all captions are written sideways to fit in the margins and they’ve selected a borderline illegible font), the the sf work of Chris Foss is grouped by ideas rather than chronologically, so you might have an Ben Bova cover next to an EMI advertisement.
Tracking Foss’ inspiration and themes, as well as the growing fidelity, asymmetry and overall grunge of his sf work is inspiring. Although this is commercial art made for specific purposes on deadlines, he never fails to capture the immediate paradoxes and what-ifs of the genre.
November 22, 2016
The artwork is beautiful, but it's sometimes not entirely clear which captions belong to which piece of art and what the information in the caption is supposed to refer to. It's not that difficult to figure most of it out, but it didn't need to be a problem at all with a little better layout.
It also would have been nice to have some more information about the works besides just title/author/publisher/year.
Finally, some of the art is just too damn small to make out. Given the size of the book that's unforgivable, especially given that the only pieces containing text were among those chosen for the microscopic reproduction!
It also would have been nice to have some more information about the works besides just title/author/publisher/year.
Finally, some of the art is just too damn small to make out. Given the size of the book that's unforgivable, especially given that the only pieces containing text were among those chosen for the microscopic reproduction!
January 14, 2018
A really nice hardcover featuring a really nice range of art. Although the title calls out science fiction, it actually includes a lot more than that.
I was most interested in seeing Foss's concept art for *Superman '78* and *Alien*, I only wish there'd been more of that.
Foss has a very unique style and it's books like these that make me really sad the adaptation of Dune he was involved in never got off the ground. Seeing one of his giant, checkered, lived in space ships flying across the big screen would be a sight to behold.
I was most interested in seeing Foss's concept art for *Superman '78* and *Alien*, I only wish there'd been more of that.
Foss has a very unique style and it's books like these that make me really sad the adaptation of Dune he was involved in never got off the ground. Seeing one of his giant, checkered, lived in space ships flying across the big screen would be a sight to behold.
November 21, 2023
As soon as I see this book by Chris Foss, I wanted to have it. I remember so many of these front cover art works from the book stores. I used to enjoy visiting such places and being captivated by such concepts back in the day. Some wonderful images throughout the book. I can remember so many of them as front covers of #scifi and #fantasy novels that I purchased. A super book to have if you like your picture escapism. I still go and take this from my book shelf every now and then, just to browse through the images. It's one of those types of books.
October 1, 2021
Chris Foss is one of the most prolific and celebrated sci-fi artists of the last century. His work appeared on hundreds of paperbacks in the 70s and 80s, and he worked as a concept artist on many well known movies, Alien, Jodorowsky’s failed Dune project, and more recently, Guardians of the Galaxy. This book collects his most famous works. Highly recommended for any fan of science fiction artwork.
December 30, 2024
My only gripes: 1) The typeface used for the body text in the book is sometimes hard to read. I suspect it's something they chose to be reminiscent of the typography Foss used for some of the emblems on his ships, but it's still awkward to behold. 2) The images of some of Foss's early works are reproduced at postage-stamp size, when larger renditions would have been nicer. Other than that, this is *the* artbook of this man's career, one that's always deserved this kind of documentation.
December 11, 2024
The art of Chris Foss has been with me since I was a little boy. I had a big poster put up in my room and would read any Sci-fi book with a cover of his hand.
This beautiful book contains all of that and inspires dreams and awe.
His drawings of decades ago still shine bright and feel like a glimpse into a future that could happen.
Incredible.
This beautiful book contains all of that and inspires dreams and awe.
His drawings of decades ago still shine bright and feel like a glimpse into a future that could happen.
Incredible.
September 6, 2022
Everything that an artbook by one of the most influential sci-fi artists alive should be.
A brilliant, well documented labour of love. Its the book you've been waiting for.
Get it before it goes out of print.
You won't regret it.
A brilliant, well documented labour of love. Its the book you've been waiting for.
Get it before it goes out of print.
You won't regret it.
February 3, 2017
Chris Foss - the grandmaster of sf concept art! What else is there to say? Highly recommended! Production values on this book are through the roof. Worth every penny!
Read
July 18, 2020Limited edition of 500 copies issued in signed frosted plastic sleeve with signed print in envelope. (ISBN: 978-0-85768-560-5)
October 7, 2023
God, I love a bright yellow spaceship!
August 26, 2025
I WANT TO LIVE IN CHRIS FOSS’S UNIVERSE
Full look through here: https://youtu.be/lzVby0ezcGc?si=ZiDWx...
Though the spectacular science fiction art of the legendary Chris Foss tended to adorn books published in the UK far more often than they did here in the States, I was exposed to his simultaneously rigid and organic spacecraft as a young SF fan. For me, from the age of… what? nine? ten? I was pulled into Chris Foss’s vision of a future of massive starships tethered to asteroids, enigmatic megastructures rising from the alien landscapes of distant worlds, and often gargantuan robots chasing after fleeing aircraft or locked in mortal combat.
Though I’m loathe to call them copycats, the other artists that Chris Foss surely inspired, like Colin Hay, Peter Elson, and maybe to a lesser degree Angus McKie all combined to visualize a future full of starships. This remains the future I want to live in. Though a well meaning if fictional ton of science fiction stories and novels assumed that we’d surely be a star-faring species by the far flung future of 2025, here we are… not that.
So then back to the artwork I go, and not with sadness but with that same childlike sense of wonder. I read the introductory material to the book Hardware: The Definitive SF Works of Chris Foss rather quickly, then spent the next sixteen days staring, soaking up the dozens of literally awe inspiring works of art that make up the bulk of the book. I didn’t want to just flip through. I wanted to… needed to spend time with each piece, to open my imagination to a single image the way I used to as a kid—a headspace I can still access now. I wanted to serve on those ships, land on those worlds, and walk as those robots.
What makes art great isn’t technical skill, though Chris Foss exudes that in spades, but what a work of art means to the person who experiences it, what it means in that moment, in our memories, and how meaning morphs and evolves over subsequent viewings, maybe separated by decades.
This is a book to bathe in, a universe to lose yourself in, and an artist as significant as any of his generation.
Full look through here: https://youtu.be/lzVby0ezcGc?si=ZiDWx...
Though the spectacular science fiction art of the legendary Chris Foss tended to adorn books published in the UK far more often than they did here in the States, I was exposed to his simultaneously rigid and organic spacecraft as a young SF fan. For me, from the age of… what? nine? ten? I was pulled into Chris Foss’s vision of a future of massive starships tethered to asteroids, enigmatic megastructures rising from the alien landscapes of distant worlds, and often gargantuan robots chasing after fleeing aircraft or locked in mortal combat.
Though I’m loathe to call them copycats, the other artists that Chris Foss surely inspired, like Colin Hay, Peter Elson, and maybe to a lesser degree Angus McKie all combined to visualize a future full of starships. This remains the future I want to live in. Though a well meaning if fictional ton of science fiction stories and novels assumed that we’d surely be a star-faring species by the far flung future of 2025, here we are… not that.
So then back to the artwork I go, and not with sadness but with that same childlike sense of wonder. I read the introductory material to the book Hardware: The Definitive SF Works of Chris Foss rather quickly, then spent the next sixteen days staring, soaking up the dozens of literally awe inspiring works of art that make up the bulk of the book. I didn’t want to just flip through. I wanted to… needed to spend time with each piece, to open my imagination to a single image the way I used to as a kid—a headspace I can still access now. I wanted to serve on those ships, land on those worlds, and walk as those robots.
What makes art great isn’t technical skill, though Chris Foss exudes that in spades, but what a work of art means to the person who experiences it, what it means in that moment, in our memories, and how meaning morphs and evolves over subsequent viewings, maybe separated by decades.
This is a book to bathe in, a universe to lose yourself in, and an artist as significant as any of his generation.
August 17, 2014
This is the second copy of this book I've bought (the first got watered, long story) which has to say something.
For me, it's as if Chris Foss has always been there, accompanying me through my childhood and onwards. His iconic images adorned the covers of so many of the SF books that I grew up with, and they always grabbed both my eye and my imagination. If pictures of spaceships and alien planets can ever be deemed to be realistic, his fitted the mould; if we ever venture beyond this world, I'll be seriously disappointed if reality doesn't measure up to Foss' pictures.
This book is a fantastic collection of his images, both a nostalgia trip and a visual delight in its own right. Moreover, it's a quality book from the hard covers through the 240 beautiful, heavy, glossy pages crammed with image after image after image, each one labelled with the book for which it was created and the date. There are, it's true, a few more words in a couple of articles at the front - and they're certainly interesting enough to merit the read - but that's not why anyone would buy this book.
It always seems like a bit of a luxury to buy a book like this but, hey, we all need luxuries every now and again, don't we?
For me, it's as if Chris Foss has always been there, accompanying me through my childhood and onwards. His iconic images adorned the covers of so many of the SF books that I grew up with, and they always grabbed both my eye and my imagination. If pictures of spaceships and alien planets can ever be deemed to be realistic, his fitted the mould; if we ever venture beyond this world, I'll be seriously disappointed if reality doesn't measure up to Foss' pictures.
This book is a fantastic collection of his images, both a nostalgia trip and a visual delight in its own right. Moreover, it's a quality book from the hard covers through the 240 beautiful, heavy, glossy pages crammed with image after image after image, each one labelled with the book for which it was created and the date. There are, it's true, a few more words in a couple of articles at the front - and they're certainly interesting enough to merit the read - but that's not why anyone would buy this book.
It always seems like a bit of a luxury to buy a book like this but, hey, we all need luxuries every now and again, don't we?
November 11, 2017
As a kid, I loved the Terran Trade Authority series. The artwork was influenced heavily by Chris Foss (who was also hired by Alejandro Jodorowsky for his doomed Dune Film and one of his spiritual warriors).
Foss has done cover work for many sci-fi masters like EE Doc Smith, PKD, Jack Vance, JG Ballard, Harlan Ellison, Asimov, Blish and van Goght (he also did the original drawings for the Joy of Sex)
However, without a narrative, this book doesn't "blast off" for me. It's probably a failing of my imagination as I grew older, but as I read through--I got bored quickly.
Foss has done cover work for many sci-fi masters like EE Doc Smith, PKD, Jack Vance, JG Ballard, Harlan Ellison, Asimov, Blish and van Goght (he also did the original drawings for the Joy of Sex)
However, without a narrative, this book doesn't "blast off" for me. It's probably a failing of my imagination as I grew older, but as I read through--I got bored quickly.
December 22, 2011
A highly influential oeuvre, apparently. Lots of bulky yet streamlined spacecraft in bright colors, barren interstellar landscapes, and the occasional 'action scene' for a non-SF paperback. Enjoyable eye candy.
May 22, 2024
Amazing art.
March 1, 2024
Radiates brilliance. So much great art.
February 21, 2025
His artwork appears on so many of my favorite sci-fi novels. So happy to have this beautiful collection.
August 6, 2012
Stunning colour reproduction of artwork from a master in the field. Shame about some typos.
April 11, 2017
If music is the most instantaneous trigger for nostalgic reverie, art is the next. (Perhaps after sherbet).
I remember my first ever SF book, probably about 1973, Asimov's The Stars, Like Dust [1951]. Those were the days of awed exploration in the book shop in Shrewsbury, days of utter novelty, the first forays where I was lost in isolation from the 'other' world in the titles, covers and authors of an unknown universe awaiting my own personal discovery, unique to me alone, gifted to me alone, an experience akin to falling in love, when the universe feels created merely for you - and that special other. Paperbacks typically cost around 35-50p in those early '70s, and I could afford one a week, after buying the desired or peer-approved album. My next purchase, after The Stars Like Dust - which was sold to me by its gorgeous cover art as much as the splendid title - was Asimov's The Gods Themselves [1972], just out; and the next, Foundation [1951], and I never looked back. I've loved science fiction ever since, and I've read more of Asimov than anyone else's, and he comes second in 'most books read by an author' after our own wonderful Terry Pratchett. Just.
Of course, those covers were the resplendent evocative images of Chris Foss, and the Panther Science Fiction series featured Foss covers, and if I've not been able to buy a new version of an Asimov with a Chris Foss cover, I've got a second-hand copy with his art-work on, but also another second-hand copy to actually read, so that I don't ruin a treasure.
So I've grown up revering Foss's artwork as much my brother loved Roger Dean's album covers of those days, yes, and they naturally belong to an oak bookshelf of their own, which I visit frequently just to drink it all in again: the art, the evocation of other worlds, the nostalgia for those first days of lonely discovery. For loneliness is part of both these worlds, and part of the feeling refound. Where loneliness is not sad at all. In fact, losing yourself in a Foss space image engenders that early form of loneliness; it's natural; it's good. Not all loneliness is to be pitied.
Foss's artwork often has only a tenuous connection with the book's story, such as the cover of The Gods Themselves itself, with the V-like rockets implying the threat of destruction borne by a different means in the novel. But that didn’t matter to me in the slightest in those days, for the artwork evoked the sense of thrill of discovery, of an alien strangeness which came to be more than comforting, and an obsessional escape from O Levels and the pressure of expectation from parents and teachers in the real world. These were the worlds in which I wished to belong, without the practical necessity of the humdrum 9-to-5. Nothing's changed. I look at an SF book with a Foss cover today, creeping up to five decades later, and I want to immerse myself in that world as much now as I did then.
So to have a whole compendium of 500 works of art by the instantly recognisable and widely adored Foss is a treasure trove of memories, nostalgia and wonder, a boy's own world revisited, and if anything, makes me wish I could time-travel back to that very first day when I saw his cover of The Stars Like Dust sitting on those beautifully crafted wooden bookshelves in that shop at the top of Pride Hill in Shrewsbury, and re-live that first sense of wonder.
Remember how the flavour of sherbet exploded on the tongue? Like that.
I remember my first ever SF book, probably about 1973, Asimov's The Stars, Like Dust [1951]. Those were the days of awed exploration in the book shop in Shrewsbury, days of utter novelty, the first forays where I was lost in isolation from the 'other' world in the titles, covers and authors of an unknown universe awaiting my own personal discovery, unique to me alone, gifted to me alone, an experience akin to falling in love, when the universe feels created merely for you - and that special other. Paperbacks typically cost around 35-50p in those early '70s, and I could afford one a week, after buying the desired or peer-approved album. My next purchase, after The Stars Like Dust - which was sold to me by its gorgeous cover art as much as the splendid title - was Asimov's The Gods Themselves [1972], just out; and the next, Foundation [1951], and I never looked back. I've loved science fiction ever since, and I've read more of Asimov than anyone else's, and he comes second in 'most books read by an author' after our own wonderful Terry Pratchett. Just.
Of course, those covers were the resplendent evocative images of Chris Foss, and the Panther Science Fiction series featured Foss covers, and if I've not been able to buy a new version of an Asimov with a Chris Foss cover, I've got a second-hand copy with his art-work on, but also another second-hand copy to actually read, so that I don't ruin a treasure.
So I've grown up revering Foss's artwork as much my brother loved Roger Dean's album covers of those days, yes, and they naturally belong to an oak bookshelf of their own, which I visit frequently just to drink it all in again: the art, the evocation of other worlds, the nostalgia for those first days of lonely discovery. For loneliness is part of both these worlds, and part of the feeling refound. Where loneliness is not sad at all. In fact, losing yourself in a Foss space image engenders that early form of loneliness; it's natural; it's good. Not all loneliness is to be pitied.
Foss's artwork often has only a tenuous connection with the book's story, such as the cover of The Gods Themselves itself, with the V-like rockets implying the threat of destruction borne by a different means in the novel. But that didn’t matter to me in the slightest in those days, for the artwork evoked the sense of thrill of discovery, of an alien strangeness which came to be more than comforting, and an obsessional escape from O Levels and the pressure of expectation from parents and teachers in the real world. These were the worlds in which I wished to belong, without the practical necessity of the humdrum 9-to-5. Nothing's changed. I look at an SF book with a Foss cover today, creeping up to five decades later, and I want to immerse myself in that world as much now as I did then.
So to have a whole compendium of 500 works of art by the instantly recognisable and widely adored Foss is a treasure trove of memories, nostalgia and wonder, a boy's own world revisited, and if anything, makes me wish I could time-travel back to that very first day when I saw his cover of The Stars Like Dust sitting on those beautifully crafted wooden bookshelves in that shop at the top of Pride Hill in Shrewsbury, and re-live that first sense of wonder.
Remember how the flavour of sherbet exploded on the tongue? Like that.
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