Steven Eisler collections
   The Alien World
   Space Wars - Worlds & Weapons
                                             (1979/1980 - Octopus Books)

Steven Eisler was a pseudonym for Fantasy/Science-Fiction author Robert Holdstock (who provided story and/or commentary, under his own name, for a several other books here on The List). These books came close on the heels of, and were probably inspired by, the sudden success of Stewart Cowley's Terran Trade Authority collections. The first listed, THE ALIEN WORLD, scored significantly better in regards to art presentation than its sibling.

The Alien World Additionally subtitled THE COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED GUIDE, and while produced by Octopus Books, more people may be familiar with the nearly-concurrent edition released by Crescent Books. The story here is presented as a heavily detailed treatise on the main alien races of the extra-dimensional multi-verse. There is some charm in the 'repurposing' of exciting pieces of Sci-Fi book-cover art, but the theme begins to seem a bit tortured, especially when trying to explain away why two supposed images of members of the same race are incredibly different. The book is 96 pages, along with Mike Brownfield's endpapers & dustcover, and 84 are dominated by their art. There are a whopping 62 of them used to display 31 large images bridging the book's central gutter - Almost every one of them could be said to still be . . . 'o.k.', but when will this madness end ? 'Well-presented' artists are: John Blanche, Mick Brownfield (3), Jim Burns, Adrian Chesterman (9), Alan Daniels, Morris Scott Dollens (2), Les Edwards (2), Peter Elson (2)***, Peter Goodfellow, David A. Hardy, Colin Hay (2), Eddie Jones (2), Peter Knifton (2), Eric Ladd, Jerry Leff, Mike Masters, Chris Moore*, Terry Oakes (7), Tony Roberts (3), F. Jürgen Rogner, Sheila Rose (3), John Schoenherr, Paul Stinson, Roy Virgo, Michael Whelan (2)* and Edward Blair Wilkins (2). All the pieces are attributed only in a 1.5-by-6-inch block located on the index page. Sniping aside, this book is fun and the more obscure of these pieces are probably never going to be collected elsewhere.

* - Note that Whelan, and Moore's 'well-presented' pieces here additionally appear so in their own collections further up on The List.

*** - Note that regarding Elson's 'well-presented' pieces here, some, but not all, can additionally be found so in his own collection further up "The List"

Space Wars - Worlds & Weapons This one's a bit of a strange hybrid, with the main text being an overview of science-fiction themes and a story being weaved from the significant captions that accompany each art piece. This book has 96 pages with 68 of them featuring large reproductions and another 19 with two images shown. 34 of those pages are engaged in displaying 17 works spread over the book's central gutter - in my edition, the two sides are mis-aligned, but a bit more than half are laid out for that to not really matter, as far as the main subject of the pieces are concerned. In addition to the text, several pages are lost to cutaways and spacecraft plans, as well as an index to authors & stories found in the SF essays. Note that a Chris Moore art piece is used for the dustcover, but does not appear within. The 'well-presented' artists found here are: David Bergen, Jim Burns*, Richard Clifton-Dey, Vincent DiFate (3), Peter Elson**, Frank Kelly Freas (2)*, Peter Goodfellow, Melvyn Grant (2), David Hardy (2), Colin Hay, Eddie Jones (4), Peter Jones*, Rodney Matthews, Robert McCall, Chris Moore (3)***, Editrice Nord, Terry Oakes, Joe Petagno, Tony Roberts (4), John Schoenherr, Boris Vallejo (2)*, Michael Whelan (5)***, Tim White (2)***, Edward Blair Wilkins (4), and Patrick Woodroffe. There is a single caption block on the last page that allows for identification of the artists for the art pieces and most of them also detail the original use of them.

* - Note that all of Vallejo, Burns, Freas & Peter Jones's 'well-presented' pieces here additionally appear so in their own collections further up on The List.

** - Note that Elson's 'well-presented' piece cannot additionally be found so in his own collection on "The List"

*** - Note that in regards to Moore, Whelan, and White's 'well-presented' pieces here, some, but not all, can additionally be found so in their own collections higher up on "The List"

other 'found art' narrative story-books

Diary Of A Spaceperson