One of the things which I do is collect science fiction art books. I really enjoy having them. I do not have a huge amount of books in my house. I try and limit myself to books which are either valuable and special, or immediately useful. It is always easy to find books or bring books home when you work in a library. In most cases it would be bringing my work home with me if I had a lot of popular easy to get books at home. Most of these books are large quarto books.
One book which I am recommending is The Frank Collection A Showcase of the World's Finest Fantastic Art, Jane and Howard Frank, Foreword by John C. Berkey, and Afterword by Don Maitz. What is interesting about this collection is that it is entirely located inside Jane and Howard Frank's house. The book is broken up into sections by location in the house, Horror Hall, Entryway and Grand Staircase, The Dining Room and Its Wall of Fame, The Sword and Sorcery Guestroom, and other places. This makes the book quite entertaining. Imagine having the cover painting for the Reality Dysfunction painted by Jim Burns in your kitchen. Or having a painting by Jim Powers of the cover of The Number of the Beast by Robert Heinlein in your Living Room. It is very fanciful. It covers most of the great science fiction artists. What is even more interesting is that it also includes puppets, sculpture, and science fiction furniture, not just cover art of science fiction books. There is enough art for a small museum in the house as it is portrayed.
Another science fiction art book is Infinite Worlds, The Fantastic Visions of Science Fiction Art by Vincent Di Fate, Foreword by Ray Bradbury. This is an alphabetically organized biographical guide to every major science fiction artist. It includes a brief biographical snapshot of each artist and a few of their pictures. The writer of the book, Vincent Di Fate is one of the premiere science fiction artists. It includes people like Chesley Bonestell, Frank R. Paul, Reynold Brown who did mainly lobby cards for films, Wayne Barlow and Virgil Finlay. This book is very nice to look at. There are pulp covers, book covers, and internal art from a variety of science fiction themes.
It is rather interesting. I could not find the Vincent Di Fate book on Powell's which usually has most things. It is hard to find this kind of material. Also when I put in the Frank Collection, Frank Cho, the cartoonist, was added to the list.
I went to a customer service seminar at work this morning. It was to put it mildly, a dud. On the way back from the meeting, my supervisor picked up a Calendar Book at Border's bookstore.
Sometimes life just gets you down and you need a little pick up. A little maudlin humor sometimes helps. When I need to see how ridiculous the world really is, I take the time to read the Daily Snopes from the Snopes sight. It is well worth a laugh. It is amazing what people are capable of: http://www.snopes.com/daily/index.asp
One book which I am recommending is The Frank Collection A Showcase of the World's Finest Fantastic Art, Jane and Howard Frank, Foreword by John C. Berkey, and Afterword by Don Maitz. What is interesting about this collection is that it is entirely located inside Jane and Howard Frank's house. The book is broken up into sections by location in the house, Horror Hall, Entryway and Grand Staircase, The Dining Room and Its Wall of Fame, The Sword and Sorcery Guestroom, and other places. This makes the book quite entertaining. Imagine having the cover painting for the Reality Dysfunction painted by Jim Burns in your kitchen. Or having a painting by Jim Powers of the cover of The Number of the Beast by Robert Heinlein in your Living Room. It is very fanciful. It covers most of the great science fiction artists. What is even more interesting is that it also includes puppets, sculpture, and science fiction furniture, not just cover art of science fiction books. There is enough art for a small museum in the house as it is portrayed.
Another science fiction art book is Infinite Worlds, The Fantastic Visions of Science Fiction Art by Vincent Di Fate, Foreword by Ray Bradbury. This is an alphabetically organized biographical guide to every major science fiction artist. It includes a brief biographical snapshot of each artist and a few of their pictures. The writer of the book, Vincent Di Fate is one of the premiere science fiction artists. It includes people like Chesley Bonestell, Frank R. Paul, Reynold Brown who did mainly lobby cards for films, Wayne Barlow and Virgil Finlay. This book is very nice to look at. There are pulp covers, book covers, and internal art from a variety of science fiction themes.
It is rather interesting. I could not find the Vincent Di Fate book on Powell's which usually has most things. It is hard to find this kind of material. Also when I put in the Frank Collection, Frank Cho, the cartoonist, was added to the list.
I went to a customer service seminar at work this morning. It was to put it mildly, a dud. On the way back from the meeting, my supervisor picked up a Calendar Book at Border's bookstore.
Sometimes life just gets you down and you need a little pick up. A little maudlin humor sometimes helps. When I need to see how ridiculous the world really is, I take the time to read the Daily Snopes from the Snopes sight. It is well worth a laugh. It is amazing what people are capable of: http://www.snopes.com/daily/index.asp
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