Rambling Readers

Michael Whelan

PARADISE (1989)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 28" x 38"

Though it is a very different novel, Mike Resnick's PARADISE recalls for me some of the themes in Ray Bradbury's THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES. 1/4

#sciencefiction #scifi #sff #scifiart #illustration #mikeresnick

Michael Whelan

THE INTEGRAL TREES (1984)
Acrylic on Illustration Board - 28" x 38"

Being suspended in space, floating unencumbered yet in control of one's flight, is as close to pure freedom as I can imagine. 1/4

#sciencefiction #scifi #scifiart #illustration #larryniven

A woman with short blonde hair floats weightless in front of clumps of cloud shaped vegetation dotted with flowers. The figure looks very Peter Pan-esque posed with one knee raised wearing green capri-style pants and a vest with no shirt beneath. A harpoon rests across her shoulders with a rope line dangling loose. She holds a coil of it with her toes. An enormous tree trunk with a chrome engine firing off the side arcs past, diminishing back into the blue sky where it intersects clump. A diagonal line of light serves as a tilted horizon of sorts but there is no land, just sky occupied by clouds and clumps.

Michael Whelan

QUESTION AND ANSWER (1977)
Acrylic on Masonite

I love painting aliens, as anyone who knows me and my work can attest. 1/3

#sciencefiction #scifi #scifiart #sff #illustration #poulanderson

A man stands with a shovel in hand as he regards a cairn set with a makeshift cross made of wood and twine. Around him is a mixed group of humans and bipedal aliens. The humans drop their heads dejectedly. The alien bodies resemble that of a kangaroo while the head, ears, and stripes are reminiscent of a lynx. The scene is set against a pearlescent pink and lavender sky with a huge craggy moon hanging low and another smaller moon floating high above.

Jon PENNYCOOK

I just watched Night of the Comet for the first time in over 3 decades. Nothing quite like America being taken over by zombies whilst drinking Nigerian Export Guinness on a Friday night.

https://amzn.to/3DIIehD

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Night-of-the-Comet-Blu-ray/349472/

#scifi

Michael Whelan

BROTHER ASSASSIN (1978)
Acrylic on Illustration Board - 30" x 20"

I am often kidded about my general dislike for yellow... 1/3

#sciencefiction #scifi #scifiart #fredsaberhagen #berserkersaga

Wearing brown robes with hood drawn up, a robot with an oddly asymmetrical face stares squarely at the viewer as it grips a clock in its clawed grasp. The face is black with gold numbers, but the glass is broken. The hands are stopped at 3:53. A metal grate covers the robot's left eye and half the mouth. That side of the face resembles the steely mask of Doctor Doom, while the other side is an abstraction of lights and circuitry over silver metal. A blue light, cloudy like a planet, is placed where the other eye socket should be. Four bright green dots border form the points of a rectangle around it. Below the cheek—bearing no resemblance to a human feature—a pink sphere with light polka dots floats in blue-black field constrained by an oval bevel. The right side of its mouth is tall instead of wide contrasting the left with the bottom of the metal grate recessed and tinted red. A curving antenna sweeps down off the side of its forehead following the contour of the bell-shaped hood. The curve resembles the microphone attachment on a headset, although stubby and cut short wide at the cheek. The immediate backdrop is brown and desert-like, while the sky above dominates in oppressive yellow tones. Set just behind the figure's shoulder hangs the craggy surface of a moon set against an abstract starfield, darker than the wash of sky but still tinted yellow.

Neve Maslakovic

#writephant #selfpromo Newsletter promo featuring optimistic and cozy sci-fi and fantasy! ☕🧦 📚

https://books.bookfunnel.com/hopefulscifiandfantasy/kzlvx9tcmt

#books #fiction#bookstodon #sff #sciencefiction #scifi #fantasy

Michael Whelan

SWORDS OF MARS (1979)
Acrylic - 20" x 25"

This was one of my favorite books in the series, but probably the least successful of the covers. My selection of yellow as a dominant color may be part of the reason for my dissatisfaction with the painting, as it's my least favorite color. 1/3

#sciencefiction #scifi #scifiart #sff #illustration #edgarriceburroughs #johncarter

Cyclopean aliens ambush a man and woman beneath the yellow canopy of a lush Martian forest. Pronounced fangs make them look feral. From their heads sprout tufts of blonde hair resembling mohawks. Their skin is olive green, and their eyes an angry orange-red. The male warrior in red loin cloth extends his sword arm upward, but his wrist is seized from behind and his other arm is locked in a Half Nelson. He throws his leg back in a wide stance, but another cyclops grabs his ankle. The blue-green haired woman with him is seized by another. As she falls back, her necklace flies upward with motion.

Branwen OShea (she/her)

A reminder that all three books in my series are available wide, so if you’re boycotting Amazon and love to read, I’ve got you covered. 😊

https://books2read.com/FindingHumanityBook1

#hopepunk #scifi #fantasy #books #sciencefiction #reading #amreading

Image of an Arctic landscape with a spiral galaxy overhead. An ebook and paperback of The Calling are atop the snowy hill. At the top of the image are the words: In a future ice age, humanity emerges from its subterranean haven to discover they re no longer the dominant life form. At the bottom are the words:
THE CALLING: Humanity's wake-up call. Answer it or face extinction.
The book cover is mostly blues, white and orange. It shows a teen with an orange parka exiting a massive elevator at night. A gun is on their back, and they’re looking out in shock upon the arctic landscape and start sky. In the distance, a strange star in on the ground.

Strange Seawolf

If you ask Harold Galahad, he isn’t fit to lead a crew or command a ship. But nobody is asking Harry.

Instead, he finds himself back on the bridge, on a ship stranded in space, no help in sight, only kept alive by remnants of a gradually failing life support system.

His crew? A nurse running out of tentacles and eyes to care for all the wounded, a chief engineer who knows all about her systems but struggles with people, a chief of security who thinks everything can be solved with paragraphs from the Company’s handbook, a cursing chief of logistics, an anxiety-ridden communications officer, and a first officer who stays mysterious and feigns ignorance. This ship needs a captain to avert a complete disaster that includes the death of everyone on board.

If you enjoy a complex tale that brings a human element to all species that travel space, …

If you ask Harold Galahad, he isn’t fit to lead a crew or command a ship. But nobody is asking Harry.

Instead, he finds himself back on the bridge, on a ship stranded in space, no help in sight, only kept alive by remnants of a gradually failing life support system.

His crew? A nurse running out of tentacles and eyes to care for all the wounded, a chief engineer who knows all about her systems but struggles with people, a chief of security who thinks everything can be solved with paragraphs from the Company’s handbook, a cursing chief of logistics, an anxiety-ridden communications officer, and a first officer who stays mysterious and feigns ignorance. This ship needs a captain to avert a complete disaster that includes the death of everyone on board.

If you enjoy a complex tale that brings a human element to all species that travel space, combined with a multi-layered mystery, and starring a broken hero, Herald Petrel might be the book for you.

Today is the last day you can get #HeraldPetrel for 50% off at #Smashwords due to #ebookweek25

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1584221

Artwork by https://www.instagram.com/aljeensane/
Blurred for direct eye contact.

#SciFi #SpaceOpera #QueerSpaceOpera #ReadingCommunity #WritingCommunity #bookstodon

Captain Harold Galahad, Captain of the cargo space ship Herald Petrel marching down a corridor with cables dangling about. He wears a disarranged company uniform, has a glowing battery under his arm and looks determined.

Artwork by https://www.instagram.com/aljeensane/

Michael Whelan

AT WINTER'S END (1988)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 32" x 20"

What could I possibly say about an author who has earned 5 Nebula Awards and has been recognized as a Grand Master of the genre? I have yet to read a Robert Silverberg novel that I didn't like. I have the highest respect for him. 1/3

#sciencefiction #scifi #scifiart #sff #illustration #robertsilverberg

A tribe of ape-like people tentatively emerges from the darkness of a cave. With mouths agape, many cower in the shadows. One mother clutches her young, curled up in her arms. Standing tall at their forefront is a female holding a spear with a stone chipped head and a ribbon trailing down the shaft. The curves of her hips and round of her breasts mark her gender as female. An ornate helm with tendrils sweeping off covers her face. The nostril holes are set wide and a sharp beak descends over her muzzle. A long white sash crosses over her chest. Behind her another prominent figure, this one with white patterns painted on its fur, heralds her arrival. It bears a bowl in each hand in outstretched arms. A air of reverence lights its eyes.

J. Steven York

Bought this lineman's (guys that climb poles) phone for five bucks at the Habitat for Humanity store. No idea what to do with it (I haven't had a landline for a decade) but the 70s-80s sci-fi aesthetic is wonderful. I can just imagine picking it up and hearing Han Solo's death star intercom conversation coming out. Uh, we had a slight weapons malfunction, but uh... everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here now, thank you. How are you?
#starwars #scifi #props

The back of a safety yellow and gray plastic phone phone handset with a 70's modern industrial design there is a dialing keypad at top, and a chrome belt clip hanging from the bottom.

Crystal Huff (they/them)

I have some GOOD NEWS, which is in short supply today, so I'm gonna SHOUT!

SUPER proud of my friend @CoralineAda , whose book WE JUST BUILD HAMMERS: Stories from the Past, Present, & Future of Responsible Tech is published as of today! WOOO!

If you want to better understand how technology and society interface through a lens of science fiction stories and questions for a better future, check it out. I'm psyched to dig into my copy!

https://thehammerbook.com/
#bookstodon #books #scifi #tech

Assoc for Scottish Literature

When the Bough Breaks (1924) & Travel Light (1952) as SFF Texts

“Mitchison is a key figure for thinking about how a huge swathe of predominantly (but not exclusively) women’s writing of the interwar decades would be thought of as SFF from today’s perspective”

Nick Hubble looks at two novellas by Naomi Mitchison: When the Bough Breaks (1924) & Travel Light (1952)

@bookstodon

https://prospectiveculture.wordpress.com/2025/03/02/road-from-glasgow-2024-to-pictcon-1-naomi-mitchison-when-the-bough-breaks1924-and-travel-light-1952-as-sff-texts/

#Scottish #literature #WomenWriters #20thcentury #sciencefiction #scifi #fantasy #SFF

Neve Maslakovic

#writephant #selfpromo

Lots of sci-fi and fantasy books to choose from in this promo!
https://books.bookfunnel.com/FEBMARCHSCIFI/yl600s1l0v

#books #fiction #bookstodon #sff #sciencefiction #scifi #fantasy

Michael Whelan

JOB: A COMEDY OF JUSTICE (1984)
Acrylic - 30" x 20"

This was a difficult book to illustrate. When confronted with a plethora of ideas, themes, and opinions, the best I could do is mirror that complexity rather than to choose only one idea and compose a misleading cover. 1/5

#sciencefiction #scifi #sff #illustration #robertheinlein

A halo hangs over the head of an unkempt man in raggedy overcoat as he extends his hands in a shrug that says, "Whatya gonna do?" Weightlessly he floats in front of a violent sky covered by clouds tinted gold and red. A mix of symbols winds around him defined by a zig zag of a road. A futuristic silver sports car speeds along in ascent until it fades into clouds. Overhead coins, a cross and chalice spill along the path implied by the road. Over one shoulder a trio of tiny devils hover. Over his opposite shoulder, set lower down, a cluster of penitent angels gather. One carries a blue standard, another a large cross. In front of our everyman the symbols morph into nonsense: a blimp, a book, a sundae in parfait glass, a pair of old brown shoes, a variety of plates, and a monkey smoking a cigarette.