#ArtOfTheDay: 'Maza Of The Moon' by Frank Frazetta

'Maza Of The Moon' by Frank Frazetta.

Cover art for the 1965 edition of the novel written by Otis Adelbert Kline, published by Ace Books.

#FrazettaFriday: 'Maza Of The Moon' by Frank Frazetta

Cover art by Frank Frazetta for the novel 'Maza Of The Moon' by Otis Adelbert Kline.

Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror Cover Art: Robert A Graef

Continuing my look at the weird and wonderful illustrated cover art of the vintage Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror pulp magazines and paperback books. This week, a look at the art of Robert A Graef.

If you love vintage pulp cover art too, visit Pulp Covers and Galactic Central for lots more.

Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror Cover Art: J Allen St John

Continuing my look at the art of the vintage pulp Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror magazines and books, this week, the cover art by J Allen St John.

If you love vintage pulp cover art too, visit Pulp Covers and Galactic Central for lots more.

Amazing Stories Is Back!

'Amazing Stories', the world’s first science fiction magazine - originally published in 1926 by the father of science fiction Hugo Gernsback (after which the Hugo Awards are named after) - is back and opened for Beta Testing of Phase 1 on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013.

Set to relaunch with a new Social Magazine Platform, 'Amazing Stories' will feature content from 50+ bloggers, covering an enormous array of subjects of interest to genre fans.

According to their press release on their blog: “We’ve got authors and agents, bloggers and editors, pod casters and broadcasters; we’ve got gamers and game designers; artists and art collectors; pulpsters and indie authors; we’ve got Hugo winners, John W. Campbell Memorial Award winners, John W. Campbell Best New Writer winners, Nebula and Hugo Award winners and nominees and winners and nominees of many other awards; people who review films, people who make films; we’ve got fanboys and fangirls; we’ve got former editors of Amazing Stories, writers who’ve become synonymous with the field and writers who are just getting started; comic artists, book reviewers; traditionally published authors, self-pubbed authors and authors who’ve done it all. The response to my request for participation was phenomenal – it couldn’t be more perfect if I had set out with a list of must-haves!” said Steve Davidson, publisher."

The Amazing Stories’ Social Magazine platform is designed to create an interactive environment that will be familiar to fans with blog content designed to encourage discussion and take things beyond the usual user-generated content model for social networks.

The Amazing Stories Blog Team aim to cover popular topics such as – Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, (lit), Film, Television, Gaming, Comics and Graphic Works, the Visual Arts, the Pulps, Audio Works, Anime, the Business of Publishing, Science and Fandom itself.

Follow their blog and like their page on Facebook.

Check out some of the classic covers from the original 'Amazing Stories' from the 1920's through to the 1960's below.

1926-04 Amazing Stories V1 #1, Cover Art by Frank R Paul

Book Review: 'The Swordsman Of Mars' by Otis Adelbert Kline

The story of Harry Thorne, outcast scion of a wealthy East Coast family, who agrees to swap bodies with a Martian noble, thrusting him into a fierce and vibrant world of strange beasts and stranger people, where a man's future is determined by the strength of his sword arm. Tasked with tracking down and neutralizing another Earthman before he establishes a corrupt empire, and trapped between the love of two beautiful and dangerous women, will Harry Thorne wind up a slave in the dolorous baridium mines, or will he step forward and claim his destiny as a swordsman of Mars?

I've not read any stories by Otis Kline before, but after reading Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter/Barsoom series of stories, and discovering about it and reading good recommendations from the 'Take Me Back To Barsoom' Facebook group, I took the plunge and gave 'The Swordsman Of Mars' a go - the first in a two book Mars series from Kline.

I have to say, 'Swordsman' is a very enjoyable read. Harry Thorne is very similar to Burroughs' John Carter, so if you enjoyed those books you're sure to enjoy this. Nearly every chapter is packed with action and is fast paced that you're swept into 'Hahr Ree Thorne's' Martian adventure.

All the good pulp action sci-fi is there; an outsider who's very adept with a sword, turns up in a foreign land that's populated with strange races, fantastical beasts, death rays, flying machines, chases, escapes, battles, a princess or two and a kingdom that needs saving from a tyrannical fiend.

If anything, Thorne does come across as a bit more cerebral than the gung-ho John Carter of Burroughs' stories, but if you like planetary romance and pulp science fiction then you can do no wrong in picking this up and giving it a read.

**** out of 5