I’ve a penchant for outdated sci-fi with trashy covers so horrible they’re sensible. My dream is that somebody creates a wallpaper of them so I can use it to paper my downstairs rest room.
Within the meantime, I not too long ago got here throughout a e book in a charity store I ended up loving: Sheri S. Tepper’s Grass. This was printed in 1989; the version I discovered (pictured above) is from the Nineties, and has a pleasingly bizarre jacket.
It additionally turned out to be an important learn, of the dense, “messagey”, Eighties sci-fi kind. It’s set in a far future through which humanity has settled many planets. A plague would possibly wipe them out, except they uncover why the inhabitants of a world known as Grass, lined in multicoloured prairie, are immune.
The Grassians are insular and weirdly obsessive about searching the planet’s alien “foxen”. The secrets and techniques of the hunt are enjoyably disturbing, and Tepper’s world-building is excellent. I’m going to trace down her different works – particularly ones with standout covers.
Subjects:
