A cover ideally must do two things for a book.  Draw in the potential buyer by tantalising them, exciting them, ideally having sympathy with the content, augmenting the story(s) and adding to the gravitas of the volume.

So how do our covers stack up?

Upon its first appearance (as the slightly different ‘Pale Brown Thing’) in F&SF, it was given a mighty fine cover by Ron Walotsky   . Whilst the building is merely a two story, the ambiance of the cover is great, it is daylight, and Corona heights and the TV tower are featured as reflections (with the metropolitan skyline behind).  Paramentals dash and lurk around the composition, with a strong figure leaning out of the window.  I like the realism of the piece, which mirror Franz’s hyper aware state of his environment, the clarity that lets him become aware of the paramental entities.  F&SF did well by Fritz Leiber, and he had a number of fine covers, special mention should be given to the cover of ‘A Deskfull of Girls’ by  Kelly Freas, a fine, fine cover indeed. read more

I have scanned in and converted the very interesting November 1992 issue of Locus magazine, that contained tributes from Justin Leiber, Marion Zimmer Bradley and L Sprague De Camp, plus numerous photos.  Well worth a read.

Fritz Leiber – In Memoriam