The simple idea of mixing the head of a falcon (Egyptian god, Ra) with the body of a Russian cosmonaut from the early stage of the Russian space program, is so unequivocal and deadpan, it has never stopped seducing me with new meanings after several years of admiring it.
The silver suit has the artificiality and cheesiness of low-budget movies (I am thinking of both Ed Wood’s “Plan 9 from Outer Space”, but much more of Tarkovsky’s “Solaris”). But the way the folds of the suit continue naturally and morph into the feathers of the bird, making the divine falcon regress to the low-tech level of the suit and the other way around, connecting the garment to mystical level, makes a perfect comment on the content of the book, which, if you haven’t guessed it by now, is a satire of the Soviet space program.
The falcon-headed being brings to mind a bit of art history context including Max Ernst and Saul Steinberg. It might not be essential to the selling of the book, but for me, it brings enduring quality to the whole package. I am not even going to mention the apparently awkward typography. It is the Alpha and Omega, of all my favorite book covers.
Omon Ra
Egyptian gods and science fiction met their match in Stargate and this cover. Weird.
— , 2006-02-22 11:02:00 -0500
Man, bum deal about the craptastic Amazon jpeg artifacting.
I love this cover, tho.
— Ben Pieratt , 2006-02-22 17:17:00 -0500
The simple idea of mixing the head of a falcon (Egyptian god, Ra) with the body of a Russian cosmonaut from the early stage of the Russian space program, is so unequivocal and deadpan, it has never stopped seducing me with new meanings after several years of admiring it.
The silver suit has the artificiality and cheesiness of low-budget movies (I am thinking of both Ed Wood’s “Plan 9 from Outer Space”, but much more of Tarkovsky’s “Solaris”). But the way the folds of the suit continue naturally and morph into the feathers of the bird, making the divine falcon regress to the low-tech level of the suit and the other way around, connecting the garment to mystical level, makes a perfect comment on the content of the book, which, if you haven’t guessed it by now, is a satire of the Soviet space program.
The falcon-headed being brings to mind a bit of art history context including Max Ernst and Saul Steinberg. It might not be essential to the selling of the book, but for me, it brings enduring quality to the whole package. I am not even going to mention the apparently awkward typography. It is the Alpha and Omega, of all my favorite book covers.
— , 2006-03-12 14:51:00 -0500
Love it
— Akshun , 2006-04-15 15:27:00 -0400