21st Century Foss by Chris Foss (book review)
‘21st Century Foss’ has been on my wants list for quite a while and one popped up cheaply on the auction website so I jumped after it. Remarkably, the book is still in good quality considering the book is 45 years old. Some of the pages were even held by static but that is the quality of the paper back then. Good static. They had good quality card-like paper in those days.
Chris Foss (1946- ) built up a reputation as an SF book cover artist in the UK, although he did other genres. His speciality, as shown throughout this book is exotic spacecraft. Back in the 1970s, you couldn’t miss the books he did the covers for, most of the top SF writers. Saying that, the covers had little to do with the content, just good SF art.
The attraction of his art was such that he was hired to do production design on ‘Dune’ (1975), ‘Superman’ (1976) and ‘Alien’ (1979). This ‘Dune’ film was never made. That last film should have got some of you excited. Comparing the art of the other two films and what I know of ‘Alien’, they stayed concept. ‘Superman’ went for crystal shapes for Krypton. Directors bring in various artists at the design stage to bring in their design sense as they look for what they want for the films. Even when they aren’t used, the essence of thought works its way through. I did check on google and Foss also involved with ‘Flash Gordon’ and ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’.
Perusing this book, the number of different spacecraft is astounding. Common themes include patterned stripes and numbers to make them look practical in different situations. Foss admits he wasn’t good at painting figures and only two pictures here have any at size. There are some land vehicles and I’m surprised Foss never went for robots. He admits that his art took off when he could use an airbrush.
If you come across this book at an affordable price, don’t hesitate.
GF Willmetts
August 2025
(pub: Book Club Associates/Dragon’s Dream, 1980. 143 page illustrated large hardback. Price: varies and luck)
