James Nicoll Reviews

Stellar 7

edited by Judy-Lynn del Rey

Del Rey (August 1981)

213 pages ($2.50)

Weird. Only eight months between S6 and S7, plus the price *dropped* by twenty-five cents.

Cover art is an uninspired piece by David Mattingly and if it illustrates a particular story, I am not sure which one it is. Shows a space ship or flying city, with a non-destructive glowing beam between it and a mountain top tower and several flying men with jet packs in the foreground. Use of colours reminds me a little of Foss.

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Stellar 6

edited by Judy-Lynn del Rey

Del Rey (January 1981)

186 pages ($2.75)

Whoa! Big bounce in price there between S5 and S6. Wonder what drove it.

Another thing to note is there is one price, the [Canadian] dollar and US dollar having roughly the same value (The Canadian was actually worth more than the US in the 1970s for a bit. Bad for exports).

[written before BushCo trashed the US dollar, which caused a lot of heartache up here for export-oriented companies]

The cover is a competent bit of art illustrating the poem by the artist, Robert Zend.

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Stellar 5

edited by Judy-Lynn del Rey

Del Rey (May 1980)

246 pages ($2.50)

The cover is Darrel K. Sweet illustration for the Hogan story. Not bad, although his spaceships look too slabby for my taste.

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Stellar 4

edited by Judy-Lynn del Rey

Del Rey (May 1978)

230 pages ($1.95)

The cover shows an alien crying what appear to be tears of blood, while holding a cup. Art by H.R. Dongen. Illustrates the Tiptree story but as art doesn’t work for me.

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Stellar 3

edited by Judy-Lynn del Rey 

Del Rey (October 1977)

244 pages ($1.95)

Man, look at those prices rocket up…

Cover art by Darrell Sweet, who seems to have gotten out all the pastels for this one. Illustrates a scene from ​“Chasing Shadows”.

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Stellar 2

Edited by Judy-Lynn del Rey

Ballantine (February 1976)

209 pages ($1.50)

The cover shows a centauroid in formal dress of the early 1900s as it might be adapted to that shape of body. Credited to the Brothers Hildebrant. The cover layout adapts the form all the following books will have.

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Stellar 1

edited by Judy-Lynn del Rey

Ballantine (1974)

216 pages ($1.25)

The cover art is uncredited as far as I can tell and consists of a generic SFnal background with large metal 1s everywhere. The look of the book is utterly unlike the rest of the series.

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