Science Fiction Quarterly May 1957 – Spacesuit Explorers on Frozen Alien World
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Science Fiction Quarterly May 1957 – Spacesuit Explorers on Frozen Alien World

In the tradition of other Science Fiction Quarterly covers from the mid-1950s, this gouache illustration rivals the action-packed vibrancy of contemporaries like Ed Emshwiller and Richard Powers. Two astronauts in bulky pressure suits — one red, one yellow — struggle across a fractured icy alien surface beside a sleek black spacecraft fin. Rocky white spires and a burnt-orange moon dominate the alien sky, while a mysterious face appears frozen beneath the cracked ice below, suggesting a buried alien civilization waiting to be discovered.

Category: Magazine Cover
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Era: Atomic Age (1945-1963)
Decade: 1950s
Country: United States
Coolness: 7/10

The frozen alien face lurking beneath the cracked ice is a brilliantly unsettling detail that elevates this beyond a standard spacesuit cover. Combined with two-astronaut drama, a towering spacecraft fin, and story credits from Silverberg and Asimov, this would absolutely leap off the newsstand.

Text in image:

SCIENCE FICTION QUARTERLY MAY 25¢ QUICK FREEZE by Robert Silverberg ALL NEW STORIES A New Parody by Isaac Asimov

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