When I was first discovering Science Fiction it was through reading Asimov paperbacks with covers by Chris Foss. These covers with their mammoth, almost organic, structures of both buildings and spaceships grabbed my attention and probably helped fuel my desire for SF as a genre.

Fred Gambino's work I find to be an updating of this style. Whilst not derivative they are of a similar feel - as is said in the text giant structures had gone out of fashion in cover art for a while but here they are back in vogue. And much to my advantage as these images bring out a similar feeling for me as Foss's work did when I first saw them 20+ years ago.

This book groups the images in some broad categories (Heroes and Heroines, Hardware, Alien Realms, Cyberware, Futuropolis) each with it's own introuction by a familiar name of SF (Elizabeth Moon, David Brin, Robert J. Sawyer, Jim Burns & Chris Moore. Along with every illustration there is commentary from the artist giving some insight into the creation of each piece.

For me there are standout moments in this book - The Court of a Thousand Suns (Allan Cole/Chris Bunch's STEN series), Heart of the Comet & Heaven's Reach (David Brin), A Civil Campaign (Lois McMaster Bujold) and the 3 cover images for the Second Foundation Trilogy (Benford/Bear/Brin). These images are simply majestic.

You will have seen a lot of these images before gracing the covers of SF books by some of the greats of the genre (Silverberg/Clarke/Asimov/Brin/Niven) but you will have only seen a part of these images. Reproduced here in a larger deluxe format you can see some of the intricate details lost when illustrating paperback book covers. That's where books like this come alive. If you have been put off purchasing book like this as you have seen the works before, think again.

Gambino's career as a SF illustrator spans some two decades and it does lead to the only negative point I found about this book. That is the history here. None of the works have a date associated with them. And as they are grouped into the section outlined above you will find acryllic paintings next to digital art which although it allows a comparison to be made between the techniques it can feel a little disruptive to the flow of the book. As the only downside to the book though it is hardly a major one.