Crazy Cool Sci-fi Covers: The Wanderer

I’m slightly obsessed with old science fiction books. I find the old stories charming but the real obsession comes from the covers. They’re often wild, wacky and bizarre. Spaceships, winged dinosaurs and scantily clad female aliens are all there – it’s like one of my more juvenile dreams.

One of my faves is this cover to Friz Leiber’s The Wanderer. Which cat owner hasn’t wished that their cat was looked a bit more like a girly, had breasts and was seemingly as big as a planet? It’s certainly the dream of a fair few male cat owners I know.

And what tell of the contents of the book? Well, although this book is supposedly a classic and is published by the reputable Penguin books – it is quite frankly a stinker. There is a tradition in sci-fi books of the cover having nothing to do with the story itself. Sadly in this instance the cover is an alarming representation of this “classic” piece of fiction. It’s giant cats with breasts causing havoc with the planet Earth. For God’s sake! The climax (literally) of the tale comes when the giant sexy cat makes beautiful love to the scientist hero. Blllurrrgggeeeee!!!!!! Thankfully both giant cat and scientist regret it the morning after.