Chris Moore

 I was sorry to hear of the passing of Chris Moore, the brilliant SF artist whose work lit up so many wonderful book covers, from the middle seventies through to the present.

I'd undoubtedly seen Chris's work on paperback covers as I grew up, but I didn't really connect the art and the artist until I got this book as a Christmas present at the end of 1979:

It's a gorgeously illustrated tour of SF's major themes, loosely justifying the title, but which showcases an enormous and varied amount of art from all the major practitioners of the period, and not merely spaceships. Chris's terrific wraparound cover was the star of the book for me, and I spent many hours goggling at the detail and depth, wondering how it was possible to paint such an amazingly intricate and exciting scene. The book was presumably launched as a cash-in on the tail-end of the Stars Wars boom, but the colourful visuals in that illustration owe very little to the film, or indeed any of the other big contemporary SF spectacles at the time. It's a reminder of a time when SF artwork offered a completely different slant on the future to that seen on screen. Illustrations were made by splodging (or blasting) paint and ink pigments around on canvas or board, whereas film productions were executed with model work and optical effects. They not only didn't look alike, but they probably couldn't have if they tried. When did you ever see a glossy or multicoloured spaceship in 70s cinema, or for that matter an exhaust plume? Now that nearly everything is done by manipulating pixels, there's a visual sameness to the imagery presented on books and in cinema. It's all very technically impressive, but (I confess) it leaves me a bit cold in the way that the work of Chris Moore and his contemporaries never did.

There are some equally stirring Chris Moore illustrations within "Space Wars":

The perspective work on this huge space vehicle is really impressive, but note also Chris's skill with background treatments and colour contrast. These elements are in equal play on this other illustration from the book:

These aren't the only Chris Moore pictures in the volume, but they were more than enough to blow my mind as a space-and-SF-obsessed thirteen year old. Obviously, it was a terrific thrill to have Chris Moore illustrate some of my earlier books, and I never stopped pinching myself that things had come full circle (even, though, secretly, I always thought I'd end up being an illustrator rather than a writer). 

I admire all the covers Chris did for me, but I've a particular soft-spot for House of Suns, which I think captures the scale of things quite impressively:

Notice, if you will, the correct orientation of the green and red nav lights (assuming we're looking at the front of the vehicle, which seems plausible). It was this sort of attention to detail that took Chris's work into a different dimension, and made me such a lifelong enthusiast.

I only got to meet him on a handful of brief occasions, always at SF conventions, but we did chat a little and I think I managed to express my delight that he had come to do my covers. Thank you, Chris, for a lifetime of wonderful imagery that will continue to inspire for many years to come.

Incidentally, while writing this piece I discovered that the text of "Space Wars" (by "Steven Eisler") was in fact written by the writer Robert Holdstock, another giant of the field, now much-missed. If you do see a copy of "Space Wars" in a second hand bookshop or charity shop, snap it up, because it's great!

Al R