Emshwiller: Infinity X Two: The Life & Art of Ed & Carol Emshwiller

Ed Emshwiller was undoubtedly one of the best cover artists in the history of science fiction. As far as I know, this is the only book that features a lot of his paintings in one place. If you're a fan of wild imagery you really can't go wrong with this one. Emsh could do weird aliens and pretty girls and put it all together in one striking cover. Reproduction is top-notch. My one complaint is that I'm not as interested in his film and video work and would have preferred more of his paintings. But that's a very minor complaint. However, Emsh did so many covers that you could do another book featuring stuff left out of this one.

My major interest is Ed Emshwiller's science fiction art, so just having a collection of reprints of his work is wonderful. I still have many of his paperback covers form the 60s: they are not in the best of shape. The biography of him and his wife, the intro by Alex Eisenstein, and what amounts to a short history of science fiction magazines in the 50s and 60s, were all icing on the cake. If you're an SF fan, you'll probably love this book. There is some coverage of Ed's experimental film and video work, and of Carol Emshwiller's writing, but it is secondary.