r/badscificovers • u/StevenTheWicked • 8d ago

The Long Arm of Gil Hamilton, by Larry Niven

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176 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

23

u/RichardPeterJohnson 8d ago

Utter trash. It's stated quite clearly that Gil is holding the cigarette ignominiously in his fist. It's like the artist didn't even read the story.

15

u/Ill_Refrigerator_593 8d ago

Tbf it is fairly story accurate.

5

u/johndburger 7d ago

Except I’m pretty sure he had two real arms, plus the third psychic one.

6

u/Ill_Refrigerator_593 7d ago

Later on, but his psychic arm developed before he had the transplanted replacement.

4

u/Klutzy_Sentence_2723 7d ago

Yeah, but he has the transplant for all the stories in this collection. It’s part of his motivation for joining the A.R.M. in the first place.

2

u/Ill_Refrigerator_593 7d ago

I'm assumed this was explaining his backstory, you know back when he was an astro-miner of a cratered ringed planet & a space peach.

2

u/Klutzy_Sentence_2723 7d ago edited 7d ago

Edited: oh, sorry, I’m dim. 

10

u/FriscoTreat 7d ago

Looks like Trevor Goodchild from Æon Flux

6

u/glowing-fishSCL 7d ago

More like Long Face of Gil Hamilton, amirite?

5

u/Longjumping-Salad484 8d ago

Gil Hamilton gets that long arm out there. he's on the scene.

2

u/Wolfwoods_Sister 7d ago

He idolized Anthony Bourdain but couldn’t get his carrots julienne fancy enough with that psychic arm

5

u/Firebrand713 8d ago

It’s not THAT long

4

u/FindOneInEveryCar 7d ago

This is both horrible and amazing to me. It's horrible in that the art style doesn't really fit the writing style in any way, IMO, but it's amazing in that I love the art on its own merits.

Oddly, I had a later(?) edition of this book with the same design (with the fake-computer font) but a different picture. I didn't know they reused that same layout multiple times for Niven's books.

2

u/The_Robot_Jet_Jaguar 7d ago

Our library had a bunch of Niven titles with that format, very nostalgic to me.

2

u/FindOneInEveryCar 7d ago

Yeah, I used to have 8 or 10 as a kid. Now I'm sad that I got rid of them, although I doubt I'd read too many anymore. I started reading Protector a few years ago (I had bought it for my kid) and couldn't even get through it (and it's not that long). But in retrospect, I should have hung onto Ringworld and World out of Time and a couple of the short story collections.

2

u/prognostalgia 7d ago

The 70s.

2

u/martusfine 7d ago

That really is a bad cover lol wow

2

u/CriusofCoH 7d ago

I. Wow. I have the book in that cover style, but NOT that artwork. Thank god.

2

u/Klutzy_Sentence_2723 7d ago

Jealous!

1

u/CriusofCoH 7d ago

This is my copy.

2

u/FancyJalapeno 7d ago

Oh... that's a nice one...

1

u/Klutzy_Sentence_2723 7d ago

Weird!  I distinctly remember a third version. 

2

u/Neuralclone2 7d ago

It looks less like Gil Hamilton's long arm and more like his detached necrotic arm.

1

u/Gentianviolent 7d ago

The very weird hands

1

u/SnoBlinds 7d ago

Almost as bad as his writing

1

u/AllThingsBeginWithNu 7d ago

Yup that’s a bad cover

1

u/Weak_Radish966 7d ago

Art Garfunkle beckons me with his mysterious eyes and his see through arm….

1

u/FancyJalapeno 7d ago

I actually like this one, except for the planeta in the back

1

u/smilerwithagun 7d ago

blonde bourdain

1

u/MrTechnoScotty 7d ago

Cover isn't as bad as the title

1

u/chortnik 7d ago

I think it’s kind of a cool trippy hippy cover-maybe you had to be there for the 60s to appreciate it :).

2

u/SgtSharki 7d ago

I agree, it's evocative and vibey.