I discovered my love of science fiction illustration about ten years ago when I perused a book by an artist named Boris Vallejo. Different epochs in time, different places in the universe, epic battles, astonishing spacecraft, beautiful women, courageous warriors, gothic weapons...all fused together into simply beautiful, dramatic art. From Vallejo I followed what I presume is a pretty common route of exploration: Frazetta, Chesley Bonestell, and assorted others, and then compilation books like "Infinite Worlds" and "Tomorrow and Beyond" and then the "Spectrum" series. Unfortunately I discovered Spectrum too late and didn't get in until Spectrum 7. The earlier editions are out of print, and used they are selling for prohibitive amounts, often into triple digits. They did do a reprint of Spectrum 1, which I bought in a heartbeat and I keep hoping there will be reprints of the other editions.
As the other reviewers have mentioned, this is just amazingly beautiful and exciting art. Some images are total exotica, some progressive and avant garde, and some appear to be well within classical conventions. Almost all of these artworks are astonishing and will have your imagination just buzzing. Most are paintings, many are photos of sculpture and other media. I find myself gasping as I flip the pages, saying "Unbelievable!" You really just have to see this work to fully grasp it. I implore my six year-old to look at the pictures, hoping to inspire neurological pathway formation with the colorful pictures of the stuff of our wildest dreams , but I slap her little paw whenever she tries to touch! Spectrum books are a peanut butter-free zone!
I personally do not see this edition (12) being that different from its predecessors in terms of content. Every volume I have is first-rate and a stone-cold must-have. This is exactly in that tradition in terms of quality and quantity of art.
Why the four stars instead of five: Okay, I should have griped last year. With Spectrum 11 they switched over to a cheaper cover. It is a shiny cardboard cover which will get dinged up and scuffed over time. The book loses its high-quality outer lustre with the downgraded binding and I think the Fenners (the wonderful people who produce this series and several other magnificent books) have made a significant mistake by allowing this to happen. As someone who went through a twenty-year phase of haunting used bookstores I can testify as an expert: this cover does not come close to matching the quality of the work (and paper, for that matter) on the inside. These books deserve the high quality cloth "buckram" covers which earlier editions had. Those covers will last forever and preserve these works as the historical momentos which they are indeed. If the price has to be raised a few bucks, so be it. I suspect demand will only go up; people who appreciate this type of art obviously are discriminating, and they will gladly pay for the extra attention to quality. Please, put Spectrum 13 back in a high-quality cover. Otherwise, keep up the fabuluous work.