The Top 10 Sci-Fi Book Covers

“A book cover is a distillation, a haiku, if you will, of the story." —Chip Kidd

Book covers are important. One that does its job effectively "gives the first impression of what you are about to get into" (Chip Kidd, 2012 Ted Talk). Further, it makes you actually want to get into it; to go beyond the cover. These ten compelling covers do just that. Which one did our community chose as being the best? Read on to find out!

As always, these top ten lists are not meant to be all-inclusive or definitive, but give a great finger on the pulse of our communities interests and favorites. Want to see who missed out? Here's the original nomination list from the blog.

Without further ado, based on the combined nominations and votes here on the Discover Sci-Fi blog and the Facebook group, here are your top choices for the sci-fi books with the best cover art of all time!

10. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt edition

“I voted The Handmaid's Tale. The artwork tells an entire story by itself.” - DSF Reader, Discover Sci-Fi Facebook group

When we think of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid’s Tale, the first the first cover that springs to mind is Fred Marcellino’s iconic 1986 illustration for Houghton Mifflin. It was said of Marcellino that he could "in one image, translate the whole feeling and style of a book.” As noted by the Discover Sci-Fi reader quoted above, that is exactly what he has done with his cover of Atwood’s classic.

Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now . . .

Read The Handmaid's Tale here on Amazon

9. Shockwave by Lindsay Buroker

When Lindsay Buroker needed a cover for her book Shockwave, she turned to artist Jeff Brown. His goal? Turn out a "cool cover of a not-too-slick spaceship" as Buroker's heros are flying around in a hundred-year-old freighter with more than a few dents and dings! A challenge perhaps, but clearly he was up to the task!

We asked Buroker if she could tell us a bit about Brown's process and what their collaboration looks like and she had this to share:

"Since the same spaceship is a part of each book in the series, Jeff makes a model that he can position in different ways for the different art on each cover. If you check out the entire series, it’s doing everything from investigating an ice moon to flying low past an enemy base on a planet to participating in a big battle at a space station. 

I usually give a few details from an actual scene from the book, but I also give Jeff a lot of leeway. I’ve found that it’s better to say things like 'ice moon' and 'whatever you think looks cool' than worry too much about nitty gritty accuracy or some vision in my head. These guys are all way better at design than I am." 

Twice nominated for the Goodreads Readers’ Choice awards, Lindsay Buroker has made a career of delighting fantasy and science fiction fans with fun, fast-paced adventures filled with characters you wish could come to your weekend barbecues. If you haven't yet checked out her books, Shockwave is a rollickingly good time, and a great place to start! 

Forced to flee the work he loves and the only home he’s ever known, Casmir catches the first ship into space, where he hopes to buy time to figure out who wants him dead and why. If he can’t, he’ll never be able to return home.

But he soon finds himself entangled with bounty hunters, mercenaries, and pirates, including the most feared criminal in the Star Kingdom: Captain Tenebris Rache.

Rache could snap his spine with one cybernetically enhanced finger, but he may be the only person with the answer Casmir desperately needs:

What in his genes is worth killing for?

Read Shockwave, Book One in the Star Kingdom Series here on Amazon.

8. Nightfall One by Isaac Asimov, 1974 Panther Edition

This intriguing cover for the 1974 edition of Isaac Asimov's collection of short stories was designed by Ken Sequin, a designer who created covers for many sci-fi heavyweights through the years. 

Nightfall One is the first half of a collection of Isaac Asimov's science fiction, short stories. Each story has been selected by the author himself, and each has an introduction specifically written for this collection by Dr. Asimov.

Regular blog readers will know that Asimov's books are no stranger to these polls; but more often than not, it's his Foundation books that are being featured, so it was nice to see this one make the cut, even if it is for the cover and not the (equally worthy) content. If you're a fan of his work but have missed this volume, we'd bet you'll find it worth picking up!  

Get your copy of Nightfall One here on Amazon.

7. Descent Into Darkness by Jay Allan, 2020 release

"My most recent series, Blood on the Stars, has covers by Tom Edwards, and the most recent one, Descent into Darkness, is one of the best ones he has done. I really like the cover, as I do the other ones he has done for the series." —Jay Allan

Jay Allan has been working with the wildly talented Tom Edwards for a few years now, and his covers are so beloved among fans, that in his facebook reader group, readers have been known to request that the covers be turned into posters so that they can be proudly displayed in their homes. We can't say we blame them! 

Descent Into Darkness is the penultimate book of the Blood on the Stars series, leading up to the smashing conclusion, Empire Reborn. This is definitely a series you want to read in order, so if you are new to the series, you're going to want to start with book 1, Duel in the Dark.  If you start now, you might catch up before the final book comes out! But if you're all caught up and ready to read on... 

Continue the adventure with Descent Into Darkness here on Amazon.

6. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, 50th Anniversary edition illustrated by Ralph Steadman

Landing just outside the top 5, we are a little surprised this special cover didn’t get a little more love, but with Frazetta and Whelan in the game, the competition was pretty stiff.

In 2005, British Cartoonist Ralph Steadman illustrated a 50th anniversary edition of Ray Bradbury's dystopian classic Fahrenheit 451. Only 451 copies were printed and each of them was signed by both Steadman and Bradbury. A gorgeous and very special edition, indeed! If you happened to miss picking one up, you can occasionally find a copy secondhand for around $450 USD!

For the rest of us, while we can appreciate the beauty of the edition, the kindle version or even the classic paperback will do just fine. Whatever your format preference, this is not a book you will want to miss.

Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But when he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known.

Grab the dystopian classic Fahrenheit 451 here on Amazon.

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5. Alien: The Official Movie Novelization by Alan Dean Foster

Why mess with a good thing?

When a cover was needed for Alan Dean Foster's Novelization of Alien, publishers turned to Phillip Gips, who had created the poster for the movie that inspired the work. It was striking, memorable and fans already loved it. 

Alan Dean Foster has done many movie tie-ins, and like his others, this one, based on the screenplay by Dan O’Bannon, did not disappoint. Whether or not you’ve seen the movie, this book is worth a read.

The crew of the spaceship Nostromo wake from cryogenic sleep to distress signals from an unknown planet. One is attacked when they investigate a derelict alien craft. Safely on their way back to Sol, none foresee the real horror about to begin.

Get your copy of Alien  here on Amazon.

4. Marines by Jay Allan, 2020 re-release

Though better known for his Blood on the Stars series, it was almost eight years ago, Jay Allan published his first book, Marines. The original publication didn't have the cover you see here. Seven years and several books later, Allan decided that while he liked the original cover, his first book—and those that followed in the series—deserved some TLC and commissioned Tom Edwards, the designer he'd been collaborating with for his Blood on the Stars series, to rework all nine covers of the original series. I think we can all agree, the result is outstanding. Are you a fan of Allan's BotS series? Have you read Crimson Worlds? If not, we highly recommend you check it out!

Erik Cain joined the marines to get off death row. The deal was simple; enlist to fight in space and he would be pardoned for all his crimes.

In the 23rd Century, assault troops go to war wearing AI-assisted, nuclear-powered armor, but it is still men and blood that win battles. From one brutal campaign to the next, Erik and his comrades fight an increasingly desperate war over the resource rich colony worlds that have become vital to the economies of Earth's exhausted and despotic Superpowers.

As Erik rises through the ranks he finally finds a home, first with the marines who fight at his side and later among the colonists - men and women who have dared to leave everything behind to build a new society on the frontier, one where the freedoms and rights lost long ago on Earth are preserved.

Amidst the blood and death and sacrifice, Erik begins to wonder. Is he fighting the right war? Who is the real enemy?

Start the Crimson Worlds series with Marines  here on Amazon.

3. Dune by Frank Herbert, 2018 edition

Some readers mentioned in the comments of the poll in our Facebook group that they favored the original cover of Frank Herbert's classic Dune. Understandable, but we can’t deny the appeal of the nominated version, designed by Jim Tierney. Tierney has done updated covers for the series from Dune  through Chapterhouse and if you like this one, you may want to check the rest out. They are all equally stunning!

A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction. If you haven’t read it yet, now is the time! It is about to be brought to the big screen—yet again—and you’ll definitely want to read it before checking out Hollywood’s newest attempt to do justice to Herbert’s vision. (Fingers crossed!) 

Get your copy of Dune  here on Amazon.

2. Ace Books edition of Edgar Rice Burroughs' with Frank Frazetta covers

Frank Frazetta is one of the most renowned illustrators of the 20th century. His style is distinctive—truly iconic. His legacy is not just in the illustrations he penned, but in the influence he has had over the illustrators who have come after him. A fascinating character, he was also the subject of a 2003 documentary called "Painting with Fire.” 

With such an incredible body of work, it is hard to pick just one of his covers to represent. Here we’ve chosen to highlight the cover for A Princess of Mars, the first in Burroughs' Barsoom Series. We chose this as the series leans more sci-fi than some of this other notable series, and is credited with inspiring of sci-fi giants such as Jack Vance, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert A. Heinlein, and John Norman.

Have you read it? A Princess of Mars tells the story of John Carter, a Civil War veteran who inexplicably finds himself held prisoner on the planet Mars by the Green Men of Thark. With Dejah Thoris, the princess of another clan on Mars, John Carter must fight for their freedom and save the entire planet from destruction as the life-sustaining Atmosphere Factory slowly grinds to a halt. 

Start reading A Princess of Mars here on Amazon.

1. The White Dragon by Anne McCaffrey, cover art by Michael Whelan

With almost twice as many votes as the next runner up, The White Dragon took the number one spot by a landslide! Though Science Fiction Hall of Famer Michael Whelan, the illustrator behind this cover of Anne McCaffrey's The White Dragon has illustrated covers for some of the most famous sci-fi and fiction writers The White Dragon has the distinction of being the first book featuring one of Whelan’s covers to make the NYT Best Sellers list.

Written seven years after the second book, The White Dragon completes the original Dragonriders trilogy in the Dragonriders of Pern series. If you are new to the series, you should definitely start with the first book, Dragonflight, but for those of you who have read the series and are up for a re-read, The White Dragon is as good a place as any to dive back in!

Jaxom, a rebellious young aristocrat, and Ruth, his white dragon, fly into another time to retrieve the queen's stolen egg, thereby averting a dragonrider war, and find their planet threatened once again by a Threadfall.

Continue the adventure with The White Dragon  here on Amazon.

*All book-related copy in this post was pulled from Amazon, Goodreads & Wikipedia, unless otherwise credited.