Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials
{{short description|1979 book by Wayne Barlowe}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials
| image = File:Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials, first edition.jpg
| caption = Cover of the first edition
| authors = Wayne Barlowe, Ian Summers, Beth Meacham
| illustrator = Wayne Barlowe
| cover_artist = Wayne Barlowe
| country = United States
| language = English
| series =
| subject =
| genre = Science fiction
| publisher = Workman Publishing Company
| pub_date = 1979
| media_type = Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
| pages = 144
| isbn = 978-0894805004
| oclc = 5491785
| dewey =
| congress = NC975.5.B36A4
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}
Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials (1979; second edition 1987) is a science fiction-themed book by artist Wayne Barlowe, with Ian Summers and Beth Meacham (who provided the text). It contains Barlowe's visualizations of different extraterrestrial life forms from various works of science fiction, with information on their planetary location or range, biology, and behaviors, in the style of a real field guide for animals. It was nominated for an American Book Award and for the 1980 Hugo Award for Best Related Work.
The second edition has an added foreword by Robert Silverberg.{{cite book | last = Barlowe | first = Wayne | title = Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials | publisher = Workman Publishing Company | location = New York | year = 1987 | isbn = 0-89480-500-2 }}
After the success of the work, in 1996 Barlowe and Neil Duskis wrote a second book, Barlowe's Guide to Fantasy.
Summary
The book contains descriptions of the following species:
| class="wikitable sortable"
!Alien !Author !Work |
| Abyormenite
|Cycle of Fire (1957) |
| Athshean
|The Word for World Is Forest (1975) |
| Black Cloud
|The Black Cloud (1957) |
| Chulpex
|Masters of the Maze (1965) |
| Cinruss
|Hospital Station (1962) and Star Surgeon (1963) |
| Cryer
|Conscience Interplanetary (1972) |
| Cygnan
|The Jupiter Theft (1977) |
| Cygnostik
|A Little Knowledge (1977) |
| Czill
|Midnight at the Well of Souls (1977) |
| Demon
|A Plague of Demons (1977) |
| Demu
|Cage a Man (1973) |
| Dextran
|The Right Hand of Dextra (1977) |
| Dilbian
|{{not a typo|Spacial}} Delivery and Spacepaw (1961) |
| Dirdir
|The Dirdir (1969) |
| Garnishee |
| Gowachin
|The Dosadi Experiment (1977) |
| Guild Steersman
|Dune Messiah (1965) |
| Ishtarians
|Fire Time (1974) |
| Ixchel
|A Wrinkle in Time (1962) |
| Ixtl
|The Voyage of the Space Beagle (1950) |
| Lithian
|A Case of Conscience (1958) |
| Masters
|The Tripods trilogy (1967, 1968)Even though the first book of the Tripods trilogy, The White Mountains, is listed as a source, the Masters do not actually appear in it; they are revealed in the second book of the trilogy, The City of Gold and Lead. |
| Medusan
|The Legion of Space (1947) |
| Merseian
|Ensign Flandry (1966) |
| Mesklinite
|Mission of Gravity (1954) |
| Mother
|Strange Relations (1960) |
| Old Galactic
|Legacy (1979) |
| Old One
|At the Mountains of Madness (1936) |
| Overlord
|Childhood's End (1953) |
| Pnume
|The Pnume (1970) |
| Polarian
|Cluster (1977) |
| Pierson's Puppeteers
|Neutron Star (1968) and Ringworld (1970) |
| Radiate
|Memoirs of a Spacewoman (1962) |
| Regul
|The Faded Sun: Kesrith (1978) |
| Riim
|The Voyage of the Space Beagle (1950) |
| Ruml
|The Alien Way (1965) |
| Salaman
|Wildeblood's Empire (1977) |
| Sirian
|The Age of the Pussyfoot (1969) |
| Slash
|Kirlian Quest (1978) |
| Soft One
|The Gods Themselves (1972) |
| Solaris
|Solaris (1961) |
| Sulidor{{efn|Alternately spelled 'Sulidoror' by both Barlowe and Silverberg}}
|Downward to the Earth (1970) |
| Terran (human)
| |no specific novel — an image of a human (the author) used in the size comparison chart in the book. |
| The Thing
|Who Goes There? (1938) |
| Thrint
|World of Ptavvs (1966) |
| Tran
|Icerigger (1974) |
| Triped
|Rule Golden (1954) |
| Tyreean
|Up the Walls of the World (1978) |
| Uchjinian
|Exiles at the Well of Souls series (1978) |
| Vegan
|Have Space Suit—Will Travel (1958) |
| Velantian
|Children of the Lens (1954) |
{{notelist}}
Reception
Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials received a mixed review from Wendy Bousfield in Library Journal. Bousfield commented that the book's drawings were "colorful", but also "somewhat static and artificial-looking, with less vitality than the preparatory sketches from the artist's notebook included at the end." She also criticized the omission of "the facts of publication of the novels", but concluded that public libraries might still be interested in the work.{{cite journal |last=Bousfield |first=Wendy |date= 1 January 1980|title=Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials (Book Review) |journal=Library Journal |page=190}}{{subscription required|via=[https://www.ebsco.com EBSCO]'s Academic Search Complete}} The book received a positive review from Claudia J. Morner in School Library Journal. Morner praised the book's "colorful drawings" and "fold-out comparative size chart" showing the size of aliens relative to human beings. She concluded that it was a "fun browsing book" that would appeal to "young people fascinated by monsters" as well as to science fiction readers.{{cite journal |last=Morner |first=Claudia J. |date= May 1980|title=Barlowe's Guide to Extra-Terrestials (Book) |journal=School Library Journal |pages=92–93}}{{subscription required|via=[https://www.ebsco.com EBSCO]'s Academic Search Complete}}
Barlowe's work was nominated for an American Book Award and for the 1980 Hugo Award for Best Related Work.[http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/1980-hugo-awards/ 1980 Hugo Awards] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120211163121/http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/1980-hugo-awards/ |date=2012-02-11 }}{{cite web|last=Liptak |first=Andrew |title=Wayne Barlowe's Illustrated Aliens |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/wayne-barlowes-illustrated-aliens/ |website=Kirkus Reviews |date=2017-02-16 |access-date=2018-06-05}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{isfdb title|id=15239}}
- {{OL work|id=3236310W|cname=Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Books about extraterrestrial life
Category:Books by Wayne Barlowe
Category:Encyclopedias of fictional worlds
Category:English-language books