The Secret Work of Lou Feck, Cover Artist Supreme

WHAT DO THESE HAVE IN COMMON?
By Alex Ness
August 25, 2025

When it comes to reading for pleasure, and not reading for an article, perhaps such as this, that I usually have subject matter, author and artist, or I want to engage something new. Over a recent span of buying ebay bargains, from favorite sellers, I've picked up 4-5 books, with different authors, and nothing you could argue as anything, except perhaps, speculative fiction in genre.

Each book worked differently for me, but what became clear, is that I learned that what I really seem to have liked, was that I REALLY like the cover art of Artist Lou Feck. And when he does some interior art, it is an enormous treat.  As such, I have done similar things in the comic world. 

You might think I am a nut. 5 dollars a book, can be a good price, as that total included shipping. In the modern era, postage is higher, but delivery rate is lower. I've dealt with so many sellers, I try to now choose wisely who I will give my money to for their product. Three of the last four orders took more than 2 weeks to arrive, even from a town 45 minutes from my home. As USPS offers insurance but makes it almost impossible to get them to pay for their disaster, I've grown to limit my purchases for books, as Half Price books and Barnes & Noble and local smaller stores are pretty good. At least you have a solid price and no need to trust blindly that the ebay seller was worthy of trust. I am not attacking sellers on Ebay. Just the double whammy of things you haven't seen or held, and know what you are getting for your money, and then tracking down the USPS to acknowledge their F'Up.

Aquarius Mission was very much a work that both allowed you to suspend disbelief as well as revel in the quality of the author's imagination. It was not made into a movie, but I was satisfied by it.

The New Atlantis was also a fine work. But rather than a solid story and thought, it is an anthology from great authors, about a missing land, or a metaphor for the same. If it was made into film I missed that.

FireFox I watched as a movie after reading the book. It was a fine book, exciting even despite just having prose words to propel your imagination. It had a lovely cast, and I thought it tried to be loyal to the source material. But the movie's effects could not reproduce the prose words. For a technical break through futuristic tech work, it looked dated, quickly. 

ICE was a great book, a dystopian Ice age disaster book. Some comments from the seller's description  suggested that it was the source for the movie Day After Tomorrow. I suggest it was the germ of an idea that similar temps during the 1930s and late 60s and 70s were nearly cold enough to start the next ice age. It wasn't a conspiracy theory.

Readers here know I love the writing of REHoward, so that I liked this book should be no surprise. Even if Kull isn't close to Conan in popularity, the quality of writing by REH is such that such a dynamic cover only enhances the great value of the book. It reads awesomely and looks fantastic.

This will piss Star Trek fans off, but I found the original series to be entertaining, but books from the same episode to be boring and uninteresting.  I like the the original series especially with Klingons, Romulans, and anything with lovely aliens. However great the quality of writing James Blish has, I don't like his writing style. That is my personal taste but compared to the cover art, I was hosed with this book.

An article featuring Fantasy and RPGs will appear by Friday of this coming week. Thanks for reading my work.

For all your printing needs, Matt at Speed Print Inc. is amazing.

 

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