The Best of SFOR Facebook: The Early Days, May – July 2018

Earlier this year, Sci-Fi-O-Rama made some big changes. Kieran was joined by Ben and Erik, and what had long been a solo project suddenly became a team effort. Working together, the team has branched into new types of content: the Classic Sci-Fi Illustrators series, the original fiction series from CG Inglis, and focus pieces on real-world science.

Perhaps the biggest change, however, has been our expansion into Facebook. Begun to reach new audiences and give us a means of sharing ‘quick’ bite-sized content, the Facebook page has rapidly evolved to become a vital part of Sci-Fi-O-Rama experience. We post on Facebook daily and have a growing, engaged audience of several hundred (so far!) Sci-Fi enthusiasts following our posts!

In light of the happy success of the Facebook page, we’re bringing some of the content back to the blog mothership to preserve it for posterity. Welcome to the inaugural post in the series, the “Best of SFOR Facebook”. Memorialized here are some of the best-received posts as we look back at the first few months of Sci-Fi-O-Rama on Facebook when we were learning the ropes.

Among our most popular posts were glimpses into space – the real and the speculative:

Above: The launch of NASA’s Mars InSight Lander, May 5, 2018, California, Earth. A masterful capture by American photographer Andy Fortson, full of the heroic spirit of classic space-age art.

Above: “Toroidal Colony — Interior view” by Don Davis, 1975, part of the NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) studies of potential space habitats.

Also popular were spaceships and alien worlds from some of science fiction’s most influential artists:

Above: Peter Elson’s cover art for ‘The Best Of A E Van Gogt Vol 2’ . This image was also featured in our Classic Science Fiction Illustrators feature on Elson.

Above: An untitled piece from the hugely influential American artist John Berkey, showing his signature fusion of the technological and the impressionistic.

Above: The majestic “Daggerwrist” by Wayne Barlowe, from his 1990 book “Expedition”.

Fantastical vistas from across the spectrum of the genre drew great interest:

Above: Cover art for the Yes album “Drama” by the great Roger Dean. We gave a broad survey of his career in our Classic Science Fiction Illustrators series.  

Above: The unparalleled Moebius, as part of his 2011 “Voyage d’Hermès” series of works.

Above: “The Faerie Market” by British artist Charles Vess, a particularly rich spread from the illustrated edition of Neil Gaiman’s “Stardust”.

Above: A still of the “toxic jungle” from Hayao Miyazaki’s 1984 sci-fantasy masterpiece “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind“.

Lastly, the works of a few new talents in the field dazzled. We were happy to note the strong reaction to these contemporary artists and we have delved further into their portfolios in the months since:

Above: “Drone Sweet Drone” from Simon Stålenhag’s remarkable book “Electric State”.

Above: “Renegade Hardware”, by Daniel Isles / DirtyRobot, 2017. This was one of our first looks at Isles’ sci-fi/street sensibility, and eventually led to a feature post on his work.

Above: “ROGUEPLANET” concept by Montreal artist Pascal Blanché.

Facebook has allowed us to engage with our audience like never before, and the feedback has been invaluable. Seeing what really piques your collective interest helps us select and shape future posts for the blog, and inspires us to keep going!

If you have yet to join the conversation, “Like” us on Facebook @scifiorama.

Header Image: Moebius working his magic again, this time from the “Mystère Montrouge” folio of 2001.