By Brent McKnight | 8 years ago

It seems like the novelization of films is a dead, or at least dying art. Back in the day supermarket shelves were crammed with hastily written, mass-produced paperbacks based on almost every successful film. (I once read the novelization of Ladyhawke for some reason.)

While novelization has fallen out of favor, you can still find plenty of books that have been adapted into movies where the movie posters serve as covers. But those don’t have any style. They’re just generic marketing. Tim Anderson, a Salt Lake City concept designer for Electronic Arts, has rendered a few of his favorite sci-fi films as old school pulp novels. One for the Wachowski’s The Matrix appeared a while back, but two more have popped up.

There’s one for Blade Runner…

…as well as another for Alien. You may notice a Ridley Scott theme here.

These covers are beautiful throwbacks to the cheap pocket books of the 1950s and 60s, when every science fiction or noir story got this treatment. The details are spot on, from the dreamy style of the pictures, to the font he uses for the titles, and the creased, roughed up edges. You can practically smell the musty pages and feel the time worn paper crinkle under your fingers as you dog ear a corner to save your spot. There is something very nostalgic about these images, and you can imagine picking a copy of these books at a dimly lit use bookstore or at a garage sale.

My favorite bit has to be the logos for the publishing houses. You’ll notice that Alien is a Weyland-Yutani product, and that Blade Runner, a Rick Deckard Mystery, is brought to you by Tyrell. Little touches like those really sell the whole package.

Here’s The Matrix again just for good measure.