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Cover art © 1979 by Gerry Daly

This is the 3rd Pocket Books printing of The Weapon Shops of Isher, which — based on a recent re-evaluation of the available information — I think may have been published in late 1979 or early 1980. This is another of Gerry Daly's paintings — he also did exceptional covers for The House That Stood Still, Mission to the Stars, and The Voyage of the Space Beagle. And be sure to read this fascinating interview with Daly.
Daly is a very imaginative artist, and this is best shown by the absolutely bizarre weapon above. One could literally stare at the thing for an hour or so trying to get some kind of mental grasp on what the different bits of it do. I mean, what are those blue jets shooting forward from the back? What gives with those little connecting tubes running all over the place? And I shudder to think what that intense purple beam of energy would do to a man.
The cityscape in the background is equally worth study. Most artists choose to paint their glorious future cities in the daylight to better show off their skill at painting colorful and greatly detailed intricate ramps and by-ways looping around skyscrapers and a plethora of marvelous machinery whizzing through the air. Daly has instead chosen to show off this city at its most beautiful, as all cities are — at night. The cities of most other SF illustrators convey an impression of frantic confusion — Daly's city is one of tranquility. It is quietly beautiful, rather than buzzing with activity. And yet at the same time the buildings are anything but simple. Their glittering crystalline forms shine like beacons, and look more like delicate glass ornaments than the metal and concrete horrors that constitute the architectural style of our present day.
My favorite cover used to be Gerald Grace's art for Renaissance, but over the last few years I've found that I like Daly's artwork for Weapon Shops more and more each day.

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