Wanted: Sci-Fi Classics With Retro 3-D Covers

Vintage Classics, an imprint of Random House UK, has republished five sci-fi novels in gorgeously kitschy covers full of splashy colors and eye-popping typography and camp illustrations on the order of a tentacle embracing an improbably phallic submarine (for Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea, natch). The kicker: They're all rendered in 3-D. Nerdgasm!

[Random House tapped four illustrators to make the covers. Shown here: Planet of the Apes and The Lost World by Mick Brownfield and Sara Ogilvie; and The Call of Cthulhu by Vladimir Zimakov.]

Released last month, the editions include: Planet of the Apes, Journey To the Center of the Earth, The Lost World, The Call of Cthulhu, and, of course, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea. Buy 'em at a discount for 5.11 to 5.66 pounds (about 8 to 9 bucks) on Amazon's UK site.

[Jim Tierney illustrated the covers for Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea and Journey To the Center of the Earth.]

[Images courtesy of Random House UK; hat tip to Creative Review]