Bold typography and a heat-hazed palette announce the July 1988 issue of *Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction*, a classic piece of magazine cover art from the late print era. The masthead dominates the upper field, while the corner details—“192 pages” and the listed U.S./Canadian prices—anchor it firmly as a newsstand object meant to be handled, scanned, and saved by readers.
Across the foreground, a hooded figure rides a broad-winged, reptilian mount, both rendered with painterly texture and an ominous calm. The creature’s heavy scales and purple eye catch the light against a dusty, orange sky, suggesting a harsh world where travel is perilous and survival depends on uneasy alliances. The composition pulls your gaze from the rider’s shadowed face to the sweep of the wing, evoking the kind of cover scene designed to promise an entire universe in a single glance.
Text on the left highlights the issue’s featured names and stories, including John Barnes’ “The Limit of Vision,” Karen Joy Fowler, and Connie Willis’ “The Last of the Winnebagos,” signaling the magazine’s role as a crossroads for major science fiction voices. For collectors, genre historians, and anyone researching 1980s SF publishing, this cover is a vivid snapshot of how fantasy-leaning imagery and literary branding met on the rack to lure readers into new short fiction worlds.