Well, this is interesting…
A green-skinned woman (note her otherwise red pumps and equally red lipstick, as well as her strawberry-blond hair?) holding a pistol, is restrained by a guy in a skin-tight purple body-suit, while a red-headed (also) green warrior approaches upon a duck-billed-sort-of-pterodactyl, followed by reptile reinforcements? And behind all, three massive, almost-featureless, gray towers? And, what’s with that green-skinned guy laying in the foreground?
Gadzooks, what is going on here?
Well, there’s an explanation: Walter Popp’s cover art for the June, 1952 issue of Fantastic Adventures is a representation of “The Woman in Skin 13”, a tale by Paul W. Fairman. Strangely though, the cover lists the author’s name as “Gerald Vance”. This is an odd, for the magazine’s table of contents and the leading page of the story itself (it starts on page 8) clearly list the author as Fairman. Likewise, the Internet Speculative Fiction Database indicates that “Vance” was the pen-name for Randall Garrett, William P. McGivern, Rog Phillips, Richard S. Shaver, Robert Silverberg, and Henry Slesar – not a single “Paul W. Fairman” among them.
I first noticed this cover art some years back, I think (?) in Brian Aldiss’ compilation Science Fiction Art: The Fantasies of SF, published by Bounty Books (New York), back in 1975.
The scene depicted stands out as much for its strangeness as its GGA – “Good Girl Art” – qualities, the latter being manifested in much of artist Popp’s oeuvre.
In light of Fantastic Adventures, akin to many other science-fiction pulps now having been digitized and thus being immediately available at the Luminist Archive, and, the Pulp Magazine Archive, I thought it’d be interesting to read Fairman’s original text which was the basis of Popp’s painting. I wanted to see how the genre was presented in periodicals whose cover art has typically been – in retrospect! – far more memorable than their literary content. (Of course, with exceptions.) At least, as opposed to stories published in higher-tier pulps in the genres of 40s and 50s era science-fiction and fantasy, such as Astounding Science Fiction, Galaxy Science Fiction, and, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
So, Fairman’s story, while hardly great, is not bad, either; I think apt words would be “adequate” and “serviceable”. It is an entertaining and mild diversion. But, while competently written, it doesn’t at all possess the degree of originality in terms of plot and theme, let alone character development, that would makes one “pause” and ponder the tale, whether in the midst of reading it, or afterwards. It’s not at all great, by any stretch of the imagination. It’s not altogether bad, by any stretch of the imagination.
The plot is based on an alien invasion of Earth which begins in and expands from Chicago, by human-appearing – and, for all practical purposes, biologically human – invaders known as the Argans, who arrive aboard a generation-ship made of steel (yes, steel) known as the Narkus, with the goal of colonizing the earth. The males and females of this species, “…according to the refugees and the counter-attackers, were of two colors. The males were of a violet hue; the females, all the same shade, of green. Physically, both sexes were, according to Earth standards, magnificent specimens. They wore little clothing, but seemed entirely comfortable even in the comparative chill of night and early morning.”
The story centers around an effort (solely on the part of the United States, despite Chicago only being the starting point of a global invasion) to conduct an offensive against the Argans in order to regain captured territory, and, drive the aliens away. This action hinges on the infiltration of the Argans by one Mary Winston (the green-skinned woman on the cover), upon whose mind the memories and particularly the personality of a captured Argan female have been superimposed and imprinted. This process is the basis of the story’s title: “Skin 13” refers to the 13th effort (the prior 12 having been unsuccessful) to create a formula capable of dying human skin green in order to simulate the skin color of Argan females.
Paralleling Mary’s clandestine infiltration of Argan forces, her significant other – one Mark Clayton (the purple-suited guy on the cover) – leads a team of commandos into the heart of Argan-controlled territory, with the eventual goal of reuniting with Mary and returning her to Earth forces. En route, there are interactions with “zants” and “zors”. The former are a caste of Argan slaves, their control maintained by forces addiction to “dream pellets”; the latter (featured on the cover) are flying reptiles of a sort.
The ending – a bittersweet twist – I will not give away!
In sum, we have two oft-used plot elements of science-fiction: Extraterrestrial invasion, and, mind transference. It is the latter that’s really the crux of the story, and which Fairman develops to a great and solid extent.
On reviewing the biography of Paul Fairman at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database, it can be seen that “The Woman in Skin 13” has never been anthologized, and it’s only been reprinted once: In Armchair Fiction’s Ace-like double The Venus Enigma / The Woman in Skin 13, the cover of which lists the author as Gerald Vance.
So, given that I read the story, I thought it’d be interesting to turn it into a stand-alone document, should anyone “out there” be curious about Fairman’s now sixty-eight-year-old tale. So, in a roundabout way, I turned the file (from the Luminist Archive) into a stand-alone document (which, incidentally, incorporates the two illustrations appearing in the original text) which you can access here.
Neither great nor bad, the story is a passing and entertaining diversion.
Which, I suppose, is just what Paul Fairman and the publisher of Fantastic Adventures wanted.
Here’s More Stuff to Read…
Paul W. Fairman, at…
… Internet Speculative Fiction Database
… The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
Walter R. Popp, at…
… Internet Speculative Fiction Database
Fantastic Adventures, at…
Good Girl Art (GGA), at…