Continuing from the post about Volume I of The Best Of A.E. Van Vogt in Sphere Books’ The Best Of… science fiction series of the mid-1970s, here’s Volume II with six van Vogt stories spanning the late 1940s through the early 1970s.
Cover artist Peter Elson continued with the theme he established in Volume I: A massive spacecraft occupies the center of the painting. This time, its headed towards an asteroid modified for human (or robot?!) habitation – notice those antennae sticking out of it? – occupying the center of the image. The spaceship, viewed from the rear and with its four engines glowing, gives the impressions of force and power as it moves away from the viewer. A glow emanating from the center of the image, obscured by the asteroid, fills the center of the scene.
Is this an expedition to a newly formed star system?
The front cover…
…and simple back cover…
The stories in the anthology…
Contents
(This volume ISBN 0 7221 8727 0)
(First published in Great Britain by Sphere Books Ltd as part of a single volume, 1974; 0-7221-8774-2 (978-0-7221-8774-6))
“Dear Pen Pal”, The Arkham Sampler, Winter, 1949
“The Green Forest”, Astounding Science Fiction, June, 1949
“War of Nerves”, Other Worlds Science Stories, May, 1950
“The Expendables”, If, September, 1963
“Silkies in Space”, If, May, 1966
“The Proxy Intelligence”, 1968, published in The Proxy Intelligence and Other Mind Benders, 1971
Bibliography – The Science Fiction Books of A.E. van Vogt
This version of the entirety of the original image, which reveals its subtleties far better than a halftone print, can be viewed at Peter Elson’s gallery, where the original size is given as 378 x 544mm.
Another A.E. van Vogt themed painting by Peter Elson is The Universe Maker….
One of my favorite science-fiction authors is A.E. (Alfred Elton) van Vogt, whose most significant works were published from the late 1930s through the early to mid-1940s, though his literary oeuvre extended through the mid-1970s. Though the period of his greatest influence and productivity coincided – to an extent – with that of Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein, he never attained the continued and ongoing impact of those contemporaries, because of a significant, lengthy, and ironically deliberate gap (alas, alas!) in his literary career, the inevitability of changes in literary style and cultural fashion that parallel and challenge the career of any writer in any genre, and to be admitted, a diminution in the impact and power of his later works.
And still; yet still… The quality of his early body of work far exceeds that of anything written by Isaac Asimov (who’s vastly overrated anyway), and easily challenges if not altogether exceeds the writings of Robert Heinlein, in terms of the way his writing engenders feelings of wonder and astonishment. Certainly that’s what I felt when I first read “Asylum”, and, “The Weapon Shop”, both published in Astounding Science Fiction in 1942, in the early 1980s. Not in the original magazine, of course! Instead, I discovered them in Volume 4 (covering 1942) of Asimov and Greenberg’s Isaac Asimov Presents the The Great SF Stories. (Okay, yeah, this dates me!!)
And with that, as I’ve read and accumulated (where will I put them all??!) science fiction books and magazines over the years, I’ve come to wonder why Ballantine never issued a volume for the Classic Library of Science Fiction entitled Classic Science Fiction – The Best of A.E. van Vogt. (It would’ve been the 14th work in the series!, which was published between 1974 and 1995.) Well, DAW books published The Book of van Vogt (8 stories) in 1972, and, Pocket Books released The Best of A. E. van Vogt (12 stories), one of the 7 books in that publisher’s The Best of… series, the release of all of which was limited to 1976. Maybe the absence of an A.E. van Vogt anthology from Ballantine’s series was attributable to issues of copyright, the advice of van Vogt’s literary agent, or even a decision by the author himself.
However, the “second” Best of A.E. van Vogt – yet another “best of”! – appeared as two volumes published by Sphere Books, in England, in 1979, one of their seven science fiction anthologies under that heading released between 1974 and 1979. The van Vogt anthology, originally published by that company as a single volume in May of 1974, was divided into two paperbacks of roughly equal length (appropriately, Volumes I and II) five years later.
The cover art of both paperbacks is by the Peter Elson, both books sharing variations of the the same general theme: a massive spaceship (massive, because of the visual “feeling” imparted by the perspective from which the craft are viewed, or the miniscule size of features such as windows, ports, or antennae) in shades of gray, green, and blue, is set against a weirdly pinkish hued background, floating motionlessly, or moving at the most minimal speed. The strange thing is, somehow, the pinkish toned background really works.
Here’s the front cover of Volume I…
…and the simple back cover…
And, the stories in the anthology:
Contents
(This volume ISBN 0 7221 8726 2)
(First published in Great Britain by Sphere Books Ltd as part of a single volume, 1974; 0-7221-8774-2 (978-0-7221-8774-6))
“Vault of the Beast”, Astounding Science Fiction, August, 1940
…while this image is linked at the same page, under “wallpaper“, specifically because it’s – pretty big – !! – wallpaper. The image – a half-tone print – appearing at Sevagram reveals a significant vertical crease about one third the way “in” from the print’s left edge, suggesting that the original had been folded within a hardcover book. For the purpose of this post I did some digital editing to remove the fold and stray printing defects, to enable a fuller appreciation of Elson’s imagination and originality, let alone his aesthetic sense.
Hope you like it.
So. Could the anonymous ship be the “Space Beagle”, just prior to embarking on her mission of interplanetary exploration? This I do not know, since no title is associated with the painting in Volume I, or, at Sevagram. Regardless, the odd color combination – very dark green to medium green with wavy stripes of light green – actually works very well for the spaceship, especially and strangely when juxtaposed against this un-named world’s pale pink sky and coastal metropolis in many hues of violet. But, the most interesting aspect of the spacecraft is its bulbous, whale-like, almost rotund shape, lending it the appearance of a gigantic (and it truly is gigantic) sea creature. The nautical resemblance goes further from the four antennae along its body suggesting the masts of a sailing ship. The single best describing the thing: Massiveness.
If Peter Elson’s artistic inspiration arose from a nautical theme, it works: A gigantic craft now floating in an alien atmosphere will shortly rise, to float in, and through, space.
“It was because there was only one Phoenix. Only one in the whole world.”
Time flies. It really, really does.
Case in point, “this” post, dating back to 2017, pertaining to Ballantine Books’ 1976 anthology “The Best of C.L. Moore”. Now in 2022 (one hell of a year it’s turning out to be, and what of the future?), it’s time for a rewrite…
As one of my several posts presenting Ballantine Books’ Classic Science Fiction series “The Best Of…” (insert appropriate author’s name [here]!), the time arrived to revisit and refine the post’s text and images. Partially…because I like to improve my existing posts. Partially … especially … because Catherine Moore is among my favorite science fiction authors, her writing displaying remarkable levels of depth, richness, and substance, all presented through a singularly distinctive literary style.
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First things first … C.L. Moore’s portrait, from Tellers of Weird Tales, where the caption is given as follows: “Catherine L. Moore (1911-1987) — The date of the photograph is unknown, but the author-to-be is quite young, perhaps still a student. Look upon this and other pictures of her, read her stories, and you’ll not wonder why Forrest J Ackerman called her “Catherine the Great,” why E. Hoffman Price confessed his love for her, and why Henry Kuttner proposed to her shortly after their first meeting. From the collection of Julius Schwartz and reprinted in Locus, March 1988.” (For this post, I’ve used Photoshop to slightly enhance the image.)
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Here’s the paperback edition of The Best of C.L. Moore, with cover art by The Brothers Hildebrandt.
The worn-around-the-edges and not-so-pristine-quality of my copy is evidence less of its forty-four year age than my several (!) readings of it over the intervening decades. Even without the painters’ signature, the cover is immediately distinguishable as a Hildebrandt work, by virtue of the richness, texture, and brightness of side elements (in this case, curtains and stairway) set around a central brightness, illumination, or backlighting. Though not evident in this cover by virtue of the subject matter (the protagonist Deirdre from the story “No Woman Born” having become a cyborg), there’s an extremely distinctive muscularity to some – not all – of the characters in Hildebrandt art, inspired by and reflecting the influence of comics.
From Pinterest, here’s the Hildebrandt cover art in its pre-publication form: sans title, publisher’s logo, and boring stuff like price and Ballantine book number. Even with having been tweaked via Photoshop Elements (yeah, I did that), the colors here are less saturated those displayed on the book, suggesting that Ballantine brightened the colors and shifted the tones towards yellow, red, and orange to make the cover art more noticeable; more catchy. Accompanying this, the right and left sides, and, top edge were slightly cropped to allow Deirdre’s figure to occupy more of the cover area.
As in my other posts about science fiction and fantasy anthologies, the book’s contents are listed below. But this time, I’ve done things a little done differently: Each title is linked to a PDF version of the listed story. These PDFs were created from the digital version of the pulp magazine in which the story itself originally appeared, as accessed through the Internet Archive’sPulp Magazine Archive, through which digital copies are available in a variety of formats. In this case, relevant issues were downloaded in Comic Book Zip format, and, using CBR Reader, the pages comprising the story were converted to JPGs, along with tables of contents. The individual pages – files – were then combined to create a single PDF of the story, after lots of adjustment for color, and, brightness and contrast.
Of the stories listed below, the original scanning and uploading to the Internet Archive was done for eight by Sketch the Cow, and for two (“Black Thirst” and “The Black God’s Kiss”) by zatoichi01.
For two stories (“No Woman Born” and “Vintage Season”) the magazine covers were scanned from my own copies of Astounding, while other covers are from the Internet Archive issue, or, some-random-else-where on the Internet. (I don’t yet own a copy of the singularly significant July, 1939 issue of Astounding!) In all cases, page numbers are identical to and correlate with those in the original magazine, while interior art associated with the stories is naturally included.
Though these stories are obviously – by definition! – immediately present in “this” Ballantine volume, and certainly have been anthologized many times elsewhere, after viewing them at the Pulp Magazine Archive, I thought it’d be an interesting endeavor to make them available – digitally – in the (purely visual, not physical!; purely visual, not digitized text) format in which they first appeared. While I’m sure that some visitors to this blog, and particularly this post, may already be more than familiar with “Golden Age” science fiction and fantasy, perhaps stories might ignite a spark (and perhaps an ember, and maybe a flame?!) of interest in a wider audience.
As for C.L. Moore’s overall body of work, two of the stories – “Shambleau” (Moore’s first published work) and “Black Thirst” (her second published story) are tales of Northwest Smith, while “The Black God’s Kiss” is the first story (and her fifth published tale) featuring Jirel of Joiry. Notably, “Vintage Season” the last listed (and chronologically last published) story in the anthology is by Lawrence O’Donnell, the pen name for collaborative authorship by Moore and her husband, Henry Kuttner.
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This (undated) well-known image of the husband-and-wife writing team otherwise known (!) as “Lawrence O’Donnell” (or, “Lewis Padgett”) is from James Gunn’s 1975 Alternate Worlds – The Illustrated History of Science Fiction.
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Aside from the above-mentioned stories, Jirel of Joiry was Moore’s protagonist in the following stories, all published in Weird Tales…
“Black God’s Shadow” – December, 1934 “Jirel Meets Magic” – July, 1935 “The Dark Land” – January, 1936 “Hellsgarde” – April, 1939
…while Northwest Smith was the central character in these stories, also in Weird Tales…
“Scarlet Dream” – May, 1934 “Dust of Gods” – August, 1934 “Julhi” – March, 1935 “The Cold Gray God” – October, 1935 “Yvala” – February, 1936 “Lost Paradise” – July, 1936 “The Tree of Life” – October, 1936 “Nymph of Darkness” – December, 1939 (Co-Authored with Forrest J. Ackerman)
…with Jirel and Northwest appearing in only one story in Moore’s oeuvre, “Quest of the Starstone”, in the magazine’s November, 1937 issue.
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As for the quality of Moore’s writing, it’s outstanding. Stylistically, her use of language is utterly remarkable in depicting changing mental states, perceptions, and thoughts of her characters – or action and activity – even if this only spans, in the context of an actual tale, a limited amount of time, or, a brief event. This skill likewise applies to her ability to create and describe the physical nature of imagined worlds, and the psychological and emotional impact of these places; these lands; these settings, upon men and women; upon individuals and groups; upon peoples and civilizations.
Her work lies upon the intersection of science fiction and fantasy, for while it certainly includes elements and tropes of science fiction (space travel, genetic engineering, time travel, aliens, extraterrestrial intelligence, parallel universes, cybernetics, dystopias, as well as physically decayed or morally degenerate cultures and civilizations, as in “Judgement Night”), these largely serve as background points or foundations for tales that in reality are character driven, and founded in elements of myth and legend.
In this, Moore’s work is the antithesis of “hard” science fiction, and, had her greatest years of productivity occurred from the 40s through the 60s, her writing would, I think, have found a ready home in Galaxy Science Fiction, or, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
Coupled with this is Moore’s sense of realism about human nature and “life” (the final paragraph of “The Black God’s Kiss” is quite stunning, and – by being utterly un-“woke” in the world of 2022 – reveals her understanding of human nature). Not all; not necessarily most, or her stories have upbeat, optimistic, happy endings, many of her tales concluding, at best, on notes of uncertainty and ambivalence. For example, “Greater Than Gods,” a tale of the intersection and conflict between parallel universes and, the implications of this for humanity’s future, ends with a successful resolution, but not an entirely happy one. Likewise the superb “Shambleau”: The threat is confronted and ultimately destroyed, but at the tale’s end, hero Northwest Smith’s mindset is one of ambivalence, for though he has survived (and this only because of his rescue, at the last moment, by his friend), he is not the same man he was before the tale began, and may never be again.
With all this, and more, many of Moore’s tales could be readily adapted for for the cinema (or streaming video). As to that eventuality, now, nearly a century after the appearance of her first story? Who knows. But, it’s nice to think about.
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There are numerous depictions of Jirel of Joiry and Northwest Smith, ranging from book covert art, to interior illustrations, to simple imagined images. So while we’re at it, here’s Hervé Leblan’s depiction of an encounter between Jirel and Northwest, as a single image created from the cover art of Jirel de Joiry, and, Les Aventures de Northwest Smith, both published in Paris in late 2010. The fact that you can’t actually see Jirel’s face lends a touch of intrigue to the composition!
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Titles of Moore’s four other pulp fiction works – listed at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database as having been written specifically by her, as opposed to collaboration with Henry Kuttner (the latter by far representing the bulk of her work) – follow:
Particularly valuable in Dr. Sadler’s discussion is the focus paid to “Vintage Season”. And, like all of Dr. Sadler’s Speculative Fiction videos, the feedback, commentary, and (yes!) speculation by attendees of his lectures (not visible in the video) is invaluable.
Then again, then again…
Eric Rosenfield, at Literate Machine, takes an entirely different approach, for instead of focusing upon Moore in the context of the literary, philosophical, and symbolic aspects of her writing, his video is instead a study of Catherine L. Moore herself, as a writer; simply a person, in “Vintage Season – C.L. Moore and the “Golden Age of Science Fiction“. Mr. Rosenfield’s insightful video discusses Moore’s life, her husband Henry Kuttner, and other twentieth century science fiction and fantasy writers in the context of the straightforward challenges inherent to making a nominal living as a writer of pulp fiction; the effect of mid-twentieth century technological, economic, and cultural changes upon the worlds of writing and publishing; the psychological and (quite literally) physical toll incurred by at least some writers (think Henry Kuttner, Cyril K. Kornbluth, and perhaps H. Beam Piper) from the demanding nature of their vocation. Stepping “back” – far back; say, from an allegorical altitude of twenty-thousand-feet – what emerges from Rosenfield’s retrospective is a tale of struggle, accomplishment, and eventually, sad irony.
Particularly valuable at Mr. Rosenfield’s video is this comment by viewer Hollis Ramsey: “I waited in vain for some pithy comments on “Vintage Season” as well as on the tendency of Kuttner and Moore’s collabs to have the unhappy endings that I remarked upon in my comments on your video about “Mimsy Were the Borogoves” (not “Borogroves”). One of the things I find attractive in Kuttner and Moore’s short fiction IS their ability to refuse conventional “once upon a time … happily ever after” summations. Not only do “Vintage Season” and “Mimsy Were the Borogoves” end with death or separation, but “When the Bough Breaks” also ends with death, albeit the death of their horrible child being a great relief to his parents. In addition, my favorite C. L. Moore story, “The Bright Illusion,” ends in the deaths of 3 of the 4 characters … BUT for the 2 lovers we can’t be certain that their deaths are the finale to their love. Now THAT’S a real kicker!”
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To close, an excerpt from “No Woman Born”, the inspiration for Hildebrandt’s cover art:
“Could you ever duplicate this body?” she asked.
Maltzer glanced down at his shaking hands. “I don’t know. I doubt it. I – ”
“Could anyone else?”
He was silent. Deirdre answered for him.
“I don’t believe anyone could. I think it was an accident. A sort of mutation halfway between flesh and metal. Something accidental and … and unnatural, turning off on a wrong course of evolution that never reaches a dead end. Another brain in a body like this might die or go mad, as you thought I would. The synapses are too delicate. You were – call it lucky – with me. From what I know now, I don’t think a … a baroque like me could happen again.” She paused a moment.
“What you did was kindle the fire for the phoenix, in a way. And the phoenix rises perfect and renewed from its own substance. Do you remember why it had to reproduce itself that way?”
Maltzer shook his head.
“I’ll tell you,” she said. “It was because there was only one Phoenix. Only one in the whole world.”
Whatever the truth of the hackneyed expression “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”, imitation most definitely characterizes other aspects of life: Ways of thought; similarities in the “mood” of an age, whether that mood be artistic and intellectual; technological or theatrical; parallels in language and speech. And especially, similarities in literature.
In the literature of science fiction, a striking similarity occurred from the 1970s through the 1990s, in the form of anthologies issued by two different publishing houses: Donald A. Wollheim Books, and, Ballantine Books.
Wollheim Books (for short!) took the approach, under the dual aegis of Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg, of publishing a series entitled “Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories,” from 1939 through 1963. Each book in the series – the sequential number of each volume appearing as part of its very tile – was devoted to short stories and novellas published during each successive calendar year over that twenty-five year time-frame. In effect (I don’t know about intent!) the Wollheim approach resulted in a not-so-indirect eye upon the literary and cultural development of science fiction, as it moved from the semi-eyebrows-raised / not-necessarily-in-polite-company / harrumph! periphery of culturally acceptable literature to (well, by 1963) its increasing and open acceptance by the general public. And even; and eventually, beyond.
From 1974 through 1995, that company published its own set of anthologies, under the series title “Ballantine’s Classic Library of Science Fiction”, albeit the “header” on the cover page of each book simply used the verbiage (in rather small font, at that) “Classic Science Fiction”. Rather than approach the genre on a year-by-year, stylistic, or topical basis, Ballantine chose to allocate each of its books to the stories of one author only, eventually resulting in anthologies of the works of 22 writers. Most volumes included about sixteen stories, with a “low” of 11 for the works of Catherine L. Moore and Hal Clement, all the way up to 31 (!) for Fredric Brown. Given that the books were generally of the same length – from 350 to 400 pages – these “story counts” were an indirect reflection of the authors’ writing styles. Some writers preferred to pack a “punch” into relatively few(er) pages, while for others – like the extraordinarily talented Catherine Moore or the uncannily imaginative Cordwainer Smith, both of whose creativity equaled their originality (or was it the other way around?) – the power of a tale remained undiminished throughout the entirety of its text.
Unlike the approach of Wollheim, with Asimov and Greenberg being dual editors / commentators for every volume of the “Isaac Asimov Presents…” series, Ballantine presented their books’ contents in a way that was ultimately far more expressive, creative, and therefore less rote. Regardless of whether each book’s stories were selected by the actual author of the stories within it (some authors, like John W. Campbell, Jr., and Cyril Kornbluth having passed away years before), each volume included an introduction and overview by an already-established author of science fiction, who approached the subject author’s collected work from vantages literary, cultural, and especially biographical. In some books, every story is prefaced by a brief but substantive blurb about the literary origins or cultural context of the tale, while other books (like that devoted to stories by Henry Kuttner – check it out below…) are bereft of any “intros” at all. In at least one book, that devoted to the wonderful tales of the aforementioned Cordwainer Smith (Paul M. Linebarger), the introduction is preceded by a diagram of the timeline of the “universe” created by the author, a touch utterly unlike the Wollheim series.
Having read every book in the Wollheim series, and some of the Ballantine series, I think that Ballantine’s approach was better. Though the commentary by Asimov and Greenberg was – welllll, I’ll be charitable – en-ter-tain-ing as it were – the presence of introduction and commentary by different, recognized writers, each with their own perspective, writing style, and “world-view”, lent to the Ballantine volumes a deeper, more solid, and substantive literary and historical “heft” – by far – than the Wollheim series. Within the latter, Asimov’s and Greenberg’s lightly humorous introductions and comments became – as you moved through the series – as predictable as they were empty. (Entirely consistent with the shallowness of most of Asimov’s fiction. But, that’s another topic…)
As for the cover art of the Ballantine series? That, too, took a different approach from the Wollheim series. For every book in the Ballantine series, the cover art occupied the entirety of the cover. For the Wollheim series, the books started with “full” cover art, switched to small illustrations set within a solid color background, and for the last eleven books in the series, returned to full cover art.
So…
Like the post about the Wollheim series, “this” post summarizes the publishing history of the Ballantine series, all titles of which, arranged alphabetically by author’s surname, are listed below. After the title, you’ll see the name of the introductory author, date of publication, name of cover artist, cover price, Ballantine or Del Rey-Ballantine book serial number, and ISBN. Whew. (Those books for which I’ve already created posts are linked, as well.)
Here they are:
The Best of James Blish, Robert A.W. Lowndes, August, 1979 (H.R. Van Dongen), $1.95, 25600 / 0-345-25600-X
The Best of Robert Bloch, Lester Del Rey, November, 1977 (Paul Alexander), $1.95, 25757 / 0-345-25757-X
The Best of Leigh Brackett, Edmond Hamilton, September, 1977 (Boris Vallejo), $1.95, 25954 / 0-345-25954-8 (Republished June, 1986 (Boris Vallejo), $3.95, 33247 / 0-345-33247-4)
The Best of Fredric Brown, Robert Bloch, May, 1977 (H.R. Van Dongen), $1.95, 25700 / 0-345-25700-6
The Best of John Brunner, Joe Haldeman, November, 1988 (Barclay Shaw), $3.95, 35307 / 0-345-35307-2
The Best of John W. Campbell, Jr., Lester Del Rey, June, 1976 (H.R. Van Dongen), $1.95, 24960 / 0-345-24960-7 (Republished February, 1995 (H.R. Van Dongen) $5.99, 24960 / 0-345-24960-7)
The Best of Hal Clement, Lester Del Rey, June, 1979 (H.R. Van Dongen), $1.95, 27689 / 0-345-27689-2
The Best of L. Sprague de Camp, May, 1978 (Darrell Sweet), $1.95, 24574 / 0-345-25474-0
The Best of Philip K. Dick, John Brunner, March, 1977 (Vincent Di Fate), $1.95, 25359 / 0-345-25359-0 (Republished March, 1978 (Vincent Di Fate), $1.95, 25359 / 0-345-25359-0)
The Best of Raymond Z. Gallun, J.J. Pierce, August, 1978 (H.R. Van Dongen), $1.95, 25273 / 0-345-25273-X
The Best of Edmond Hamilton, Leigh Brackett, August, 1977 (H.R. Van Dongen), $1.95, 25900 / 0-345-25900-9
The Best of Henry Kuttner (this post!), Ray Bradbury, April, 1975 (Dean Ellis), $1.95, 24415 / 0-345-24415-X
The Best of Fritz Leiber, Poul Anderson, September, 1979 (Michael Herring), $2.25, 28351 / 0-345-28351-1
The Best of Murray Leinster, J.J. Pierce, April, 1978 (H.R. Van Dongen), $1.95, 25800 / 0-345-25800-2
The Best of C.L. Moore, Lester Del Rey, March, 1976 (Tim and Greg Hildebrandt), $1.95, 24752 / 0-345-24752-3 (Republished, December, 1980, $2.25, 28952 / 0-345-28952-8, and… January, 1981, $2.25, 28952 / 0-345-28952-8, …both covers by Tim and Greg Hildebrandt)
The Best of Frederik Pohl, Lester Del Rey, April, 1976 (Dean Ellis), $1.95, 24607 / 0-345-24507-5
The Best of Eric Frank Russell, Alan Dean Foster, October, 1978 (H.R. Van Dongen), $1.95, 27700 / 0-345-27700-7 (Republished July, 1986 (Barclay Shaw), $3.95, 33223 / 0-345-33223-7)
The Best of Cordwainer Smith, J.J. Pierce, September, 1975 (Darrell Sweet), $1.95, 24581 / 0-345-24581-4 (Republished October, 1977 (Darrell Sweet), $2.25, 27202 / 0-345-27202-1)
The Best of Stanley G. Weinbaum, Isaac Asimov, June, 1974 (Dean Ellis), $1.65, 23890 / 0-345-23890-7 (Republished January, 1979 (Dean Ellis), $1.95, 27965 / 0-345-27965-4)
The Best of Jack Williamson, Frederik Pohl, June, 1978 (Ralph McQuarrie), $1.95, 27335 / 0-345-27335-4
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Here’s the cover of the first published volume in the series and the inspiration for this post: The Best of Henry Kuttner, with Dean Ellis’ cover illustration inspired by the story “The Proud Robot”. All stories in this volume were co-authored with Kuttner’s wife Catherine L. Moore, except for “The Proud Robot”, “Misguided Halo”, “The Voice of the Lobster”, and, “The Big Night”.
Contents
Mimsy Were the Borogoves, from Astounding Science Fiction, February, 1943
Two-Handed Engine, from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, August, 1955
The Proud Robot, from Astounding Science Fiction, October, 1943
The Misguided Halo, from Unknown, August, 1939
The Voice of The Lobster, from Thrilling Wonder Stories, February, 1950
Exit the Professor, from Thrilling Wonder Stories, October, 1947
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The Twonky, from Astounding Science Fiction, September, 1942
Here’s the cover of the September, 1942, issue of Astounding…
…and, a close-up of William Timmins’ cover art. Giant light-bulbs a-bursting? Well, it gets the point across!
While common themes of science fiction art and illustration are inspired by technology, engineering, space exploration, let alone transcending the known and established physical laws governing the nature of the universe, another motif of the genre’s art pertains to the realm of the biological:
Genetic engineering, the effects of man upon his environment (and likewise, the effects of nature upon man – how jarringly topical now, in March of 2020…); relationships with alien species – whether romantic, sexual, or familial – as exemplified in striking combination through Philip Jose Farmer’s great “The Lovers“; the natural, random evolution of homo sapiens into forms and variants whose physical and intellectual abilities effectively create a new species of “man”.
These and other concepts have all been the basis of science fiction art, both in books and magazines.
A nice example of biological art appears as Robert E. Schulz’s cover illustration for The Best of Barry Malzberg. No stylized, abstract spacecraft here, the symbolic center of the image is the form of a man, before whom are two helixes, probably representations of strands of DNA. At his right side, glass laboratory-ware associated with chemistry (see that Erlenmeyer flask?), which seem to be involved in the condensation of some kind of chemical. Plus, there’s that dark sphere outlined in a diffuse red halo (a planet?; a miniature black hole?), with an electrical circuit below.
But, his other side is different, for the symbolism isn’t scientific, it’s religious. The central object is a huge chalice, above which is a crucifix, all ornamented by a seeming brass clockwork. And, there seems to be a brass shield covering the man’s thigh.
Lots going on here!
As for the book itself? – Oh, yes… Though titled “The Best of…”, it’s actually a Pocket Books publication, rather than being part of the Del Rey / Ballantine Series “The Best of…” which covered the works of a variety of other authors.
Contents
Introduction to The Best of Barry N. Malzberg, by Barry N. Malzberg
Introduction to “A Reckoning”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“A Reckoning” (variant of Notes Leading Down to the Conquest), from New Dimensions III, October, 1943
Introduction to “Letting It All Hang Out”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Letting It All Hang Out” (variant of Hanging), from Fantastic, September, 1974
Introduction to “The Man in the Pocket”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“The Man in the Pocket” (variant of The Men Inside), from New Dimensions II, December, 1972
Introduction to “Pater Familias”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Pater Familias”, from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March, 1972 (by Kris Neville and Barry N. Malzberg)
Introduction to “Going Down”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Going Down”, from Dystopian Visions, 1975
Introduction to “Those Wonderful Years”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Those Wonderful Years”, from Frontiers 1: Tomorrow’s Alternatives, 1973
Introduction to “On Ice”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“On Ice”, from Amazing Science Fiction, January, 1973
Introduction to “Revolution”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Revolution”, from Future City, 1973
Introduction to “Ups and Downs”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Ups and Downs”, from Eros in Orbit, 1973
Introduction to “Bearing Witness”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Bearing Witness”, from Flame Tree Planet, 1973
Introduction to “At the Institute”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“At the Institute”, from Fantastic, 1974
Introduction to “Making It Through”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Making It Through”, from And Walk Now Gently Through the Fire and Other Science Fiction Stories, 1972
Introduction to “Tapping Out”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Tapping Out”, from Future Quest, 1973
Introduction to “Closed Sicilian”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Closed Sicilian”, from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, November, 1973
Introduction to “Linkage”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Linkage”, from Demon Kind, 1973
Introduction to “Introduction to the Second Edition”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Introduction to the Second Edition”, by Barry N. Malzberg
Introduction to “Trial of the Blood”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Trial of the Blood”, from The Berserkers, 1974
Introduction to “Getting Around”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Getting Around”, from Frontiers 1: Tomorrow’s Alternatives, 1973
Introduction to “Track Two”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Track Two”, from Fantastic, July, 1974
Introduction to “The Battered-Earth Syndrome”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“The Battered-Earth Syndrome”, from Saving Worlds, 1973
Introduction to “Network”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Network”, from Fantastic, January, 1974
Introduction to “A Delightful Comedic Premise”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“A Delightful Comedic Premise”, from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, February, 1974
Introduction to “Geraniums”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Geraniums”, from Omega, 1973 (by Valerie King and Barry N. Malzberg)
Introduction to “City Lights, City Nights”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“City Lights, City Nights”, from Future City, 1973
Introduction to “Culture Lock”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Culture Lock”, from Future City, 1973
Introduction to “As in a Vision Apprehended”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“As in a Vision Apprehended”, from The Berserkers, 1974
Introduction to “Form in Remission”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Form in Remission”, from The Berserkers, 1974
Introduction to “Opening Fire”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Opening Fire”, from Frontiers 2: The New Mind, 1973
Introduction to “Running Around”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Running Around”, from Omega, 1973
Introduction to “Overlooking”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Overlooking”, from Amazing Science Fiction, June, 1974
Introduction to “Twenty Sixty-one”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Twenty Sixty-one”, from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, July, 1974
Introduction to “Closing the Dead”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Closing the Deal”, from Analog Science Fiction / Science Fact, March, 1974
Introduction to “What the Board Said”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“What the Board Said”, 1976
Introduction to “Uncoupling”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Uncoupling”, from Dystopian Visions, 1975
Introduction to “Over the Line”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Over the Line”, from Future Kin, 1974
Introduction to “Try Again” and “An Oversight”, by Barry N. Malzberg
“Try Again”, from Strange Gods, 1974
“An Oversight”, 1976, (variant of “Oversight”, from Strange Gods, 1974)
Introduction to “And Still in the Darkness”, by Barry N. Malzberg
The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal, Amazing Stories, 1964
Golden the Ship Was – Oh! Oh! Oh!, Amazing Science Fiction Stories, 1959
The Dead Lady of Clown Town, Galaxy, 1964
Under Old Earth, Galaxy, 1966
Mother Hitton’s Littul Kittons, Galaxy, 1961
Alpha Ralpha Boulevard, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1961
The Ballad of Lost C’Mell, Galaxy, 1962
A Planet Named Shayol, Galaxy, 1961
______________________________
Alpha Ralpha Boulevard
This was a sudden return to the whole we had known. Earthport stood on its single pedestal, twelve miles high, at the eastern edge of the small continent. At the top of it, the lords worked amid machines which had no meaning any more. There the ships whispered their way in from the stars.
______________________________
We turned from the ruined road into an immense boulevard. The pavement was so smooth and unbroken that nothing grew on it, save where the wind and dust had deposited random little pockets of earth.
Macht stopped.
“This is it,” he said, “Alpha Ralph Boulevard.”
We fell silent and looked at the causeway of forgotten empires.
To our left the boulevard disappeared in a gentle curve. It led far north of the city in which I had been reared. I knew that there was another city to the north, but I had forgotten its name. Why should I have remembered it? It was sure to be just like my own.
But to the right –
To the right the boulevard rose sharply, like a ramp. It disappeared into the clouds. Just at the edge of the cloud-line there was a hint of disaster. I could not see for sure, but it looked to me as though the whole boulevard had been sheared off by unimaginable forces. Somewhere beyond the clouds there stood the Abba-dingo, the place where all questions were answered…
