And With Free Stuff!… (Downloadable Files) – Literary Art and Illustration

Wonder Stories, 1963 [Richard M. Powers]

(This is the second of two posts describing the digest-format science fiction anthology Wonder Stories, which was published with generally similar content in 1957 and 1963, featuring cover art of the same general theme by Richard M. Powers. As such, though the content of both magazines s similar, significant differences between the two editions are explained and made clear in each post. So, for those in a hurry (who’s not in a hurry in the world of 2025?!) you can jump to the post for the 1957 edition, “here“.)

The best way to impart a sense of literary wonder, is through awe, mystery, and a sense of the unknown. Such is so for this second – 1963 – edition of Standard Magazines’ (otherwise known as Thrilling Publication’) anthology Wonder Stories, which is comprised of stories from early 50s editions of Startling Stories and Thrilling Wonder Stories, as well as Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s tale “Thanasphere”, all these stores having appeared in the 1957 edition of the anthology.

You can learn the story of Wonder Stories, and “other reprints from the Thrilling group”, at Todd Mason’s Sweet Freedom blog.

A sense of wonder arises from the anthology’s cover, which is one of the very few pulp magazine cover paintings by Richard M. Powers, whose forte overwhelmingly comprised cover art for paperback books, especially those of Ballantine. His limited oeuvre of magazine covers appeared in early issues of Galaxy Science Fiction, and also included a magnificent painting for the first issue of Beyond Fantasy Fiction.

Typical of Powers’ cover art, the 1963 cover art of Wonder Stories – akin to its 1957 predecessor – sets up a mood; a feeling; an impression beyond words – that has absolutely no relationship to or basis in any of the stories in the anthology. (The same’s true for Powers’ book covers.) Typical of his art, the scene is absent of a recognizable human being, let alone any sign of a human presence. Building on his painting for the 1957 edition, his composition presents shapes emblematic of technology, power, and energy – active even now – situated upon a desert-like alien landscape. Something’s happening, and some sort of thing is happening. But, what?

In coincidental hindsight, the painting anticipates or depicts a scene reminiscent of the ruins of the Ring Builders’ constructions on the planet Ilus IV, from season four of “The Expanse”: Eon-old structures embedded deep (how deep?!) within and extending far above the desert earth, yet still functioning billions of years after their construction, their power undiminished; their potential unchecked. Check out these images of concept art for “The Expanse” at Lee Fitzgerald’s website, to see the resemblance. The Expanse (fandom) also displays an image of the ruins on Ilus.

So, here’s Wonder Stories’ 1963 cover, “as is”…

…and, here’s the art all “niced up”, lightly edited, and “framed” in white, for this post.

I just mentioned the painting’s near-total absence of a human presence. Ah, a minor error! The rear cover, below, presents a cropped view of the lower-right-corner of the cover painting. If you look closely (very and truly and really closely) at this enlarged snippet (just below this rear cover) you might just be able to make out the silhouette of a human form at, and within, the base of this indefinable object.

But, what of the anthology’s contents? Of the stories within, I’m only directly familiar with Ray Bradbury’s “A Sound of Thunder”, Arthur C. Clarke’s “All the Time in the World”, and especially and recently John D. MacDonald’s “Shadow On the Sand”, the latter of which appeared in and inspired the cover art for the October, 1950 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories. I didn’t actually r e a d MacDonald’s story within my copy of Wonder Stories – the one you see featured in the images above – due to the fragility of my now-61-year-old copy. Instead, I created and printed a PDF of the story from a PDF comprising the entire issue, which I accessed through the Internet Archive.

Having previously encountered very little by and knowing virtually nothing about author John D. MacDonald, I was deeply impressed with “Shadow on On the Sand” on variety of levels, specifically the originality of the plot, and, characters (minor characters, at that) who are not too-two-dimensional stock figures, and who change and evolve with a story’s progression.

MacDonald’s novella is the account of an extraterrestrial totalitarian civilization’s clandestine conquest of Earth utilizing instantaneous superluminal teleportation, and, the impersonation and replacement of human beings via physically altered doppelgangers … albeit the aliens are already (this made writing the story easier, I suppose!) on a superficial level at least … physically and superficially identical to homo sapiens. This is set against and within a backdrop of competition, conflict, and political murder among the aliens’ ruthlessly competitive political parties, military, and clandestine services, with the story’s protagonist going over to the side of humanity by the story’s end. More, I shall not say. It’s a great read. And yet… Unusual for a story penned over seven decades ago, the novella is surprisingly violent, if not genuinely grotesque (“not for the squeamish!”) in parts … albeit violence and horror are neither the center of nor the “drivers” of the plot. The novella is strongly reminiscent of the works of Jack Vance in terms of political and social complexity.

(For a much deeper exploration of MacDonald’s story, read “Shadow On the Sand” at Steve Scott’s blog, “The Trap of Solid Gold – Celebrating the works of John D MacDonald“.)

Otherwise, my reading of “Shadow On the Sand” imparted a sense of curiosity about MacDonald’s body of work, which led to my reading the Fawcett Gold Medal 1978 anthology Other Times, Other Worlds, an anthology of sixteen of his science fiction stories spanning publication between 1948 and 1968. Upon diving into this collection (the paperback edition merited better cover art than a mere astronomical photograph!) I soon realized that I’d read one of his stories previously: this was “Spectator Sport” (originally published in the February, 1950 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories) first in Fifty Short Science Fiction Tales, and subsequently in Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 12. Oddly, this short story features an event that prefigures a plot element “Shadow On the Sand”. (Ironically, I didn’t like “Spectator Sport”!) Regardless, I was and remain deeply impressed by MacDonald’s literary skill in terms of character development, his ability to create an event, setting, scene, and “world” with a modicum of aptly chosen language, and especially, his ability to unflaggingly maintain the pace, mood, and atmosphere of a tale from beginning to end. Only upon reading this anthology and sources elsewhere did I learn that MacDonald more than successfully (extraordinarily so) transitioned from science fiction to mainstream fiction, eventully creating the “Travis McGee” series.

Here’s a nice image of the magazine’s cover. As revealed by the Internet Speculative Fiction Database, the cover and interior artist of this issue are unknown. Otherwise, MacDonald’s story is entirely absent of flying saucers (actually, spacecraft make no appearance in the story), and the characters don’t go around wearing tattered Tarzan-like togas.

This diminutive image appears in the magazine’s table of contents (page 4), adjacent to the story title. The monolith-like slab is a symbol of the teleportation device which is a central plot element and inspiration of the title. The device is essentially invisible to human observers. All that’s apparent is a vague, fleeting, rectangular shadow, which is the portal through which the aliens are transported to Earth.

The only single-page illustration accompanying the story appears on page 15. It shows the arrival of the alien who eventually “goes over” to the side of humanity. Of course, his major inducement is a romantic relationship he unexpectedly (unexpectedly to him!) develops with a woman. MacDonald doesn’t actually describe the appearance of the portal, let alone venture an explanation of its operation. It simply shows up when needed, and then disappears.

The unknown artist’s illustration of the alien civilization’s “shadow” – the teleportation portal – is absent from Wonder Stories, having been replaced by Virgil Finlay’s imaginative portrayal of the scene, which is characterized by his typical attention to detail. Due to the fragility of my copy of the anthology, this image – on pages 2 and 3 – was downloaded (right-clicked) from something known as the “Internet” (!) for display here, on, the, Internet. Oh, yeah, I’m already on, the, Internet. (Like, you!) In reality!… The image here is from the cover of The JDM Bibliophile, Number 17, from March, of 1972. (That’s “JDM”, as in John D. MacDonald. That’s FANAC as in “The Fanac Fan History Project.”)

The second story in Wonder Stories is Ray Bradbury’s “A Sound of Thunder“. Though the tale appeared in Planet Stories in 1954, accompanied by a great two-page illustration by Ed Emshwiller, in Wonder Stories, it’s replaced by a Virgil Finlay composition which appears on page 30. The example below is taken from Heritage Auctions, where it was uploaded in September of 2019: “Created in ink over graphite, this small wonder is already beautifully matted and framed with an inside matting area of 4.25″ x 4.25″. Wood silver painted frame, glass front, and outside measurements of 8.5″ x 8.5″. The frame has some small nicks and blemishes but the art is in Excellent condition.”

Wonder Stories was originally published in 1957, and contains six of the stories from this “second” edition. You can view the cover of the former edition, here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And, in a sort of conclusion, at this link – here, assuming you read this far! – you can download the PDF version of MacDonald’s story that I created for my own reading.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, inside “Wonder Stories” you’ll find what, exactly?

“Shadow on the Sand”, by John D. MacDonald, from Thrilling Wonder Stories, October, 1950 (Also in 1957 edition)
“All the Time in the World” by Arthur C. Clarke, from Startling Stories, July, 1952 (Also in 1957 edition)
“A Sound of Thunder”, by Ray Bradbury, Colliers, from June 28, 1952; also from Planet Stories, January, 1954 (Also in 1957 edition)
“Robert”, by Evan Hunter, from Thrilling Wonder Stories, April, 1953
“The Monitor”, by Margaret St. Clair, from Startling Stories, January, 1954 (Also in 1957 edition)
“The Hunters”, by Walt Sheldon, from Startling Stories, March, 1952
“Man of Distinction”, Fredric Brown, from Thrilling Wonder Stories, February, 1951 (Also in 1957 edition)
“Star Bride”, by Anthony Boucher, from Thrilling Wonder Stories, December, 1951 (Also in 1957 edition)
“Thanasphere”, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., from Wonder Stories, 1957

…and otherwise…

Wonder Stories, 1963, at…

… Internet Speculative Fiction Database

John D. MacDonald, at…

… Fiction DB

… John D. MacDonald.org

… GoodReads

… Travis McGee

… Wikipedia

Wonder Stories, 1957 [Richard M. Powers]

(This is the first of two posts describing the digest-format science fiction anthology Wonder Stories, published with generally similar content in 1957 and 1963, featured cover art of the same general theme by Richard M. Powers. As such, though the content of both posts is similar, major differences between the two editions are explained and made clear in each post. So, for those in a hurry (who’s not in a hurry anymore?!) you can jump to the post for the 1963 edition, “here“.)

The best way to impart a sense of literary wonder is through awe, mystery, and a sense of things unknown. Certainly that’s the case for the 1957 edition of Standard Magazines’ (otherwise known as Thrilling Publications’) anthology Wonder Stories, which is comprised of selections from early 50s editions of Startling Stories and Thrilling Wonder Stories, as well as Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s story “Thanasphere”, the latter was written specifically for this publication.

(You can learn more about the history of Wonder Stories, and “other reprints from the Thrilling group”, at Todd Mason’s Sweet Freedom blog.)

A sense of wonder really arises (at first!) from the anthology’s cover, which features one of the very few pulp magazine cover paintings created by Richard M. Powers, whose forte overwhelmingly resided in creating cover art for books: His few other cover illustrations appeared in early issues of Galaxy Science Fiction, and, Beyond Fantasy Fiction.

Typical of Powers’ cover art, this painting sets up a mood; a feeling; a vibe, having absolutely no relationship to or inspiration from any of the stories in the anthology. (The same thing often goes for his book covers, which are often similarly unrelated to the contents therein.) Also typical of Powers, the scene is absent of specific beings or even the merest sign of a human presence, let alone anything identifiably organic. Instead, it presents active and energetic symbols of technology and power set upon a desolate, barren alien landscape. Something’s happening, and, some thing is happening, too. But, what? (Hey, is that a city in the distance?)

In the hindsight 2025, the painting depicts a scene reminiscent of the ruins of the Ring Builders’ constructions on the planet Ilus IV, from season four of “The Expanse”: Incomprehensibly ancient structures embedded deep (how deep?) within yet extending far above the desert soil of that world, yet still functioning over two billion years after their construction, their power undiminished. Check out these images of concept art for “The Expanse” at Lee Fitzgerald’s website, to see the resemblance. The Expanse (fandom) also displays an image of the ruins on Ilus.

So, here’s Wonder Stories’ cover, “as is”…

… while here’s a close-up of the scene…

…and, here’s the cover art all “niced up”, lightly edited, and framed in white, for this post.

But, what of the anthology’s contents? Of the stories within, I’m only directly familiar with Ray Bradbury’s “A Sound of Thunder”, Arthur C. Clarke’s “All the Time in the World”, and especially and recently John D. MacDonald’s “Shadow On the Sand”, the latter of which appeared in and inspired the cover art for the October, 1950 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories. I didn’t actually r e a d MacDonald’s story within my copy of Wonder Stories – the one you see featured in the images above – due to the fragility of my now-67-year-old copy. Instead, I created and printed the story from a PDF comprising the entire issue (accessed through the Internet Archive … you can also download it via the Luminist Archive); that, I read.

Having previously encountered very little by and knowing virtually nothing about author MacDonald, I can unreservedly say that I was deeply impressed with “Shadow on On the Sand” on a variety of levels, specifically the originality of the plot, and, characters (even minor characters) that – differentiated and not two-dimensional stock figures – changed and evolved as the story progressed. In sum, the novella is the account of an extraterrestrial totalitarian civilization’s clandestine conquest of Earth utilizing instantaneous superluminal teleportation, and, the impersonation and replacement of human beings with physically altered doppelgangers … the aliens already being (this made writing the story easier, I suppose!) on a superficial level at least … physically and superficially identical to homo sapiens. All this occurs against and within a backdrop of competition, conflict, and political murder among the aliens’ ruthlessly competitive political parties, military, and clandestine services, with the story’s protagonist going over to the side of humanity by the story’s end. More, I shall not say. As fast paced entertainment, it’s a great read. And yet… Unusually for a story penned over seven decades ago, the novella is surprisingly violent, if not genuinely grotesque, in parts (“not for the squeamish!”) … albeit violence and horror are neither the center of nor the “drivers” of the plot. The novella is quite reminiscent of the works of Jack Vance in terms of political and social complexity and ambiguity, as well as the air of intrigue that permeates the tale.

(For a much deeper exploration of MacDonald’s story, read “Shadow On the Sand” at Steve Scott’s blog, “The Trap of Solid Gold – Celebrating the works of John D MacDonald“.)

Otherwise, my reading of “Shadow On the Sand” imparted a sense of curiosity about MacDonald’s larger body of work, which led to my reading the Fawcett Gold Medal 1978 book Other Times, Other Worlds, an anthology of sixteen of his science fiction stories spanning publication between 1948 and 1968. Upon reading this collection (it deserved better cover art than a simple astronomical photograph!) I soon realized that I previously had read one of his stories: “Spectator Sport” (originally published in the February, 1950 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories) first in Fifty Short Science Fiction Tales, and subsequently in Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 12. Curiously, this short story features an event that prefigures a plot element in “Shadow On the Sand”. (Ironically, I didn’t like “Spectator Sport” at all!) Regardless, I was and remain deeply impressed by MacDonald’s literary skill in terms of character development and delineation, his ability to create an event, setting, scene, and “world” with a modicum of skillfully chosen language, and especially, his ability to unflaggingly maintain the pace, mood, and atmosphere of a tale from beginning to end. Only upon reading this anthology and sources elsewhere did I learn that MacDonald more than successfully (extraordinarily so) transitioned from science fiction to mainstream fiction, creating the “Travis McGee” series.

Here’s a nice image of the magazine’s cover. As revealed in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database, the cover and interior artist of this issue are unknown. Otherwise, MacDonald’s story is entirely absent of flying saucers (actually, spacecraft make no appearance whatsover) and the characters don’t go around wearing tattered, torn, Tarzan-like togas.

This diminutive image appears in the magazine’s table of contents (page 4), adjacent to the story title. The monolith-like slab is a symbol of the teleportation device which is a central plot element and inspiration of the title, albeit the device is essentially invisible to human observers. Rather, what is visible is a mere glimpse of a vague and fleeting rectangular shadow, which is the portal through which the aliens are transported to Earth.

The only single-page illustration accompanying the story appears on page 15. It shows the arrival of the alien who eventually “goes over” to the side of Earth. Of course, his major inducement is the romantic relationship he unexpectedly (unexpectedly to him!) develops with a woman. MacDonald doesn’t actually describe the appearance of the portal, let alone venture an explanation of its operation. It simply shows up when needed and then disappears.

The unknown artist’s illustration of the alien civilization’s “shadow” – the teleportation portal – is absent from Wonder Stories, having been replaced by Virgil Finlay’s intricate portrayal of the scene, which is characterized by his typical attention to detail. Due to the fragility of my copy of Wonder Stories, this image – on pages 2 and 3 – was downloaded (right-clicked) from something known as the “Internet” (!) for display here, on, the, Internet. Oh, yeah, I’m already on, the, Internet. (Like, you!) In reality!… The image here is from the cover of The JDM Bibliophile, Number 17, from March, of 1972. (That’s “JDM”, as in John D. MacDonald. That’s FANAC as in “The Fanac Fan History Project.”)

Wonder Stories was republished in 1963, with cover art based upon Powers’ composition for this 1957 edition, and containing six of the stories from this “first” edition. You can read about the latter edition here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And, in a sort of conclusion, at this link – here, given that you read this far! – you can download the PDF version of MacDonald’s story that I created for my own reading.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, inside “Wonder Stories” you’ll find what, exactly?

“Shadow on the Sand”, by John D. MacDonald, from Thrilling Wonder Stories, October, 1950 (Reprinted in 1963 edition)
“A Sound of Thunder”, by Ray Bradbury, from Colliers, June 28, 1952; then from Planet Stories, January, 1954 (Reprinted in 1963 edition)
“All the Time in the World”, by Arthur C. Clarke, from Startling Stories, July, 1952 (Reprinted in 1963 edition)
“Man of Distinction”, by Fredric Brown, from Thrilling Wonder Stories, February, 1951 (Reprinted in  1963 edition)
“Thanasphere”, by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., for this volume
“Spacemate”, by Walt Sheldon, from Thrilling Wonder Stories, August, 1950
“The Monitor”, by Margaret St. Clair, from Startling Stories, January, 1954 (Reprinted in  1963 edition)
“Star Bride”, by Anthony Boucher, from Thrilling Wonder Stories, December, 1951 (Reprinted in  1963 edition)

…and otherwise…

Wonder Stories, 1957, at…

… Internet Speculative Fiction Database

John D. MacDonald, at…

… Fiction DB

… John D. MacDonald.org

… GoodReads

… Travis McGee

… Wikipedia

Audio Time!: The Pulp Origins of Ridley Scott’s “Alien”

The impact of Ridley Scott’s 1979 film “Alien” in the worlds of horror and cinematography has surely been enormous, and, continues. Certainly the movie didn’t appear “out of nowhere”, and – consciously or otherwise, as in works of art of all genres – its creation is the result of numerous influences and cultural antecedents, both literary and cinematic. Among the influences that immediately came to my mind – at least, upon writing this post! – are the films “It! The Terror from Beyond Space” (1958), “Planet of the Vampires” (1965), and A.E. van Vogt’s 1939 Astounding Science Fiction short stories “Black Destroyer” and “Discord in Scarlet” both of which were incorporated into his 1950 fix-up novel The Voyage of the Space Beagle.

My supposition was confirmed through the (inevitably!) very lengthy entry for the film at Wikipedia, which discusses “Alien’s” origins in great detail. Specifically: “Alien‘s roots in earlier works of fiction have been analyzed and acknowledged extensively by critics. The film has been said to have much in common with B movies such as The Thing from Another World (1951). Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958), Night of the Blood Beast (1958), and Queen of Blood (1966), as well as its fellow 1970s horror films Jaws (1975) and Halloween (1978). Literary connections have also been suggested: Philip French of the Guardian has perceived thematic parallels with Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None (1939). Many critics have also suggested that the film derives in part from A. E. van Vogt‘s The Voyage of the Space Beagle (1950), particularly its stories “The Black Destroyer”, in which a cat-like alien infiltrates the ship and hunts the crew, and “Discord in Scarlet”, in which an alien implants parasitic eggs inside crew members which then hatch and eat their way out. O’Bannon denies that this was a source of his inspiration for Alien‘s story. Van Vogt in fact initiated a lawsuit against 20th Century Fox over the similarities, but Fox settled out of court.

Several critics have suggested that the film was inspired by Italian filmmaker Mario Bava‘s cult classic Planet of the Vampires (1965), in both narrative details and visual design. Rick Sanchez of IGN has noted the “striking resemblance” between the two movies, especially in a celebrated sequence in which the crew discovers a ruin containing the skeletal remains of long-dead giant beings, and in the design and shots of the ship itself. Cinefantastique also noted the remarkable similarities between these scenes and other minor parallels. Robert Monell, on the DVD Maniacs website, observed that much of the conceptual design and some specific imagery in Alien “undoubtedly owes a great debt” to Bava’s film. Despite these similarities, O’Bannon and Scott both claimed in a 1979 interview that they had not seen Planet of the Vampires; decades later, O’Bannon would admit: “I stole the giant skeleton from the Planet of the Vampires.”

But…! Another “key” to the origin of “Alien” can be found at CultureNC’s YouTube channel (“Culture NC est une chaîne qui regroupe des vidéos sur la culture calédonienne” ((“Culture NC is a channel that brings together videos on New Caledonian culture”)) in the video “Alien: Pulp Origins“, of September 5, 2022. Therein, along with mention of “It! The Terror from Beyond Space” and “Planet of the Vampires”, CultureNC touches upon Howard Hawks’ 1951 “The Thing From Another World”, the two aforementioned A.E. van Vogt stories, the anthology Strange Relations by Philip José Farmer, and, the 1953 short story “Junkyard” by Clifford D. Simak. Ultimately, however, CultureNC arrives at an even earlier short story as having either prefigured “Alien”: Clark Ashton Smith’s “The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis” from the May, 1932 issue of Weird Tales.

I find CultureNC’s discussion fascinating, While it’s unknown if Smith’s specific tale truly influenced the creators of “Alien” – that I doubt, given the tale’s time-frame and perhaps relative obscurity – what is remarkable (and correct) is that the story foreshadowed, if not anticipated, plot elements that emerged in the movie forty-seven years after its very Weird publication.

You can view Richard Corben’s adaptation of Smith’s story here. I’ve created PDF of the tale (by way of the Pulp Magazine Archive) which you can access (“yay! – free stuff!”), here.

For all its impact, and in spite of its obvious science-fiction tropes (space travel, cybernetics, suspended animation, and extraterrestrial life (of a gross and very deadly sort)), “Alien” unlike “Blade Runner” is emphatically not science fiction. It’s gothic horror; visual horror, which simply uses the idea (to be true, with marvelous effectiveness) – versus the reality – of “space” as a setting of emotional darkness, fear, and negative infinitude.

But yeah, it’s entertaining movie!

So, without further ~~mouse clicking / scrolling~~ delay, here’s Culture NC’s video:

There are two YouTube (audio) versions of “The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis”. Here they be:

HorrorBabble’s YouTube channel features ““The Vaults of Yoh Vombis” / A Weird Tale of Mars by Clark Ashton Smith“, from March 22, 2021. The tale is narrated by Ian Gordon, with musci and production by Gordon, and, Jennifer Gill.

Shwan Pleil’s YouTube channel features “The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis by Clark Ashton Smith“, narrated by Joe Knezevich, from March 15, 2023.

And otherwise…

Clark Ashton Smith, at…

… Wikipedia

… Internet Speculative Fiction Database

… The Eldritch Dark (“The Sanctum of Clark Ashton Smith”)

… Darkworlds Quarterly – The Culture of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror

… The Avocado (“A Primer on Clark Ashton Smith”)

… Social Ecologies (“Clark Ashton Smith: Visionary of the Dark Fantastic”)

… Comic Art Fans (one item)

… FindAGrave

… The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis, at …

… Pulp Magazine Archive

… Internet Speculative Fiction Database

… Lovecraft Fandom

… Eldritch Dark

Fantastic Adventures, June, 1952 – “The Woman in Skin 13”, by Paul W. Fairman [Walter R. Popp]

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

… GoodReads

… The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction

… OneLimited

Walter R. Popp, at…

… Internet Speculative Fiction Database

… PoppFineArt

… American Art Archives

Fantastic Adventures, at…

… Wikipedia

Good Girl Art (GGA), at…

… Wikipedia

The Best of C.L. Moore (Catherine L. Moore), Edited by Lester Del Rey – 1976 [The Brothers Hildebrandt] [Revised post…!]

“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.

And, to return to the beginning, here’s illustrator Frank Kramer’s depiction of Deirdre, as it (well, she) originally appeared, in the December, 1944, issue of Astounding Science Fiction: The inspiration for Hildebrandts’ art is unmistakable.

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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’s Pulp 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.

And so, The Best of C.L. Moore:

Shambleau, Weird Tales, November, 1933

Black Thirst, Weird Tales, April, 1934

The Bright Illusion, Astounding Stories, October, 1934

The Black God’s Kiss, Weird Tales, October, 1934

Tryst In Time, Astounding Stories, December, 1936

Greater Than Gods, Astounding Science Fiction, July, 1939

Fruit of Knowledge, Unknown, October, 1940

No Woman Born, Astounding Science Fiction, December, 1944

Daemon, Famous Fantastic Mysteries, October, 1946

Vintage Season, Astounding Science Fiction, September, 1946

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:

Astounding Stories
“Greater Glories” – September, 1935

Astounding Science Fiction
“There Shall Be Darkness” – February, 1942
“Judgement Night” (Parts 1 and 2) – August and September, 1943, respectively

Famous Fantastic Mysteries
“Doorway Into Time” – September, 1943

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An excellent take on C.L. Moore’s body of work can be found among the (thus far!) 60-odd videos comprising Dr. Gregory B. Sadler’s “Worlds of Speculative Fiction Series“, an overview of which follows…

…in which Dr. Sadler’s 2017 discussion of the works of C.L. Moore, entitled C.L. Moore’s Fantastic Worlds, is lecture 21 of the series…

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.”

References

…Catherine L. Moore, at Internet Speculative Fiction Database

…Unknown, at Wikipedia

…Weird Tales, at Wikipedia

…Famous Fantastic Mysteries, at Wikipedia

…”Shambleau”, at Wikipedia

…Northwest Smith, at Wikipedia

…Jirel of Joiry, at Wikipedia

…”Vintage Season”, at Wikipedia

… The Brothers Hildebrandt

So, here’s a book…

Gunn, James E., Alternate Worlds – The Illustrated History of Science Fiction, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1975

July 15, 2017 – 261