Expedition to Earth, by Arthur C. Clarke – September, 1971 (December, 1954) [Unknown artist – Vincent Di Fate?…]

Richard Powers’ trio of covers for Ballantine Books’ late 1950s editions of Arthur C. Clarke’s anthologies Expedition to Earth, Reach for Tomorrow, and, his novel Childhood’s End, show a level of originality, symbolic power, entrancing ambiguity, and just-plain-old-unusualness that stand out even for that artist’s unique body of work.  You can view the cover of the 1954 edition, here.  However, when Ballantine republished these three books in the early 1970s, a different illustrative path was followed.  Rather than reprise Powers’ original art, or avail the skills of contemporary artists such as Jack Gaughan, Paul Lehr, or John Schoenherr, the covers of all three editions featured works by a (yet) anonymous illustrator.  The cover art for each book is representational, conventionally “spacey”, and different in format from much science-fiction cover art – then and now – in that it occupies only a portion of the cover’s “real estate”, the remainder of the cover is simply plain, blank, and empty.  (Well, the title, price, and publisher’s name still show!)  

The inspiration for each painting is – for anybody in the early 70s, and still today in 2023 – immediately recognizable:  Each composition was inspired by a different aspect of the spacecraft appearing in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.  For Expedition to Earth and Reach for Tomorrow, the cover art is inspired by the Jovian expedition ship Discovery One; for Childhood’s End, by the Aries 1b lunar lander.  

You can see this below, on the cover of the 1971 edition of Expedition to Earth.  

The artist clearly used the spherical command / control / habitation module of the Discovery as the inspiration for his painting.  Though different in detail from the Discovery, the sphere retains three evenly-spaced, equally-sized circular hatches of the Discovery, inspired by the original craft’s pod bay doors.  It also features the Discovery’s line of cockpit viewports above the sphere’s centerline.  It’s very different in having two almost-stuck-on parabolic antennas and a radar mast.  There’s also that big boxy clunky rectangular thing stuck to its side, which I think was inspired by the docking port of the earth-orbiting space station which appears early and briefly in the 2001 film, when Pan Am’s space clipper Orion III approaches the station, particularly at 1:22.  Enjoy, from Screen Themes:

Curious; the Internet Speculative Fiction Database entry for these three early 1970s Ballantine editions indicates (correctly) that the cover art for each is uncredited and unsigned. 

What happened?  Were the rights singed over to Ballantine?

So, in thought, just an idea: The paintings look like (look like!) the work of Vincent Di Fate.

(Just an idea!)

Here’s Lawrence D. Miller’s 1984 diagram of the components of Discovery One….

And, at Spacedock’s YouTube channel, the video “2001 A Space Odyssey: Discovery One | Extended Ship Breakdown (May 27, 2011)” shows the spacecraft’s components, in the context of both that film, and the later 2010: The Year We Make Contact.  

So, What’s In the Book?

“Second Dawn”, from Science Fiction Quarterly, August, 1951

“If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth …, from Future, combined with Science Fiction Stories, September, 1951

“Breaking Strain”, from Thrilling Wonder Stories, December, 1949

“History Lesson”, from Startling Stories, May, 1949

“Superiority”, from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, August, 1951

“Exile of the Eons”, (variant of “Nemesis”), from Super Science Stories, March, 1950

“Hide and Seek”, from Astounding Science Fiction, September, 1949

“Expedition to Earth”, (variant of “Encounter in the Dawn”), from Amazing Stories, June-July, 1953

“Loophole”, from Astounding Science Fiction, April, 1946

“Inheritance”, from New Worlds #3, October, 1947

“The Sentinel”, from 10 Story Fantasy, Spring, 1951

“About Arthur C. Clarke”, uncredited essay

Some References…

Expedition to Earth, at…

… Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Discovery One, at…

Wikipedia

Space Stack Exchange (“Is 2001: A Space Odyssey’s Discovery One still a plausible design for interplanetary travel?”)

Model Paint Solutions (“Moebius 1/350 XD-1 “Discovery One” from 2001: A Space Odyssey”)

Vincent Di Fate, at…

Wikipedia

Internet Speculative Fiction Database

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction

VincentDiFate.com

Society of Illustrators / The Museum of Illustration

Reach for Tomorrow, by Arthur C. Clarke – March, 1970 (March, 1956) [Unknown Artist – Vincent Di Fate?…]

Richard Powers’ three covers for Ballantine Books’ late 1950s editions of Arthur C. Clarke’s novel Childhood’s End, and his two anthologies Expedition to Earth, and Reach for Tomorrow, have a level of originality and entrancing mystery that are unusual even by the standards of that artist’s unique body of work.  You can view the cover of the 1956 edition, here.  However, when Ballantine republished this trio of books a decade and a half later, their cover art was of a strikingly different, more conventional style.  Rather than update versions of Powers’ original art, or use the skills of newly established artists such as Jack Gaughan, Paul Lehr, or John Schoenherr, the covers of all three editions revealed work by a (still) anonymous illustrator.  The cover art for each book is more mainstream and representationally “spacey”, differing in format from most science-fiction cover art – then and now – in that it covers only a portion of the book’s “real estate”, the remainder of the cover being left unadorned, blank, and still.  (Okay; the title, price, and publisher’s name still show!)  

For anybody in the early 70s; for anyone yet today in 2023 … the inspiration for each painting is easily recognizable:  Each composition was inspired by a different aspect of the spacecraft appearing in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.  For Expedition to Earth and Reach for Tomorrow, the cover art is inspired by the Jovian expedition ship Discovery One; for Childhood’s End, by the Aries 1b lunar lander.  

You can see this below, on the cover of the 1970 edition of Reach for Tomorrow.  

The elongated nature of the spacecraft’s design is clearly inspired by the general (admittedly, very general) configuration of the Discovery One, the major difference being that the latter has one only spherical module – the front, control and habitation module, the rear of the craft being allocated for propulsion, communication, and storage.  The ship on the cover of this edition instead features two spherical sections – one at each end – connected by two trusses and a connecting tube; there’s no visible means of propulsion.  This resemblance comes through at The HAL Project’s Discovery One | 2001: A Space Odyssey Ambience 4K.  (Unfortunately, this video can’t be shared in WordPress, so I have to give the link.)  However, the clincher revealing the cinematic inspiration for the cover is the combined communications and telemetry antenna unit on the rear module, which is a dead ringer for the unit (that was instrumental to the plot!) of Kubrick’s film.  Also, if you look really, really close – to the lower right of the foreground module – you’ll see a tiny, oval craft that’s emerged from a hatch in the bottom of the module.  The little ship looks just like a space pod from the movie. 

How odd; the Internet Speculative Fiction Database entry for these three early 1970s Ballantine editions indicates (correctly) that the cover art for each is uncredited and unsigned. 

What gives?  Did Ballantine secure the rights to the paintings?  Were the originals saved?  Were they discarded?  

Pondering, just an idea: The paintings look like (seems to me) the work of Vincent Di Fate.

(Just a possibility)

Here’s Lawrence D. Miller’s 1984 diagram of the components of Discovery One….

At Spacedock’s YouTube channel, the video “2001 A Space Odyssey: Discovery One | Extended Ship Breakdown (May 27, 2011)” shows the spacecraft’s major components, in the context of both that film, and the later 2010: The Year We Make Contact.  

And What’s In the Book?

Rescue Party, Astounding Science Fiction, May, 1946

A Walk in the Dark, Thrilling Wonder Stories, August, 1950

The Forgotten Enemy, Avon Science Fiction and Fantasy Reader, January, 1953

Technical Error (“The Reversed Man”), from Thrilling Wonder Stories, June, 1950

The Parasite, from Avon Science Fiction and Fantasy Reader, April, 1953

The Fires Within, from Startling Stories, September, 1949

The Awakening, from Future Science Fiction Stories, January, 1952

Trouble With the Natives, from Marvel Science Stories, May, 1951

The Curse, from Cosmos Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine, September, 1953

Time’s Arrow, from Science Fantasy, Summer, 1950

Jupiter Five, from If, May, 1953

The Possessed, Dynamite Science Fiction, March, 1953

Some References…

Reach for Tomorrow, at…

… Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Discovery One, at…

Wikipedia

Space Stack Exchange (“Is 2001: A Space Odyssey’s Discovery One still a plausible design for interplanetary travel?”)

Model Paint Solutions (“Moebius 1/350 XD-1 “Discovery One” from 2001: A Space Odyssey”)

Vincent Di Fate, at…

Wikipedia

Internet Speculative Fiction Database

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction

VincentDiFate.com

Society of Illustrators / The Museum of Illustration

High Vacuum, by Charles Eric Maine (David McIlwain) – 1957 [Richard M. Powers]

A straightforward example of Richard Powers’ late 1950s science fiction cover art….

With colors ranging from white, to bright orange, to dark greenish gray, to black, the cover shows the surface of the moon in (highly) imaginary, (very) exaggerated, (strongly) symbolic fashion:  There are neither craters nor chain-like walls of jagged-peaked mountains, nor flat plains of dust, but spires projecting from an irregular foreground.  A woman’s face, formed from a lined pattern of dots, is at lower right.  Near the center is the only conventional element in the painting: The diminutive figure of an astronaut in a dark spacesuit, only visible because he’s backlit by a background glowing white.    

Regardless of the cover’s originality, the novel itself – having gone through nine printings since 1957, the latest having been in 2021, is fairly straightforward and conventional.  As described by Andrew Darlington [spoiler alert!], “1956 – ‘High Vacuum’ (Hodder & Stoughton, 12/6d, 192pp, Corgi, 1959, USA Ballantine), the ‘Operational Programme’ of the ‘Ministry of Astronautics’ undertakes the first lunar landing in Moonship Alpha.  Three of the four crewmen survive the initial wreck, plus the female stowaway, the second, Russian ship is sabotaged, Kenneth F Slater says ‘although there is a survivor, there is not a ‘happy ending’ to the story.  It is all the more realistic for that’ (‘Nebula’ no.25, October 1957).  Leslie Flood adds ‘the story collapses into formula melodrama’ until ‘a dream glimpse into the future of the moon-base involving the stowaway’s spaceman son – immediately belied by the child being stillborn’ (‘New Worlds’ no.66, December 1957).

So, it seems that the novel is primarily plot and character driven, rather than being founded in hard SF.

SURVIVAL…

“Vacuum is the first and last enemy of the astronaut. In space, vacuum is normal. In space, therefore, air is abnormal, and life forms depending on air for survival in space are in abnormal state. The establishment and maintenance of the abnormal is therefore the beginning and the end of interplanetary flight.”

The Handbook of the
Ministry of Astronautics

     Charles Eric Maine, author of The Timeliner and The Isotope Man, writes a tale of a grim race with time. The Alpha rocket is the first manned expedition from Earth to get to the Moon. It makes a crash-landing, and facilities for “the maintenance of the abnormal” are sharply cut. There is enough oxygen to support the four survivors for five weeks – or two for ten, or one for twenty…
     Nerve-wracking because it is so matter-of-fact, this is a high tension story of ordinary men in an extraordinary situation, of decisions quietly made that are literally of life and death importance, and, in the end, of the naked determination of the human will to survive – at any cost.

Otherwise…

High Vacuum, at…

GoodReads

Wikipedia

Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Charles Eric Maine (David McIlwain), at…

Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Wikipedia

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction

Andrew Darlington Blogspot (Includes reviews, biography. and filmography. (Indeed, a filmography.))

The Alley God (“The Alley Man”), by Philip José Farmer – The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction – June, 1959 [Edmund A. Emshwiller] / Ballantine Books – 1962 [Richard M. Powers]

Ballantine Books’ 1962 edition of Philip José Farmer’s The Alley God bears a singular example of Richard Powers’ cover art.  But, before we get to that… 

Here’s the cover of the June, 1959, issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction where the story first appeared, under the title “The Alley Man“.  This cover’s by EMSH – Edmund Emshwiller.  As described in Brian Ash’s The Visual Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, “…[the story] is in some ways akin to “Flowers For Algernon”, though on a more personal level.  A mental and physical throwback, who believes himself to be the last of the Neanderthals, tries to come to terms with the modern world, and, in particular, with the intellectual superiority of the girl he loves.”  

______________________________

Sidgwick and Jackson’s imprint (the only hardcover printing featuring the story), with cover art by David Hardy, appeared in 1970.  This is the only appearance of the story in English-language book format other than Ballantine’s paperback edition.  As in Ballantine’s prior imprint, the title is The Alley God.  Via the ISFDB, “Sidgwick and Jackson was originally established in 1908 and acquired by Macmillan in the 1980s.  It’s now an imprint of Pan Macmillan.”

This edition also includes “The Captain’s Daughter” and “The God Business”.  The former is a variant of “Strange Compulsion” from the October, 1953 issue of Hugo Gernsback’s Science Fiction +, which is accompanied by six (count ’em, six) illustrations by Virgil Finlay, two of which are particularly outstanding, with a level of – um – er – uh – s y m b o l i s m (yeah, that’s it, symbolism!) that’s rather direct and unambiguous.  I’ve not actually read the tale, but from what I vaguely know of it anecdotally and elsewhere – and as much as I admire Farmer’s body of work – I don’t think I’d want to. (!)  As for “The God Business”, the story originally appeared in the March, 1954 issue of Beyond Fantasy Fiction.  

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And so, we come to Ballantine Books 1962 Edition, which has content identical to that of the later Sidgwick and Jackson printing.  

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Amidst a scene of urban desolation (notice the pebbles and stones scattered across the landscape?), under a violet and ochre sky – the colors work marvelously together! – the sun fixed above, are two human-like figures.  One, kneeling, resembles the shattered remnants of a demolished building.  The figure to the left is altogether different:  Unlike anything else in the scene, it’s formed of a single, multiply folded bronze-like sheet, and props itself against the kneeling figure, to face the sun.  (With longing?  With fear?  In worship?  In wonder?)  Where did it come from?  Where is it going?  For what is it searching? 

Is it the only one of its kind? 

Alley, (lower case) god, and man.

Easily one of Powers’ best works, I’m glad Ballantine’s design department left the image “as is”, without title or publisher’s logo printed upon it.  Suitable for framing?

______________________________

There is no classifying PHILIP JOSE FARMER…

He has moved with equal ease from the rollicking adventures of “The Green Odyssey” to the weird ingenuity of “Strange Relations” to the sensitive poignancy of “The Lovers”.

Now, in the three novelets that comprise THE ALLEY GOD, he combines something of each of those qualities, using as central themes the universal concept of worship and the taboos that surround the human reproductive process.

Some people have, in the past, been shocked by the frankness of Farmer’s writing – but then, human experience is itself frequently shocking, and Farmer’s stories are of the very essence of human experience. No matter how wild the setting, nor how imaginative the circumstances, reality – human reality – is the motive power behind the foibles exposed, the shibboleths exploded, the secret dreams recalled.

______________________________

______________________________

Other Neat Places to Visit

The God of the Alley… 

…at GoodReads

… at Wikipedia (“The Alley Man”)

…at Philip José Farmer Philip José Farmer International Bibliography

…at The Hugo Awards (1960)

…at L.W. Currey, Inc. (…going for $350!…)

A Book…

Ash, Brian, The Visual Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Harmony Books, New York, N.Y., 1977

Philip José Farmer…

…at Wikipedia

…at pjfarmer.com

…at Philip Jose Farmer

…at Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Spectrum, Edited by Kingsley Amis and Robert Conquest – March, 1963 (1961) [Richard M. Powers]

Though their literary oeuvres extended well beyond the field of science-fiction, Kingsley Amis and Robert Conquest collaborated as editors of the Spectrum anthologies, which were published in hardback format from 1961 through 1966 (except for 1964, when no such title appeared), and paperback from 1963 through 1968.  Otherwise, the bulk of their work in the genre was in the realm of essays, reviews, and poems. 

Spectrum – shown below – was listed under that title for editions published from 1961 through 1963, and reissued until the title Spectrum I for volumes published from 1964 through 1971.  Richard Powers was the cover artist for this first volume of the series – Spectrum – while Paul Lehr’s paintings were featured on the covers of Spectrum II.

Powers’ cover art for this volume has the hallmarks of his covers of other anthologies dating from this period: Floating indefinable objects, a distant sort of city-scape, diminutive anthropomorphic figures, and, rather than a person with a recognizable face and physiognomy, a vaguely metallic, vaguely organic, vaguely human, bulbous-eyed figure walking across the foreground.  Where’s it going?  

And, here’s the floater…

What is it doing?

Truly, I do not know. 

I don’t think anybody else does, either.

So, what’s in the book?

The Midas Plague“, by Frederik Pohl, from Galaxy Science Fiction, April, 1954

“Limiting Factor”, by Clifford D. Simak, from Startling Stories, November, 1949

“The Executioner”, by Algis Budrys, from Astounding Science Fiction, January, 1956

“Null-P”, by William Tenn, from Worlds Beyond, January, 1951

“Inanimate Objection”, by H. Chandler Elliott, from Galaxy Science Fiction, February, 1954

“Pilgrimage to Earth”, by Robert Sheckley, from Playboy, September, 1956

By His Bootstraps, by Robert Heinlein, from Astounding Science Fiction, October, 1941 

Robert Conquest…

…at Internet Speculative Fiction Database

… at Wikipedia

Kingsley Amis…

…at Internet Speculative Fiction Database

…at Wikipedia

The Moon Pool, by A. Merritt – 1973 (1919) [Don-Ivan Punchatz]

…undefinably it was of our world and of one not ours.
Its lineaments flowed from another sphere, …

This is one I’ve not yet read…  But, based on the bare excerpt below, A. Merrit’s The Moon Pool seems to have a thematic and literary resonance with works by C.L. Moore, such as “Black Thirst”, “The Bright Illusion”, “The Black God’s Kiss” (especially!), and “Tryst in Time”, despite those stories having been penned in the thirties.  Perhaps the tone and style of Merrit’s writing was an influence and inspiration upon Moore’s work?  I don’t know; just an idea!

This Collier edition of The Moon Pool features a cover illustration by Don-Ivan Punchatz.  Though I’ve never cared for his art, it’s still worthy of note, particularly given the significance of his illustrations for Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation, let alone the cover of the 1974 edition of Dune.  

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Portrait of A. Merritt, from James Gunn’s Alternate Worlds – The Illustrated History of Science Fiction

______________________________

“Steady,” she commanded, pitifully.
“Steady, Goodwin.
You cannot help them – now!
Steady and – watch!”

Below us the Shining One had paused – spiralling,
swirling, vibrant with all its transcendent, devilish beauty;
had paused and was contemplating us.
Now I could see clearly that nucleus,
that core shot through with flashing veins of radiance,
that ever-shifting shape of glory through the shroudings of shimmering,
misty plumes, throbbing lacy opalescences, vaporous spirallings of prismatic phantom fires.
Steady over it hung the seven little moons of amethyst,
of saffron, of emerald and azure and silver, of rose of life and moon white.
They poised themselves like a diadem –
calm, serene, immobile – and down from them into the Dweller,
piercing plumes and swirls and spirals,
ran countless tiny strands, radiations,
finer than the finest spun thread of spider’s web,
gleaming filaments through which seemed to run – power – from the seven globes;
like – yes, that was it –
miniatures of the seven torrents of moon flame that poured through the septichromatic,
high crystals in the Moon Pool’s chamber roof.

Swam out of the coruscating haze the – face!

Both of man and of woman it was –
like some ancient, androgynous deity of Etruscan fanes long dust,
and yet neither woman nor man; human and unhuman, seraphic and sinister, benign and malefic –
and still no more of these four than is flame,
which is beautiful whether it warms or devours,
or wind whether it feathers the trees or shatters them,
or the wave which is wondrous whether it caresses or kills.

Subtly, undefinably it was of our world and of one not ours.
Its lineaments flowed from another sphere,
took fleeting familiar form – and as swiftly withdrew whence they had come;
something amorphous, unearthly – as of unknown unheeding,
unseen gods rushing through the depths of star-hung space;
and still of our own earth,
with the very soul of earth peering out from it,
caught within it – and in some – unholy – way debased.

It had eyes – eyes that were now only shadows darkening within its luminosity like veils falling,
and falling, opening windows into the unknowable;
deepening into softly glowing blue pools,
blue as the Moon Pool itself; then flashing out,
and this only when the – face – bore its most human resemblance,
into twin stars large almost as the crown of little moons;
and with that same baffling suggestion of peep-holes into a world untrodden, alien, perilous to man!

“Steady!” came Lakla’s voice, her body leaned against mine.

I gripped myself, my brain steadied, I looked again.
And I saw that of body, at least body as we know it,
the Shining One had none – nothing but the throbbing,
pulsing core streaked with lightning veins of rainbows;
and around this, never still, sheathing it,
the swirling, glorious veilings of its hell and heaven born radiance.

So the Dweller stood – and gazed.

Then up toward us swept a reaching, questing spiral!

Under my hand Lakla’s shoulder quivered; dead-alive and their master vanished –
I danced, flickered, within the rock;
felt a swift sense of shrinking, of withdrawal;
slice upon slice the carded walls of stone, of silvery waters,
of elfin gardens slipped from me as cards are withdrawn from a pack,
one by one – slipped, wheeled, flattened,
and lengthened out as I passed through them and they passed from me.

Gasping, shaken, weak, I stood within the faceted oval chamber;
arm still about the handmaiden’s white shoulder;
Larry’s hand still clutching her girdle.

The roaring, impalpable gale from the cosmos was retreating to the outposts of space –
was still; the intense, streaming, flooding radiance lessened – died.

“Now have you beheld,” said Lakla, “and well you trod the road.
And now shall you hear, even as the Silent Ones have commanded,
what the Shining One is – and how it came to be.”

The steps flashed back; the doorway into the chamber opened.

Larry as silent as I – we followed her through it.

For your further distraction, diversion, speculation, and wonder…

A. Merritt, at…

Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Wikipedia

Project Gutenberg (The Metal Monster, and, The Moon Pool)

Internet Archive

The Locus Index to Science Fiction, 1984-1998 

FindAGrave

The Moon Pool, at…

Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Wikipedia

Project Gutenberg

Good Reads

Don-Ivan Punchatz, at…

Wikipedia

Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Spectrum – The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art

FindAGrave

A Book

Gunn, James E. (with Introduction by Isaac Asimov) Alternate Worlds – The Illustrated History of Science Fiction, A&W Visual Library (by arrangement with Prentice-Hall, Inc.), Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1973

Clans of the Alphane Moon, by Philip K. Dick – 1964 [Edward I. Valigursky]

“Like most Terran males your sense of self-respect is bound up
in your wage-earning capabilities,
an area in which you have grave doubts as well as extreme guilts.”

______________________________

“A knock sounded on the door of the conapt.
It could not be the Ganymedean returning because a slime mold did not – could not – knock.
Rising, Chuck went to the door and opened it.

A Terran girl stood there.”

In a ‘pape one week old he found a more or less complete article;
he lit a cigarette and read carefully.

Psychologists were needed,
it was anticipated by the US Interplan Health & Welfare Service,
because the moon had originally been a hospital area,
a psychiatric care-center for Terran immigrants to the Alphane system
who had cracked under the abnormal,
excessive pressures of inter-system colonization. 
The Alphanes had left it alone, except for their traders

What was known of the moon’s current status came from these Alphane traders. 
According to them a civilization of sorts had arisen
during the decades in which the hospital had been severed from Terra’s authority. 
However, they could not evaluate it
because their knowledge of Terran mores was inadequate. 
In any case local commodities were produced,
traded; domestic industry existed, too,
and he wondered why the Terran government felt the necessity of meddling. 
He could imagine Mary there so well;
she was precisely the sort which TERPLAN, the international agency, would select-
People of Mary’s type would always succeed.

Going to the ancient picture window he stood for a time once more, gazing down. 
And then, stealthily, he felt rise up within him the familiar urge. 
The sense that it was pointless to go on;
suicide, whatever the law and the church said,
was for him the only real answer at this instant

He found a smaller side window that opened;
raising it, he listened to the buzz of a jet-hopper
as it landed on a rooftop on the far side of the street. 
Its sound died. 
He waited, and then he climbed part way over the edge of the window,
dangling above the traffic which moved below ….

From inside him a voice, but not his own, said.

“Please tell me your name. 
Regardless of whether you intend or do not intend to jump.”

Turning, Chuck saw a yellow Ganymedean slime mold
that had silently flowed tinder the door of the conapt
and was gathering itself into the heap of small globes which comprised its physical being.

“I rent the conapt across the halt,” the slime mold declared.

Chuck said, “Among Terrans it’s customary to knock.”

“I possess nothing to knock with. 
In any case I wished to enter before you – departed.”

“It’s my personal business whether I jump or not.”

“’No Terran is an island,’” the slime mold more or less quoted. 
“Welcome to the building which we who rent apts here have humorously dubbed
‘Discarded Arms Conapts.’  There are others here whom you should meet. 
Several Terrans – like yourself – plus a number of non-Ts of assorted physiognomy,
some which will repel you, some which no doubt will attract. 
I had planned to borrow a cup of yogurt culture from you,
but in view of your preoccupation it seems an Insulting request”

“I haven’t moved in anything.  As yet.” 
He swung his leg back over the sill,
stepped back into the room, away from the window. 
He was not surprised to see the Ganymedean slime mold;
a ghetto situation existed with non-Ts:
no matter how influential and highly-placed in their own societies
on Terra they were forced to inhabit substandard housing such as this.

“Could I carry a business card,” the slime mold said, “I would now present it to you. 
I am an importer of uncut gems, a dealer in secondhand gold,
and, under the right circumstances, a fanatic buyer of philatelic collections. 
As a matter of fact I have in my apt at the moment a choice collection of early US,
with special emphasis on mint Marks of four of the Columbus set;
would you -”  It broke off. 
“I see you would not. 
In any case the desire to destroy yourself has at least temporarily abated from your mind. 
That is good. 
In addition to my announced commercial – “

“Aren’t you required by law to curb your telepathic ability while on Terra?” Chuck said.

“Yes, but your situation seemed to be exceptional. 
Mr. Rittersdorf, I cannot personally employ you,
since I require no propagandistic services. 
But I have a number of contacts among the nine moons; given time – “

“No thanks,” Chuck said roughly “I just want to be left alone.”  
He had already endured enough assistance in job acquisition to last him a lifetime.

“But, on my part, quite unlike your wife, I have no ulterior motive.”  
The slime mold ebbed closer. 
“Like most Terran males your sense of self-respect is bound up in your wage-earning capabilities,
an area in which you have grave doubts as well as extreme guilts. 
I can do something for you … but it will take time. 
Presently I leave Terra and start back to my own moon. 
Suppose I pay you five hundred skins – US, of course – to come with me. 
Consider it a loan, if you want.”

“What would I do on Ganymede?”  
Irritably, Chuck said, “Don’t you believe me either?  
I have a job; one I consider adequate – I don’t want to leave it.”

“Subconsciously – “

“Don’t read my subconscious back to me. 
And get out of here and leave me alone.”  
He turned his back on the slime mold.

“I am afraid your suicidal drive will return – perhaps even before tonight”

“Let it.”

The slime mold said, “There is only one thing that can help you,
and my miserable job-offer is not it.”

“What is it then?”

“A woman to replace your wife.”

“Now you’re acting as a – “

“Not at all. 
This is neither physically base nor ethereal, it is simply practical. 
You must find a woman who can accept you, love you, as you are;
otherwise you’ll perish. 
Let me ponder this. 
And in the meantime, control yourself. 
Give me five hours.  And remain here.”  
The slime mold flowed slowly under the door,
through the crack and outside into the hall. 
Its thoughts dimmed. 
“As an importer, buyer and dealer I have many contacts with Terrans of all walks of life …”  
Then it was gone.

Shakily, Chuck lit a cigarette. 
And walked away – a long distance away – from the window,
to seat himself on the ancient Danish-style sofa.  And wait.

It was hard to know how to react to the slime mold’s charitable offer;
he was both angered and touched – and, in addition, puzzled. 
Could the slime mold actually help him?  It seemed impossible.

He waited one hour.

A knock sounded on the door of the conapt.
It could not be the Ganymedean returning because a slime mold did not – could not – knock. 
Rising, Chuck went to the door and opened it.

A Terran girl stood there.

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You Have Read?

Dick, Philip K., Clans of the Alphane Moon, Ace Books, Inc., New York, N.Y., 1964. 

Sutin, Lawrence, Divine Invasions – A Life of Philip K. Dick, Harmony Books, New York, N.Y., 1989

Travel In Time, Travel Through Time: “Bring the Jubilee”, by Ward Moore – The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction – November, 1952 [Edmund A. Emshwiller] / Ballantine Books – 1953 [Richard M. Powers]

A central theme of science-fiction and fantasy has long been time travel, which – if a story of that genre is fully developed – can entail an exploration of the nature and implications of parallel universes, in terms both literary and historical.  Among the myriad of such stories, one of the best by far (well, the best I’ve ever read) is Ward Moore’s Bring the Jubilee, which takes a very novel approach (pardon the pun!) to the concepts of time travel and alternate history. 

The novel is very well described at Wikipedia and elsewhere, so I won’t rehash it in detail here.  Suffice to say that in terms of plot – taking for granted the reality of time travel, of course! – the most original aspect of Moore’s story is that the world we “know” from 1863 onwards – and thus the very world are living in, here, now, today in 2023 and thus into our future, exists because of the irrevocable alteration of a pre-existing and now-extinguished timeline in which the Confederacy achieved victory over the Union.  This change – the novel’s Jonbar hinge – commences in that timeline’s year of 1952, when protagonist Hodgins “Hodge” McCormick Backmaker travels back to July 2, 1863 with the intention of observing the Battle of Gettysburg in general, and the fight for Little Round Top, in particular.  Fully interacting with the world of the past – his past – not a passive observer, his presence changes the Confederate Victory of his timeline to the Union victory of ours, eventuating in a course of events – both domestic and international; for good, ill, and yet unknown – that we know today.  And with this, Backmaker is forever trapped in our world, the involuntary, tragic, and solitary exile from a timeline and universe that no longer exists, and which from our perspective never existed to begin with:  Even if a time machine were to be invented in our world, there is nothing for him to return to. 

All Backmaker knew is gone; all those he has known only exist in memory: His memory.

One could write far more about this exceptional work.  Suffice to say that in terms of plot, world-building, historical insight (welll… at least insight into the history of our world!), character development, philosophical depth, and straightforward literary quality, Bring the Jubilee is more than excellent.  Unlike the sense of humorous novelty inherent to some time-travel and alternate universe stories, Moore’s book is serious, philosophical, and ends on a note of true and deep pathos.  (Which shouldn’t dissuade you from reading it – it’s that good!) 

To the best of my knowledge it has never been adapted for film or video, but it would be more than worthy of such treatment.  

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Edmund Emshwiller’s cover art for the November, 1952 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction – Ward’s novel encompassing pages 24 through 112, and thus most of this issue’s content – is somewhat different in style from other examples of his paintings, where human facial expressions and technology are presented in great detail.  Here, protagonist Hodgins Backmaker’s face is hidden from us.  We see him backlit from behind as as he enters the time machine, illuminated by a glowing ring of light suspended in the device’s center.   This shadowed anonymity lends the scene an aura of adventure, power, and above, connotes the awareness of an impending step into the unknown.  And, around the door to the time machine?  Symbols of the Civil War and Confederacy: foggy silhouettes of soldiers; cavalry; artillery pieces; a steam-powered minibile.  

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Here are the covers of Moore’s story in novel form, issued by Ballantine Books one year later.  You can immediately tell that it’s by Richard Powers, while his signature is at the bottom left corner of the rear cover).  Neither an anthology nor a work of science-fiction based on themes like space exploration or extraterrestrials, Powers created a image comprised of symbols and themes directly drawn from the Civil War era: Soldiers in battle, bursting artillery shells, and a map the divided North America in Backmaker’s timeline of 1951.  Given that most of the story transpires in the imagined Confederacy of the 1950s – the world descended from the Union defeat at Gettysburg – the advancing soldiers shown on the cover are all Southerners, with the Confederate flag flying above.  Another touch: 

This is one of the very few covers in which Powers includes a recognizable person – Backmaker himself (I suppose…!) at lower right, looking on, looking back, from the future.  Whose future?  His, or, ours?  

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Here’s the full cover, composited via Photoshop… (My own copy.)

The Appeal of Alternate History
Gavriel Rosenfeld

The Forward
April 20, 2007

Few subgenres of literature have been subjected to such longstanding critical scorn as alternate history.  Despite the occasional publication of such masterpieces as Philip K. Dick’s 1962 novel, “The Man in the High Castle,” the more frequent appearance of duds like Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen’s much-maligned 1995 novel, “1945,” has reinforced alternate history’s reputation as the domain of armchair historians and literary hacks.

Of late, however, alternate history’s appeal has begun to grow.  Historian Niall Ferguson’s 1997 edited volume of counterfactual essays, “Virtual History,” lent the genre new credibility within the field of history, while Philip Roth’s best-selling 2004 novel, “The Plot Against America,” greatly enhanced its reputation within the American literary establishment.  Now, Michael Chabon’s provocative new novel, “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union” (HarperCollins), promises to help the genre of alternate history take yet another important step toward mainstream legitimacy.  But while Chabon’s novel is an intricately plotted, wonderfully imaginative and ultimately successful work of literature, it is a weaker exercise in counterfactual speculation.  Indeed, the novel resembles a “lite” version of alternate history that may leave connoisseurs of the real thing less than satisfied.

The best literary examples of alternate history — like Ward Moore’s 1953 novel, “Bring the Jubilee” (where the South wins the Civil War), or Robert Harris’s 1992 best-seller, “Fatherland” (where the Nazis win World War II) — combine a variety of elements: a clear point of divergence from the established historical record; clever and well-paced exposition of the reasons for history’s altered course; a convincing degree of plausibility, and a discernible stance on the question of whether the altered past is better or worse than the course of real history.

But whereas the most convincing works of alternate history tend to concentrate on a single point of divergence (the South wins the Civil War; JFK survives his assassination attempt), “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union” features several: The United States decides in 1940 to establish a territorial home for European Jewish refugees in Alaska; the Russians are defeated by the Nazis in World War II (though the Nazis ultimately lose to the Americans anyway); the Cold War never ensues, and the state of Israel is never created, as the Jews lose the 1948 War of Independence and are “driven into the sea.”  Aficionados of alternate history will probably carp at the implausibility of the United States staying in the war for very long against a victorious Nazi Germany without the Soviet Union doing most of the heavy lifting on the eastern front.  Others will view with skepticism the ideologically fanatical Nazis permitting millions of Jews to leave Europe, unmolested, for their Alaskan refuge.

But perhaps the most telling weakness about “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union” as a work of alternate history is the fact that arguably, its basic plot could have unfolded in nearly the same way as a conventional work of historical fiction.  While Chabon’s basic allohistorical premise certainly lends the novel its distinctive mood, it is inessential to its basic plot — a noirish, detective-drama-cum-political-thriller whose fundamental contours (as most readers will deduce) have been inspired by today’s real historical headlines.

Few of these criticisms will bother Chabon’s many devoted fans (I remain an enthusiastic one).  Most will be absorbed by the book’s engrossing narrative and won’t be bothered much by its diluted allohistorical dimensions.  But devotees of alternate history will probably dissent.  However much they may welcome the fact that some of America’s most celebrated writers are beginning to appreciate alternate history’s allure, they will likely insist that the genre still awaits its contemporary masterpiece.

Gavriel Rosenfeld is an associate professor of history at Fairfield University and is the author of “The World Hitler Never Made: Alternate History and the Memory of Nazism” (Cambridge University Press, 2005).

Other Stuff to Delight, Distract, and Divert You…

Ward Moore (Joseph Ward Moore)…

… at Wikipedia

… at Internet Speculative Fiction Database

…at FindAGrave

Edmund A. Emshwiller…

… at Wikipedia

… at Internet Speculative Fiction Database

“Bring the Jubilee”…

…at Wikipedia

… at GoodReads

…at The Alternate Historian (“Bring the Jubilee: A Misunderstood Alternate History Masterpiece”)

If the Confederacy had Won the Civil War…

…at History Answers (“American Civil War | How The South Could Have Won”) 

…at AlternateHistoryHub (“What if the South Won the American Civil War?”)

Crossroads in Time, edited by Groff Conklin – November, 1953 [Richard M. Powers]

Richard Powers science fiction oeuvre commenced in 1950 with a cover illustration for Doubleday’s publication of Isaac Asimov’s Pebble in The Sky.  By the end of 1953, he’d completed cover illustrations for nearly forty books and magazines.  Among these paintings was the cover of Groff Conklin’s eleventh anthology, the 1953 Crossroads in Time.

Powers’ cover for this collection was comprised of four science-fictionty elements that would appear in different combinations, colors, shapes, and sizes in his other works:  A spinning yellow sun, a spaceship, a weirdly asymmetric trapeze-like elevated city (so very unlike the Jetson family’s residence at the Skypad Apartments of Orbit City!), upon a star and planet-filled indigo-to-black star-filled background, all broken up by lanes of red.  And, a robot.  (Playing hide-and-seek from the upper right corner.) 

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Here’s a closer view of “the robot”.  Is it my imagination, or is there a familial resemblance to Frank The Robot, who appeared on the cover of the October, 1953 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, and moonlights as the opening act for Queen + Adam Lambert?

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Contents

Introduction (Crossroads in Time), by Groff Conklin

“Assumption Unjustified” (Astounding Science Fiction, October, 1946), by Hal Clement

“The Eagles Gather” (Astounding Science Fiction, April, 1942), by Joseph E. Kelleam

“The Queen’s Astrologer” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, October, 1949), by Murray Leinster

““Derm Fool”“ (Unknown Fantasy Fiction, March, 1940), by Theodore Sturgeon (variant of “Derm Fool”)

“Courtesy” (Astounding Science Fiction, August, 1951), by Clifford D. Simak (Broadcast on NBC’s X Minus One on August 18, 1955)

“Secret” (Astounding Science Fiction, January, 1953), by Lee Cahn

“Thirsty God” (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March, 1953), by Margaret St. Clair

“The Mutant’s Brother” (Astounding Science Fiction, August, 1943), by Fritz Leiber

“Student Body” (Galaxy Science Fiction, March, 1953), by F.L. Wallace (Floyd Lee Wallace)

“Made in U.S.A.” (Galaxy Science Fiction, April, 1953), by J.T. McIntosh (James Murdoch MacGregor)

“Technical Advisor” (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, February, 1953), by Chad Oliver

“Feedback” (Astounding Science Fiction, July, 1951), by Katherine MacLean

“The Cave” (Astounding Science Fiction, January, 1943), by P. Schuyler Miller

“Vocation” (Astounding Science Fiction, April, 1945) by George O. Smith

“The Time Decelerator” (Astounding Stories, July, 1936), by A. Macfadyen, Jr.

“Zen” (Galaxy Science Fiction, October, 1952), by Jerome Bixby

“Let There Be Light” (if, November, 1952), by H.B. Fyfe (as by Horace B. Fyfe)

“The Brain” (Crossroads in Time), by Norbert Wiener (as by W. Norbert)

References and What-Not

Crossroads in Time, at Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Groff Conklin, at Wikipedia

Groff Conklin, at at Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Science Fiction Omnibus, edited by Groff Conklin – August, 1956 (1952) [Richard M. Powers]

Like A Treasury of Science Fiction, The Other Side of the Moon, and Worlds of Tomorrow, Berkley Book’s 1956 Science Fiction Omnibus is a diminutive paperback  derived from an earlier hardback of the same – in this case, similar – name.

And, it similarly features distinctive cover art by Richard Powers. 

In this case, make that v e r y distinctive, because of these four books, the cover of the Omnibus – while not as boldly colorful as that of the Treasury – distinctly presents objects (for lack of a better word!) that make the covert art immediately recognizable as a Powers composition.  Like the scene shown below: It shows an asymmetrical, weirdly bulging platform or space station, with flames sprouting from three odd rockets at the bottom.  It’s got a metallic sort of color.  And, like the floating thingy at the top of the page, it’s got a trapeze of wires attached to it. 

Other, similar, weirdly elongated, uneven, indefinable things with a metallic sheen are present elsewhere in the painting.  But, there’s no explanation as to what they are.  They just float through space, asking for your own explanation.

And, there’s a final emblematic touch: The only things that are clearly recognizable from “our” world are as diminutive as they are innocuous.  First, a tiny rocket stands on the floating platform.  Second, two human figures are nearby, but they’re so tiny as to be near-invisible.  Here, like in some of his other 50s paintings, Powers makes man negligible in the face of the unknown.

Take a look:

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Otherwise, like the other Berkley anthologies, the Omnibus contains a limited number – eleven of forty-three – of the stories in the (originally titled) Omnibus of Science Fiction.    

For the sake of completeness, here’s the rear cover.  Notice that the endorsements are from newspapers, rather than science-fiction or fantasy magazines?  I guess the idea is that praise from mainstream publications would have more cachet for a general audience than from pulp magazines.  

Of the stories in this volume, I’ve only read (or at least, I remember having read!) “A Subway Named Mobius” and “Kaleidescope”, while I’ve listened to two or three radio dramatizations of “The Color Out of Space”.  The first of the three is a well-written, entertaining, and light-but-not-necessarily-too-impactful tale typical of Astounding’s early 1950s content.  The second inspired the closing scene of Dan O’Bannon’s 1974 Dark Star, specifically here:

As for “The Color Out of Space”, well, what can one say?  Like much (all?) of Lovecraft’s work, crafting personalities and engaging in character development is largely irrelevant to Lovecraft’s purpose in creating mood and atmosphere; dread and wonder, in which the story, like “At The Mountains of Madness” (and so many other Lovecraft tales) is entirely successful.  

What’s in the book?

A Subway Named Mobius“, by A.J. Deutsch (from Astounding Science Fiction, December, 1950)

“The Color Out of Space”, by H.P. Lovecraft (from Best Supernatural Stories of H. P. Lovecraft, April, 1945; originally published in Amazing Stories, September, 1927)

“The Star Dummy”, by Anthony Boucher (from Fantastic, Fall, 1952)

“Homo Sol”, by Isaac Asimov (from Astounding Science Fiction, September, 1940

Kaleidoscope“, by Rat Bradbury (from Thrilling Wonder Stories, October, 1949)

“Plague”, by Murray Leinster (from Astounding Science Fiction, February, 1944)

“Test Piece”, by Eric Frank Russell (from Other Worlds Science Stories, March, 1951)

“Spectator Sport”, by John D. MacDonald (from Thrilling Wonder Stories, February, 1950)

“The Weapon”, by Frederic Brown (from Astounding Science Fiction, April, 1951)

“History Lesson”, by Arthur C. Clarke (from Startling Stories, May, 1949)

“Instinct”, by Lester del Rey (from Astounding Science Fiction, January, 1952)

A reference or two…

Science Fiction Omnibus (August, 1956), at…

Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Omnibus of Science Fiction Omnibus (1952), at…

Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Groff Conklin, at…

Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Wikipedia