A nice selection of Cyril Kornbluth’s stories can be found in Ballantine Books’ 1954 paperback The Explorers.
The cover is straightforward and simple in subject matter, yet highly effective: A rocket rises from a launch pad, mountainous terrain behind, with a view of the moon’s looming crater-pocked surface as the background.
The rocket’s shape is interesting: It’s kind of German WW II V-2-ish in general configuration, but its Coke-bottle profile is reminiscent of the fuselage of America’s F-106 Delta Dart interceptor fighter of the Cold War, the aircraft having been designed in accordance with the aerodynamic design known as the area rule. This is readily apparent in the vertical (top-down) view of the aircraft, as seen below.
The rocket appears once more on the rear cover, as a sketch derived from the painting. For this, artist Jack Faragasso has added a few details to the spacecraft’s body.
Interestingly and happily, while creating this post I discovered that Mr. Faragasso – also a writer and photographer – continues to be active some sixty-six years after the creation of his illustration for Kornbluth’s book. You can view examples of his science-fiction / fantasy illustrations here, purchase some of his books (of poetry and on art instruction) here, and likewise purchase samples of his art, here. Intriguingly, his body of work also includes an album of early photographs of Bettie Page.
From the rear cover…
C.M. Kornbluth
…has produced some of the most satisfying suspense and the keenest satire to be found in science fiction.
THE SPACE MERCHANTS, the novel of a huckster’s utopia on which he collaborated with Frederik Pohl, was hailed by the New York Times as “a book so rewarding that it should henceforth show up on all lists of science-fiction classics.”
His solo flights – from the memorable TAKE-OFF to his most recent novel, THE SYNDIC – have been no less successful and have firmly established the name of C.M. Kornbluth among the brightest lights in this field.
The present collection – the first ever published of his shorter fiction – includes both one of his earliest stories (“Thirteen O’Clock”) and a brand-new novelette, “Gomez,” which appears here in print for the first time. Told with excitement and power, these stories display the delightfully ironic imagination of a writer who is master of his craft.
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A list of the book’s contents appears below. For three stories (“The Mindworm“, “The Rocket of 1955“, and “Thirteen O’Clock“) I’ve added images of the cover art of the magazine in which these stories originally appeared. (Alas, found on the Internet; not part of my collection!) I particularly liked the originality of “The Mindworm”, a very clever variation on the theme of vampires.
Contents
Gomez, from this volume
The Mindworm, from Worlds Beyond, December, 1950 (Cover by Paul Callé)
The Rocket of 1955, from Stirring Science Stories, April, 1941 (as Cecil Corwin) (Cover by Hannes Bok)
The Altar at Midnight, from Galaxy Science Fiction, November, 1952
Thirteen O’Clock, later as “Mr. Packer Goes to Hell”, from Stirring Science Stories, February, 1941 (author as “Cecil Corwin”) (Cover by Leo Morey)
The Goodly Creatures, from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, December, 1952
Friend to Man, from 10 Story Fantasy, Spring, 1951
With These Hands, from Galaxy Science Fiction, December, 1951
That Share of Glory, from Astounding Science Fiction, January, 1952
About C.M. Kornbluth, essay by C.M. Kornbluth, from this volume
References
Internet Speculative Fiction Database, for The Explorers
Jack Faragasso – His Own Website!
