Month: January 2019

Five Down and Glory, by Gene Gurney – 1958 [Bob Blanchard]

Bob Blanchard’s art for Five Down and Glory depicts a P-38 Lightning fighter plane passing before the smoke trail of a fallen Japanese single-engine fighter.  But, a closer look reveals that his P-38 does not have the appearance of a typical P-38 fighter. 

Instead, the plane has a striking resemblance to the one-of-a-kind P-38E “Swordfish” (41-2048) Lightning, nicknamed “Nosey” because of its elongated central fuselage pod housing a second crew member.  “Nosey”, which test pilots observed to have better flying qualities than standard P-38s, was used to investigate different airfoil sections.  Its distinctive configuration is obvious in the image below, from the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.   

Lockheed P-38E “Swordfish” Laminar Flow Wing Testbed. (U.S. Air Force photo)

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From the fabric and tubing biplanes of World War I, through the thunderous era of the Thunderbolts and Mustangs and Lightnings of World War II, to the silver-sleek jets knifing through the thin air seven miles above the Korean peninsula, FIVE DOWN AND GLORY presents the sweeping story of America’s ace fighter pilots.

In forty years of air war, less than one percent of all American fighters [sic] have become aces – yet these few men have accounted for thirty to forty percent of all enemy aircraft destroyed!  What is even more surprising, ninety-three percent of these aces are living today – their mortality rate being far below that of the average military pilot.

FIVE DOWN AND GLORY is not only an exciting, detailed record of the flaming air battles in which these men won glory but the only published compilation – from official sources – of the victories of every American fighter ace, for every war, every theater and every service in which aviation was a fighting part.”

Reference

Kinzey, Bert, P-38 Lightning in Detail and Scale – Part 1: XP-38 Through P-38H, Squadron / Signal Publications, Carrollton, Tx., 1998

Farhenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury – 1953 [Joseph A. Mugnaini]

Contents

Fahrenheit 451

And the Rock Cried Out

The Playground

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Joseph Mugnaini’s interior art…

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Rear cover, with portrait of Ray Bradbury

Adventures in Time and Space, by Raymond J. Healy and J. Francis McComas – 1946 [George Salter]

Raymond J. Healy and J. Francis McComas’ 1946 Adventures in Time and Space was intriguing by its front cover and title page bearing the impression and symbol of a rocket (?) rising upwards to the “right”. 

The former, from a symbolized globe; the latter, from the logo of a version of the “house” (of publishing?) that in a variety of depictions has symbolized Random House Publishers.  

The book’s dust jacket (the example shown below is from the International Science Fiction Database; the front cover and title page are from my own copy) is a little different.  It features a pair of rising rockets  ascending to the “left”, superimposed over three concentric blue circles – symbolizing space?

The cover art is by George Salter, who created cover art – of a very distinctive and easily identifiable style – for several of the early issues of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. 

You can enjoy a detailed history and moving reminiscence about this volume in Dr. Michael J. Vassallo’s essay “Adventures in Time and Space” – A Classic Science Fiction Anthology, at his Timely-Atlas-Comics blog. 

Contents

INTRODUCTION (xi)

REQUIEM, by Robert A. Heinlein, from Astounding Science Fiction, January, 1940 (p. 3)

FORGETFULNESS, by Don A. Stuart, from Astounding Stories, June, 1937 (p. 20)

NERVES, by Lester Del Rey, from Astounding Science Fiction, September, 1942 (p. 46)

THE SANDS OF TIME, by P. Schuyler Miller, from Astounding Stories, April, 1937 (p. 115)

THE PROUD ROBOT, by Lewis Padgett, from Astounding Science Fiction, October, 1943 (p. 144)

BLACK DESTROYER, by A.E. van Vogt, from Astounding Science Fiction, July, 1939 (p. 177)

SYMBIOTICA, by Eric Frank Russell, from Astounding Science Fiction, October, 1943 (p. 207)

SEEDS OF THE DUSK, by Raymond Z. Gallum, from Astounding Science Fiction, June, 1938 (p. 249)

HEAVY PLANET, by Lee Gregor, from Astounding Science Fiction, August, 1939 (p. 276)

TIME LOCKER, by Lewis Padgett, from Astounding Science Fiction, January, 1943 (p. 286)

THE LINK, by Cleve Cartmill, from Astounding Science Fiction, August, 1942 (p. 308)

MECHANICAL MICE, by Maurice A. Hugi, from this volume (p. 320)

V-2: ROCKET CARGO SHIP, by Willy Ley, from this volume (p. 344)

ADAM AND NO EVE, by Alfred Bester, from Astounding Science Fiction, September, 1941 (p. 365)

NIGHTFALL, by Isaac Asimov, from Astounding Science Fiction, September, 1941 (p. 378)

A MATTER OF SIZE, by Harry Bates, from Astounding Stories, April, 1934 (p. 412)

AS NEVER WAS, by P. Schuyler Miller, from Astounding Science Fiction, January, 1944 (p. 460)

Q.U.R., by Anthony Boucher, from Astounding Science Fiction, March, 1943 (p. 476)

WHO GOES THERE?, by Don A. Stuart, from Astounding Science Fiction, August, 1938 (p. 497)

THE ROADS MUST ROLL, by Robert A. Heinlein, from Astounding Science Fiction, June, 1940 (p. 551)

ASYLUM, by A.E. van Vogt, from Astounding Science Fiction, May, 1942 (p. 588)

QUIETUS, by Ross Rocklynne, from Astounding Science Fiction, September, 1940 (p. 641)

THE TWONKY, by  Lewis Padgett, from Astounding Science Fiction, September, 1942 (p. 655)

TIME-TRAVEL HAPPENS!, by A.M. Phillips, from Unknown, December, 1939 (p. 676)

ROBOT’S RETURN (variant of ROBOTS RETURN, from Astounding Science Fiction, September, 1938), by Robert Moore Williams, from this volume (p. 687)

THE BLUE GIRAFFE, by L. Sprague de Camp , from Astounding Science Fiction, August, 1939 (p. 698)

FLIGHT INTO DARKNESS, by Webb Marlowe, from Astounding Science Fiction, February, 1943 (p. 721)

THE WEAPONS SHOP (variant of THE WEAPON SHOP, from Astounding Science Fiction, December, 1942), by A.E. van Vogt (p. 741)

FAREWELL TO THE MASTER, by Harry Bates, from Astounding Science Fiction, October, 1940 (p. 779)

WITHIN THE PYRAMID, by R. DeWitt Miller, from Astounding Stories, March, 1937 (p. 816)

HE WHO SHRANK, by Henry Hasse, from Amazing Stories, August, 1936 (p. 825)

BY HIS BOOTSTRAPS, by Anson MacDonald, from Astounding Science Fiction, October, 1941 (p. 882)

THE STAR MOUSE, by Fredric Brown, from Planet Stories, Spring, 1942 (p. 933)

CORRESPONDENCE COURSE, by Raymond F. Jones, from Astounding Science Fiction, April, 1945 (p. 953)

BRAIN, by S. Fowler Wright, from The New Gods Lead, April, 1932 (p. 972)

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Adventures in Time and Space, or selections from the content of the original volume, has been published 14 times since that 1946 edition, the most recent edition having been released by the Science Fiction Book Club in 2001.

The edition from 1954 is shown below.  Though Charles Binger’s artistic style is vastly different from that of George Salter, the cover retains a pair of rising rockets as its central thematic element.

(Selections From) Adventures in Time and Space

Published in April, 1954, under imprint of Pennant Books (Random House)

Cover art by Charles Binger

Contents

Requiem, by Robert A. Heinlein (p. 1)
(Astounding Science Fiction, January, 1940)

Black Destroyer, by A.E. van Vogt (p. 21)
(Astounding Science Fiction, July, 1939)

Time Locker, by Lewis Padgett (Henry Kuttner and Catherine L. Moore) (p. 56)
(Astounding Science Fiction, January, 1943)

Mechanical Mice, by Maurice A. Hugi (p. 81)
(Astounding Science Fiction, January, 1941)

As Never Was, by P. Schuyler Miller (p. 109)
(Astounding Science Fiction, January, 1944)

Quietus, by Ross Rocklyne (Ross L. Rocklin) (p. 128)
(Astounding Science Fiction, September, 1940)

Robot’s Return, by Robert Moore Williams (p. 144)
(Astounding Science Fiction, September, 1938)

Farewell to the Master, by Harry Bates (John W. Campbell) (p. 157)
(Astounding Science Fiction, October, 1940)

 

Galaxy Science Fiction – August, 1953 (Featuring “Mind Alone,” by J.T. M’Intosh) [Mel Hunter]

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Illustration by Rene Vidmer, for “Mind Alone”, by J.T. M’Intosh (James Murdoch MacGregor).  (p. 50)  Vidmer also created cover paintings for Beyond Fantasy Fiction for November, 1953 and July, 1954.

Juke Box King, by Frank Kane – October, 1959 [Freeman Eliot]

Mitch Corday’s office was a combination of den and office. 
Its knotty pine paneling featured autographed pictures
of the top talent that had headlined the shows,
the floor was covered with a colorful Indian rug. 
Comfortable looking chairs were scattered around the room,
a large desk was placed
so Corday could look out across the desert to the distant blue-black mountains. 

He sat at the desk, his heel hooked on the corner,
watched the cottony white clouds that seemed to hang motionless
in the blue of the sky.
The harsh rock outlines of the mountains were softened by haze.
Corday wondered how the weather was back on State Street
and if he’d ever be able to live in Chicago again after once having lived in Vegas.
The last time he had been there,
the slush was ankle deep in the gutters,
the wind that came off the lake was cold,
cut through him like a knife.
Instead of the white clouds and the blue overhead,
it had been a dark, dreary day with the skies the color of lead

And yet there were times when he wished he had seen
the last of the super-modern pastel-colored buildings,
the neon lights,
the dry air and the blistering sun that spelled Vegas. 
Some day he might go back East. 
There were lots of the boys who never could –
who sat around at night and talked about the old days and the old places
with the sad knowledge that they were now out of bounds. 
Nevada might be willing to overlook certain differences with the law. 
But New York and Chicago and even Miami had long memories. 
And the dry air, the monotony of the perfect weather,
the blistering sun and the wind that dried the perspiration on your body –
all of these were preferable to the even greater monotony
of Sing Sing or Joliet or Alcatraz. 
As long as it had to be a prison, they preferred the gaudier one –
even though in time it might become just as confining. 

Corday started at the knock on the door,
dropped his head from his desk, swiveled around.

“Come in.”

– Frank Kane –

A Theft, by Saul Bellow – 1989 [Amy Hill]

When you were down, busted, blasted, burnt out, dying, you saw the best of Clara.

So it was odd that she also should have become an executive,
highly paid and influential. 
She could make fashionable talk,
she dressed with originality,
she knew at lot at first hand about decadence,
but at any moment she could set aside the “czarina” and become the hayseed,
the dupe of travelling salesmen or grifters who wanted to lure her up to the hayloft. 
In her you might see suddenly a girl from a remote town,
from the vestigial America of one-room schoolhouses,
constables,
covered-dish suppers,
one of the communities bypassed by technology and urban development. 
Her father, remember, was still a vestryman,
and her mother sent checks to TV fundamentalists. 
In a sophisticated boardroom Clara could  be as plain as cornmeal mush,
and in such a mood, when she opened her mouth,
you couldn’t guess whether she would speak or blow bubble gum. 
Yet anybody who had it in mind to get around her was letting himself in for lots of bad news. 

– Saul Bellow –

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Amy Hill’s cover painting for A Theft.  An untitled copy of A Theft – bearing her own (the above) illustration, is tossed from a window above Park Avenue.  A closer view reveals that this illustration appears – ad infinitum? – inside each iteration within the painting. 

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Portrait of Saul Bellow by Thomas Victor.