The selection of balance between colors used in this illustration is perfect.
(Really.)
Moving from foreground to horizon, we find a steady gradation of colors ranging from a steely greenish-blue landscape, to buildings in muted (and foggy) purplish blue to bold and crisp bluish-purple and then, insignia blue towers, horizontally banded with grayish blue, and occasional yellow. The towers themselves are backlit by a rising (or is it setting? – I think it’s setting) sun, itself behind a veil of undulating red and yellow clouds.
And, the blimps in the left add a sense of balance and scale.
Alas, the purple whatever-it-is (an extraterrestrial kangaroo, perchance?) doesn’t – really “fit”, and the foreground space would have been better occupied by another blimp, or something like one of the floating, curved, metalloids typical of the work of Richard Powers. I wonder if the artist was influenced by the Tauntaun, in The Empire Strikes Back…
Contents
The Red Queen’s Race, by Isaac Asimov, from Astounding Science Fiction
Flaw, by John D. MacDonald, from Startling Stories
Private Eye, by Lewis Padgett (Henry Kuttner and Catherine L. Moore), from Astounding Science Fiction
Manna, by Peter Phillips, from Astounding Science Fiction
The Prisoner In The Skull, by Lewis Padgett (Henry Kuttner and Catherine L. Moore), from AstoundingScience Fiction
Alien Earth, by Edmond Hamilton, from Thrilling Wonder Stories
History Lesson, by Arthur C. Clarke, from Startling Stories
Eternity Lost, by Clifford D. Simak, from Astounding Science Fiction
The Only Thing We Learn, by Cyril M. Kornbluth, from Startling Stories
Private – Keep Out, by Philip MacDonald, from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
The Hurkle Is A Happy Beast, by Theodore Sturgeon, from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
Kaleidoscope, by Ray Bradbury, from Thrilling Wonder Stories
Defense Mechanism, by Katherine MacLean, from Astounding Science Fiction
Cold War, by Henry Kuttner, from Thrilling Wonder Stories
The Witches of Karres, by James H. Schmitz, from Astounding Science Fiction
Though less said about the cover art of Volume 13 of Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories – “the better” (!) – I’m still including images of this volume’s cover, and a close-up of its art, for the sake of completeness…
Well, okay.
Yeah.
(You get the idea.)
What were they thinking?
Contents
Null-P, by William Tenn, from Worlds Beyond
The Sentinel, by Arthur C. Clarke, from Ten Story Fantasy
The Fire Balloons, by Ray Bradbury, from Imagination
The Marching Morons, by Cyril M. Kornbluth, from Galaxy Science Fiction
The Weapon, By Frederic Brown, from AstoundingScience Fiction
Angel’s Egg, by Edgar Pangborn, from Galaxy Science Fiction
“Breeds There A Man-“, by Isaac Asimov, from Astounding Science Fiction
Pictures Don’t Lie, by Katherine MacLean, from Galaxy Science Fiction
Superiority, by Arthur C. Clarke, from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
I’m Scared, by Jack Finney, from Colliers
The Quest for St. Aquin, by Anthony Boucher, from New Tales of Space and Time
Tiger by The Tail, by Alan E. Nourse, from Galaxy Science Fiction
With These Hands, by Cyril M. Kornbluth, from Galaxy Science Fiction
A Pail of Air, by Fritz Leiber, from Galaxy Science Fiction
Dune Roller, by Julian May, from Astounding Science Fiction
New York Son’s title blurb – “This book will make you laugh with all your heart!” is only partially true. Though at times ( – well okay, yes – ) humorous, Mike Feder’s collection of eleven stories reveals genuine, deeply felt and penetrating insight into the fundamental “stuff” of life – family relationships and human nature, in a way that makes the reader step back, pause, and contemplate his own life.
While my own favorites are “Sanford Brodsky”, “Marilyn”, and “Hollywood and Bust”, passages from two other stories – “The Fishing Trip” and “Paralegal” – are given below.
“Whenever I visited him [my father] in the locations of his grandeur, I was never disappointed. If you’ve lived any, you know that such a continuing idealization of somebody can be extremely dangerous. But here I was twenty-three years old and not once did he ever appear to have any faults.”
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Sanford Brodsky The Hospital The Psychic Antigua
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Paralegal
You see, all these men, even the young ones, are my father to me. Most of them are big guys, ex-athletes, ex-military guys – John Ramrod III, attorney at law. Sometimes, passing me in the hall, they say, “I hear you’re an artist.”
“Yeah.”
“What do you do?”
“I tell stories.”
“Oh.”
They don’t burst out laughing, or stare, or scowl with contempt or anything. A lawyer is trained to look you in the face and seem confident and happy to see you – thinking the whole time of course that you’re a hopeless asshole.
“Hmm, that’s interesting.” He’s thinking to himself, what kind of job is that for a thirty-eight-year-old man?” “What do you tell stories about?”
“Autobiographical stories.
In fact I’m probably gonna tell a story about all of you on the radio next week.”
From 1979 through 1992, Donald A. Wollheim books – founded by editor, publisher, and write Donald A. Wollheim, and his wife Elise – published twenty-five volumes of the Science Fiction Anthology Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories. Series authors Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg (whose names appear on each volume’s cover) designed the series such that each volume comprised a set of short stories that they deemed the best science fiction published every year (and only within “that” particular year) from 1939 through 1963, in terms of literary quality and cultural significance. Each volume includes approximately twelve to fifteen stories, the stories themselves chronologically arranged by month of publication within each given year.
At variance from retrospective anthologies wheres stories are arranged by theme, the chronological design of Asimov and Greenberg’s anthology created a “snapshot” of the evolution and development of science fiction across a quarter-century, shedding light on technological, social, ideological, and cultural changes in society commencing with the years just before the Second World War (the first volume covering 1939), through the early years of space exploration (the final volume covering 1963).
An invaluable aspect of the series, especially for one new to science fiction and unacquainted with the stories’ writers, was the way that Asimov and Greenberg presented very brief two-part introductions to each story. These typically comprised a short, “light” biographical blurb focused upon the literary and vocational career (sometimes one and the same; sometimes not!) of the story’s author, written by Greenberg, followed by commentary about the story itself, composed by Asimov. The latter would focus on the story’s literary significance, its “place” in the literature of science fiction (and sometimes literature in general), the cultural and social mechanics of publishing, and simply, the not-so-simple art of writing.
The cover art and content list of every volume can be viewed “here”, at WordsEnvisioned.
As for Volume 13, well… As good, sometimes excellent – and one or two times superlative – as the cover art is for some volumes, that for Volume 13, well…uh…er…leaves much to be desired. Enough said.
The series’ publication history is given below. You’ll see the volume number; the year represented by that volume; the publication date; cover artist or studio; New American Library / DAW Science Fiction Library serial numbers, and, price.
So (no drum roll needed…) here’s the cover and contents of Volume 1.
I, Robot, by Eando Binder, from Amazing Stories
The Strange Flight of Richard Clayton, by Robert Bloch, from Amazing Stories
Trouble With Water, by Horace L. Gold, from Unknown
Cloak of Aesir, by John W. Campbell, Jr. (as “Don A. Stuart”), from Astounding Science Fiction
The Day Is Done, by Lester del Rey, from Astounding Science Fiction
The Ultimate Catalyst, by John Taine, from Thrilling Wonder Stories
The Gnarly Man, by L. Sprague de Camp, from Unknown
Black Destroyer, by A.E. van Vogt, from Astounding Science Fiction
Greater Than Gods, by Catherine L. Moore, from Astounding Science Fiction
Trends, by Isaac Asimov, from Astounding Science Fiction
The Blue Giraffe, by L. Sprague de Camp, from Astounding Science Fiction
The Misguided Halo, by Henry Kuttner, from Unknown
Heavy Planet, by Milton A. Rothman, from AstoundingScience Fiction
Life-Line, by Robert A. Heinlein, from AstoundingScience Fiction
Ether Breather, by Theodore Sturgeon, from Astounding Science Fiction
Pilgrimage, by Nelson S. Bond, from Amazing Stories
Rust, by Joseph E. Kelleam, from Astounding Science Fiction
The Four-Sided Triangle, by William F. Temple, from Amazing Stories
Star Bright, by Jack Williamson, from Argosy
Misfit, by Robert A. Heinlein, from Astounding Science Fiction
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During publication of the series, between 1979 and 1992, the volumes were released on a semi-annual basis. The exceptions were 13, 16, and 17 (which respectively covered 1951, 1954, and 1955) having been the only volumes published in 1985, 1987, and 1988. (Again, respectively!) The covers of all volumes (except for the above-mentioned 1951) are available for your viewing here, at WordsEnvisioned.
Interestingly, an effort seems to have to re-release the series, with Volumes 1 and 2 (1939 and 1940) having been published by the Dorset Press in 2001 and 2002. However, it seems that no further volumes were re-published. (Why not?…)
The two Dorset Press volumes were printed in a notably larger format than the original books.. They measure 21 cm, while the original volumes are of a standard paperback size and measure 17.5 cm.
The other difference is the cover art of both Dorset Press volumes, both of which were designed by artist Tom McKeveny, whose digital portfolio can be viewed here, while his book cover designs can be viewed here.
The 1939 cover is beautifully adapted from a scene in David Butler’s 1930 science-fiction film Just Imagine, showing a 1930s vision of a city (New York?) of the future half-a-century hence: in 1980. (Now in 2019, thirty-nine years ago…)
You need not merely imagine Just Imagine. Uploaded to YouTube by Geography Video, you can watch the movie, below:
Like Volume 1 of Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories, which covered science-fiction short stories published during 1939, Volume 2 of this series was re-issued by Dorset Press; in this case, in 2002. It seems that Dorset did not proceed beyond Volume 2 in the Series’ re-publication.
Both covers are shown below.
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Here’s the cover of the original volume, with art by Jack Gaughan…
Contents
The Dwindling Sphere, by Willard Hawkins, from Astounding Science Fiction
The Automatic Pistol, by Fritz Leiber, from Weird Tales
Hindsight, by Jack Williamson, from Astounding Science Fiction
Postpaid to Paradise, by Robert Arthur, from Argosy
Into the Darkness, by Ross Rocklynne, from Astounding Science Fiction
Dark Mission, by Lester Del Rey, from Astounding Science Fiction
It, by Theodore Sturgeon, from Unknown
Vault of the Beast, by A.E. van Vogt, from Astounding Science Fiction
The Impossible Highway, by Oscar J. Friend, from Thrilling Wonder Stories
Quietus, by Ross Rocklynne, from Astounding Science Fiction
Strange Playfellow, by Isaac Asimov, from Super Science Stories
The Warrior Race, by L. Sprague de Camp, from Astounding Science Fiction
Farewell to The Master, by Harry Bates, from Astounding Science Fiction
Butyl and the Breather, by Theodore Sturgeon, from Astounding Science Fiction
The Exalted, by L. Sprague de Camp, from Astounding Science Fiction
Old Man Mulligan, by P. Schuyler Miller, from Astounding Science Fiction
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…and this is Tom McKeveny’s cover for the Dorset Press Volume. The styles are obviously, utterly, completely different, but each “works” in its own way.
My preference? McKeveny’s. The representational and symbolic nature of his art is strikingly emblematic and evocative of the theme and “feeling” of pulp magazines of the 40s. (And early 1950s.) Particularly effective is the contrast between the pale golden-yellow of the spacecraft against the star-speckled dark blue “space” background, wand the “wrap-around” look of the orange-red-violet rocket trails across the cover.
You can view Mr. McKeveny’s digital portfolio here, and his book cover designs can be viewed here.
In the fall the valley turns green.
Scholars and mystics have joined hands in attempts to explain why our seasons misbehave.
Weathermen pepper our skies with balloons,
diviners scratch with earth with sticks.
Legends, and curious accounts in leather pouches found in the hollow of a tree,
suggest that the valley was once a lake.
Dogwood blossomed on its banks, peacocks danced in the hills.
Fisherman reported seeing water sprites, twinkling, no fatter than fingers, change into bulbous squashlike creatures in the middle of the night. What appeared to be falling leaves drifted slowly out over the lake, then turned into metal filings, which rained down hard upon the men. Nothing was safe. The shapeshifters smashed turtles, birds, trawlers, anything that settled on the lake.
On shore a chubby boy, an orphan, lived on the pumpkins of the fields. He longed to swim. As he had no family, the villagers assumed responsibility for him. They warned him of the danger in the water, but he seemed to have an intimate knowledge of the lake. He spoke of the colors at the bottom as though he’d been diving. Some people suggested that he came from the lake; after all, he had no family. Where did he come from?
One night, having informed the fishermen that he was tired of travelling the earth, he jumped into the shallows and swam. From time to time the townsfolk saw him in the middle of the lake, riding a shaggy white buffalo. Eventually the boy wrenched a horn from the animal’s head and tossed it ashore. A tree laden with heavy fruit sprang up where it landed. Next the boy surfaced gripping a black obelisk. The obelisk was slippery; often the boy lost his grip, but finally managed to fling it ashore. An artesian well burst forth, spraying water high into the air. The villagers danced beneath the spring, feasting on heavy fruit as the boy battled tumbleweeds, crates, panes of glass. Each time he hurled an opponent ashore it became, instantly, a source of beauty and health. The people were delighted.
Finally one creature remained – the mother squash, the biggest in the lake. The boy caught his breath, ate a chunk of pumpkin, submerged. He was underwater for hours. The lake boiled. Orange steam patches off the water. The water began to blaze. Women from the village tossed ice into the deepest part. A mixture of blood – male and female, mother and son – hardened on the surface, burst into flames. It burned until the lake dried up. Afterwards there was no sign of the boy or the squash – just a salt deposit, as if from giant tears. For years boiling rain seared the dogwoods in the valley. The grass dried up in summer.
He turns out the light. “Good night,” he says.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“That was neat. Will you tell us another story tomorrow night?”
Suddenly he looked up and he was all alone. The men in front of him had melted away as if some giant hand had swept them to the ground, leaving him alone and vulnerable, towering above them. But he was not alone: as he struggled to get down to the slushy road he saw Meringo falling sideways and someone running heavily for the woods. The terrible whirring of the shell beat into his ears, shaking his brain, paralyzing him. He hit the ground, tried to claw his way into it, praying and cursing in the same breath. If someone got killed it would be him for he was slow and stupid – a stupid, dumb jerk. He stopped breathing, this was his last instant on earth: the shell would land directly on him, the smooth, metal point splitting his backbone and then exploding. He sobbed for he was afraid. He wanted to live. He wanted to get up and go away to where shells never fell. It wasn’t right for him to die here, to die on this stupid road in the goddam slush with everybody else in Rear Echelon like the tank guys and Bannion and the cannoneers and the civilians in France and that fat, chicken-hearted T/5 back in England who led them to the train when they got off the boat in Southampton. WHERE WAS THAT SONOFABITCH ANYWAY?
The shell exploded and he was deaf and blind and dying. He never had a chance and it was so terribly sad and it served his mother right. Then he opened his eyes and saw feet moving around him. There was the taste of clay in his mouth and the stench of the powder was so strong that it was hard to breathe. One by one the other men got up, brushing the flecks of mud from their clothes. He quickly did the same. No one had been hit. (pp. 73-73)
– William Mulvihill –
“FIRE MISSION is a magnificent and moving novel of men at war. In the winter of 1944, the Allied armies were slugging it out with the Wermacht in the long drive to the Rhine.
“FIRE MISSION is the story of one American artillery battery: four 105 howitzers, and a hundred officers and men – and what happened to them in the last few weeks of a great battle.
“FIRE MISSION is no book of cowards and heroes, but of ordinary soldiers – men who have endured war and found satisfaction in their efficiency as a fighting unit, and pride in themselves as men.”
The selection of balance between colors used in this illustration is perfect. 
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