January 2025 – Page 2 – Literary Art and Illustration

Amazing Stories, September, 1964, featuring “The Kingdoms of the Stars”, by Edmond Hamilton, and “Clean Slate”, by James H. Schmitz [Robert J. Adragna]

An artist with whose works I have little familiarity with is Robert Adragna, who created the cover and interior illustrations of the September ’64 issue of Amazing Stories, for Edmond Hamilton’s “The Kingdoms of the Stars”. The story has only been reprinted once: in the Ultimate Publishing Company’s one-off SF Greats, which was released in Fall of 1970.

Illustrations by Robert J. Adragna for “Kingdoms of The Stars” by Edmond Hamilton

(…page 22…)

(…page 32…)

(…page 42…)

What say?

“Kingdoms of the Stars”, at…

… Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Robert Adragna (Robert Joseph Adragna), at…

… Internet Speculative Fiction Database

… flickr

Amazing Stories, June, 1962, featuring “Thunder In Space”, by Lester del Rey [Alex Schomburg]

This one-page illustration by Finlay gives us a closer view of an astronaut. Akin to the previous Amazing Stories post, like the spaceships in the background – more works of art than mere space going vehicles – the explorer is presented in an idealized form.

Having read “Thunder In Space” some years ago, I recall it as being a taught, well-told, suspenseful tale, redolent of the early 60s: amidst the (first?!) Cold War.

Illustration by Virgil W. Finlay for “Thunder In Space” by Lester del Rey

(…page 23…)

“Thunder in Space”, at…

… Internet Speculative Fiction Database

… GoodReads

Amazing Stories, November, 1961, featuring “Counter-Psych”, by Charles Eric Maine [Virgil W. Finlay]

Another amazing (and Amazing) single-page illustration by Virgil Finlay. The art works better by showing the astronauts in simple, smooth, stylized spacesuits, rather than with all manner of gear, accoutrements, thing-a-ma-bobs, and oxygen tanks.

Illustration by Virgil W. Finlay for “Meteor Strike!” by Donald E. Westlake

(…page 35…)

What’s the story? …

Meteor Strike!, at Internet Speculative Fiction Database

… here’s the author…

Donald E. Westlake, at I S F D B

Amazing Stories, March, 1961, featuring “Mindfield!”, by Frank Herbert [Lloyd P. Birmingham]

…however, segueing from my prior post, here are two fine examples of Finlay’s digest-format dual-page compositions, again for Amazing Stories. Though perhaps bit more cramped than in startling or thrilling pulps of larger size, the artist still managed to impart the same level of detail to his work.

As in the prior post, both images were downloaded as single pages from the Pulp Magazine Archive, spliced together, and then edited.

(I haven’t read either story. Yet.)

Illustrations by Virgil W. Finlay for…

“The Thousand Dreams of Stellavista”, by J.G. Ballard

(…pages 48-49…)

“Tyrants’ Territory”, by Brian W. Aldiss

(…pages 106-107…)

And while we’re at it, at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database…

… The Thousand Dreams of Stellavista

… Tyrants’ Territory

Amazing Stories, February, 1961 – Featuring “When the Dream Dies”, by Bertram Chandler [Alex Schomburg]

I’ve not read this story, but the interior illustration for “When the Dream Dies (What of the Dreamer?)” (alternately and subsequently entitled as “When the Dream Dies”, and, “Rendezvous on a Lost World”) is a fine example of Virgil Finlay’s single-page work for digest size pulps. Though not as visually bold as his two-page work for such publications as Startling Stories and Thrilling Wonder Stories (among others!), his composition is similar to those works in having the same qualities of symbolism, myth, and, an idealized human form.

Here, the cover image is a scan of my own copy, while the illustration from page 57 was downloaded from the Pulp Magazine Archive because the extreme tightness of the magazine’s binding prevented effective and safe scanning. Then, it was digitally edited.

Illustration by Virgil W. Finlay for “When the Dream Dies (What of the Dreamer?)” by A. Bertram Chandler

(…page 57…)

But Wait … There’s More!

A. Bertram Chandler, at…

Analog Science Fact -> Science Fiction – October, 1963 – Featuring “Where I Wasn’t Going”, by Walt and Leigh Richmond [John Schoenherr]

Coming hard on the pixels of my prior post – featuring John Schoenherr’s cover of the June, ’63 issue of Analog Science Fact -> Science Fiction, here’s his cover illustration that appeared four months later, in the October issue. This is for Walt and Leigh Richmond’s “Where I Wasn’t Going”, which appeared in two parts, the latter in the November issue. I’ve not read this one, but no problem: I can refer you to Rich Horton’s blog for a substantive discussion of the tale, which I understand was not too impressive. A perusal of the Internet Speculative Fiction Database reveals that the story has never been anthologized, though both parts seem to have been combined into the paperback Challenge the Hellmaker, who came out in 1976 and 2019.

Regardless, Schoenherr’s minimalist cover art, with the background-illuminated ring space station, is very effective.

Where?!

“Where I Wasn’t Going”, at…

… Internet Speculative Fiction Database

… Strange at Ecbatan (Rich Horton’s blog)

… Project Gutenberg

Walt Richmond (Walter Forbes Richmond) at…

… Internet Speculative Fiction Database

… The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction

… GoodReads

Leigh Richmond (Leigh Tucker Richmond) at…

… Internet Speculative Fiction Database

… The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction

… GoodReads

Analog Science Fact -> Science Fiction – June, 1963 – Featuring “The Trouble With Telstar”, by John Berryman [John Schoenherr]

Condé Nast‘s iteration of Analog from late 1961 through August, 1980 – during which interval there were four variants of the magazine’s full title – included the large-format “bedsheet” Analog Science Fact -> Science Fiction, which was published from March, 1963, through March, 1965. I’ve always admired the aesthetics, simplicity, and minimalism of this cover design, which along with Life, Look, and Advertising Age, bespeaks of a publication you might find in the lobby of, say? … Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce / Sterling Cooper & Partners on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan. Well come to think of it, in the alternate world of “Mad Men” Ken Cosgrove (one of the few distinctly likeable and even fewer ethical characters of the series) did write on the side – for Analog’s competitor Galaxy. Y’know, the story about the woman who laid an egg, and, the clumsy (or malicious?) robot who broke the bridge between two worlds. For which efforts he was admonished by Roger Sterling.

So, here’s the cover of the June, ’63 issue of Analog. John Schoenherr’s painting is lovely. Though the exterior Telstar wasn’t gold in color (perhaps the artist wanted to suggest sunlight reflecting off a white surface?), the juxtaposition of the satellite, astronaut, and X-20 Dyna-Soar spaceplane, all set against a sparkling impression of one of our galaxy’s spiral arms in the background – notice that the background is very, very dark blue, but not pure black? – makes a great canvas. A caveat: I haven’t read this story, which has only reprinted in two anthologies edited by John W. Campbell, Jr. As described at GoodReads it, “centres on an engineer who travels into space to repair an elusive fault in the indicated Communications satellite (the first experimental AT&T Telstar satellite had been launched into orbit by NASA in July 1962).”

And more?

John Berryman, at…

… GoodReads

… Internet Speculative Fiction Database

… Classics of Science Fiction (discussing “Special Flight” from May, 1939)

The Trouble with Telster, at…

… Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Telstar (itself!), at…

… Wikipedia

… Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

“July 23, 1962 – Telstar: First Live Satellite Broadcast”, at Real Time 1960s (uploaded July 25, 2022)

“Telstar 1 – The Satellite That Changed the World”, at Curious Droid (uploaded August 24, 2022)

Worlds of Tomorrow, June, 1963, featuring “Spaceman on A Spree”, by Mack Reynolds [Unknown artist]

While the overwhelming majority of images at this blog are of illustrations from my own books, magazines, and random paraphernalia, a relative few – such as in “this” post – have been taken from images (JPGs) already available on the Internet, or, adapted from PDFs. I most commonly accessed files in the latter format via the Luminist Archive, or, the Pulp Magazine Archive, which seem (?!?) to a degree, to share the came content.

That’s how I found the below images from the June ’63 issue of Worlds of Tomorrow, which features illustrations from the relatively-lesser-known-artist Norman Nodel, for Mack Reynold’s “Spaceman on a Spree”. Which fact brings with it a caveat: I’ve not read much of Reynold’s fiction. But, what I have read has left me with a feeling of puzzled, if not disappointed, ambivalence. He certainly was a more than capable creator of plot, theme, and characters, and his stories – such as “Speakeasy”, from the January ’63 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction – feature innovative and novel technology. But, I was very disappointed with the very abrupt, and abruptly pessimistic, ending. I don’t know if such a literary trajectory is characteristic of all his tales, but it did seem so for “Genus Traitor”, from the August ’64 issue of Analog.

Regardless, I was favorably struck by Nodel’s illustrations in this issue, which I suppose were created in pen & ink. Utterly different in style from the work of Finlay, Emshwiller, and Rogers, his drawings fall more in the spectrum of those by Gray Morrow and Dan Adkins, which I suppose is reflective of the era in which they were created.

Hmm. Maybe now I’ll read this story, after all?