Great cover art by Emsh (Edmund Emshwiller) from 1959: Colorful, directly representational, complex, and dynamic. Not tied to any specific story in the anthology, the art seems (?) to imply a kind of progression: from chimpanzee, to man-in-gray-flannel-suit (Don Draper in an off moment?), to an astronaut, to a kind of fearsome, glowing, lightningy, greenish-blue energy-dragon looking thing.
The astronaut especially stands out: In his left hand he’s carrying some kind of weapon, as if arrayed for battle, or, an ambiguously sciencey probe. If you look closely at the blue and red buttoned-box on his chest, you’ll notice the letters EMSH – as individual letters on the box – which represents Emshwiller’s logo. This was typical of Emshwiller, for he cleverly and unobtrusively incorporated this abbreviation into all his compositions, in lieu of an actual signature at bottom.
Like other Ace science-fiction anthologies, the title page includes a composition – this one by Jack Gaughan.
(The cover scan in this post is an update from the original, which appeared in June of 2017 and featured a rather worn and creased cover. You can see the original image at the bottom of the post.)
Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes
A Different Purpose, by Kim Bennett
Ralph Wollstonecraft Hedge: A Memoir, by Ron Goulart
“All You Zombies- ”, by Robert A. Heinlein
Casey Agonisties, by R.M. McKenna
Eastward Ho!, by William Tenn
Soul Mate, by Lee Sutton
What Rough Beast, by Damon Knight
Far From Home, by Walter S. Tevis
Invasion of the Planet of Love, by George P. Elliott
Dagon, by Avram Davidson
Fact, by Winston P. Sanders
No Matter Where You Go, by Joel Townsley Rogers
The Willow Tree, by Jane Rice
The Pi Man, by Alfred Bester
The Man Who Lost the Sea, by Theodore Sturgeon
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June 19, 2017 – 134