On perusing the contents of this first issue of Science Fiction Adventures, I realize that of the issue’s eight stories, I’ve only read one: “Make Mine Mars”, by Cyril M. Kornbluth. Even with that – Kornbluth being one of my favorite science fiction authors – I’ve not actually read that tale. According to the ISFDB it’s never been anthologized, not even appearing in the Nelson Doubleday / Ballantine mid-70s anthology, The Best of C.M. Kornbluth.
Well, no matter. One judges a writer by his strongest works, not his weakest. (Assuming he has strong works!)
Regardless, Henry Richard Van Dongen’s cover art is as clever as it is original. It has the typical-ish ’40s and ’50s elements of revealingly attired female space explorer (would you really explore an unknown world in such skimpy attire?), desolate and seemingly lifeless planetscape, V-2-ish spacecraft standing atop its tale, and, energy pistols. But, it’s the perspective of the scene – the woman’s reflection in the man’s pistol, whose face is almost entirely concealed, as the two stand in a “draw” – that grabs your attention. Though the illustration is unrelated to the stories within the magazine, it could easily provide the inspiration for a short tale, in and of itself.
And further?
Science Fiction Adventures, Volume 1, Number 1, at…
… Internet Speculative Fiction Database
… Science Fiction Encyclopedia
Henry Richard Van Dongen, at…
… Artnet