Literary Art and Illustration

British writer Charles Eric Maine (David McIlwain) authored at least sixteen novels and four screenplays, as well as detective thrillers under the pen names Richard Rayner and Robert Wade. He may be best known for the dystopian 1958 Ace novel World Without Men, which features cover art by Edmund Emshwiller. Regardless of one’s opinion about the novel’s literary merits, this has to be one of the most striking covers ever published by Ace, let alone among the very many works created by Ed Emshwiller. His model for the startled red-irised lady was his wife Carol, who appearance was the template for the features of women in many of Emsh’s paintings.

Purple Hair? – check!

(Green Hair? – check!)

Silver Lipstick? – check!

~~Bullet Style~~ Artillery Shell Top? – check!

Jane Jetson style geometric flat-top collar? – check!

Below is Ed Emshwiller’s original painting. The subtleties of shading and color are here much more obvious than in the cover as printed. Particularly interesting are the eye-like red sphere at the upper right – shades of HAL 9000! – and, the antenna-like set of wires and rods set against a pink background, in the upper center. I don’t recall where I actually found this image; it might have been at Heritage Auctions. (Well, maybe. It’s been a while.)

– Mrs. Jane Jetson –

The book was republished in 1972 under the title Alph. Dean Ellis’ cover art connotes the novel’s theme far more sedately, and perhaps more effectively, than that of Ace’s 1958 edition.

For Further Digression, Distraction, and Diversion

World Without Men, at…

… Schlock Value (strongly con)

… The Last Man on Earth (con)

… GoodReads (semi – sort of – maybe a little – pro)

… The Brussels Journal – review by the late Professor Thomas F. Bertonneau (strongly pro)

Alph, at…

… (once again) Schlock Value

Charles Eric Maine (David McIlwain), at…

… Internet Speculative Fiction Database

… Wikipedia

… The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction

… Andrew Darlington Blogspot (extensive discussion)

I’ve read very little in the way of J.G. Ballard, with the solitary exception of the anthology Billenium, and his novel The Wind From Nowhere. Though I read both long ago, what still stands out in my memory is the sheer originality, in terms of plot and theme, of these literary works. Within Billenium, I was particularly impressed by the short story “Chronopolis”, which originally appeared in New Worlds back in June of 1960. Overall, I remember that neither the novel nor that anthology were undergirded by grandiose, sweeping, (space) operatic concepts. Instead, the foundation of both works both lay in taking an idea, event, or technology, indefinitely extrapolating its effects and implications in order to focus on the reactions of “man” – or, individual men and women – to worlds that have been transformed in unexpected, unanticipated directions.

Kind of like today. Now. 2023. (And beyond.)

So, here’s a Ballard anthology which I have yet to read: The Voices of Time from 1962, featuring cover art by Richard Powers. As for other anthologies, Powers’ painting has neither a central them nor really a single, main, primary (and major?!) subject. Instead, its only theme are abstractness and ambiguity. Within a haze of wavy red, then, gray, then olive, and finally dark green fog stand (and, float) shining, elongated objects (kind of lava-lamp-like, eh?). Some are solid; other are delicate lattices. And, a vertical shape in the background gives a sense of distance.

The only human form is a small anthropomorphic profile surrounded by a shining shield, in the left foreground.

Maybe I’ll get around to reading this one some day…