Virgil Finlay – Literary Art and Illustration

Fantastic Story Magazine, Summer, 1952 (Featuring “Slan” by A.E. van Vogt) [Alex Schomburg] [[[Triply updated post!]]]

“Slan” was originally serialized in Astounding Science Fiction (September, October, November and December, 1940), with illustrations by Charles Schneeman. The above-mentioned issues are “view-able” through the astounding (pun intended) Luminist Archive. Reprinted in its entirety in Fantastic Story Magazine in 1952, the story was accompanied by three illustrations – shown below – created by Virgil Finlay.

Since creating this post back in January of 2020 (was it that long ago?!) I’ve been fortunate enough to acquire a copy of the Summer, 1952 issue of Fantastic Story in excellent condition, the cover of which – shown below – features Alex Schomburg’s art in all its colorful, streamlined, cloudless, undulating, stylistic glory.

This image replaces (!) the scan originally featured in this post, which I’ve now tossed to the bottom of this post.

As well as being evocative and powerful on levels both emotional and intellectual, these illustrations reveal an extraordinary level of intricacy and detail, typical and representative of Finlay’s work. It might strike one as odd, given the quality of Finlay’s work, that only one of his efforts ever appeared in (more accurately, “on”) Astounding Science Fiction, but the explanation for that sad absence can be found here.

All images presented here were obtained and adapted from Archive.org’s Pulp Magazine Archive, with the Summer 1952 issue of Fantastic Story Magazine being available here.

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Pages 10-11.

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Page 17

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Page 25

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Akin to my recently updated post showing depictions of C’Mell, in Cordwainer Smith’s The Ballad of Lost C’Mell, “this” post, from August of 2018 – showing illustrations for A.E. van Vogt’s Slan – has been updated to present illustrations for Slan from a different – Russian – angle.

The main impetus for the “original” post was to present Virgil Finlay’s wonderful visual interpretation of the story as seen in his three illustrations in the summer, 1952 issue of Fantastic Story magazine: Jommy Cross’ confrontation with slan girl Joanna Hillory; a symbolic portrait of Jommy juxtaposed against a collage of figures representing the persecution of slans by “normal” humans against slans (Jommy’s golden tendrisl prominently displayed); Jommy, at the thirtieth story of a building in Centropolis, witnessing the launch of a spacecraft operated by tendrilless slans.

Befitting Fantastic Story, Finlay’s images are themselves fantastic in detail, symbolism, and visual impact, examples of illustration that are not only stylistically but qualitatively unique in science-fiction – and not just science fiction – illustration.

Giving the significance of Van Vogt’s body of work, it’s unsurprising that it’s been translated into a variety of languages, among which – also unsurprisingly – is Russian. One title under which Van Vogt’s stories have appeared in the Russian language translation is “Gibroidy” (Гиброиды), or Hybrids, published by Kanon (Канон) publishers in Moscow in 1995, Gibrodiy being one of Kanon’s three compilations of Van Vogt’s works. A list of seven other Russian-language translations of Van Vogt’s works – 5 books and 2 other items – can be found at Electronic Bookshelves by Vadim Ershov and Company) where these works can be downloaded as zip files.

Hybrids comprises three stories:

1) “Voyna Protiv Rullov” (Война Против Руллов) – The War Against the Rull, translated by Viktor Vyacheslavovich Antonov (Виктор Вячеславович Антонов)
2) “Slen” (Слен) – Slan, translated by Yu. K. Semenychev (Ю.К. Семёнычев)
3) “Gibroidy” (Гиброиды) – Hybrids (main title), translated by V. Goryaev (В. Горяев)

The other two titles are:

“Zver” (Зверь) – The Beast, published 1994

Zver includes three stories:

1) “A Dom Stoit Sebe Srokoyno” (А Дом Стоит Себе Срокойно) – The House That Stood Still, translated by Yu. K. Semenychev (Ю.К. Семёнычев)
2) “Tvorets Vselennoy” (Творец Вселенной) – The Universe Maker, translated by I. Shcherbakova (И. Щербаковой)
3) “Zver” (Зверь) – The Beast (main title), translated by I. Boyko (И.Бойко)

“Dvoyniki” (Двойники) – The Reflected Men, published 1995

Dvoyniki includes six stories:

1) “Deti Budushchego” (Дети Будущего) – Children of Tomorrow, translated by K. Prostovoy (К.Простовой)
2) “Vladiki Vremeni” (Владыки Времери) – Time Lords, translated by I. Shcherbakova (И. Щербаковой)
3) “Dvoyniki” (Двойники) – The Reflected Men (main title)
translated by Viktor Vyacheslavovich Antonov (Виктор Вячеславович Антонов)
4) “Loobyashchie Androidi” (Любящие Андроиды) – All The Loving Androids, translated by Viktor Vyacheslavovich Antonov (Виктор Вячеславович Антонов)
5) “Neistrebimie” (Неистребимые) – The Replicators, translated by Yu. K. Semenychev (Ю.К. Семёнычев)
6) “Uskolznuvshee iz Ruk Chudo” (Ускользнувшее из Рук Чудо) – Secret Unattainable, translated by I. Shcherbakova (И. Щербаковой)

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Front Cover of “Gibroidy” (Гиброиды) – Hybrids

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Front Cover of “Zver” (Зверь) – The Beast. Note the similarity of the building to the police headquarters in (the original) Blade Runner, as seen in this video – “Blade Runner spinner lift-off (’82 theatrical release version)” – from the YouTube channel of Damon Packard II.

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Front cover of “Dvoyniki” (Двойники) – The Reflected Men

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Aside from van Vogt’s original authorship, the one commonality among the three Russian translation is their illustrator: Ilya Evgenevich Voronin. His black and white sketches – in a style akin to that of Dan Adkins – appear as a single illustration in the title page of each work, while each of the stories within is headed by an illustration pertinent to that story.

In this, Слен is no exception, the lead image depicting Jommy Cross coming upon the departure of a tendrilless slan spacecraft from Centropolis, with Granny looking on…

Ilya Voronin’s illustration for Slan, on page 79 of “Gibroidy” (Гиброиды) – Hybrids.

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“He knew that by no logic could that gauntlet of corridor be considered safe.
At any moment a door might open,
or wisps of thought warn him of men coming around some bend.
With abrupt decision, he slowed his headlong rush and tried several doors.
The fourth door yielded to pressure, and Jommy crossed the threshold with a sense of triumph.
On the far side of the room was a tall, broad window.

He pushed the window open and scrambled out onto the wide sill.
Crouching low, he peered over the ledge.
Light came dimly from the other windows of the building,
and by its glow he could see what appeared to be a narrow driveway wedged between two precipices of brick wall.

For an instant he hesitated and then, like a human fly,
started up the brick wall.
The climbing was simple enough;
enormously strong fingers searched with swift sureness for rough edges.
The deepening darkness, as he climbed, was hampering,
but with every upward step his confidence surged stronger within him.
There were miles of roof here and, if he remembered rightly,
the airport buildings connected on every side with other buildings.
What chance had slans who could not read minds against a slan who could avoid their every trap?

The thirtieth, and top, story!
With a sigh of relief, Jommy pulled himself erect and started along the flat roof.
It was nearly dark now,
but he could see the top of a neighboring building that almost touched the roof he was on.
A leap of two yards at most, an easy jump.
With a loud clang! the clock in a nearby tower began to intone the hour.
One – two – five – ten!
And on the stroke, a low, grinding noise struck Jommy’s ears,
and suddenly, in the shadowy center of that expanse of roof opposite him yawned a wide,
black hole. Startled, he flung himself flat, holding his breath.

And from that dark hole a dim torpedo-like shape leaped into the star-filled sky.
Faster, faster it went; and then, at the uttermost limit of vision,
a tiny, blazing light sprang from its rear.
It flickered there for a moment, then was gone, like a star snuffed out.

Jommy lay very still, his eyes straining to follow the path of the strange craft.
A spaceship.
By all the heavens, a spaceship!
Had these tendrilless slans realized the dream of the ages—to operate flights to the planets?
If so, how had they kept it secret from human beings?
And what were the true slans doing?” (pp. 30-31)

References

Fantastic Story Quarterly / Fantastic Story Magazine, at Wikipedia
Luminist Archive, at LuministOrg
Slan, at Wikipedia
Slan (full text), at Prospero’s Isle
Science Fiction Laboratory (in Russian), at FantLab.ru
Ilya Evgenevich Voronin (in Russian), at FantLab.ru
Ilya Evgenevich Voronin (In Russian), at LibRuSec.ru
Virgil Finlay, at Wikipedia
Virgil Finlay, at WordsEnvisioned

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January 2020 362

Startling Stories – October, 1954 (Featuring “Spacemen Lost”, by George O. Smith) [Alex Schomburg]

This post dates back a-ways. Specifically, to February of 2018. Displaying Alex Schomburg’s cover for the October, 1954 issue of Startling Stories, as a way of indirectly leading to Virgil Finlay’s illustration for “Spacemen Lost”, the image I showed originally was simply “copy & saved” from the Internet. (It’s now shown all the way at the bottom of the post.)

Since then, I’ve been able to acquire a copy of this issue in very nice condition, with the cover featuring only one minor fold on the right edge, but no real tears or crinkles. Considering the untrimmed fragility of the cover edges of Startling Stories and similar Thrilling Publication pulps, it’s a fortunate find.

And so, the entire cover…

…and then, a cropped view of Schomburg’s art. The scene depicted bears no direct (for that matter, not even an indirect) relationship to the issue’s contents, but it’s quite appropriate, the shades of blue in the painting nicely balanced by the white and blue border. Then again, on second thought, notice that the earth’s cloudless? Just how did all that tan moondust (spacedust?) pile up around the lower stages of the two spaceships? Where are the astronauts going? No matter; it’s nice to look at.

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Here’s Virgil Finlay’s illustration, on page 19, for “Spacemen Lost”.

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And the rear cover, featuring an advertisement for the Collected Works of Zane Grey.

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On a related note, prompted by a reader’s inquiry (about which probably more in the future?), I learned about the Italian science fiction magazine Urania, which commenced publication on October 10, 1952, by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore. A degree of further searching led to MondoUrania, an excellently organized website, where medium-size covers for all issues of the magazine are displayed, and (this is the really impressive part) clicking on the cover image of any randomly-chosen issue generates the same image in slightly larger size, accompanied by bibliographic information about that issue, and, a summary blurb about the issue’s central sttory.

So, scrolling through, among, between, and within and without all these images, I was surprised to recognize the cover art for Startling Stories of October, 1954, for the cover of Urania issue 98, dated September 29, 1955. And then, I realized that the Urania cover is not that of Startling, but an adaptation which features two spacecraft, and, astronauts in different positions. What? Who?

Well, it turns out that the cover art is by Curt Ceaser (working name for Kurt Kaiser), who completed approximately 200 covers for Urania for issues published between 1952 and 1957. Some of his oeuvre are, frankly, “meh”, many are knock-offs and adaptations of contemporary American science fiction pulp art – which will probably be readily recognizable, like this one, and, this one, both inspired by Galaxy Science Fiction – while some seem to have a relatively greater degree of originality.

So, here’s the bibliographical information accompanying MondorUrania’s illustration of issue 98. (In Italian, of course.)

98 – 29/9/1955
Copertina di C. Caesar

I PIANETI DELLA LIBERTA (BORN LEADER) – J.T. McINTOSH

L’autore immagina che, negli ultimi giorni di agonia della Terra distrutta dalle radiazioni, un’astronave parta per il primo viaggio interplanetario con un carico di ragazzi sui sedici anni che saranno, su un nuovo pianeta, il Mundis, il ceppo della nuova Umanità. Durante il viaggio, che dura quattordici anni, le coppie che si sono formate decidono di non avere figli se non quando saranno arrivati al termine del viaggio. Per conseguenza, la nuova generazione è divisa dalla vecchia da un periodo di tempo che costituisce un abisso tra il mondo degli anziani e quello dei giovani, abisso reso più profondo dall’ignoranza completa dei giovani su tutto ciò che, sulla Terra, aveva costituito una base di vita per i loro padri, compresa la forza nucleare, considerata tabù. Mundis è un mondo felice, ma fermo. E i giovani che dai microfilm trasportati sull’astronave e gelosamente conservati, capiscono che la Terra era molto più progredita nella scienza, si ribellano alla congiura del silenzio dei vecchi, vogliono che il mondo sul quale sono nati fruisca anch’esso del progresso. La lotta fra loro e i vecchi si risolve attraverso un pericoloso avvenimento: l’arrivo su Mundis di un’altra astronave, la Clades, che trasporta gli ultimi – questa volta veramente tali – superstiti della Terra. Gli scampati hanno un altro sistema di vita, militaresco e dittatoriale, e sono animati da spirito di conquista. Chi prevarrà nella lotta fra questi due mondi, fra questi ultimi campioni dell’umanità divisi da diverse ideologie? Il romanzo ha un alto contenuto umano e sociale e piacerà a tutti, perchè rispecchia noi tutti, esseri umani, con le nostre debolezze, le nostre qualità, i nostri desideri, i nostri errori e le nostre aspirazioni.

INDICE
MONDI SENZA FINE – CLIFFORD D. SIMAK – 13° puntata
ESISTONO GLI SPIRITI FOLLETTI? – Curiosità scientifiche

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Here’s the English translation of the above, courtesy of Oogle Translate:

Issue 98 – September 29, 1955
Cover by C. Caesar

THE PLANETS OF FREEDOM (BORN LEADER) – J.T. McINTOSH

The author imagines that, in the last days of the agony of the Earth destroyed by radiation, a spaceship leaves for the first interplanetary journey with a load of boys of about sixteen years of age, on a new planet, Mundis, the strain of the new Humanity. During the journey, which lasts fourteen years, the couples who have formed decide not to have children until they arrive at the end of the journey. Consequently, the new generation is divided from the old by a period of time which constitutes an abyss between the world of the elderly and that of the young, a gulf made deeper by the complete ignorance of the young on all that, on Earth, had constituted a basis of life for their fathers, including nuclear power, considered taboo. Mundis is a happy but firm world. And the young people who, from the microfilms transported on the spaceship and jealously preserved, understand that the Earth was much more advanced in science, rebel against the conspiracy of the silence of the old, they want the world on which they were born also benefits from progress. The struggle between them and the old is resolved through a dangerous event: the arrival on Mundis of another spaceship, the Clades, carrying the last – this time truly such – Earth survivors. The survivors have another way of life, military and dictatorial, and are animated by a spirit of conquest. Who will prevail in the struggle between these two worlds, between these last champions of humanity divided by different ideologies? The novel has a high human and social content and will please everyone, because it reflects all of us, human beings, with our weaknesses, our qualities, our desires, our mistakes and our aspirations.

INDEX
WORLDS WITHOUT END, by CLIFFORD D. SIMAK – 13th episode
DO ELEGANT SPIRITS EXIST? – Scientific curiosities

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Some References That May Interest You…

Urania Magazine, at…

… Wikipedia (Urania Magazine)

… MondoUrania (“The World of Urania”)

… UraniaMania

… Science Fiction Project – The Lost Treasures

Urania – Issue 98 (September 29, 1955), at…

… MondoUrania

… Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Born Leader, by J.T. McIntosh, at…

… Internet Speculative Fiction Database

… GoodReads

Zane Gray (Paul Zane Gray), at…

… Wikipedia

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Here’s the image of Startling that originally appeared in this post…

2/25/18 244

If – December, 1966 (Featuring “Relic of Empire”, by Larry Niven) [Jack Gaughan] – “Doing what I had to do…”

Well, I thought I’d seen this one before…

Not the cover, though I noticed that, while perusing issues of Worlds of If at Archive.org.

Rather, Dan Adkins’ illustration for Neal Barret, Jr.’s story “Starpath”. It shows a space-suited soldier running across a barren alien landscape, with a nondescript alien spacecraft in the background. The most compelling aspect of the composition is not its setting, but rather, the posture and position of the soldier: He’s depicted in mid-run, right foot on the ground and left foot raised, body bent, head raised and looking ahead, carrying a rifle (note the strap) in his right hand. Then, I remembered: The original soldier wasn’t a spacemen. Much more earthbound, he was a United States Marine in the Pacific Theater during the Second World War…

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Jack Gaughan’s cover illustrating Larry Niven’s “A Relic of Empire”. The story was republished by Ballantine in a 1978 anthology of Niven’s stories, which featured cover art by Rick Sternbach.

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Here’s the image that caught my eye, and, my attention: Dan Adkins’ illustration for “Starpath”, by Neal Barrett, Jr. (pp. 58-59) (I created this image by using Photoshop Elements to combine two images. Pretty straightforward.)

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Below, Adkins’ likely – probable – almost certain inspiration: Note the parallels between the photo and art, in terms of the Marine’s posture, the position of canteen and rifle, and, the barren landscape (notice how the terrain is rising to the right?). Born in 1937, Adkins would have been twelve years old during 1945; probably aware even then, and doubtless with an artist’s perceptive eye after, of the striking nature of the photo.

But, who was this man? It turns out that information about him is readily available. He was PFC Paul Edward Ison. While serving as a Private First Class in the First Marine Division, he was photographed while running through Japanese fire at “Death Valley”, Okinawa on May 10, 1945. Born in Ashland, Kentucky, in 1916, he died in Fort Myers, Florida, in 2001. Further information about him can be found at Wikipedia.

As for the image itself, the caption of the photograph (the image can be found at Wikipedia) states “Through “Death Valley” – Moving on the double, a Marine dashes to a forward point of cover through a hail of Jap machine gun fire. The Marines sustained more than 125 casualties in eight hours while crossing this draw and dubbed in “Death Valley.”” From the Photograph Collection (COLL/3948), Marine Corps Archives & Special Collections OFFICIAL USMC.”

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And, a very nicely done colorization of the photo, posted at reddit by ColorizedHollywood.

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“DOING WHAT I HAD TO DO”

Here’s Mr. Ison’s tombstone (from FindAGrave), by Helen Farrell.

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Utterly different in style and technique than Dan Adkins, this issue of If provided a venue for the unique and striking work of Virgil Finlay. Though a digest-size magazine unfortunately did not provide a format for best possible display of Finlay’s creativity, for his work (and income!) it provided a format, nonetheless: Here, an eye floats – serenely? – in a box, in the waters of a stream.

Illustration by Virgil Finlay, for “Call Me Dumbo”, by Bob Shaw (p. 97)

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And, two examples of the work of Dwight Morrow, for Algis Budrys’ “Be Merry”. Slightly on the Wally Woodish side, but distinct in their own way.

Page 9

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Page 30

Galaxy Science Fiction – October, 1966 [Dember] [Updated post…! February 6, 2021]

[This post, created on May 8, 2017, is pretty simple: It shows the cover (by Dember) of the October, 1966 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction, and interior illustrations by Virgil Finlay for Larry Niven’s “How The Heroes Die”, and one illustration by Jack Gaughan for Arthur C. Clarke’s “A Recursion in Metastories”. I’ve updated the post to include an image of Finlay’s original art for the second of his two pieces for Niven’s story. Just a black and white image, but it shows his work with much better crispness than even the best scan from the actual magazine. Even when limited to a vertical / rectangular format, his art was stunning.]

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Finlay’s illustration for Larry Niven’s story “How The Heroes Die” (p. 59).

Finlay’s illustration for Larry Niven’s story “How The Heroes Die” (p. 71).

…Virgil Finlay’s original art, from Heritage Auctions. The original is described as “pen and ink on paper, 9.5 x 6.5 inches, signed lower right, from the Jerry Weist Collection“.

Jack Gaughan’s illustration for “A Recursion in Metastories”, by Arthur C. Clarke (p. 87).

Reference (…well, just one reference…)

“Two Spacemen Fighting, science fiction pulp interior story illustration”, at Heritage Auctions
May 8, 2017

Galaxy Science Fiction – October, 1962 (Featuring “The Ballad of Lost C’Mell”, by Cordwainer Smith) [Virgil Finlay] [Updated post…]

The images below present Virgil Finlay’s interpretation of Cordwainer Smith’s character C’Mell, from the wonderful tale “The Ballad of Lost C’Mell”, as depicted on the cover and as the lead interior illustration of the October, 1962, issue of Galaxy Science Fiction.

“This” post being one of my earlier (earliest?) at WordsEnvisioned (dating back to April of 2017 – hey, time not only flies, it accelerates!), I thought it worthy of revision.

So, I perused the web for other images of C’Mell, of which there are many, inevitably varying in style, quality, and appeal.

And, I found what I was searching for.

One of the most interesting interpretations of C’Mell can be viewed at BlueTyson’s Cordwainer Smith (ology). The site features an imaginative and subtle portrait of Smth’s character, which – with a kind of animae look – strikingly emphasizes C’Mell’s cat origin, specifically via brilliantly green feline eyes. (Pointed cat ears? – not so much!) The portrait, created by artist Lia Chan, appears (?) to have been created using a combination of colored pencils and water color.

Lia Chan’s depiction of C’Mell has been appended to this post, and appears below Finlay’s black & white interior illustration from Galaxy.

Scroll on down…

She got the which of the what-she-did,
Hid the bell with a blot, she did,
But she fell in love with a hominid.
Where is the which of the what-she-did?

(Cordwainer Smith)

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Illustrations by Virgil Finlay

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Preliminary sketch for cover art. Source unknown – possibly (!) from “Virgil Finlay-Beauty (& occ. beast)“, at pinterest.

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Image from “Tomorrow & Beyond – Images from other worlds, other dimensions and other times.”

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The finished product, published as the cover of Galaxy Science Fiction, October, 1962.

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C’mell: page 9

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C’Mell, by Lia Chan

Worlds of Tomorrow – October, 1963 (Featuring “The Lonely”, by Judtih Merrill) [Virgil W. Finlay]

Illustration by Lutjens for “The Lonely”, by Judith Merrill (p. 125).

Startling Stories – Spring, 1954 (Featuring “The Houses of Iszm”, by Jack Vance) [Alex Schomburg]

Startling Stories and Thrilling Wonder Stories were particularly suitable venues for Virgil Finlay’s art, the page size of both publications allowing Finlay’s painstaking emphasis on detail and shading, rendering illustrations of a near photographic nature, to be displayed to maximum advantage. For instance, the lead illustration for Jack Vance’s tale “Abercrombie Station”, on pages 10-11 in the March, 1952, issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories...

Another Jack Vance tale illustrated by Finlay was “The Houses of Iszm”, in the Spring, 1954 issue of Startling Stories. Not actually having yet read the tale (well, I possess the Ace Double edition shown below; it’s in my queue of books-I-hope-to-read-someday, the “end” of which lies far beyond the visible horizon…), the figure of the young woman is probably allegorical and symbolic – there may be no actual female protagonist, as such – since the story revolves around the efforts of one Ailie Farr to steal a tree that is specifically female.

The illustrations below were downloaded from Archive.org, and edited using Photoshop to render the best possible images.

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Illustration by Virgil Finlay, pages 10-11.

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Illustration by Virgil Finlay, page 19

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“The people of Izsm lived in homes that were alive. Their dwelling places were elaborate, lush hollow trees, wherein the very walls, floors, ceilings, and even the furniture and plumbing, were all part of the living, thriving plant.

The Iszic, alone of all the people of the universe, possessed the secret of cultivating such a dwelling. The result was that they were holders of a gigantic, lucrative monopoly, exporting millions of such home to all the other worlds.

For decades, aliens from other worlds, including Earth, had been desperately trying to steal a female house-seed in order to break the monopoly. The Iszic security force had squashed every attempt successfully.

This is the story of yet another plot – the most ingenious of all – to carry off a prize worth billions, just one seed from The Houses of Iszm.”

(Ace Double 77525, published 1964, cover by Dean Ellis)

References