#norman saunders' first published cover art

[weirdlookindog]

Norman Saunders, 1933

[weirdletter]

The Best of Best New Horror Volume 2, edited by Stephen Jones, PS Publishing, 2020. Cover art by Norman Saunders, info: pspublishing.co.uk.

Contents: Editor’s Foreword — Stephen Jones Introduction: Bettering the Best — Ramsey Campbell White [1999] — Tim Lebbon The Other Side of Midnight: Anno Dracula, 1981 [2000] — Kim Newman Cleopatra Brimstone [2001] — Elizabeth Hand 20th Century Ghosts [2002] — Joe Hill The White Hands [2003] — Mark Samuels My Death [2004] — Lisa Tuttle Haeckel’s Tale [2005] — Clive Barker Devil’s Smile [2006] — Glen Hirshberg The Church on the Island [2007] — Simon Kurt Unsworth The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates [2008] — Stephen King Index to the First Twenty Years of Best New Horror    I: Index by Contributor    II: Index by Title    III: Contents of Previous Omnibus Editions

[bookcoverbasics]

A Little History: 5

By the 1940s, paperback publishing was flourishing. The cover art almost universally tended toward the realistic and representational and the kinship between the nature of most paperback novels and the pulp magazines they were destined to supersede attracted many artists from the latter, such as Norman Saunders.  The nature of the paperback's design and illustration was also dictated to some degree by their size and where they were typically sold. That they much smaller than a typical hardbound book certainly affected this: they needed to work a little harder to attract attention. And paperbacks---at least in their first decades---tended to be sold at news stands, drug stores, bus and train stations and the like. 

There was a literal flood of books from paperback publishers during this decade. With thousands of titles and dozens of artists, it would be difficult to really do the period justice in something like this blog. Indeed, entire books have been devoted to the subject of the history of the paperback (”Paperbacks, USA” and “UnderCover” are two excellent titles), so all I will try to do here is to present a few representative examples to show the evolution of the paperback cover during this period.

The covers of books in the early 40s were often heavily influenced by the seminal work of Robert Jonas, who created the covers for “Aims of Education,” “God’s Little Acre” and “Christ Stopped at Eboli.” “Bats Fly at Dusk” was by Gerald Gregg, who also created the cover for “Made Up To Kill” (below). “The Pocketbook of Science-Fiction” (1941) was the first science fiction paperback.

“Trial by Jury” was by Leo Manso, “Citizen Tom Paine” by Charles Andres.

It did not take very long for illustrative paperback art to become predominant. “The Glass Key” was by Leo Manso, “Hiroshima” by Geoffrey Biggs, “The Silver Forest” by Rudolf Belarsky, another veteran of the pulps.

Another seasoned veteran of the pulps was Earl Bergey, who brought his talent for depicting beautiful women to “Gentleman Prefer Blondes.” “Think Fast, Mr. Moto” was by Allen Pope, “The Regatta Mystery” by Ray Johnson, “Made Up To Kill” was by Gerald Gregg and “The Maltese Falcon” was by Stanley Meltzoff, soon to become a major figure in illustration working for publications such as “National Geographic.” 

One of the most important figures in paperback cover illustration was Jame Avati. (Avati and Stanley Meltzoff shared a studio in Red Bank, New Jersey, their separate work areas divided by a cardboard partition.)

It was Avati who was largely responsible for the transition from the Jonas-style paperback cover to the more illustrative, though Avati’s work in the field didn’t really begin until the late 1940s. His realistic style, depicting ordinary-looking people rather than idealized models, gave his covers an emotional, moody and even gritty honesty that was something entirely new. Part of the realism of Avati’s work stems from the fact that he worked from models he specially photographed himself. These were most often people he met in the street rather than professional models. 

 For nearly a decade, Avati and his many imitators dominated the field, with there being more “Avati-style” covers than covers by Avati himself.

Avati’s covers for Erskine Caldwell’s novels have become as inextricably linked to them as Tenniel’s drawings are to “Alice in Wonderland”---there has rarely been such an ideal match between author and artist.

[pulpfest]

Although we'd love to tell you more about PulpFest 2020, it will have to wait. It's time to get back to the story of science fiction in the United States. During much of the 1930s, most science fiction was published in four magazines: AMAZING STORIES, ASTOUNDING STORIES, WEIRD TALES, and WONDER STORIES. Beginning in 1938, this would change. The first issue of MARVEL SCIENCE STORIES -- dated August 1938 -- featured front cover art by the talented Norman Saunders https://www.instagram.com/p/B38LNgAAGPP/?igshid=aasqawdron1g

[hermanwatts]

Sensor Sweep: Genre Magazines, Mort Kunstler, Vampire Queen, Boris Dolgov

Publishing (Forbes): Today, the number of science fiction and fantasy magazine titles is higher than at any other point in history. That’s more than 25 pro-level magazines, according to a count from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, amid a larger pool of “70 magazines, 14 audio sites, and nine critical magazines,” according to Locus Magazine.

Publishing (Jason Sanford): For the last few months I’ve been working on #SFF2020: The State of Genre Magazines, a detailed look at science fiction and fantasy magazine publishing in this day and age.This report is available below and can also be downloaded in the following formats:  Mobi file for Kindle,     Epub file for E-book Readers, PDF file. For this report I interviewed the editors, publishers, and staff of the following genre magazines. Many thanks to each of these people. The individual interviews are linked below and also contained in the downloadable Kindle, Epub, and PDF versions of the report.

Science Fiction (New Yorker): In her heyday, Russ was known as a raging man-hater. This reputation was not entirely unearned, though it was sometimes overstated. Of one of her short stories, “When It Changed,” which mourns a lost female utopia, the science-fiction novelist Michael Coney wrote, “The hatred, the destructiveness that comes out in the story makes me sick for humanity. . . . I’ve just come from the West Indies, where I spent three years being hated merely because my skin was white. . . . [Now I] find that I am hated for another reason—because Joanna Russ hasn’t got a prick.”

Comic Books (ICV2): Blaze Publishing has reached an agreement with Conan Properties International that will allow it to publish U.S. editions of the Glénat bande dessinée series The Cimmerian, ICv2 has learned.  The Glenat series adapts Robert E. Howard Conan stories originally published in Weird Tales into comic stories that Ablaze describes as “the true Conan… unrestrained, violent, and sexual… just as Robert E. Howard intended.”

Fantasy (DMR Books): To cut straight to the one-line review: Jamie Williamson’s The Evolution of Modern Fantasy (Palgrave McMillan, 2015) is a must-read if you’re at all interested in how the popular genre now known as “fantasy” came about. Even if it’s a little difficult to obtain and get into. Williamson is both an academic and “one of us.” A senior lecturer in English at the University of Vermont, he’s taught a number of classes that I’d love to audit (Tolkien’s Middle Earth, Science Fiction & Fantasy Literature, King Arthur).

Historical Fiction (Jess Nevins): Hereward the Wake was written by the Rev. Charles Kingsley and first appeared in as a magazine serial in 1865 before publication as a novel in 1869. It is a fictionalization of the life of the historical Hereward the Wake (circa 1035-circa 1072), a rebel against the eleventh century Norman invasion and occupation of England. Although he became a national hero to the English and the subject of many legends and songs, little is known for certain about Hereward, and it is theorized that he was actually half-Danish rather than of Saxon descent.

Art (Mens Pulp Magazines): During the summer and fall of 2019, we worked with the great illustration artist Mort Künstler, his daughter Jane Künstler, President of Kunstler Enterprises, and Mort’s archivist Linda Swanson on an art book featuring classic men’s adventure magazine cover and interior paintings Mort did during the first major phase of his long career. That book, titled MORT KÜNSTLER: THE GODFATHER OF PULP FICTION ILLUSTRATORS, is now available on Amazon in the US and worldwide. It’s also available on the Barnes & Noble website and via the Book Depository site, which offers free shipping to anywhere in the world.

Gaming (Tim Brannon): Palace of the Vampire Queen. In the beginning, there was a belief that all DMs would naturally create all their own adventures and there was no market for pre-written ones.  The only printed adventure out at this time was “Temple of the Frog” in Blackmoor.  Seeing a need, the Palace of the Vampire Queen was written by Pete and Judy Kerestan. Yes, the very first adventure was co-written by a woman. The first edition was self-published, followed by a second and third edition by Wee Warriors (1976 and 1977) and distributed exclusively by TSR.

Fiction (DMR Books): Last summer, I was fortunate enough to acquire the copyrights to Merritt’s material from the previous owners.  Along with the rights, I received a few boxes of papers, which I’ve enjoyed going through during the past few months, and which I anticipate will provide me with many more enjoyable evenings perusing them.  Among these were papers relating to Merritt and the Avon reprints.  Some of this takes the form of correspondence between Merritt’s widow, Eleanor, and the literary agent she’d engaged for Merritt’s work, Brandt & Brandt.  Others are contracts with Avon, as well as Avon royalty statements.

Pournelle (Tip the Wink): Here, all of Pournelle’s best short work has been collected in a single volume. There are over a dozen short stories, each with a new introduction by editor and longtime Pournelle assistant John F. Carr, as well as essays and remembrances by Pournelle collaborators and admirers.” My take: I enjoyed this a lot. It had been a while since I read any Pournelle (and then almost always with Niven). I’m now tempted to reread The Mote In God’s Eye.

Gaming (Reviews From R’lyeh): Ruins of the North is an anthology of scenarios for The One Ring: Adventures over the Edge of the Wild Roleplaying Game, the recently cancelled roleplaying game published by Cubicle Seven Entertainment which remains the most highly regarded, certainly most nuanced of the four roleplaying games to explore Tolkien’s Middle Earth. It is a companion to Rivendell, the supplement which shifted the roleplaying game’s focus from its starting point to the east of the Misty Mountains, upon Mirkwood and its surrounds with Tales from Wilderland and The Heart of the Wild to the west of the Misty Mountains.

Art (Dark Worlds Quarterly): Being an artist for Weird Tales was not a fast track to fame and fortune. It is only in retrospect that names like Hugh Rankin, A. R. Tilburne, Hannes Bok, Lee Brown Coye and Vincent Napoli take on a luster of grandeur. At the time, the gig of producing illos for Weird Tales was low-paying and largely obscure. Some, like Lee Brown Coye, were able to establish their reputations in the art world after a long apprenticeship in the Pulps. Most are the select favorites of fans. Boris Dolgov was one of these truly brilliant illustrators who time has not been as kind to as should be.

Tolkien (Karavansara): But what really struck me in the whole thing was something that emerged from the debate: some fans said the novel should have been translated by a Tolkien fan, and by someone with a familiarity with fantasy. But other have pointed out that The Lord of the Rings is not fantasy. And my first reaction was, what the heck, with all those elves and orcs, wizards and a fricking magical ring and all the rest, you could have fooled me.

Tolkien (Sacnoth’s Scriptorium): So, I’ve been thinking back over Christopher Tolkien’s extraordinary achievements and wondering which was the most exceptional. A strong case can be made for the 1977 SILMARILLION. In retrospect, now that all the component pieces of that work have seen the light in the HISTORY OF MIDDLE-EARTH series we can see just how difficult his task was, and how comprehensively he mastered it. Special mention shd be made of one of the few passages of that work which we know Christopher himself wrote, rather than extracted from some manuscript of his father: the death of Thingol down in the dark beneath Menegroth, looking at the light of the Silmaril.

Art (Illustrator Spotlight): Many of you have seen some of the pulp covers he created; most likely those for The Spider, Terror Tales, Dime Mystery or Dime Detective. I was recently reading a blog post about David Saunder’s book on DeSoto (I can’t find the link to the blog anymore), and one of the comments was about how the commenter didn’t believe that DeSoto deserved a book, having painted only garish, violent covers. My reaction was immediate; I felt like telling the commenter to go forth and multiply, in slightly different words of course.

Martial Arts (Rawle Nyanzi): Yesterday, I put up a blog post where I showed videos discussing Andrew Klavan’s comments regarding women and swordfighting (namely, that women are utterly useless at it.) As one would expect, this has been discussed all around the internet, but much of it involves virtue signalling. To cut through a lot of that fog, I will show you a video by medieval swordsmanship YouTuber Skallagrim, in which he discusses the comments with two female HEMA practitioners — one old, one young.

Fiction (Black Gate): Changa’s Safari began in 1986 as a concept inspired by Robert E. Howard’s Conan. I wanted to create a heroic character with all the power and action of the brooding Cimmerian but based on African history, culture and tradition. Although the idea came early, the actual execution didn’t begin until 2005, when I decided to take the plunge into writing and publishing. During its creation I had the great fortune to meet and become friends with Charles R. Saunders, whose similar inspiration by Howard led to the creation of the iconic Imaro. What was planned to be a short story became a five-volume collection of tales that ended a few years ago with Son of Mfumu.

Gaming (Sorcerer’s Skull): The Arimites have the gloomy environment of Robert E. Howard’s Cimmerians and elements of a number of hill or mountain folk. They’ve got a thing for knives like the Afghans of pulp tradition with their Khyber knives, though the Arimites mostly use throwing knives. They’re miners, and prone to feuding and substance abuse, traits often associated with Appalachian folk. I say play up that stuff and add a bit from the Khors of Vance’s Tshcai–see the quote at the start, and here’s another: “they consider garrulity a crime against nature.”

Sensor Sweep: Genre Magazines, Mort Kunstler, Vampire Queen, Boris Dolgov published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/

[swipestream]

Pollen’s Women: The Art of Samson Pollen

The men’s adventure magazines that flourished from the early 1950s to the middle 1970s put an emphasis on art. The quality of both cover and interior art is superior to the average pulp magazine of 20 years earlier.

Norman Saunders, Mort Kunstler, and Raphael DeSoto are among the better known artists who produced covers for these magazines. One artist I did not know is Samson Pollen.

Pollen produced cover and interior art for the men’s adventure magazines. He also did a fair amount of paperback covers though only one in science fiction and fantasy which is why I was unaware of him. I think he did some of the Captain Gringo book covers.

New Texture has produced two art books of Samson Pollen’s art.

Pollen’s Women is a hardback book reproducing Pollen’s art featuring women. The book is a hardback, 140 pages, 8.5 x 11 inches in a landscape orientation.

There is a short essay at the beginning “Painted Women” by Samson Pollen as told to Wyatt Doyle on Pollen’s career as an illustrator.

A good number of the illustrations are interior black and whites, some tinted blue or red. The emphasis is on women in all sorts of situations. Exotic adventure, war, crime, nympho nurses etc.

These are beautiful, curvy, feminine women in these illustrations. Having seen the changes in paperback covers the past 43 or so year, it really hits home how far cover illustration has fallen the past 15 years.

Like any art book, Pollen’s Women is not cheap. Cost is 39.95 from Amazon. This book is well made, laid out, and just pleasing to the eye and to hold. There is a also a companion book, Pollen’s Action.

Pollen’s Women: The Art of Samson Pollen published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames

[weirdletter]

The Best of Best New Horror Volume 1, edited by Stephen Jones, PS Publishing, 2020. Cover art by Norman Saunders, info: pspublishing.co.uk.

Contents: Editor’s Foreword — Stephen Jones Introduction: Bettering the Best — Ramsey Campbell No Sharks in the Med [1989] — Brian Lumley The Man Who Drew Cats [1990] — Michael Marshall Smith The Same in any Language 1991] — Ramsey Campbell Norman Wisdom and the Angel of Death [1992] — Christopher Fowler Mefisto in Onyx [1993] — Harlan Ellison® The Temptation of Dr. Stein [1994] — Paul J. McAuley Queen of Knives [1995]— Neil Gaiman The Break [1996] — Terry Lamsley Emptiness Spoke Eloquent [1997] — Caitlín R. Kiernan Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff [1998] — Peter Straub Index to the First Ten Years of Best New Horror    I: Index by Contributor    II: Index by Title    III: Contents of Previous Omnibus Editions