Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 6, 2008 in
Fandom,
Hobbies and Collections,
Horror,
Pulp Fiction 
It’s with a heavy heart that I learned of the passing of Forrest J Ackerman because so much of what we take for granted today as fanboys we owe to the man and his generation. Forrest was among the members of First Fandom: The first generation of fanboys who during the 30s invented science fiction conventions, fan clubs, fanzines and cosplay. And Mr. Ackerman did all of that by playing a leading role in establishing the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society in 1934, attending the first World Science Fiction Convention in 1939 and published on the first fanzines Futuria Fantasia in 1939. Here’s an interview with him talking about the early days of science fiction fandom from 1996: Read more…
Tags: Famous Monsters of Filmland, Forrest J Ackerman
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 17, 2008 in
Pulp Fiction 
There’s a wonderful series of articles in the latest New Scientist magazine on the future of the science fiction genre which features quite a few well know authors on the subject including William Gibson: Read more…
Tags: Science Fiction, William Gibson
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 31, 2008 in
Pulp Fiction 
Dynamite was one of my favorite childhood mags, for the most part they focused on pop culture but this issue (#12 from 1975) features the slightly evil Count Morbida. The illustrator who brought Morbida to life is Arthur Friedman whose character presented a monthly puzzle page.
Found via Jason (check out his Christmas Catalog Archive Site).
Tags: 1975, Arthur Friedman, Count Morbida, Dynamite Magazine, Illustration
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 31, 2008 in
Pulp Fiction 
In the early 60s Dan Lawler was the star illustrator of Humpty Dumpty’s Magazine for Little Children. What I like about his style is that he manages to be interesting yet charming in a magical way. In the illustration above from 1964 I love the little touches like the crow in the corner and the feather on the hat. In the spot 1961 illustration below Lawler draws you into the picture with his simple yet theatrical staging:
Found via Glen Mullaly, check out his blog here and his Flickr account here.
Tags: 1961, 1964, Dan Lawler, Halloween, Humpty Dumpty's Magazine for Little Children, Illustration
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 14, 2008 in
Pulp Fiction 
Ridley Scott doing a science fiction film is always interesting news, but Scott tackling this classic novel is very interesting news indeed:
Ridley Scott takes on ‘Forever War’
Fox 2000 film based on Joe Haldeman novel
“Fox 2000 has acquired rights to Joe Haldeman’s 1974 novel “The Forever War,” and Ridley Scott is planning to make it into his first science fiction film since he delivered back-to-back classics with “Blade Runner” and “Alien.” Scott intended to follow those films with “The Forever War,” but rights complications delayed his plans for more than two decades.
The film will be produced by Scott Free. Vince Gerardis and Ralph Vicinanza will exec produce. Their company, Created By, reps Haldeman and spent the last decade trying to get back the rights. “I first pursued ‘Forever War’ 25 years ago, and the book has only grown more timely and relevant since,” Scott told Daily Variety. “It’s a science-fiction epic, a bit of ‘The Odyssey’ by way of ‘Blade Runner,’ built upon a brilliant, disorienting premise.”
Book revolves around a soldier who battles an enemy in deep space for only a few months, only to return home to a planet he doesn’t recognize some 20 years later, Scott said.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 17, 2008 in
Pulp Fiction 
Have they no shame? Of course not! Douglas Adams wrote five books in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, but not being happy with the lame movie that was pumped out it seems that publishers have picked an author to slug out a sixth novel in the series. The PR around the book claims that Adams always wanted to write a sixth book, but I think it’s pretty lame stuffing words into his mouth at this point:
And another thing…
“Douglas Adams died in 2001, having written five of the enduringly popular Hitchhiker books - still inaccurately dubbed a trilogy. About 16 million copies of the books have been sold worldwide, but fans were left disappointed when it seemed as though Adams’ early death ended the series with all the main characters seemingly meeting a grizzly end. Children’s author Eoin Colfer has been chosen to write the sixth of the series by Adams’ widow Jane Belson. He writes of his joy at being able to continue the series with the new book And Another Thing.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 7, 2008 in
Pulp Fiction 
Oh sure anyone can wrote about the world 100 years in the future, but this 1958 novel 43,000 Years Later by Horace Coon attempts to explore the year 45,000 from the point of view of explorers visiting Earth after it was destroyed in the 20th Century.
Sadly I couldn’t find a good bio of Horace Coon on the net, however I did come across a few other titles that he may have been the author of: Triumph of the Eggheads from 1955 which is a non-fiction title on intellectuals in American government (ah yes! the good old days) and American Tel and Tel: The Story of a Great Monopoly which was published in 1939. It’s ironic how these mid-20th century themes of nuclear proliferation, the importance of smart government and the financial power of telecommunications are still very much topics that are still in style.
The abstract looking illustration is by Richard M. Powers who did quite a few pulp covers that were very heavily influenced by surrealistic and dadaistic artists like Max Ernst. What I like about his work is that it’s a nice break from the realism that you see in so many pulp covers from the 30s through the 50s — Powers is daring to do a science fiction book cover in a modernist art style, which would become a bit more popular in the 60s (although is sadly out of style with unimaginative publishers today). By the way if you like the cover you can buy a copy of The Art of Richard Powers
at amazon.com. A nice personal account of the life of Richard Powers can be found here.
Book cover discovered by digital archivist Jason who resides in Vancouver, Canada.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 22, 2008 in
Pulp Fiction 
What’s great about this cover us that the couple in the foreground seem to be oblivious to the giant spacecraft above — the proof of this is that they’re running to the spaceship rather than from it:
Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 20, 2008 in
Pulp Fiction 
There’s something very innocent yet creepy about this 1913 cover illustration by John R. Neill for the book The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum. If you look closer at the artwork what’s interesting is that the little girl doesn’t seem the least bit disturbed by this doll that has come to life and I also love the little touch of the multichromatic creature grabbing the typography of the book’s title:
Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 17, 2008 in
Pulp Fiction 
The funny thing is that although this Soviet city of the future seems utopian, it’s very repressive under the surface: Every building in site looks exactly alike! It’s as if in this vision of the future there is only one architect who designed just one building and then they figured out to leave well enough alone after that point. Also notice how all the vehicles carry multiple parties — clearly mass transit rules the day, but if you want to own a private car jet that’s too bad! The illustration is scanned from a 1969 copy of Teknika Molodezhi (Techniques of Youth) magazine which was a Russian Popular Mechanics magazine of sorts.
Found via darkroastedblend.com.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 15, 2008 in
Pulp Fiction 
The above illustration is from an illustrated Spanish book from 1965. The oversized space suits remind me of the Lost in Space robot:
Illustration found by one size fits all who lives in Barcelona, Spain.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 2, 2008 in
Pulp Fiction 
There’s a great article by Charles McGrath at the New York Times on Ian Fleming the author of the James Bond books (his 100th birthday will be on Wednesday). I love how the article goes into detail on the difference between the print and film versions of the series:
That License to Kill Is Unexpired
“Albert R. Broccoli, a producer of the first 17 Bond films, could be said to be a co-creator of this other, meta-Bond. It was he or his writers who made a trademark of the “Bond. James Bond” line, for example, and who insisted on the “shaken, not stirred” business. Fleming’s Bond is not nearly so fussy about what he drinks, as long as there is plenty of it. He’s as apt to slug down bourbon as a martini. This Bond is also much more fetishistic about smoking than he is about drinking and makes a point of ordering his cigarettes (with three gold bands on the filter) from Morlands of Grosvenor Street. (In a pinch, though, he’ll also smoke Chesterfield kings by the carton, and it’s little short of miraculous that he can climb a flight of stairs, let alone swim for miles, as he so often does.) He likes fast automobiles but hates gizmos, except for the odd concealed knife, and wouldn’t get caught dead with the laser watches, ejector seats, tricked-out cars and exploding key chains the movie Bond has been kitted out with, not to mention that embarrassing jet pack.”
