This blog is about images, and this header from a pulp contents page certainly deserves to be seen in that context. Even the 'ordinary' logo-type is enticing.
But consider for a moment the notion of word images. The teaser blurbs for these stories paint vivid scenes on the canvas of my mind. What about you? Isn't this stuff what science fiction is all about?
Erupting from hyper-space in the teeth of startled DIC patrols and readying all hands for a crash=landing, adventurer Fletcher Pell could still wonder which he dreaded more—the U-235 in the hold . . . or the strange girl by his side . . .
His black science threatened the whole cosmos. Against him frail Princess Nuala thrust her ancient knowledge—but he sneeringly smashed that. And space-toughened Clark Travis stood by helplessly. Of what use here was a pair of ready fists?
Quoting one more:
They played a ghastly game on that lonely asteroid. Killer and victim-to-be danced and feinted between space beacon and ship. Only the stars knew the winner.
All the blurbs (and the stories) are worth reading. Look at those authors! Bradbury, Fox, Knight! THIS was the golden age of science fiction!
Man, I love that stuff. Today's science fiction is so burdened with political posturing and disfunctional characters flailing away at each other.
ReplyDeleteWell said, E.G.
ReplyDeleteI've lways loved that kind of stuff. That is exactly the kind of look and feel I try to infuse into my magazine, Dark Worlds. Writing those blurbs is hard work. You really have to feel for the copy guys back then trying to come up with an exciting description of a story that didn't give too much away but made you want to read it and didn't go over two lines because that would change the layout of the page. Those guys deserve much more praise then I imagine they ever got.
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