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Reviews @ Missions Unknown
By Scott A. Cupp, on August 26th, 2010 Jackets Required by Stephen Heller and Seymour Chwast, © 1995 trade paperback, Chronicle Books
This is the 12th in my series of Forgotten Books
 Jackets Required by Steven Heller & Seymour Chwast I thought I might take a quick break from my reveries of the 1960’s and the new wave that have been present during the last three reviews, so this little non-fiction title I got from good friend and excellent writer, Bill Crider, seemed to fit the bill (pun intended). This will be a relatively short review just like the book. Subtitled An Illustrated History of American Book Jacket Design 1920 – 1950, that pretty well tells you what this book is about.
As a book collector I am interested in how the book has evolved over the years. Recently Penguin Books celebrated the 75th anniversary of the birth of the modern paperback. (Yes, I know there were other paperback titles and publishers, but that’s a different column). But, before the paperback, there was the hardback volume. In the 1830’s the first dust jackets were applied tom volumes. Their intent was to protect the boards of the book form wear and dust. They were intended to be discarded once the book was safely ensconced on the shelves of the library. As such, the early dust jackets were plain and contained little to no information. Illustrations on the dust jacket were introduced in the second half of the 19th century, but really did not come into wide usage until the 1890’s.
The authors explore the rise of the American dust jacket art and the phases it went through in some small detail in the text of this book. While the text portion of the book is minimal, the illustrations are extensive, They divided the first section into thematic covers – fiction, war, western, mystery, humor, places, adventure, romance, manners, political, short stories, poetry, juvenile, historical fiction, politics, journalism, science, history, biography, travel, culture, and lifestyle are all features, some more extensively than others. Then there is a section of great illustrators – E. McKnight Kauffer, William Addison Dwiggins, Arthur Hawkins, Jr., George Salter, Alvin Lustig, and Paul Rand are all featured.
Continue reading Forgotten Book: JACKETS REQUIRED by Steven Heller & Seymour Chwast »
By Scott A. Cupp, on August 19th, 2010 Nova by Samuel R. Delany, © 1968 hardback, Doubleday
This is the 11th in my series of Forgotten Books
 Nova - First Edition This week Patti Abbott, the organizer of the Forgotten Books blogs across the country, asked the various bloggers to talk about books that were special to them in the period of 18 – 23 years of age and how they affected you and whether this is still the case. At least that is how I read the challenge.
To date, that challenge could apply to most of the books I have reviewed here. Certainly, VERMILION SANDS, BLIND VOICES, THE RAKEHELLS OF HEAVEN, A MIRROR FOR OBSERVERS, and the forthcoming review of A. Merritt’s THE SHIP OF ISHTAR were all novels I read during that timeframe which I greatly enjoyed and which, upon re-reading, I found their power undiminished. In last week’s column, I spoke of THE LAST STARSHIP FROM EARTH by John Boyd and how it remains one of my three favorite science fiction novels. I mentioned one of the other novels that fit that group, NOVA by Samuel R. Delany.
Since I just did the Boyd last week, I did not opt to do LAST STARSHIP. NOVA comes from roughly the same timeframe, 1968. I am cheating just a slight bit, as I was not yet 18 when I read this novel, but it impacted me as few novels ever have.
To set the time. This was the year after DANGEROUS VISIONS blasted into the US science fiction landscape, making new waves that were being felt everywhere. Michael Moorcock was revolutionizes science fiction in the magazine NEW WORLDS in London. They were snatching the field from the current ghetto it was occupying and saying to the world, “We are relevant. And literary. And powerful!” I bit into that apple and drank the Kool-Aid whole heartedly. Up until then I had been a fan of Heinlein and Philip K. Dick. Ellison (and Judith Merrill, his chief disciple) introduced me to the work of Ballard, Zelazny, Spinrad, and more. And to Delany.
I suddenly had to find BABEL -17 and THE EINSTEIN INTERSECTION; the two novels Delany wrote immediately before NOVA which both won the Nebula for Best Novel. He also got one for short story for “Aye, and Gomorrah” from DANGEROUS VISIONS and was soon to get one for “Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stone”. He was not yet 30. Delany and Zelazny were the US wunderkinds. Young, immensely talented, unafraid to experiment, and setting the world on fire. Just prior to Delany’s run, Zelazny had won awards for “…AND CALL ME, CONRAD (aka THIS IMMORTAL), LORD OF LIGHT,”The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth”, “He Who Shapes” (aka THE DREAM MASTER in an expanded form), and should have won for “A Rose For Ecclesiastes”. Two Hugos and two Nebulas by 1968, when he was 31.
So, you calmly ask (if you do not know), what is NOVA about. I glibly say “200 pages.” NOVA is a novel about a scarred captain searching for an impossible object; a Grail quest; Moby Dick; an exposition of what a novel is and how to write it; Tarot lore, space opera about exploding stars,; racism or class prejudice; the secret lives of the rich and powerful; a novel about music; or whatever you want to read into it. It is many things to many people.
Continue reading Forgotten Book: NOVA by Samuel R. Delany »
By Scott A. Cupp, on August 12th, 2010 The Rakehells of Heaven by John Boyd, © 1969 hardback, Weybright and Talley
This is the 10th in my series of Forgotten Books
 The Rakehells of Heaven paperback THE RAKEHELLS OF HEAVEN (TROH) was John Boyd’s third novel, following THE LAST STARSHIP FROM EARTH (TLSFE) and THE POLLINATORS OF EDEN (TPOE). To me, as a mild-mannered teenager they were eye opening and refreshing. I have written on other sites of THE LAST STARSHIP which ranks in my top three all time science fiction novels with NOVA by Samuel R. Delany and a third book that varies based upon my moods.
Boyd Upchurch was a California bookseller and former military man who decided to write science fiction following World War II. His radio play “The Fairweather Syndrome” eventually became TLSFE some 20 years after it was conceived. The novel was a Nebula finalist and received a cover quote from Robert A, Heinlein (possibly the first one he ever gave).
For a brief period Boyd/Upchurch was a supernova, producing novels at a breakneck speed. I encountered TLSFE through the science fiction book club which also offered TPOE. I read that too and liked it quite well. Then P. Schuyler Miller, the resident book reviewer at Analog, did a column where he talked about Boyd’s third and fourth novels, THE RAKEHELLS OF HEAVEN and SEX AND THE HIGH COMMAND (SATHC). His praise was such that I sought them out in their paperback editions with wonderful Paul Lehr covers on the most.
They all shared several characteristics – revolution against the establishment, a fresh look at sex, religion, and an overriding sense of absurdity and humor. It has been a long time since I read most of these. TLSFE I have read several times over the years and spent what was a small fortune for a very fine first edition in the mid 1980’s. In all Boyd did 9 science fiction novels (though I have a nagging feeling it really is 11 but 9 was all I could find reference to this evening) and I acquired hardback first editions of them all. Three years ago I sold 19,000 books from my collection and all of them went away except TLSFE. I kept that one. When the book buyers saw I had Boyd novels, that was the one they were interested in. Too bad, I will keep it pretty much forever.
Anyway, to this title, TROH is a novel of first contact. Red O’Hara and Jack Adams are scouts for the Interplanetary Colonial Administration. They are sent out on a probe to find new worlds which can be classified as “human” or “Non-human”. Traits that determine humanity are 1) opposable thumbs, 2) a belief in a deity, 3) there must statute law and order, 4) they must be able to crossbreed with humans, 5) gestation period for infants must be between 7 and 11 months, 6) coition must occur face-to-face, 7) no public nudity as well as other restrictions.
Continue reading Forgotten Book: THE RAKEHELLS OF HEAVEN by John Boyd »
By Scott A. Cupp, on August 5th, 2010 Vermilion Sands by J. G. Ballard, © 1973 hardback, Jonathan Cape (London)
This is the 9th in my series of Forgotten Books
 J.G. Ballard - Vermilion Sands When J. G. Ballard died last year at age 78, it was painful to me. I had discovered his work while still a teenager in the Judith Merrill’s YEAR’S GREATEST SF anthologies. Those books were like a bolt of lightning to me. I was reading Heinlein, Norton, Asimov, and ER Burroughs regularly and then Judy Merrill comes up and says “SF can be so much more than.” I remember reading the short stories “The Drowned Giant” and “The Volcano Dances” and feeling my head hurt because they were unlike what I had seen before.
VERMILION SANDS was originally a paperback from Berkeley in 1971. The first hardback edition came from the UK in 1973 where one additional story (“The Singing Statues”) was added. I have both covers here – the American by Richard Powers which was the first version I read and the surrealist cover from the UK for which I do not have an attribution. My hardcover lacks the jacket and is a stained ex-library copy that I am still pleased to have, VERMILION SANDS may be the most coherent and readable of all Ballard’s short story collections. It has a strong lineup including his first published story “Prima Belladonna”. The title refers to a location, a kind of artist colony of the former stars and nearly great artists and writers, a second tier future Riviera. Ballard has gone out of his way to explore new cultural changes in these pieces. You have the art of cloud sculpting (“The Cloud-Sculptors of Coral D), you have the singing plant life (“Prima Belladonna”), intelligent clothing that reflects the mood of the wearer (“Cry Hope, Cry Fury”), the singing statues (in “The Singing Statues”), computer written poetry (“Studio 5, the Stars”), psychotic houses (“The Thousand Dreams of Stellavista”), and more, Each story examines the art of the subject and how it might interact in this future world. And, being Ballard, it is a decadent world. Vermilion Sands, the locale, is on the edge of a sand sea and is used in gliding and sand sailing. There are sand rays which swim in both the sand and the air, generally passively, though the can and do turn on the unwary).
If you have read Ballard before, then you know this is not action filled science fiction. It is very introspective and most stories are first person accounts of the events. They may begin “Again last night, as the dusk air began to move across the desert from Lagoon West, I heard fragments of music coming in on the thermal rollers, remote and fleeting, echoes of the love-song of Lunora Goalen.” (from “The Singing Statues”).
Continue reading Forgotten Book: VERMILION SANDS by J. G. Ballard »
By Scott A. Cupp, on July 29th, 2010 Lisa Kane by Richard Lupoff, © 1976 hardback, Bobbs Merrill
This is the 8th in my series of Forgotten Books
 Lisa Kane by Richard Lupoff Richard Lupoff is a Renaissance man. He has written about comics in the 1960’s with his seminal ALL IN COLOR FOR A DIME. He was an editor at Canaveral Press and started a small revival in the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs by publishing several books there, featuring the art of Frank Frazetta, Reed Crandall, and Mahlon Blaine. He then wrote a biography of Burroughs EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS: MASTER OF ADVENTURE which was one of the first (if not the first) serious study of his life, his series characters, and of the genesis of the Tarzan character with a wonderful bibliography of influential works. Then he took up fiction writing a published science fiction and fantasy with ONE MILLION CENTURIES, SPACE WAR BLUES, SACRED LOCOMOTIVE FLIES, CIRCUMPOLAR, and many more. He and his wife Pat were early costumers at the science fiction WorldCon. There is a wonderful photo of the two of them as Captain Marvel and Mary Marvel from a long bygone period. Oh, and they were fanzine fans, winning a Hugo for their fanzine XERO. Oh and he wrote mysteries too, including THE COMIC BOOK KILLER. And horror with LOVECRAFT’S BOOK. Not to mention a million other things. And he wrote LISA KANE.
Now, LISA KANE really is a forgotten book. It had one printing in 1976 in a hardback edition from Bobbs Merrill, not your prototypical science fiction publisher of the day. No paperback release, no huge sales. Just a non-descript book that came and vanished pretty much the same day. IF you go to ABE.com you will find a few copies, less than 10 right now. I believe there was one on eBay today when I looked. Amazon had four used copies. That’s not a lot of availability. But, we have not yet even discussed the book.
LISA KANE is a coming of age story for the title girl, a preteen living in the East being raised by her father. She is concerned because she knows changes are coming in her life. She’s had some health classes but while her friends are becoming women, she has not. Her father is the typical absent minded professor, commuting three days a week from their home to the university where he works, primarily in an anthropological research position.
Continue reading Forgotten Book: LISA KANE by Richard Lupoff »
By Scott A. Cupp, on July 22nd, 2010  A Mirror for Observers by Edgar Pangborn A Mirror For Observers by Edgar Pangborn, © 1954 hardback, Doubleday
This is the 7th in my series of Forgotten Books
There is a story about Edgar Pangborn that says Theodore Sturgeon was helping H. L. Gold out on night reading the slush pile for Galaxy magazine. He read a story called “Angel’s Egg” that brought him to tears with the beauty and poignancy of the story. He read it at about 2 in the morning. He made Gold read it immediately. The story had the same effect on Gold. They wanted to call the author up and speak with him immediately, but they waited until the sun rose. They woke Pangborn up and discussed the story at length and bought it and asked for more.
In 1954 Edgar Pangborn produced one of the classic novels of all science fiction with A Mirror For Observers. It won the International Fantasy Award, the same award that Clifford Simak won for City and J. R. R. Tolkien won for The Lord of the Rings. This book belongs in that prestigious company. Pangborn was later nominated for a Hugo for Best Novel for Davy and a couple of Nebulas for short fiction, but he did not win. Both Davy and A Mirror For Observers were in the top 50 all time novels in a Locus poll in 1987 and 1975, respectively. To say he is forgotten is a little bit of a misnomer as Old Earth Books has been putting out a nice matched set of Pangborn’s work in hardback editions.
The first time I read this book had to be in the 1960’s. I was fascinated with the story of a young Earth boy, Angelo Pontevecchio, growing up in New York City who is watched by two Martians with different goals in mind. The Observer Elmis is intent on letting the boy genius develop into a potential leader of the Earth. The Abdicator Namir feels that Earth must be destroyed. He cannot initiate it directly so he tries to guide this same potential genius into areas that will lead him to destroy Mankind.
Continue reading Forgotten Book: A Mirror For Observers by Edgar Pangborn »
By Scott A. Cupp, on July 15th, 2010  The Lovecraft Papers by P. H. Cannon, © 1996 hardback, Science Fiction Bookclub
This is the 6th in my series of Forgotten Books
PH Cannon has played fast and furious with literary characters and real writers in this collection of one novella, three short stories, and an essay. Initially the stories were published in two volumes – Pulptime (1984, Weirdbook) and Scream For Jeeves (1994, Wodecraft Press). As you would gather from this volumes title, they are Lovecraftian to the core.
The initial novella, Pulptime, was a small press publication and involves the story of H. P. Lovecraft and his good friend Frank Belknap Long Jr. and their adventures with a loose-knit club of other writers and friends known as the Kalem Klub (Kalem because the initial founders of the club all had last names beginning with K, L, and M, therefore the KLM Klub). This was in the period of Lovecraft’s residence in New York City, following his brief marriage to Sonia Green. Sonia does not appear in this story, being in the Midwest looking for work.
 Pulptime by P.H. Cannon Lovecraft and Long are befriended by a Mr. John Altamont, an elderly man who is residing in the neighborhood of Lovecraft’s residence. They rescue him from being mugged one evening and become fast friends. They are surprised to discover that Mr. Altamont knows who they are and has read their writings in Weird Tales. It comes as a small shock to them to discover that Mr. Altamont is, in fact, Mr. Sherlock Holmes engaged on a mission to recover some papers for a mysterious client. The papers are in the hand of an underworld figure engaged in smuggling, importation of illegal aliens, bootlegging and gambling. Holmes requires the help of his new friends and of their Kalem Klub friends to secure the area for the big confrontation. In between they attend a séance, meet Harry Houdini, and encounter thugs and ruffians of every ilk. Cannon reproduces Lovecraft’s voice evocatively, using terms and descriptions straight from his letters. Pulptime is quite a bit of fun.
Continue reading Forgotten Book: The Lovecraft Papers by P. H. Cannon »
By Scott A. Cupp, on July 8th, 2010 The Orphan by Robert Stallman, © 1980 paperback, Pocket/Timescape Books.
 The Orphan by Robert Stallman This is the 5th in my series of Forgotten Books
This review is going to sound a little like a rerun of my BLIND VOICES review of a couple of weeks ago. The novel is set in a rural 1930’s America and is written by a writer who passed well before his time. But THE ORPHAN and BLIND VOICES are two very different novels.
Robert Stallman managed three novels before he died – THE ORPHAN, THE CAPTIVE, and THE BEAST. Collectively, they form THE BOOK OF THE BEAST. He was a professor at Western Michigan University when he died just as the first book was published. The third book was still being edited (if I recall correctly) and is a little choppier than the first two. As far as I know, he wrote no short fiction and published just the three books.
So, today we will deal with the first novel, THE ORPHAN. Or, perhaps “The Portrait of a Shape Shifting Alien as a Young Boy” might be a better title, as the reader views The Beast through two viewpoints – his Beast nature and his human side. The Beast, which is how he refers to himself, is a shape shifter from somewhere. We are not told in this book. He is in rural America during the Depression, somewhere in the Midwest, near Ohio, but not there. He never really describes himself and those who view his true nature (and survive) talk about a wild dog or a bear or a force of nature. In this book, he is learning what it is to be human.
He begins his humanity as a five year old by named Robert Lee Burney. He appears to be a normal child who is found hiding naked in a barn by Martin and Cat Nordmeyer, an older, empty nest couple who take the child in. At night, he assumes his natural form and roams the countryside, observing, hunting, and romping. The Beast may be a child himself as he does not speak to himself as a fully grown adult; he is easily distracted and frequently makes wrong decisions. He is fascinated with the life he begins to live. But, this bucolic life is not meant for him and circumstances force him to leave the Nordmeyers and live with their daughter, Victoria Woodson, and her family. Here he is distracted easily and learns about cruelty and love and evil.
Continue reading Forgotten Books: The Orphan by Robert Stallman »
By Scott A. Cupp, on July 1st, 2010  This is the 4th in my series of Forgotten Books
The Spider vs. the Empire State by Norvell W. Page, © 2009 trade paperback, Age of Aces Books. For those who love to read pulp superhero novels, there is no further introduction required other than to say this volume features three linked novels featuring Richard Wentworth, The Spider, When asked to name pulp heroes many people can name Doc Savage or The Shadow. Beyond those two names, many folk’s knowledge may be somewhat suspect. Yet the Spider novels hold their own with those others. He appeared in over 100 novels, over half of which were written by Norvell W. Page. He became so identified with the character that in some works, he is referred to as “Spider” Page.
These three novels (The City That Paid to Die, The Spider At Bay, and Scourge of the Black Legions) are from 1938 and really reflect the paranoia of the times. Thanks to an introductory essay by Thomas Krabacher of California State University, Sacramento, we are given some insight into the times. The situation in Europe was tense; the Depression was still hammering much of America, and people really did not know which way to go. Fascism and Communism had many supporters and detractors. Roosevelt’s New deal made many rich people very nervous and upset, much as Obama is currently doing. There were plots around every street corner and even a planned coup or two.
Into this environment, Page set his story. The state of New York sees a new governor brought in along with other members of the Party of Justice which is going to reform things. Many see glad times ahead. Richard Wentworth sees a different future. The new governor is given far reaching powers. A new state police force is established, the Black Police. The Spider sees organized crime behind the governor and the Black Police. Personal freedoms are lost, honest police and judges are rooted out on false charges. The Black Police are allowed to make arrests with little to know documentation with immediate trials and executions. A new tax service is established. People may be stopped and asked to pay a poor tax. Failure to pay the specified amount may result in arrest, public flogging, jail or even Death. The man on the street hears stories through the media indicating that those arrested were plainly guilty. The governor is given the authority to declare any one an “outlaw” with an immediate $10,000 price on their head, dead or alive, no questions asked.
Stanley Kirkpatrick is Commissioner of Police for New York City and the Spider’s main nemesis. He believes his friend Richard Wentworth is the Spider but he is not about to allow friendship from preventing him doing his duty. He does not have the proof he requires to arrest his friend but they both know that when he does Wentworth will be arrested. The new mayor wants a Police Commissioner who will play ball and when Kirkpatrick refuses, he is declared outlaw. Wentworth breaks him and other out of jail and is himself outlawed. Wentworth operates under the guise of being a friend of the Spider and authorized to act in his name.
Continue reading Forgotten Book: The Spider vs the Empire State by Norvell Page »
By Scott A. Cupp, on June 24th, 2010 This is the 3rd in my series of Forgotten Books
 "A Vampire Named Fred" by Bill Crider A VAMPIRE NAMED FRED by Bill Crider (1990, Maggie Books) It’s hard to think of Bill Crider as having a Forgotten Book. I mean, the man is everywhere. His blog, BILL CRIDER’s POP CULTURE MAGAZINE, is an absolutely essential stop for me daily. Multiple times daily, in fact. You never know what might show up there. He has obsessions with Sasquatch/Yeti, Paris Hilton, and Alligators. This coming weekend’s Supercroc vs. Dinogator has been circled on his calendar for months and the DVR is ready to go.
I have known Bill for a long time, so I have his books. They don’t seem rare or forgotten because they are right there, in the bookcase across from my bed, along with Joe Lansdale titles. The two of them take up more than 4 shelves in that bookcase.
So, when I wanted to do a Crider book as the forgotten Book for this week, somehow A VAMPIRE NAMED FRED just found its way into my hand. During the period when this came out, Mr. Crider was trying his hand at a lot of different things. He was still doing his Sherriff Rhoades books for St. Martins, but he also did 5 pseudononymous paperback horror novels as Jack MacLane, a Wishbone book (Muttketeer!) with the intrepid beagle doing Dumas, three young adult SF books (the Mike Gonzo series), and assorted other stuff he won’t tell me about.
A VAMPIRE NAMED FRED is the story of two young boys (Al, the narrator, and his friend Hermie, who live in a small town with a big abandoned house next door. It’s a great house with bugs and spiders and a dirt floor. So they were devastated when it got sold. They had lost their favorite hangout. So when Midnight Movers pulls up one day at noon and starts moving stuff in, they have to go watch. They meet Carl, who offers them a job helping to unpack.
The last box to be unpacked contains a man in outdated tuxedo. The boys know immediately that this is a vampire! Their first thought is “Cool!” Their second thoughts run to the many bad things that vampires do. They are introduced to Fred Duncan who greets them with a funny accent. Fred soon dispels their misconceptions about vampires. They do not drink blood. They do not like direct sunlight but with preparations they can go out in the daytime. He can turn into a bat but usually at the wrong time, such as when meeting strangers, though a fried banana sundae can stave off the change. Dogs hate them. Cats really, really hate them.
Crider sprinkles in many almost familiar lines from Mr. Lugosi. Lines such as “I never drink … lemonade.” Or, when Fred hears a mouse, he says, “The children of the night. They are calling to me.”
Continue reading Forgotten Book: A VAMPIRE NAMED FRED by Bill Crider »
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Mission Control
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JOHN PICACIO is a World Fantasy Award-winning and Hugo
Award-nominated illustrator of science fiction, fantasy, and horror literature.
On
The Front |
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SANFORD ALLEN is a musician and author with more than
two dozen horror and dark fantasy stories published.
Sanford Allen | Boxcar
Satan |
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PAUL VAUGHN AKA The Mac Guy is a graphic artist,
web designer, writer, consultant and all around techno-geek.
The Mac
Guy | Dingus Design |
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