This is a Rest Stop on the Way Home

© Gilbert Williams — Portal of the Pleiades

The Galaxy Raiders

In all the dimensions of sci-fi, there's maybe nothing as much fun as the good old fashioned pulpy space opera of the '40s and '50s. The lurid colors of the ragged covers drawing you in to a universe where babes hit the space ways in their swimsuits and beach towel clasped around their neck (Douglas Adams had it right about not hitchhiking around the cosmos without your towel in hand). The smell of the pulp and the purple of the prose is enough to transport your molecules into the far reaches of the imagination.

Oh, the future was never as good as it was back then.

Robert Gibson Jones — Amazing Adventures — February 1950

A towel, [The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy says],

is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough."

—Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Cosmic Matador

Bull fighting has been in the news a bit, but I'm really stretching to make that relevant here. Doesn't matter. The painting stands on its own, one of the late Kelly Freas' personal all time favorites.

Frank Kelly Freas — from Confederation Matador by JF Bone —1978

Paper Books

This was a graphic header for a Science magazine review of science books, thirty (!) years ago. It's a swell vision for those of us who hope that paper books will survive and be valued and referenced even when we return to space and are poking about the cosmos.

Oh, and facial hair in space! Yes!

© Lance Miyamoto 1981

Where is She Now?

Above, Maren Jensen was a model before she was an actress—but where is she now, and what is she doing?

Below, some photos to remind you what you may have seen her in.

Yes! She was Athena, in the original Battlestar Galactica!

I do love a woman in uniform.

Flights of the Imagination

Every once in a while I feel a sudden shock that certain people, personal and famous, are no longer among us, even though I know they've been gone for some time. Of course we feel that way about our loved ones and friends.

But one such famous person is Frank Kelly Freas. I was so used to seeing his illustrative work come out regularly over the decades, that I feel sadness to never see new work of his again.

Of course that can be said of SO MANY people.

You could always count on Frank Kelly Freas to take us on colorful flights of the imagination into the books he covered.

Frank Kelly Freas — The Singing Stones

Frank Kelly Freas — The Probability Man

Frank Kelly Freas —The Tactics of Mistake

Frank Kelly Freas — Deeper Than the Darkness

Word Images

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!

Time and the Elements

Paul Manship — Time & the Dancing Hours

If Earth is ever represented in a Galactic Exposition of Cultures, I hope that Paul Manship's timeless Art Deco work will be integrated into the architectural wonders that we will erect.

Above is a sublime bronze sun dial, and below we see the Four Elements, bas-relief bronze plaques, inspired by themes in the ancient Tower of the Winds.

Water

Air

Earth

Fire

Feverdream of the Future

And the Freas women! Many times they had the same facial structure, but hey, that's what makes a style a style. They were always part of that feverdream of the future.

Rhapsody

For all the many fine artists illustrating science fiction, I still have to say Kelly Freas is my favorite. He was not 'realistic' in the traditional sense.

He was like Frazetta, painting much from the imagination, and stylized in the form of a feverdream or vision. He painted the future from memory.

And just as an aside, I like the word 'rhapsody'.

Sensuousity

Kelly Freas was responsible for selling SO-MANY sci-fi books with his intriguing covers. I bought many just for his art and then stayed and read the books as well. He brought his own brand of sensuousity to the genre (I know that's not really a word, but I felt compelled to use it in honor of Freas' uniquisity).

Art by Kelly Freas for Up to the Sky in Ships by A. Bertram Chandler

Original art by Kelly Freas for The Star-Crowned Kings

Art by Kelly Freas for The Star-Crowned Kings by Robert Chilson

Backwater Planets

Frank Kelly Freas' work was always a treasure to be collected. No matter how loose or cartoony his work was, he always captured the essence of galactic intrigue and backwater planets that is such a part of the science fiction that I love.

front cover

back cover

StarHawks—Gideon's Vision—49

And with this post, so ends the StarHawks arc of what I've been calling Gideon's Vision. It also marks the end of the double tier format that Gil Kane took great advantage of for his dynamic layouts. From this point StarHawks reverts to a daily single strip, with few papers printing it. Even in a reduced single strip format, Kane's art is brilliant.

I could post that next arc sometime as well, if I thought enough people were interested. But this blog's viewership has dwindled during this series. With the next post I will get back to some serious eyecandy.

Okay Joe—NOW you can start reading!!!

StarHawks—Gideon's Vision—48

StarHawks—Gideon's Vision—47

StarHawks—Gideon's Vision—46

StarHawks—Gideon's Vision—45

StarHawks—Gideon's Vision—44

StarHawks—Gideon's Vision—43

StarHawks—Gideon's Vision—42