Flex Mentallo

Here are a few more of his lovely paintings.

Merry Christmas everyone! This was a year that began with many losses, and more than one tragic death, but ends with hope for the next by taking inspiration from the lives of those remembered. I had hoped to begin a new topic today on the history of magic, but it's been such a roller coaster year that I've barely begun the necessary research. It will be fun if I ever manage to get round to it. Meanwhile, in celebration of the Christmas season, I thought I'd share the wonderful winter paintings of a rather obscure Scottish painter by the name of Joseph Farquharson. He made his reputation as a painter of sheep in wintry landscapes. The remarkable realism of hiswork can be attributed to his desire to work en plein air. This had to be carried out in a unique way which was adapted to the harsh Scottish climate. Farquharson had constructed a painting hut on wheels, complete with a stove and large glass window for observing the landscape. Likewise to achieve as realistic a result as possible when painting the sheep which frequently appear in his snowscapes, he used a flock of "imitation" sheep which could be placed as required in the landscape of his choice. Farquharson painted so many scenes of cattle and sheep in snow he was nicknamed ‘Frozen Mutton Farquharson’. Below is his most famous painting, often used in Christmas cards, so it may be familiar. Beneath The Snow Encumbered Branches (1901). It had been 'lost' for half a century, before it turned up at auction in 2008, where it sold for approximately 50 times what the owner had paid for it.

Yay! Super looking copy Jason!

Very nice group Kelly! This is a tough, tough book.

Agreed - the anonymity of CLink allows such an over-hyped scenario to develop. I own the Church copy of that issue and there is no way that I would value it anywhere near this "bid". That's all very well Steve, but do you have a jack knife?

'The Rose' is a wonderful and ultimately moving novella by Harness also from 1953. He failed to sell it to a U.S. publisher. It first appeared in the British magazine Authentic Science Fiction in that year. It was not republished in paperback in the UK until 1966, and it wasn't until 1968 that UK publisher Sidgwick & Jackson issued the (now very scarce) hardback edition. Its revival in the 1960s was the result of the interest in Harness's work of Michael Moorcock, It actually didn't make it into print in the United States until 1969. The hardback is a brute to find in decent shape. Nice copies tend to sell for quite a lot of money. ‘In a world where a terrifying Ultimate Weapon is just about to be perfected, a scattered handful of people are on the brink of making a giant evolutionary step and becoming more than human. The Rose is the story of two such mutants, one man and one woman. On their foreheads, strange horn-like growths sprout. On their backs, disfiguring humps grow. Together they fight in a new and deadly version of an ages-old battle, all the time seeking the mysterious Rose that will resolve the puzzling enigma on which the future of life itself depends…’ 'This astonishing tale... transfigures its source in Oscar Wilde's "The Nightingale and the Rose" into a transcendent paean to the victory of art over the coercions of science.' John Clute Harness made a kind of comeback in 1968 with the Ring of Ritornel when his earlier work began to be more appreciated. For whatever reason, it was 10 years before he wrote another novel, Wolfhead, in 1978. I personally don't find the later works quite recapture the earlier magic (a bit like Joseph Heller after Catch 22), though others may disagree. Though he was nominated for multiple Hugo and Nebula awards in later years, I find it astonishing that he never received an award for either of these fine works. The Rose was nominated for a retrospective Hugo in 2004 alongside other novellas published in 1953 but lost out to A Case of Conscience by James Blish. So there is some justice that he was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004.

One of my favorites as well. It was first published as a novella in the May 1949 issue of Startling Stories as 'Flight into Yesterday'. Below is the first book publication in 1953. (I've steadily been upgrading my paperbacks to hardback and greatly enjoying the hunt for some of the rarer titles and editions. Harness was at the top of my list.) It was renamed The Paradox Men by Donald Wollheim for reprint as the first half of Ace Double #D-118 in 1955. "The novel plays high, wide, and handsome with space and time, buzzes around the solar system like a demented hornet, [and] is witty, profound, and trivial all in one breath." Brian Aldiss It was Harness who invented the concept of force fields which protect people against high-velocity weapons like guns but not against knives or swords, an idea later used in Frank Herbert's Dune (1965).

B-but those wolves are nekkid!

An antonym if ever I read one.

Cant wait.

Whatever you post will be extremely welcome - and for many of us, both fascinating and educational. Someone pass me the popcorn.

still not sure I have ever seen one of these for sale I never did find one when I was putting that run together me neither Not my area of collecting so I looked at the census. Only three copies recorded, and the highest is only 4.0

I'm with you on that. They don't get as much attention as other FH titles maybe, but they include some of Fiction House's best covers - and Jumbos arguably have the best interiors.

What a wonderful assortment of pulp covers and splash pages! Thanks, Flex! Thanks - I've been out of the loop for a while so I may have overdone it!

I remember when we used to call that a mullet (shudder). Kind of a sheep in lion's clothing don't you think?

This is beautiful!

You have wonderful copies!

Just looking back through the early days of your thread, long before I joined the boards. Planet Comics seems to be one of your favorites. Did you ever complete the set BZ?

The poor lion doesn't stand a chance.

A couple more from my favorite Jumbo period. #53 seems very tough to find in grade.