The Spectacular Covers of Startling Stories

Posted on October 5, 2022 by Dazzling Erin

by Earle Bergey

Startling Stories was a sci-fi pulp magazine that ran from 1939 through 1955. It went through many different editors and formats during that time but one thing that was always consistent was the quality of the magazine’s covers. Though most of the covers were done by Earle Bergey, a few other notable pulp artists also made contributions to the magazine. Below is a small sampling of the spectacular covers of Starting Stories!

by Alex Schomburg

by Earle Bergey

by Edmund Emshwiller

by Howard V. Brown

by Rudolph Belarski

by Walter Popp

Celebrate Dinosaur Day With The Pulps!

Posted on August 2, 2022 by Dazzling Erin

by Alex Schomburg

Happy Dinosaur Day! Today is the day when we celebrate the former rulers of our planet! Dinosaurs were alwasy a popular subject with the pulps. Pulp magazines were full of stories about modern-day dinosaurs and speculation about why the real ones when extinct. Putting a dinosaur on the cover of a magazine or a paperback was a good way to catch the attention of readers all over. Today, let’s celebrate Dinosaur Day with the help of the pulps!

Artist Unknown

by Edmund Emshwiller

by Frank R. Paul

by George Gross

by Howard V. Brown

by J. Allen St. John

by Lawrence Sterne Stevens

by Thomas Beecham

Happy Dinosaur Day!

by Jerome Podwil

Artwork of the Day: If (by Edmund Emshwiller)

Posted on June 22, 2022 by Dazzling Erin

by Edmund Emshwiller

This is from 1957. And yes, that it is a rat in the skull.

Artwork of the Day: Fantastic (by Edmund Emshwiller)

Posted on June 20, 2022 by Dazzling Erin

by Edmund Emshwiller

That’s quite a catch!

The Fantastic Covers of Fantastic

Posted on January 6, 2022 by Dazzling Erin

by Ed Valigursky

Fantastic was a magazine that featured stories of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. It ran from 1952 to 1980, outlasting the majority of its competition and spinning off several other “Fantastic” magazines. Eventually, after sells started to slow down in the 70s, Fantastic merged with Amazing Stories. Today, issues of Fantastic are highly sought after by collectors, both for their stories and their covers.

Here are a few of the fantastic covers of Fantastic!

by Ed Valigursky

by Edmund Emshwiller

by George Schelling

by Leo Summers

by Lloyd Buckingham

by Robert Frankenberg

The Covers of Fantastic Universe

Posted on January 1, 2022 by Dazzling Erin

by Edmund Emshwiller

It’s a new year and I don’t know about you but I feel like looking to the future. From 1953 to 1960, Fantastic Universe did just that. It was one of the many sci-fi magazines to be published in the 50s. While it was never as financially successful as some of the other magazines of the age, it has since been acclaimed for the quality of its writing and for its covers!

Here, to get 2022 off to a good start, are a few of the covers of Fantastic Universe:

by Virgil Finlay

by Alex Schomburg

by Ed Moritz

by Frank Kelly Freas

by Leo Margulies

by Virgil Finlay

The Covers of If

Posted on November 1, 2021 by Dazzling Erin

1957, by Edmund Emshwiller

If was science fiction magazine that was published from 1952 to 1974, by Quinn Publications. Though If was never more than a modest success as far as sales went, it still published work from authors like Harlan Ellison, Robert A. Heinlin, and Larry Niven. It also featured some of the best covers in the business. Here are a few of the covers of If magazine:

1952, by Henry Jones

1952, by Martin Key

1952, by Ralph Joiner

1954, by Ken Fagg

1955, by Frank Kelly Freas

1959, by Frank Kelly Freas

1959, by John Pederson

1959, by John Perderson

1962, by Virgil Finlay

1965, by Richard McKenna

Beware The Tentacles Of October!

Posted on October 1, 2021 by Dazzling Erin

by John Newton Howitt

Are you scared of tentacles?

Whether they’re reaching down from the sky or coming out of the water, the idea of being grabbed and, even worse, squeezed by several slimy tentacles is a scary one! Perhaps that’s why it was such a popular image during the pulp age. Below is just a sampling of some of the era’s tentacle horror, courtesy of some of the best artists to work in the pulps!