Early take on Mercury capsule

Bill Higgins wrote:
On Fri, 18 Aug 2006, Pat Flannery wrote:

When Starship Troopers was first published it was "Starship Soldier"
in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction;
Here's the cover of that edition (unfortunately small), which may have
had some direct input from Heinlein regarding the powersuit design:
http://www.wegrokit.com/mfsf1159.jpg


Got any evidence for that conjecture, Pat? I think it unlikely.

Google confirms--
http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/bibliography/fsfcovartwhen03.htm-- that the
artist was "Emsh," Ed Emshwiller, the master of Fifties SF illustration.
Knowing something about how magazines were produced in those days, I
think he probably just read the manuscript.

See http://www.noosfere.com/showcase/emsh.htm for an excellent Emsh
sampler, and particularly
http://www.noosfere.com/showcase/IMAGES/emsh31.jpg for his
illustration of *Have Space Suit, Will Travel*, which follows Heinlein's
description pretty closely. (Although his idea of a "microwave horn"
seems backwards.)


I rather like the Pan-Planetary Jazz Band at
http://www.noosfere.com/showcase/IMAGES/emsh10.jpg

--

..

"Though I could not caution all, I yet may warn a few:
Don't lend your hand to raise no flag atop no ship of fools!"

--grateful dead.
__________________________________________________ _____________
Mike Flugennock, flugennock at sinkers dot org
"Mikey'zine": dubya dubya dubya dot sinkers dot org

mike flugennock wrote:


I rather like the Pan-Planetary Jazz Band at
http://www.noosfere.com/showcase/IMAGES/emsh10.jpg


The one on the right owes a lot to Hieronymous Bosch. :-)

Pat

In article ,
Pat Flannery wrote:
It was just a guess: Heinlein obviously put a lot of time and thought
into the powersuit design, and if anyone would have had some input from
him regarding what it should look like, it would probably be the artist
for the first publication of it.

Remember, the artist's job is to add visual appeal to the story; technical
accuracy is *not* usually a consideration, and can and will be sacrificed
for the sake of a more appealing picture. Some artists pride themselves
on paying attention to the technical issues, but many don't, and very few
will choose technical accuracy over visual appeal. They're trying to
please the magazine's art director, not the author.

Also, art deadlines rarely give the artist the luxury of consulting with
the author. The usual advice to authors is that if a major plot point
hinges on a subtle detail that might end up being illustrated, a brief
sketch for the artist's guidance should be included with the manuscript.
(But elaborate hardware designs are not wanted; visual design is the
artist's job.)
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