THE ADVENTURE RAFT:

IT'S A flat buoyant structure of timber or other materials fastened together.

IT'S PURPOSE:  Transporting people, animals, and things over water.

IT'S REASON:  Travel, adventure, and pure escapism!

Who is the father of 20th Century science-fiction illustration? My guess would be Frank R. Paul. Sure, there may be other artists who came before him in various means, but it was Paul's cover art on every issue of the first three years of Amazing Stories, the first pulp magazine devoted entirely to science-fiction, that makes him the definitive patriarch. This, the June, 1926 issue, was just the third cover he painted for Amazing. It fantastically depicts Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth, with Professor Otto Lidenbrock, his nephew Axel, and their Icelandic guide Hans, navigating their raft past fearsome, prehistoric sea monsters. It's adventure personified.

"Science-fiction is a good raft whereon to float securely down the stream of time; fasten yourself to that and your immortality is safe." ---Jeffersen (my poetic alteration of George Henry Lewes original famous quote)

Here, Otto, Axel and Hans are being blown up a volcano chute (better hope their raft doesn't catch fire before they reach the surface!). This paperback edition of Journey to the Center of the Earth was published by Scholastic in September, 1973. The cover art was produced by avant-garde graphic arts painter, paperback cover illustrator, author, art professor and former advertising-man, Harry Borgman.

'Harry [?] watches in terror as the giant prehistoric monsters come closer and closer... In an incredible world hundreds of miles beneath the earth's surface, three daring explorers risk their lives! Unforgettable adventure that thrilled you in the movie, JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, that you saw on television.'

This edition of Journey to the Center of the Earth was published in paperback by Aerie in 1988 (this is a later, undated printing). Jim Thiesen produced the cover art, one of the earliest known in his career. Thiesen spent ten years creating cover art, primarily horror and SFF paperback covers for Ace, Pinnacle, Pocket, Tor, Warner, and Zebra, among others, from 1987 to 1997. When computer derived images and graphics started to regularly supplant hand painted ones, Thiesen abandoned the publishing business entirely. Their loss is everyone's loss.

"Descend into the crater of Sneffells Yokul, over which the shadow of Scartaris falls... and you will reach the center of the earth. I have done this. Arne Saknussemm."   It was a secret message by an ancient alchemist, found on a crumbling scrap of parchment. And if Saknussemm was right, then every theory about the molten core of the earth is wrong. Prof. Otto Lidenbrock has to learn the truth. So Lidenbrock, his nephew Axel, and the Icelandic hunter Hans climb down the cone of an arctic volcano and into... A realm of awesome mystery, weird beauty---and deadly peril. Where vast caverns and endless mazes lead to an underground ocean, living fire, and prehistoric monsters. But where any wrong turn, any misstep, can leave the explorers trapped forever in the eternal darkness of a planet-sized tomb... Buried alive at the heart of the world...'

Gulliver's Travels isn't the only fantastic tale about diminutive humans. Science-fiction has been exploring that theme for as long as I can remember, even as far back as 1931 with the publication of The Midget From the Island, in the August issue of Astounding Stories. Hans Wesso, a contemporary and competitor of Frank R. Paul's, created the cover art. The author, H. G. Winter, is actually two people: Harry Bates (1900-1981) and Desmond Winter Hall (1909-1992). Both were editors at Astounding, and frequently collaborated together on stories. One of Bates's stories was the basis for the film The Day the Earth Stood Still. He also wrote the novella The Death of a Sensitive, considered by its editor Sam Moskowitz to be the best story ever published in the magazine Science-Fiction Plus.

What did you want to be when you grew up? An artist, an actor, an astronaut, or maybe the President of the United States? Me? Why-- an officer in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police! The cover art on this, the January 13, 1939 issue of Argosy Weekly, was produced by Rudolph Belarski, one of pulp fiction's finest and most prolific illustrators.

Norman Saunders, quite possibly pulp fiction's most prolific cover artist, produced the cover art on the Spring, 1950 issue of Northwest Romances. And you betcha, Mounties always get their gal--er, I mean, man!

"A man's duty is to find out where the truth is, or if he cannot, at least to take the best possible human doctrine and the hardest to disprove, and to ride on this like a raft over the waters of life." --- Plato

E. H. Davie produced the cover art on The Adventurous Four. To this day no one knows if Davie was a man or a woman (not that it really matters), but for sixteen years (1936-52) he, or she, was a regular contributor of illustrations for author Enid Blyton's many children's novels. George Newnes Ltd., of London published this hardcover first edition in 1941.

'When Tom, Jill and Mary go to stay at a little fishing village in Scotland, the local fisherman's lad, Andy, promises to take them out in his boat. But a storm takes them off course and they end up shipwrecked on a small group of islands. Worse, it seems the islands are being used as a secret submarine base by the enemy, the Nazi's!'  --- Wikipedia description.

When we were kids, we all had adventures. Some adventures were as simple as riding your bike to another neighborhood, while others were as bold as sneaking onto private land for no other reason than just because. But I don't know anyone who paddled a log raft across a swamp. Now that's what I call real adventure! During a long and distinguished career, Charles Geer (1922-2008) produced cover art for some of the biggest names in 20th century fiction, but he was also a prolific illustrator of children's books. The Secret Raft by Hazel Krantz (Vanguard, 1965), is just one of many feathers he has in his kid's cap.

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Just believe and you too will be rafting towards adventure! The Tall Book of Make-Believe is one of the most beloved children's anthologies ever published. First editions from Harper & Brothers (1950) have become hard to come by, and when found, expensive! But it's not just the whimsical illustrations of Garth Williams that make this book so special to so many, it's also the unique combination of stories, poems and verse, all profoundly selected by Golden Books veteran editor Jane Werner.

"All my life, books had been the life raft, the safe haven, the place I ran to when nothing else worked." -- Elyn R. Saks

No one knows how to navigate a raft better than Jim and Huck, who rode down the Mississippi on one for approximately 550 miles, from St. Petersburg, Missouri (actually Hannibal), to Chatham, Mississippi. This movie-tie-in paperback (see poster below) of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain was published by Washington Square Press in 1960. The cover artist is not credited, but the interior illustrations were drawn by Harold Minton.

Here's the one-sheet movie poster that advertised the 1960 MGM film that the paperback art was derived from. Here, Huck is no longer wearing a red shirt, nor Jim a white one.

Here's a variant poster of the same 1960 film, with a different unknown artist.

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This is a variant half-sheet lobby poster, by that same unknown artist that preceded this.

John Falter (1910-1982) is generally known for his Saturday Evening Post magazine covers, which number more than 120, but he also illustrated dozens of books including this hardcover edition of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Macmillan, 1962). During the second half of his career he focused almost entirely on producing Western Fine Arts paintings and portraits.

"It's lovely to live on a raft. We had the sky up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about whether they was made or only just happened." -- Huck Finn

This paperback edition of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published by Signet in 1968. The cover art was not credited.

"Haven't you ever harbored the secret thought that somewhere Huck and Jim are--at this instant--poling their raft down some river just beyond our reach, so much more real are they than the shoe clerk who fitted us just a forgotten day ago?" --- Dan Simmons.

Robert Emil Schulz produced the cover art on this edition of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which was published in paperback by Pocket in 1973. Schulz was a prolific illustrator for popular magazines and paperback books, and one of the pioneering illustrators of science-fiction paperback covers. According to artist and historian Vincent Di Fate, Schulz was to his peers a "painter's painter--an artist so technically accomplished that his work was envied and imitated." He covered all genres though, not just SF, and was the recipient of many well deserved awards. Schulz taught at the Art Students League for nine years before his premature death in 1978 at the age of 50.

This paperback edition of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published by Bantam in 1980. The cover artist is unknown.

"We said there warn't no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft." --- Huck Finn.

Most folks have heard of Peter Matthiessen. The award winning writer of both fiction and non-fiction, who passed away in 2014 at the age of 86, was also one of our most important naturalists. Jean Zallinger is not as well known than Matthiessen, but she was just as committed to the natural world, and her art, as he was. She illustrated scores of exceptional nature books for children, even one or two in collaboration with her husband, Rudolph Zallinger, one of the world's foremost painters of prehistoric life. She also produced the exceptional jacket art on Matthiessen's The Cloud Forest, the author's true account of his crisscrossing the South American Wilderness, from the Amazon rain forests to Machu Picchu to Tierra del Fuego. Viking published this hardcover first edition in 1961.

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When I think of John Schoenherr, I think mostly of Dune. His cover art on the 1965 Ace paperback edition of Frank Herbert's epic novel is one of the most recognizable images in all of science-fiction. It endured on their editions for decades before finally getting replaced by other representation. But the painting Schoenherr created for Matthiessen's The Cloud Forest is just as impressive to me as Dune. Pyramid published this paperback edition in 1966.

"Deftly maneuvered through the dark green abyss ~ The wooden raft seemed in tune with this ~ Canorous rush of the river swish..." -- Muse

No artist has been credited with this cover, and that's unfortunate because it's the cover art that has stayed fresh in my mind over these last several decades, and not so much the details of Andre Norton's post-apocalyptic adventure story. That has faded away like the wavelets behind a moving raft. But even so, Daybreak-2250 A.D. remains a childhood favorite of mine. That cover screamed "take me home," and so I did, after convincing my mother to give me the necessary 40 cents so I could. My initial copy was a 1965 Ace reprint, a replica of this original 1954 Ace Double, with only the upper portion of the sky removed. I think a re-reading of this novel is in order now, if not for the marvelous cover's sake, than for the memory of Andre Norton herself, who helped instill in me, and thousands of other kids, a love of reading.

"It is 200 years after the destruction (caused by war) when Fors sets off to explore the empty lands to the north. He is a member of a clan which concerns itself with recapturing the knowledge and skills of their ancestors. By adding to that knowledge, Fors hopes to win a place as one of the leaders of his clan. The imaginative descriptions of deserted cities, ruined highways, subhuman Beast Things all serve as a backdrop to For's dangerous adventure..."  ---The Denver Post.

Here's a 1977 Ace reprint of Daybreak-2250 A.D., with new cover art featured. Instead of a Tabby cat we now have a very large Siamese cat. The artist was not credited here either, but I believe it is the work of famed Italian painter Gino D'Achille. What makes me believe that? Well, take a good look at the next entry below...

'Fors was a mutant. He did not know what drove him to explore the empty lands to the north, where the great skeleton ruins of the old civilization rusted away in the wreckage of mankind's hopes. But he could not resist the urging that led him through danger and adventure, to the place where he faced the menace of the Star Men.'

This cover is officially credited to Gino D'Achille. Note the similarity of the man here with the man on Daybreak-2250 A.D.--it sure looks like the same artist did both covers. D'Achille (1935-2017) gained widespread attention with his 1970's paintings for the John Carter of Mars series by Edgar Rice Burroughs. After that he went on to produce over 100 covers for other science-fiction and fantasy titles, as well as covers in many other genres. This British edition of Hiero's Journey by Sterling E. Lanier was published in paperback by Panther in 1985.

'Per Hiero Desteen was a priest, a telepath--and a highly trained killer. Together with his great riding moose and the young bear who was his friend, he was on an extraordinary mission. For this was five thousand years after the holocaust known as The Death. Now the evil Brotherhood of the Unclean was waging all-out war against the few remnants of normal humanity, determined to wipe out all traces of its emerging civilization. Hiero's task was to bring back a lost secret of the ancients that might save the humans. But his path lay through the very heart of the territory ruled by the Unclean and their hordes of mutated, intelligent, savage beast followers. And the Unclean were waiting for him!'

Hubert Rogers (1898-1982) created the cover art on the February, 1941 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, illustrating Nelson S. Bond's post-apocalyptic, and surprisingly pro-feminist, quest story. Interestingly, Rogers, after falling on hardship in New York City during the Great Depression, drove his Indian motorcycle all the way over to Taos, New Mexico, where he found work with, and was graciously accepted by, the local art community. Eventually though, he was obliged to return to the Big Apple, to fulfill his ever growing volume of pulp assignments. It's nice to be loved in so many places.

Everyone has their favorite Tarzan artist, usually the one you were first exposed to. Mine was Robert Abbett. But even Bob could mess up an painting, like having a bird wing sticking out of the side of Tarzan's head. Other than that, Abbett's "Lord of the Raft" is practically picture perfect. This 4th paperback edition of Tarzan #11, Lord of the Jungle by Edgar Rice Burroughs, was published by Ballantine in 1969.

'Tarzan, always alert against intruding despoilers of his beloved jungle, orders an American hunter and an Arab slave trader to leave his country. But all are trapped in an ancient, medieval community isolated behind a wall of mountains for seven hundred and fifty years---and Tarzan is involved in one of the most fantastic adventures he has yet encountered.'

In the early part of his career, Piers Anthony was a solid, thought provoking science-fiction writer. Novels like Orn (Avon, 1978, 7th), the middle section of his Of Man and Manta trilogy, even received critical acclaim. But when Anthony turned to writing humorous fantasy, sometimes raunchy fantasy, success started surrounding him like water around a raft. Humor's not a genre I particularly favor, nor is raunchiness as a motif, but to each his own. Darrell K. Sweet is the artist most associated with Anthony's later fantasy novels, but Ron Walotsky produced several of his early SF covers. I admire both artists equally, but there's just no denying the incredible singularity of Walotsky's style.

'Three humans and an extraordinary alien creature in a quest across the face of a counter-earth in turmoil: CAL is a wise and courageous old man whose courage overcomes his wisdom in a deadly encounter with a towering and majestic monster. VEG is a strong and sensitive man whose total loyalty to the exploration team is fearfully tested in the wilds of the killer planet. AQUILON is a beautiful young woman, an artist and adventurer, who forms a strange and haunting friendship with a creature who cannot speak. ORN is a great, powerful, lethal bird---a bird with a subtle and fascinating alien intelligence and a surprising and unique reason for living.'

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My favorite Philip Jose Farmer novel is apparently nobody else's favorite Farmer novel. Seemingly under-read, and definitely under-appreciated, Farmer's episodic tale of Deyv, his two semi-intelligent pets Jum and Aejip, the beautiful girl Vana, and the plant-man Sloosh's incredible journey across a far future North American landscape to recover Deyv's stolen Soul Egg, all while under the glare of a dying sun, is, for me, one of the most memorable ever recorded in fantastic fiction. Packed with invention, language, puzzles, and fascinating artifacts, plus a plethora of dangerous, imaginative creatures and situations, Dark of the Sun is thrilling in a way the Riverworld series never was. Why it received such a mixed reception by readers will never be understood by me. But as I always say, to each his own. I just wish I owned the original acrylic cover painting by Darrell K. Sweet, which I love as much as the novel. I would hang it front and center in my office. Del Rey published Dark is the Sun in paperback in 1980, following their 1979 hardcover edition utilizing the same cover art.

'Fifteen billion years from now, Earth is a dying planet---its skies darkened by the ashes of burne-out galaxies. Its molten core long cooled. But young Deyv of the Turtle Tribe knew nothing of his world's history or its fate. He lived only to track down the wretched Yawtl, who had stolen his precious Soul Egg. Together with Vana, a girl fro another tribe, and the plant-man Sloosh---both also victims of the same thief---they trailed the thief across a nightmare landscape of monster-haunted jungle and wetland. The search for the Soul Eggs led the troupe into deeper and deeper peril---first to the lair of Feersh the Blind, the witch who had ordered the thefts; then to the Brigh Abomination, the jeweled wasteland that harbored The Shemibob, the ageless being from another star who knew Earth's end was near... and held the key to the only way for any to escape that end.'

    "Art has always been the raft onto which we climb to save our sanity."
                                                                                             -- Dorothea Tanning                                                                                                                                      

[December, 2021, © Jeffersen]

GERALD POWELL, The "MAJOR" Cover Illustrator

Gerald "Gerry" Powell carried the cover art load at Major Books for all five years of their brief existence; from 1975 through 1979. Major was a low print run, mass-market offshoot of Milton Luros' California based erotica publishing house American Art Enterprises, Inc. Major concentrated mostly on mainstream genres; westerns, historicals, adventure, romances, gothics, mysteries, thrillers, crime, fantasy, and science fiction. Major did publish several well-known authors, but it was mostly first-timers and pseudonyms that dominated their lineup. Some of these authors were quite good at their craft while others not so much. Approximately 200 titles were published, maybe more, though determining an exact figure has proven to be impossible. Gerry Powell seemingly produced more than half of all of their cover art. His achievement is impressive too, especially when you consider that he tended to paint large scale works, averaging 30 x 20 inches.

Gerald Powell's commercial art roots go back to the 1950s and '60s, and many fully established publishers and clients. He produced dozens of paperback covers for Gold Medal, Signet, Pyramid and Dell, in addition to hardcover art for Whitman and Arcadia House. I'm sure he produced jacket art for several other hardcover houses too. He also supplied illustrations to various men's adventure magazines, or MAM's, as they are commonly called. But it was his astonishing output at Major in the late 1970s that I find so thoroughly fascinating. What a absolute grinder Powell was. And what a major talent too, pun intended!

That's one mighty big blaster Powell painted, but his man better turn around cause the threat is also behind him! Seven Steps to the Arbiter by L. Ron Hubbard was published by Major in 1975. It was originally published in 1949 as The Kingslayer, a collection of three linked stories. Hubbard, before he became what he is today (whatever the hell that is), was a prolific writer of entertaining pulp fiction.

'Everywhere, Kit Kellan saw nations entangled in wars, people starving, decent governments falling, planets in shambles. He saw ruin spreading throughout the galaxy. And he knew it was all due to the vicious, unheeding rule of the Arbiter, who held absolute dictatorial power throughout known space. Kit had been ordered to kill the Arbiter. but because Kit could not prove the facts about his past, he was a man without a country, a planet, or a future. He was an outlaw everywhere he went. And besides, nobody knew who or where the Arbiter was...'

Powell produced the cover art on Edna Ames' House of Secrets, and it would seem on every gothic in Major's lineup--numbering around 30 or so. This book was published in 1976. Edna Ames was a pseudonym of Andrew J. Collins, who co-authored the science-fiction thriller, The Rombella Shuttle, another title issued by Major. I suspect Collins had a hand in a few other Major's as well.

'Dana Reardon had been summoned from her brother's wealth. He'd died unexpectedly, and his beautiful young widow had been unable to locate the vast fortune Dana's brother had hidden somewhere in the old house, in one of its secret rooms. Only Dana knew the secret passageways, the rooms with no doors; she'd played in them as a child. But Dana was grown now; she'd blocked the house from memory. There wasn't even a glimmer of recollection-- but her sister-in-law, and her accomplices, had devised ways to force Dana to cooperate... Dana knew she had to get away from the sinister forces at the house; there had to be a way...if only she could remember!

This is one of Powell's best covers, a masterful display of figures in motion. Aussie Lawman by Glenn Holt was published by Major in 1976. Glenn Holt is probably a pseudonym, or perhaps just a one time acceptance by Major--I was unable to find any other titles under the name at Major or elsewhere. 

'A grueling, deadly pursuit. an Australian Mounty, a Scotland Yard Detective, and a native bushman set out to track the murderer of the town's leading citizen. Across the scorching desert, ambushed by pygmies, the trio unrelenting stalk their man. What none of them knew or suspected was that the fugitive was waiting for them!'

The curtains are billowing but the window appears to closed! What's up with that, Gerry?  Briarwood by Kay Ashby was published by Major in 1976. Kay Ashby also wrote five other novels, all gothic-styled mysteries of a sort: Climb A Dark Cliff (Dell, 1972), Crown Valley (Dell, 1973), Cold Chill of Coptos (Beagle, 1974), and Marcadia (Dell, 1974). 

'She returned to the old mansion with her childhood memories of sepia photographs and tales told to her by her family. She'd expected grandeur-- but found a crumbling mansion, overrun with weeds and scurrying creatures in the night. Little by little, she restored the house and met her neighbors. It was then she learned of the secrets long-buried and never discussed; it was then she found her life in deadly danger!'

Here you can see the color difference between Powell's original painting and the printed version. Gunfire at Purgatory Gate by Martin Ryerson was published by Major in 1976. It would seem that Martin Ryerson wrote a passel of western novels: Showdown at Devil's Fork (Vega, 1963), Gun-fire at Big Needles (Vega, 1964), Sudden Rage at War Rim (Vega, 1964) Thunder in the Badlands (Avalon, 1964), Border Justice (Avalon, 1965), The Gunfighter (Award, 1970), The Bitter Breed (Major, 1977), Sheriff Without A Gun (Major, 1978), Canyon Fire (Leisure, 1980), The Quick Badge (Leisure, 1981), and A Nest Of Rattlers (Leisure, 1981). Wow! Naming a western is kinda like naming a rock band--it's half the fun!

'Purgatory Gate was a nowhere town, just a resting place for the stagecoaches. Nobody would stay there unless he had to-- which made it very convenient for every gunslinger, bushwhacker, and bandit for miles around. When the town mayor hired Adam Grant to get rid of the outlaws, they laughed. One man against an army of thieves and killers? But they didn't know Adam, or what he could do with a pair of smoking .44s!'

Powell repurposed this painting on the April, 1984, cover of Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine. William L. Rivera's Panic Walks Alone was published by Major in 1976. The book has a dedication, so I'm betting that William L. Rivera is the author's real name, though this appears to be his only foray into fiction. 

'As far as the police were concerned, the murder of the insurance executive was just one of those things; another "senseless" killing by some nut. But the company's Board of Directors felt differently about their employee's death. A lot differently! They attached a much more complex, and dangerous, meaning to it; one that threatened the security of the business and the lives of their employees. That's when they called in Turo Bironico-- a very special kind of investigator!'

I saw this Powell cover being ridiculed on another blog for obvious reasons, but I don't think it should be taken quite so literally. The Implosion Effect by Gary Paulsen was published by Major as a paperback original in 1976. Gary Paulsen, who passed away last month at the age of 82 after going more than two decades with a bad ticker, published more than 200 novels, most of them for the young adult market, but that didn't make them any less compelling. Paulsen was, and always will be, one of America's best writers. 

'The International Combine. They swore to Jason that there was nothing genuinely illegal about building a secret satellite tracking station... just smart businessmen getting the jump on the stock market. And for half a million dollars, Jason Theiss was ready to believe them. That was before the murders began, and before some over-anxious governments decided to muscle in.'

The Silent Scream by Jane Lake was published by Major in 1976. Powell applied the classic gothic trope "women running from houses" for his cover illustration (also take note of the menacing figure watching from the window!). Jane Lake is a pseudonym of Marianne Joyce Maglich (1943- ), who wrote only one other novel that was published, Images of Evil, a gothic thriller published two years earlier by sister-press Canyon Books. 

'Alison had been commissioned to illustrate Margaret Palmer's newest book; a children's story built around the monstrous *chimeras guarding the mansion. They were ugly, frightening stone creatures that silently warned people away. The stone heads simultaneously repelled and fascinated Alison-- until their horrible secrets put her life in jeopardy!'   (*Powell placed a chimera centered among the second floor windows, but it's unfortunately obscured by the title font).

After enduring the republican's "Big Lie" for more than a year now, I couldn't help but laugh out loud at this book and its cover art by Powell, while still being absolutely scared for the future of our democracy. The Deadly Election was published by Major in 1976, and it was one of only a couple of novels that Mort Castle wrote before he became associated as a celebrated teacher, writer and editor of horror fiction. His award-winning writing chops, rough hewed as they were back then, are still abundantly evident in this fun-filled romp of a political thriller.

'When there was a sudden slaughter of the top Mafia dons, and a tripling of violent crimes in the streets of America... V. Dano Drake [a descendant of Dracula] knew it was time to announce his candidacy for President of the United States. But one man-- fabulously wealthy Jabez Wonders [Walt Disney in disguise], owner of the biggest fantasyland in America-- knew who was behind the sweeping crimewave, and he planned to stop him. That's when he pulled together three of the most unusual people in the country, and put them into training. A very special kind of training, for a very special assignment! CODE NAME KALEIDOSCOPE!'

 

Powell knew that you can't have a train thriller without somebody getting thrown overboard. Cell Car 54 by James M. Fox was published by Major in 1977. It was first published as Free Ride by Popular in 1957. James M. Fox was a pseudonym of Dutch born, Johannes Matthijs Willem Knipscheer (1908-1989), a writer valued mostly for his hard-boiled mystery series Johnny and Suzy Marshall. He also wrote under the pen-name Grant Holmes.

'Sergeant Jerry Long thought he was pulling simple escort duty. He'd baby-sit Leo Maxwell, a boxer-pimp who was being extradited from New Orleans on a California manslaughter charge. Off duty, he planned to cruise the lounge car, check out the action, and even grab some shut-eye. But other people had other plans for him! First, Long rousted a trigger-happy Sicilian gorilla who tried to camp out in the next car. Then there were tow beautiful broads, just dying to get their painted claws into Maxwell's throat. And those other creeps, lurking about, eyeing him and his prisoner. Long knew he was in trouble-- deep trouble. The train was crawling with Syndicate hitmen. They had one target: Leo Maxwell. And there'd be a dead cop, too-- if Long dared to block the way to Car 54.'   (Oh no, I can't get the theme song from the television show Car 54 out of my head!).

The Rombella Shuttle by Bill Convertito and Andrew J. Collins was published by Major in 1977. Some people have said that this is the worst science fiction novel that's ever been written. It probably isn't, but it's not a book you would gladly press into someone's hand either, unless you just wanted to get rid of the damned thing! Powell's cover art is pretty cool though.

'Talk about Environmental impact! Earth's time table suddenly speeded up. The population began to reproduce like crazy-- in defiance of established zero population growth principles-- and gestation took only three months! Hospitals were packed with kids who could walk, talk, and do other strange things only a few days after delivery! Soon there wouldn't be enough money, or food, or water in the world to support them. And still they kept coming! So Martin James and the other scientists of his Institute of Applied Logic were hired to discover why, and how, and who on Earth (or in Space) was behind the baby boom-- before the whole world went broke... or starved... or died of thirst!'

I love the way Powell has one of his buildings just cracking in half like an egg! The Accident by Walt Browder was published by Major in 1977. It doesn't appear that Browder published any more books after this, or even before it, at least under that name.

'Top Secret: On this afternoon, from 36,000 feet over Georgia swampland, an Air Force fighter plane, carrying a nuclear bomb, crashed, killing the pilot and destroying the plane. The bomb, however, was still intact and thrown clear, and... A taut story of insanity and destruction that hasn't happened yet-- but it could!'

Powell was clearly at his best painting western themes. Some of them are so accomplished that I think they should be hanging in museums (and maybe some are!). The Bushwackers by Cliff Davis was published by Major in 1977. Cliff Davis could be a real person, but the name is not attached to any other books besides this one, nor is there any other information about the author online.

My actual copy of this book got inadvertently sent away before I could inspect the copyright page or capture the blurb off the back. All I have is what's pasted on the front:  'SOME MEN KILL TO LIVE-- THEY LIVED TO KILL!'

This cover by Powell is definitely museum worthy. The Caves by Norman Thaddeus Vane and R. Rude was published by Major in 1977. I don't know who R. Rude is, but Norman Vane was an accomplished screenwriter, producer, playwright and film director. His screenplay credits range from numerous television series episodes to movie's such as Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter (1968), and Frightmare (1983), which he also directed. His published works include the novelization of Lola (Avon, 1971), the horror novel The Exorcism of Angela Gray (Belmont, 1974), and of course The Caves. Vane was also a frequent contributor to Penthouse magazine.

'1884. The Immense Arizona wasteland. Geronimo and his band of murderers race over desert and sagebrush. In pursuit are Major Pilcher and the 4th Cavalry, slowed by an exhausted group of terrified civilians, but driven on by a reward of $100 in gold for every warrior's scalp. The hunted and the hunters close at the sky-high stone walls of Skeleton Canyon. Geronimo is trapped. The soldiers brace for battle. But the Indians make no move to break out-- instead, they silently disappear into the foreboding canyon walls. Half of Pilcher's command enters the The Caves-- and are trapped by a landslide. Thus begins an incredible two-month odyssey of desperate men set against nature and one another. Terrified soldiers and civilians are faced with Apaches in ambush, death, starvation, cannibalism, and utter despair! The reward that drives them on is no longer gold-- it is survival!'

Absolutely, cowboys ride jeeps now instead of horses, but according to Powell they still hang cattle thieves just like always--from a tree! The Mutilators by Mervin Casey was published by Major in 1977. As far as cattle-mutilation novels go, this one has to be one of the best, but then again, it might just be the only one ever written. Mervin M. Casey Jr. (1937-2019) was a Colorado Springs native who worked for the El Paso County Department of Transportation Engineering Division until his retirement in 1999. After that he volunteered regularly at the Old Colorado City Historical Society. Casey was also the author Janus 13 (2003) a fast-paced thriller about a lone vigilante (dubbed the "serial-serial" by the FBI) who hunts down serial murderers and kills them (sounds a little like TV's Dexter, which was inspired by Jeff Lindsay's novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter (2004), only Janus 13 beat him to the bookshelves by one year).

"[A Note from the Author: The Mutilators represents a fictionalized account of varied and widespread facts. One fact, not included in the novel, (but which appeared in both the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post) remains: "On October 16, 1975, the horribly mutilated body of a woman was found in downtown Denver, Colorado. Her breasts and sex organs had been removed and she had been disemboweled." ...? ]"

'[A Note from the Publisher: While the mutilation of cattle has been going on for several years, it is a fact that between April and September of 1975, about 129 cattle were victims of these bizarre killings in Colorado alone. This book, however, is a novel; a fictional attempt to examine these strange events. Sutton County does not actually exist, nor do any of the characters mentioned within this novel. The characters and sites, and those who are portrayed as occupying official positions, do not depict the persons who actually held those positions and those places, at the time described in this novel.]'

'A reward of $25,000 has been offered for any clue leading to the capture and arrest of the MUTILATORS!'

"The favorite theory right now... is that occultists of some sort are involved... a rank amateur would not be able to (a) levitate so as to leave no footprints or drag marks, (b) drain out all the blood without leaving evidence of a pumping machine, (c) make the neat surgical incisions that were used to remove the organs and extremities, or (d) perform two such operations on the same night, hundreds of miles apart." --- Isaac Bonewits, Gnostica Magazine.

"The ranchers are... Literally up in arms... The thing that's puzzling and frightening to them is that somebody can get onto their ranches and actually cut up an animal and leave no trace. What we're afraid of is that we are going to have a homicide on our hands." --- Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

'The above quotes are taken from Alexander Cockburn's article, "Rippers of the Range," which appeared in the December issue of Esquire.'

Bounty Man's Target by Buck Adams was published by Major in 1978. This is another paperback that has gone missing from my collection, but because of Powell's great cover art, I wish it hadn't. Buck Adams is undoubtedly another pseudonym; the name isn't associated with any other books that have been published, western genre or otherwise. 

'The Mexican federales wanted him for his involvement in an Apache uprising that crossed their frontiers; the Tucson Raiders wanted him just for the fun of it. So Kildoon took refuge in a remote settlement for men who'd prefer not to be found. But once Kildoon learned about the gold, there wasn't a man alive who didn't want to see Kildoon dead!'

I've not seen any other western covers with this particular horse and rider setup--it's a Powell exclusive! Gunslinger Justice by Dean W. Ballenger was published by Major in 1978. Dean Ballenger, who also wrote stories for MAM's and had a dozen novels published in various genres, is notorious with "trash lit" fans for having written the Gannon crime trilogy: Blood for Breakfast, Blood Fix and Blood Beast (Manor, 1974, all respectively). I read and owned the first volume, then unwittingly sold it to my local bookstore owner Patty. On my next visit she practically met me at the door: "One of the books you sold me, Jeff, is worth ten-thousand dollars on Abe!"  Well, actually, it's not, but someone did list the only available copy online for that absurd amount. It's gone now, so it's anybody's guess as to whether it got sold or not. Patty never listed my copy, and sold her bookstore right before the pandemic hit. The new owners either forgot about it, or Patty took it with her to Texas. But seriously folks, it's only worth $20 dollars at most, no matter how scarce copies are--and on top of that it was a shitty read!

"One of you is gonna git hanged, and I don't much care which one!"  When the Valley land baron sent five of his men to lynch the Dexter boy for something he couldn't have done... Gabe was obliged to hang on, and shoot two others... and it set off a range war with Gabe Monroe the No. 1 target!'

Here's another one of Powell's best covers, on Arthur Tofte's The Ghost Hunters. Major published it in 1978. Arthur Reginald Tofte (1902-1980) wrote five science-fiction novels (including this one, possibly his best), one historical novel, one contemporary novel, and more than two dozen short stories, all while working for or being retired from Allis-Chalmers.     

'A master storyteller delves into the forbidden world of the supernatural and exorcism... The old castle had been preserved because of its priceless antiquities and vast collection of art treasures. Lately, the castle was beginning to deteriorate, sliding slowly into the lake. There was no logical explanation for what was happening; in fact, it seemed impossible. But seven concerned people were determined to find the mysterious reason-- even if it destroyed them!'

The Secret Lover by Ursula Bloom was published by Major in 1978. It's cover sported this 30 x 20 inch gouache & acrylic painting, proving it's pretty easy to be carried away by Powell's artwork. However, I've been unable to locate a copy of the book itself, online or anywhere--it would seem to be one of the rarer Major titles. Though the Guinness Book of World Records does recognized its author, Englishwoman Ursula Bloom, as being the most prolific female writer in history, with an estimated 564 romance and historical novels published. What an absolute grinder she was. And what a major talent too, pun intended!

*   *   *   *   *

WHAT Gerald Powell ended up doing after his four year art stint for Major is not really known. In fact, there's very little information about Powell at all; his birth, death, training, marriage (if any), children (if any), are all questions without answers. Not that any of that personal stuff really matters, it's his body of work that's important. And that body of work in my opinion is absolutely superlative. 

[November, 2021, © Jeffersen]