Right now I’m listening to Magnets, the second album by the Vapors. Their initial outing, New Clear Days, most famous for the song “Turning Japanese,” remains one of my favorite albums. When I discovered New Clear Days, Magnets was already out of print. I literally spent years trying to track it down to no avail. Eventually, it reappeared with both albums packaged on one CD. At the time, it was a bit of a letdown. Today I’m finding it a much better listen than I remembered. The song “Linena” remains my favorite cut. Still, when I think about the “Second Album Curse,” I invariably think back to Magnets.
There’s a related notion in the publishing world, namely “Second Novel Syndrome.” The Stars, Like Dust — is the Good Doctor’s second novel. Did he escape the syndrome? Let’s save that for the podcast.
The Stars, Like Dust — was written while Horace Gold was trying to get Galaxy Science Fiction off the ground and he was anxious to include something by an author as popular as Asimov. Dust was serialized in Galaxy under the title Tyrann, starting in January of 1951, with art by John Bunch. That’s only the fourth issue. Let’s take a look at the illustrations; which I’ve cleaned up a bit.
Four of the six images are spread across two pages including this title page. I’ve kept the text in place so you can see it in context.
Without the text, I’m able to better align the two pieces.
One of the things that stands out in these illustrations is the extensive and effective use of solid black. Notice that Biron is entirely inside the negative space here.
This is one of the stand-alone images.
I’ve left the text here to highlight that this is an excellent use of layout. Biron feels both constrained and isolated, things highlighted by depicting him inside a cramped image, boxed in by the text.
Another example of effective use of negative space; our attention, like Biron’s, is drawn to Artemisia.
We end with one more three-column, two-page image.
Look for Stars End, Season 5, Episode 17 this weekend! We’ll talk about chapters 1 through 8 of The Stars, Like Dust — or, if you prefer, Part 1 of Tryann as published in the January 1951 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction.
Resources
- The Stars, Like Dust at AsimovReviews.net accessed 30 August 2024
Stars End: A Foundation Podcast 