Tony Nance
2024-07-29 14:13:30 UTC
There was a somewhat recent question (thread?) here asking about SF
stories written for already-existing paintings. Last night, I ran across
a reference to such a story.
I’m slowly progressing through the Poul Anderson collection “Kinship
with the Stars”. Poul gives a neat little introduction to each story,
and one of the intros[1] says the following:
“Often in the old pulp days, an artist who had nothing else to do at the
moment would turn out a painting, which he would then sell to a magazine
editor for use as a cover. The editor would thereupon find a writer to
produce a story incorporating the scene. Occasionally the whole thing
was so preposterous that just explaining it away generated a plot.
However, the premise did not necessarily lead to bad work. In fact, the
first story of mine to win a Hugo Award had such an origin.
…”
Digging around, it seems he is referring to “The Longest Voyage”, and I
would (slightly less-confidently) guess the painting/cover is seen at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Longest_Voyage
Tony
[1] The intro for the story “The Critique of Impure Reason”.[2]
[2] Note that “The Critique … ” is not such a story, though it’s
adjacent, since Poul goes on to say:
“At another time, being in a mood to write something short but without
an idea that caught my fancy, I said to my wife “Tell me a cover”. She
thought for a moment and replied “A man sitting at a desk, worked to
death, while a robot lounges beside him smelling a rose”. Ah, ha!”[3]
[3] So his story “The Critique of Impure Reason” was written for an
imaginary painting described by his wife.
stories written for already-existing paintings. Last night, I ran across
a reference to such a story.
I’m slowly progressing through the Poul Anderson collection “Kinship
with the Stars”. Poul gives a neat little introduction to each story,
and one of the intros[1] says the following:
“Often in the old pulp days, an artist who had nothing else to do at the
moment would turn out a painting, which he would then sell to a magazine
editor for use as a cover. The editor would thereupon find a writer to
produce a story incorporating the scene. Occasionally the whole thing
was so preposterous that just explaining it away generated a plot.
However, the premise did not necessarily lead to bad work. In fact, the
first story of mine to win a Hugo Award had such an origin.
…”
Digging around, it seems he is referring to “The Longest Voyage”, and I
would (slightly less-confidently) guess the painting/cover is seen at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Longest_Voyage
Tony
[1] The intro for the story “The Critique of Impure Reason”.[2]
[2] Note that “The Critique … ” is not such a story, though it’s
adjacent, since Poul goes on to say:
“At another time, being in a mood to write something short but without
an idea that caught my fancy, I said to my wife “Tell me a cover”. She
thought for a moment and replied “A man sitting at a desk, worked to
death, while a robot lounges beside him smelling a rose”. Ah, ha!”[3]
[3] So his story “The Critique of Impure Reason” was written for an
imaginary painting described by his wife.
