In the Garden of Unearthly Delights: The Paintings of Josh Kirby

Ronald William(Josh) Kirby died a few years ago(Shelfanger,Norfolk,October 23,2001).He was born in Waterloo,Lancashire,ENGLAND,on November 27,1928,to become one of the greatest british Fantasy & Science-Fiction artists.He was creative,wryly humorous and technically brilliant.This wonderful book,written by Nigel Suckling,has a Foreword by the great Brian Aldiss,Kirby's long time friend and admirer,and offers to us,Fantasy & SF Art enthusiasts, a large sample of Josh Kirby's art.Art collected by famous names like Forrest J. Ackerman and Ray Bradbury. Personally,I admire a large number of his works reproduced in this book.A few of the paintings I love:the cover for "MORLOCK NIGHT"(DAW Books,1979)a H.G.Wells pastiche by K.W.Jeter;MUMMY I,a Postcard(Clouded Tiger Cards,1981);the exquisite cover for "THE MIND BEHIND THE EYE"(DAW Books,1971)by Joseph Green;the covers for the serie of humorous SF books written by Ron Goulart for DAW Books:"THE WICKED CYBORG","THE ROBOT IN THE CLOSET","A WHIFF OF MADNESS","HAIL HIBBLER","HELLO LEMURIA HELLO","WHAT'S BECOME OF SCREWLOOSE?","BIG BANG" and "UPSIDE DOWNSIDE".I really love his Robots.Kirby said about androids & robots:"...androids(or robots) are merely a more or less clumsy version of us."They are funny ,but pathetic too.And I am a fan of his famous aliens.A few of them are reproduced here:in the covers for Brian Aldiss's "THE INTERPRETER"(FOUR SQUARE,1966), James White's"THE ALIENS AMONGST US"(DAW Books,1970),LLOYD BIGGLE JR'S "THE LIGHT THAT NEVER WAS"(MORLEY,1974)and KEITH LAUMER'S "GALACTIC ODISSEY"(MAYFLOWER,1974), we see examples of his horrid & funny aliens.And there is a painting that Kirby made for the British Science-Fiction magazine SF MONTHLY(1974) called SPACE OPERA that, for me,epitomizes Science-Fiction. Enjoy this Garden of Unearthly Delights!