Tag Archives: Lawrence Sterne Stevens

Bubbles and bandages

A woman atop a giant tiger's head and a zombie, or something, in Lawrence Sterne Stevens's cover for Famous Fantastic Mysteries, October 1949.

Lucy rides the tiger with diamonds and there’s a zombie, or something. Lawrence Sterne Stevens painted this cover for the October 1949 issue of Famous Fantastic Mysteries. Always worth it is an interior illustration by Virgil Finlay for “The Starkenden Quest” by Gilbert Collins (1890-1960).

A wrapped woman in a tower of bubbles in an illustration by Virgil Finlay.
“The recess in the wall contained a human figure — the body of a woman!”

This issue of Famous Fantastic Mysteries is available to read and download at the Internet Archive.

Get off me, awful robot!

Running a bit late this morning, I know…

Woman in a torn gown facing a hideous robot-insect-man, cover by Norman Saunders for Famous Fantastic Mysteries June 1950.

The June 1950 issue of Famous Fantastic Mysteries featured a cover by the great Norman Saunders, while Lawrence Sterne Stevens continued to do interesting things on the interior pages illustrating S. Fowler Wright’s story “The Adventure of Wyndham Smith.” The following, with its caption, feels very mad science.

Science fiction brain surgery image by Lawrence Stern Stevens.
“The ego which would waken today in the body of Colpech-4XP was to be that of the primitive Wyndam Smith…”

While Stevens’s final illustration has a strangely decadent, almost Aubrey Beardsley-like feel.

Interior illustration by Lawrence Sterne Stevens for "The Adventure of Wyndam Smith."
“Velluta pulled off the outer cloak of Swartz-02A while Wyndam held her.”

This issue of Famous Fantastic Mysteries can be read or downloaded from the Internet Archive.

Valley of the clingy gowns

A priestess figure in a clingy diaphanous gown painted by Lawrence Sterne Stevens.

Larenence Sterne Stevens chopped a lot of wood for the August 1949 edition of Famous Fantastic Mysteries both painting this cover and contributing the interior illustrations for E.C. Vivian’s (1882-1947) story “The Valley of the Silent Men.” (There is additional art in the number contributed by Hannes Bok.) The clingy gown motif makes an interior appearance:

Interior art for an E.C. Vivian story, woman in a long clingy gown drawn by Lawrence Sterne Stevens.
“Empress of the world, were beauty given full rule, she smiled, her eyes challenging –“

Of course at times when the sacred fire burns brightly perhaps no gown at all is apropros…

Priestess ritual illustrated by Lawrence Stern Stevens.

This edition of Famous Fantastic Mysteries is available to read and download at the Internet Archive.

Bimetal brassiere

A blond woman in a weird silver and gold brassiere painted by Lawrence Sterne Stevens for the cover of Famous Fantastic Mysteries, April 1949.

This woman and her weird brassiere were painted by Lawrence Sterne Stevens for the April 1949 issue of Famous Fantastic Mysteries, apparently in illustration of Edison Marshall’s (1894-1967) story “Dian of the Lost Land.” Ever-present Virgil Finlay presented his own idea of the same character in interior art.

A hot woman gestures at the moon in this Virgil Finlay illustration.
“I am the daughter of the Sun and the Moon. When either the Sun or the Moon is in the sky, no one may disobey me.”

This issue of Famous Fantastic Mysteries is available to read or download at the Internet Archive.

Angel Island

But first, a cover painting that is unfortunately timely.

A sexy woman draped over a scarlet planet earth, illustrating Jack London's story "The Scarlet Plague" and executed by Lawrence Sterne Stevens.

The cover painting is by Lawrence Sterne Stevens, who also contributed a number of illustrations of appealing angels to accompany feminist author and activist Inez Haynes Gillmore’s (1873-1970) story “Angel Island.”

Angels frolic in the moonlight in an illustration created by Lawrence Stern Stevens for Inez Haynes Gilmore's story "Angel Island."
An angel approached by a stranger.
“Suddenly the men got sound of her…the noise of her splashing covering their approach.”
An angel in a treetop.
“She lay there as she had fallen, caught in the topmost boughs of a high tree.”

This issue of Famous Fantastic Mysteries is available to read and download at the Internet Archive.

The bony clutch

A man and a woman are grasped in the clutch of giant skeleton hands on the April 1946 cover of Famous Fantastic Mysteries.

It looks like a grim situation for these good-looking young people on the April 1946 cover of Famous Fantastic Mysteries. This cover painting is by the artist Lawrence Sterne Stevens (1886-1960), who was often credited simply as “Lawrence.” As can be seen from the cover, FFM had as some of its content reprints of already-published stories, and for this issue they’ve picked a great example of cosmic horror, Algernon Blackwood’s “The Willows.”

Lawrence Sterne Stevens was also a deft hand at interior illustrations, here providing one for S. Fowler Wright’s “The Island of Captain Sparrow.”

A black-and-white ink illustration of a nude woman i in a tropical scene. An ominous clawlike hand can be seen at the base of the illustration.
“Silence brooded over the scene of tropical peace.”

This issue of Famous Fantastic Mysteries is available to read and download at the Internet Archive.

The Blue Flamingo

Source: Wikipedia

(I could swear that woman’s gown grows more transparent the further south it reaches.) This cover for Startling Stories was painted by Earle Bergey for its January 1948 issue. It is special because the author of the story that it appears to illustrate is Hannes Bok (1914-1964). himself most famous as an artist with a remarkably distinctive style and creator of one of the most exquisite of all the tube girls (see right). There is also an interior illustration for the story by Lawrence Sterne Stevens (1884-1960).

This issue of Startling Stories is available to read and download at the Internet Archive.