Astounding Stories 'The Mole Pirate' Cover – Murray Leinster, Nov 1934
More kinetic and industrially menacing than the cleaner Frank R. Paul covers gracing rival Amazing Stories, this Astounding Stories November 1934 cover depicts armored figures battling amid the chaos of a massive subterranean drilling machine, its great transparent sphere glowing with mechanical energy. Figures in paramilitary gear clash in dramatic foreground action while the mole machine dominates the background in a blaze of orange and steel grey, perfectly capturing Leinster's underground adventure tale.
A glowing mechanical burrowing machine surrounded by men in desperate armed combat is exactly the kind of visceral, high-concept spectacle that would make a newsstand browser snatch this off the rack immediately. The fiery orange palette and kinetic violence give it tremendous shelf presence.
“STREET & SMITH PUBLICATION ASTOUNDING STORIES NOVEMBER 20¢ The Mole Pirate MURRAY LEINSTER The Great Theft RAY SCHACHNER and E.E. SMITH, Ph.D.”
