Malefactor - Startling Stories, June 1953 Cover Art
Cover art for Startling Stories, June 1953, illustrating 'Malefactor.' A dome-shaped, wheeled robot with multiple articulated arms and a glowing amber eye dominates the foreground, manipulating an instrument panel. Behind it looms a ghostly blue-green human face, hand pressed to its temple in apparent anguish—evoking themes of psychic control or mechanical menace. The issue also features Philip José Farmer's 'Moth and Rust,' a sequel to 'The Lovers.'
Emsh delivers a quietly unsettling masterpiece — the ghostly anguished face haunting the background while a smug little dome-bot fiddles with machinery is peak 1950s psychic-horror pulp. Not explosive, but deeply atmospheric and deeply weird.
“TODAY'S SCIENCE FICTION — TOMORROW'S FACT • JUNE 25c STARTLING stories A THRILLING PUBLICATION featuring MOTH AND RUST — a sequel to THE LOVERS by Philip José Farmer STARTLING STORIES JUNE 1953”
