James Blish's 'A Case of Conscience' — If Magazine Cover, September 1953
Painted to illustrate James Blish's landmark novella 'A Case of Conscience' — later expanded into his Hugo Award-winning novel — this cover depicts two raincoat-clad human explorers on an alien world, one cradling a bizarre blue artifact. Behind them, exotic coral-like flora in pink and orange frames a sleek white rocket on a launch pad, while brooding storm clouds roil overhead. Violet and teal alien creatures lurk at the margins, suggesting a richly strange biosphere rife with theological and scientific tension.
Two men, one weird blue urn, and a planet full of theological nightmares — Blish's conscience-wracking alien world rendered in lush Atomic Age gouache. Not unhinged, but deeply, compellingly strange.
“WORLDS of SCIENCE FICTION if SEPTEMBER 1953 • 35 CENTS The most fascinating science fiction theme of 1953! A CASE OF CONSCIENCE A new short novel by JAMES BLISH”
