Outermost: The Art + Life of Jack Gaughan

Between the 1950s and '70s, Jack Gaughan (pronounced "Gone") shaped the look of fantasy and science fiction for readers of countless magazines and mass market paperbacks that bore his artwork. Influenced by pulp masters Virgil Finlay and Hannes Bok (whom he knew personally), Gaughan transcended the fan publishing field, where he first gained traction, to become a regular contributor of interiors and covers for Galaxy, Amazing, If, Fantastic, and other leading SF publications. Though some top editors dismissed his quasi-abstract compositions and cartoonish spot illustrations as "second class," his work articulated a postpulp sensibility that spoke to the realities as well as fantasies of the dawning space age. Ortiz does the same meticulous job he did in his previous books on artists Ed Emshwiller and Lee Brown Coye, illustrating his pithy text with more than 400 color and black-and-white illustrations. Though Gaughan's personal life was fairly ordinary, this book shows that his imagination was vivid, colorful, and deeply steeped in the fantastic. (Sept.)