From the Cutting Room Floor - Artificial Covers

Figure 1. In the Ekcolir Reality.

 I'm continuing to use both DALL-E and Wombo Dream to help make illustrations for the Mosy Saga. One of the key issues in the Mosy Saga concerns how the Ekcolir Reality was transformed into the Buld Reality by means of a Reality Change. The Buld Reality is essentially the world as we know it. Earthly civilization in the Ekcolir Reality was significantly different than in the version of Earth that we know.

Eventually, after the Buld Reality was crafted, the Huaoshy put an end to all further time travel. However, the Mosy Saga takes place in the Ekcolir Reality, while time travel and Reality Changes were still possible.

 Cover Illustrations. How can an entire Reality be represented by a single image? In the Ekcolir Reality, women played a more important role in the development of science and space travel technology than was the case in our own twentieth century. Also, there was first contact with space aliens in the 1950s.

Figure 2. Buld Reality.

In a 1984 essay called "Metaphor", Isaac Asimov once wrote an interesting account of a science fiction cover illustration that (see the cover here), while not showing an actual scene from the story, did manage to capture the essence of the story. In the same way, Figure 1 does not really have anything to do with the Ekcolir Reality. Worse, the idea of steam-powered space ships is quite silly. The AI-generate image for Figure 1 was made using the "Steampunk v2" style of Wombo Dream.

Figure 2 is an alternate version of Figure 1, which is not meant to imply that in contrast to the Ekcolir Reality, here in the Buld Reality we need computers to make space travel possible. Maybe in the Ekcolir Reality, the computing devices are simply artistically disguised and made to look like antique machinery from a past age. In any case, I'm trying to imagine a good imaginary book cover for the Mosy Saga and a single image that depicts the essence of the story.

steampunk robots inside a spaceship

 Bard in the Steampunk Era. I wanted to ask Bard to comment on the idea of steampunk spacecraft and how well Mr. Wombo can depict a steampunk scene (such as Figure 1), but Bard still refuses to accept uploaded images that include humans. I transformed the image that I wanted to share with Bard into one that has robots, not humans. Here is what Bard had to say about the image to the right: "Yes, I can see how this AI-generated image could be interpreted as a steampunk spaceship interior. The robots are wearing steampunk clothing, which is a style of clothing that was popular in the steampunk era. The spaceship also has a clock on the wall, which is a common feature of steampunk spaceships.  The robots are wearing goggles and leather and they have brass accents on their bodies. The clock on the wall is large and ornate, with gears and cogs visible.  Overall, the image has a dark and industrial feel to it. This is consistent with the steampunk aesthetic, which often combines Victorian era technology with steam power."

Steam-powered toy. (click to enlarge)

 Built from Nanites. After my chat with Bard, I returned to my original image of a steampunk spaceship interior and I decided to keep one of the two robots. For the Mosy Saga, I have replicoids, which are artificial lifeforms composed of nanites, but conceptually they are similar to robots. Replicoids can re-arrange their nanite components and take on any convenient form, so it is often not possible to know if a character in the Mosy Saga is a biological human or a replicoid who pretending to be human.

In the Ekcolir Reality, there is First Contact with the alien Fru'wu in the 1950s and then the Fru'wu share some of their advanced nanotechnology with Earthlings. The Fru'wu are mentioned in some of my stories such as Grean Fiction and Someday Mars. In the Final Reality (the world of our Earthly timeline), the Fru'wu are not allowed to accelerate the pace of technological progress on Earth.

Symyn in a sex education class.

Starting with Figure 2 (see above) I added another human figure to my reference image and tried to trick Mr. Wombo into making the two human figures seem to be doing something interesting. Sadly, Mr. Wombo prefers to draw images of cute women just standing around looking cute. The idea that a woman might do something interesting is a foreign concept to Mr. Wombo.

In Part 4 of the Mosy Saga, it is mentioned that one of the tasks for Caz on Tar'tron was to provide sex education for her students such as Symyn. Before allowing Symyn to engage in sexplay with Qyp, Caz wanted to first be sure that Symyn had some sexual sophistication. As an Ek'col, Qyp had powerful telepathic abilities, including the power to make the mind pattern of Symyn resonate with his own. During such periods of mind resonance, Qyp could telepathically cause a human woman such as Symyn to have orgasms... simply by telepathically suggesting it.

Figure 3. Synym (right) and Thylon.

 Caz Control (Cazation). Also mentioned in Part 4 of the Mosy Saga is the idea that while Symyn and Thylon were going to school on Tar'tron, it was unusual for anyone in the women's dorm to be sleeping alone. Sexual relationships between men and women were carefully regulated by Caz, but Symyn and Thylon had a seemingly endless string of female lovers.

Growing up together on Tar'tron, Symyn and Thylon were aware of the fact that they were tasked with finding the most suitable male Ek'col to join them on their Interventionist mission to Earth. Knowing that Symyn had very weak telepathic powers and was most susceptible to the telepathic mind powers of Ek'col males, Thylon allowed Symyn to take full responsibility for selecting their future husband. The task was complicated by the fact that in the social system of Tar'tron, there were no husbands, no wives and no long-lasting sexual partnerships. 

Two mind clones of Tar'tron.
"I know what you are thinking."

 50-50. One of the advanced technologies of Tar'tron that was available to Symyn and Thylon was reproductive technology that allowed them to have children together, producing children who had half of their genes from Symyn and half from Thylon.

Play time on Tar'tron.

 Mind Clones. Caz never bothered to explain to Symyn and Thylon that they were genetically designed so as to be mind clones of Qyp. This meant that half of the brains of both Symyn and Thylon were almost identical in structure to one half of Qyp's brain. 

Because Symyn and Thylon were mind clones of Qyp, Qyp could efficiently use his Ek'col telepathic abilities to make sure that his mind pattern could fully resonate with the mind patterns of Symyn and Thylon. 

Plat time with Thylon.

Qyp was reluctant to use his telepathic powers to influence the behavior of Symyn. He had to wait until Caz stepped in and encouraged Symyn to spend some time in physical contact with Qyp. Synym's limited telepathic ability allowed her to sense that Qyp had access to her mind, which initially made her uneasy. Given that mostly unconscious sense of dysphoria, Symyn sought out other playmates and ignored Qyp for many years. This was a good thing, because it allowed Synym to have a healthy understanding of her own lustful emotions before ever having her sexual desires amplified telepathically by Qyp.

Synym and two friends await
three boys for a play session.

Up until the time when Caz brought Synym and Qyp together, both Symyn and Thylon were mostly involved with their fellow female students. 

 The More the Merrier. By custom at their school, most sexual trysts between males and females took place in the school classrooms (which were well-stocked with sex toys) and those sexplay sessions traditionally involved groups of four or more lovers. It was unusual for males and females to be alone together. Even when meeting at lovers point, a short distance down the shore from school, usually there would be multiple couples present and engaged in sex play within close proximity of one another. The idea of privacy for sexplay sessions was an unknown concept for Symyn and Thylon while growing up on Tar'tron.

Figure 4. Synym's toy collection.

 Endosymbionts.. Figure 3 (above) began as part of an attempt to illustrate a scene in which Caz would demonstrate to Symyn the fact that by proper activation of a human's endosymbiont, a person could be forced to experience an orgasm. I wanted Caz to be holding a device which she could pretend to use to provide Symyn with an orgasm. In reality, Caz could use nanites to quickly make Symyn experience one or more orgasms, but Caz was trying to limit how much her students knew about nanotechnology.

Mr. Wombo does not like to create images that are to sexually provocative. For Figure 3, I manually altered the original AI-generated image so as to depict Symyn handing a fun toy to Thylon. Using Figure 3 as a reference image and this text prompt: "high resolution movie still of Megan Fox and Elle Macpherson in the science fiction film 'Women in Space', Megan Fox is twenty five years old, Elle Macpherson is blond, Megan Fox and Elle Macpherson are seen in profile view, dressed Victoria's Secret style in silk, Megan Fox is holding a toy, spaceship interior in the background", Mr. Wombo produced toys such as the ones shown in Figure 4.

Synym the sports fanatic.

Also mentioned in Part 4 of the Mosy Saga is the fact that Symyn spends much of her time playing sports. Some of the sports on Tar'tron involve hunting and using tools such as bows and arrows. It is annoying that when Mr. Wombo makes an image for a scene that is related to sports, the people usually have to wear clothing with obnoxious brand labels plastered on them. 

The clothing on Tar'tron is all automatically generated by clothing nanites, but I suppose there could be the names of teams on the "uniforms". I was tempted to turn the image to the left into a zero gravity sport scene, but I suppose the use of artificial gravity was routine for the folks of Tar'tron when in orbit.

Micro-gravity ping pong by DALL-E.

Zero Gravity Sports. I asked DALL-E to make an image depicting "high resolution movie still of two floating women dressed in civilian clothes playing ping pong in micro-gravity inside a space station in the film '2100: A Space Odyssey', zero gravity" and got the image shown to the right.

Space Balls. Image by Mr. Wombo.

Starting with a similar image from DALL-E, I asked Mr. Wombo to generate "high resolution movie still of floating women dressed Victoria's Secret style playing ping pong in micro-gravity inside a space station in the film "2100: A Space Odyssey", zero gravity sport, Katrine De Candole, Megan Fox, Elle Macpherson and Kate Moss are twenty years old, Elle Macpherson is floating upside-down in the background" (see the image above, Space Balls).

Figure 5. Synym's fun with nanites.

 Figure 5 shows a depiction of Symyn while she is experiencing a rather long-lasting and mind-blowing nanite-induced orgasm as part of her sex education on Tar'tron. (Note: there is a sequence of related images at the very bottom of the second blog post in this series.) Caz is using nanites to exercise complete control over Synym's sensations.

Originally, the whirlpool in the background was just an astronomical feature invented by Mr. Wombo, then I imagined that it represented nanites spreading out from a hand-held device. Here is the text prompt that was used by Mr. Wombo to generate Figure 5: "high resolution movie still of Megan Fox and Elle Macpherson in the science fiction film “Women in Space”, Megan Fox is fifteen years old, Elle Macpherson is blond, Elle Macpherson is seen in profile view, dressed Victoria's Secret style in red silk, Elle Macpherson is holding a remote control device, spaceship interior in the background".

Figure 6. Synym's new space car.

 What can I do to put you in a new car today? Second only to Mr. Wombo's horrible struggles with human anatomy is the problem that the image training set endlessly constrains which images the software will "naturally" generate. I often find myself trying to create a science fiction scene (such as the interior of a spaceship) and then suddenly Mr. Wombo will decide to replace the Hi Tek™ devices of the future space age with an automobile. I'm sure that there are many automobiles in the image database that was used to train Mr. Wombo, but I don't want them inside my spaceship.

Anatomy by Mr. Wombo.

 Figure 6 (to the left) provides an example of how what was originally the interior of a futuristic spaceship in orbit around the mysterious planet Tar'tron was suddenly transformed into a car dealership by Mr. Wombo. But, let's go with it... maybe Synym needs a space car so that she can efficiently complete her mission on Tar'tron.

Two too long fingers.

An example of Mr. Wombo's unusual designs for human anatomy is shown to the right. The woman with the golden clothing suddenly has an extra hand emerging from her leg.

It is also common for Mr. Wombo to struggle with hands and fingers. In the image to the left there are two extra-long fingers. Maybe that is a special feature of some human variants in the far future world of Tar'tron.

Some of the goofy anatomy generated by Mr. Wombo can be quickly repaired by manual editing of a small part of the image. In other cases, the entire image is irreparable. It is quite rare for me to get an image from Mr. Wombo that I can use without having to do some editing.

8 Toes. Too many toes.

 Too many toes. The image that is shown to the right (8 Toes) provides a good example. Here are the edits that I made to the original AI-generated image: 1) I zoomed in and had Mr. Wombo re-generate the two faces at higher resolution and then I pasted those better faces back into the original image, 2) I manually cleaned up the girl's hands and the mom's right foot, including the reflection on the floor. I liked this image because of 1) the bright colors that Mr. Wombo used for their pajamas, 2) the highly reflective floor and 3) the interesting background which I could imagine being the wall of a child's room on Tar'tron. However, I did not alter the mother's left foot which was crafted by Mr. Wombo with too many toes. Also, Mr. Wombo avoided having to draw any hands for the mother by linking together her two arms. I have no idea why Mr. Wombo felt the need to put those patches or name tags or what ever they are on the pajamas. 

Kittens can solve most problems.

 Kittens to the Rescue. The other issue that I had with the image 8 Toes was that although I like the poses of the two characters, I felt there was something missing. Maybe there should have been a kitten or a small puppy there on the floor. If all else fails, just try to cover-up what Mr. Wombo drew.

In an attempt to deal with the toe problem, I had DALL-E make some images with this text prompt: "a very young and tiny kitten on a dark but highly reflective floor, the reflection of the kitten can be seen in the floor". DALL-E generated four different kittens and I used three of them to modify the original 8 Toes scene (see the image to the left). For this toe cover-up image, I also trimmed the side of the mother's left foot. I did not bother trying to add in a hand for the mother.

post-graduate education

 Continuing Education. In Part 4 of the Mosy Saga, it is not revealed how long Synym and Thylon resided on the planet Tar'tron. Part 4 of the Mosy Saga is only a glimpse at the time when Synym and Thylon were attending the equivalent of what we might call "college". Although sex education was an important part of the formal education of Synym and Thylon on Tar'tron, I suppose they had ample opportunity to continue studying their own sexual responses after completing their college years.

"We can do this... together."

 From Tar'tron With Love. The fundamental constraint on the type of telepathy that Qyp and Thylon have is that they can only telepathically link to the minds of other individuals with whom they share a powerful sexual attraction. This is due to a constraint that was built into the Phari endosymbiont. To avoid misuse of telepathy, the human brain was constrained so as to only allow telepathic linkages between people who love each-other.

Both Synym and Thylon develop their capacity to enter into loving relationships by endlessly experimenting with their female friends while growing up. At the dormitories of the schools that Synym and Thylon attend, the most important lessons are often learned outside of the formal classrooms.

Synym and Thylon practical exam

In the image shown to the right, Synym and Thylon are completing a homework assignment for one of their many sex education classes. The third woman in this scene is their tutor who is evaluating the ability of Synym and Thylon to work as a team, knowledge that they will eventually apply on Earth when they are the wives of Zule. 

The clones of Synym and Thylon on Earth (Potina and Tara) will both be quite busy with their "careers" while living with Zule in Norsum, so usually no more than one of Potina or Tara will be with Zule at any given time. There will be many occasions when both Potina and Tara are away from home and Zule will depend on the Rep for entertainment.

Making plans.

 A 3 Body Problem. The figure to the left shows a young Synym being talked into trying a three body sexplay session. Younger students are advised to only have one sex partner at a time, but eventually the time comes to widen their horizons.

Nanotechnology.

 Infites.
The figure to the right depicts an experiment with nanite-induced orgasms. In the fictional universe of the Mosy Saga, humans are composite organisms composed of both biological cells and endosymbionts that are composed of invisibly small nanites. Some types of human behavior can be modified or controlled by sending infites directly into one of the two human endosymbionts, by-passing the cellular nervous system. I've previously described the challenges of getting Mr. Wombo to visually depict nanites (see also).

"No, you can leave your clothes on."

The image to the left is another nanotechnology experiment in which Thylon is providing Synym with an exceptional nanite-induced orgasm.

"Who needs men?"

In most cases, advanced nanite technology was not available to residents of Tar'tron such as Thylon and Synym who were being trained for missions on Earth. Most of the time they had to resort to primitive tools to help generate orgasms. 

 In the cockpit. The image to the right shows Synym poised to give a massage to her lover. I like the idea that Thylon and Synym had an aircar for their travels around Tar'tron. Maybe they had their own version of a mile-high club.

Synym was teleported.

 Teleportation. Another alternative for travel on Tar'tron might be teleportation. In the past, I've struggled to find good ways to depict teleportation in a static image. The image to the left was generated by Mr. Wombo after I started using a text prompt that said: "high resolution movie still of Katrine De Candole on a beach looking into an inter-dimensional portal and seeing Megan Fox, Katrine De Candole is very tall and slim, Katrine De Candole has narrow hips, Katrine De Candole is fifteen years old and dressed Victoria’s Secret style in a leather skirt and a silver shirt, Megan Fox has black hair".

When trying to coax Mr. Wombo into generating a suitable image, I did get a few images of Synym wearing sandals, but Mr. Wombo rally likes ladies in boots. It is also hard to make Mr. Wombo stop adorning the women with giant sunglasses in scenes like this one.

Steam-powered teleportation.

I decided to let Mr. Wombo have a try at creating a steampunk teleportation device. In the image to the right, it almost looks like Synym's right arm has started to dematerialize. Here is the text pronpt that I used with the "Steampunk V2" style: "high resolution movie still of a steampunk spaceship interior and a teleportation terminal, Megan Fox is being teleported and is surrounded by sparkling lights, Meg Ryan is looking into the steampunk teleportation beam and looking at Megan Fox, very tall and slim, narrow hips, fifteen years old and dressed Victoria’s Secret style, Meg Ryan is blond". There is another similar steampunk teleportation image here.

Steampunk teleportation system by DALL-E.

The image shown to the left was generated for me when I asked DALL-E for a "steampunk teleportation platform and a steampunk control console for the teleportation system inside a steampunk spaceship".

click image to enlarge

Working with the background image that was made by DALL-E, I added in two human figures and used Mr. Wombo to generate the image shown to the right. I still struggle to imaging how teleportation could be possible in a steampunk fictional universe, but it looks pretty nice.

In the teleportation device.

I tried to get an alternative teleportation system using Mr. Wombo's "Retro Sci-Fi V2" style.

The image to the left shows a closeup view of a test subject inside the teleportation chamber.

Retro-teleportation.

The image to the right shows the entire teleportation scene. Since I grew up reading science fiction stories in which everyone assumed that Hi Tek™ devices of the future would be powered by electricity, I'm more comfortable with that approach than I am with steam power.

Some alternative AI-generated teleportation scenes are shown at the end of this blog post.

Next: more AI-generated science fiction book cover images. 

Visit the Gallery of Movies, Book and Magazine Covers

Dr. Fitzjames

see this review

 This blog page is the 4th in a series of blog posts (starting here) concerning science fiction stories about doctors. I began exploring stories about doctors as collected in Groff Conklin's anthology called Great Science Fiction About Doctors, but I've also included any other such stories that I can find, even if they were not known to Conklin. My search has been going far and wide, but I'm restricting myself to older stories that were published before this millennium. 

Fantasy. I get it. Science fiction can be viewed as a sub-specialty within the broader literary domain of fantasy. I've never read "Doctor Rat" by William Kotzwinkle, but that novel won a World Fantasy Award and it is not my mission here to venture too far outside the domain of science fiction in my exploration of stories about doctors. However, I must admit, some blatantly unscientific stories have crept in...

image source

 Title. Included here on this page, below, is a ghost story featuring Dr. Fitzjames. That ghost story was written by a man who I will now only identify as "the good doctor". I must add, this good doctor might have become a medical doctor instead of a biochemist had he not become sicked by the task of dissecting a cat during a biology course. However, I'll begin Part 4 of my adventure with a story that was written by someone who is more famous than "the good doctor", Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle...

Asterothrope telepathy
in the Ekcolir Reality

 Return to the 1800s. It was with much trepidation (and a gloomy expectation of having to wade through a magical fantasy story) that I read "The Great Keinplatz Experiment" by Arthur Conan Doyle, first published around 1885, but often re-published in places such as the October 1936 issue of Weird Tales. While in his late 20s, Doyle studied some medical subjects, so it is no real surprise that his story features a Professor of Physiology. The renowned Alexis von Baumgarten, who teaches at the University of Keinplatz medical school, is fascinated by the idea that by placing someone in a trance, their mind might be free to wander away from their body. 

 Mind Transfer. Professor Keinplatz puts both himself and his young assistant into trances. After an hour, they both come to their senses and return to "normal" consciousness, but their minds have swapped bodies. Hilarity ensues, but eventually they go through the mind swapping process once again and they are returned to their correct bodies.

Life after Death.

 Last AND Least. The last remaining story that was collected in Great Science Fiction About Doctors is an even older tale from the pen of Edgar Allan Poe. "The Facts of M. Valdemar's Case" was first published in December 1845 in The American Review. Like the "Keinplatz Experiment" (above), Poe's story is about Mesmerism and trances. The ailing Valdemar is placed into a trance just before his death. For several months, Valdemar then hangs at the edge of death, his body occasionally "speaking" in an unnatural way, stating that he is dead. Finally, the body abruptly liquefies and only a "detestable putrescence" remains where Valdemar once reposed on his death bed. There are several medical doctors who attend Valdemar at the end of his life, but there is no doctoring for them to do. Poe's story is not science fiction; I'd label it as pseudoscience horror fiction.

An elektron box in the Ekcolir Reality.

 Life After Death. Having mentioned (above) the October 1936 issue of Weird Tales, I feel compelled to mention a story called "Doctor DeBruce" by Earl Leaston Bell. "Doctor DeBruce" was published in the February 1924 issue of Weird Tales and it is another story about life-after-death. 

I can almost picture in my mind a young Jack Vance reading Weird Tales and then later writing lines such as: "Life, death... these are imprecise terms." (see The Palace of Love) Doctor DeBruce spends his last few days among his book collection and we readers of the story are left to ponder the possibility that among the texts in his library was one holding the secret of how to return (at-least briefly) from the dead. 

interior art by Austin Briggs

 The Struggle to Die. Earl Bell also wrote "The Young Old Man" which was published in the September 1929 issue of Amazing Stories. "The Young Old Man" lives more than 5 centuries before finally dying. 

She Turned Me Into a Newt Ghost. You ask: what was the secret of this man's long life? Bell explains: brief treatment by electrical forces emerging from a mysterious elektron box which created blue sparks and even cured the Young Old Man's tuberculosis. Centuries later, the Young Old Man still has in his possession an old book written in Latin; the author, Roger Bacon. I think readers are expected to assume that Bacon was a Hi Tek™ wizard. Finally, tired of life, the Young Old Man uses a powerful poison to put an end to his long life. Sadly, Bell did not tell readers very much about the mysterious life-giving Bacon box from the Middle Ages. 😞

Ghost Lines in the Ekcolir Reality

 Fantasy Stories. I've long been impressed by Isaac Asimov's ability to write stories in so many different genres. I suspect that Asimov did sometimes read Weird Tales when he was in his formative years, but some of the story telling in that magazine apparently left him cold (see this essay). Try to imagine the young Asimov in 1929 reading "Doctor Pichegru's Discovery" by Carl F. Keppler as published in the July 1929 issue of Weird Tales. Doctor Pichegru's discovery was a tricky surgical technique for how to perform a successful brain transplant.

In Part 3 of this series, I discussed "Doctor O'Glee's Experiment" by T. Proctor Hall, a 1929 story in which a futuristic technology is found for treating criminals and curing them of their criminal propensities. The surgical wizard Dr. Pichegru demonstrates his criminal tendencies: as soon as he refines his brain transplantation surgical procedure, he is eager to apply it to the goal of stealing a million dollars worth of jewels.

a paragraph from "Doctor Pichegru's Discovery"

 Cavanaugh Goes Ape. Dr. Pichegru transplants the brain of Cavanaugh, a young colleague, into the body of a gorilla. Dr. Pichegru wants his friend to use his new powerful ape body to sneak into a nearby home and break into a steel safe (see the image to the left). Dr. Pichegru proposes to return Cavanaugh's brain to his original body after they obtain the valuable jewels. What could go Wrong?

source

You will have to read "Doctor Pichegru's Discovery" to discover what happens to the criminally insane Pichegru and Cavanaugh's brain. "Doctor Pichegru's Discovery" is a fantastic (in the sense of "fantasy", not "good") horror story and makes no attempt to explain how it is possible for Pichegru to perform brain transplants. It is fun to imagine how reading such fantasy stories effected Asimov as a young boy. Soon after Asimov began publishing stories, he wrote a ghost story that was initially rejected, but which eventually was published in Weird Tales under the title "Legal Rites".

 Ghost Busters. I mentioned in Part 2 of this series that I'm a sucker for stories about mysterious peoples living secretly among us. I'll place "Legal Rites" in this category (you can read it here). Puzzle: how would young Isaac, a budding scientist, design a ghost story in 1940? 

"James MacCreagh" was Frederik Pohl

 Spoiler. In "Legal Rites", Asimov quickly introduced readers to a "man" named Nicholls. I put "man" in quotes because when Nicholls tells Russell Harley, "we may be of service to each other", readers should start to question the motives of Nicholls and wonder: who what is Nicholls?

Is Nicholls the original ghostbuster?

 

in the Ekcolir Reality

The first story by Asimov that I ever read was The Gods Themselves for which Asimov imagined a kind of parallel universe and way for things to move between our universe and the other universe. Where does Nicholls come from?

 The Spirit Universe. Asimov depicted extra-demensional transfers to-and-from an astral plane. Hank uncontrollably drips extra-dimensional blood on poor Harley.

Figure 1. Do ghosts have legal rights?

Hank died in a gun fight (the story is set in the desert southwest) and he can endlessly drip blood which can mysteriously materialize right out of thin air in our universe and upon falling on the ground, evaporate with a quick, sizzling pop. Nicholls quickly demonstrates his thaumaturgical skills and casts spells from the Ars Magicorum while dealing with the cantankerous Hank who claims ownership of the old house that Harley has inherited. 

An astral entity?
see Alien Obelisk Scene
by Henry1850 availble under
the CC BY-NC 3.0.

 Devil's Dung. Nicholls identifies Hank as a "low-order ghost who can't materialize to any great density". As a chemistry student, Asimov included in the story the idea that stinky asafoetida can repel ghosts. As shown in Figure 1, the dispute between Hank and Harley over ownership of the house ends up in court. Hank calls himself an "astral entity" and he has been dead for more than 75 years, but he is trapped and "stuck" to our universe because of his violent death. While working in the previous century as a prospector, Hank amassed a cache of gold and this wealth allows him to hire a lawyer. 

Dr. Fitzjames. The defense attorney objects to Hank serving as a witness in the case, but there is expert testimony from the eminent Dr. Fitzjames revealing that psychiatric examination of Hank indicates the ghost is a reliable witness. Asimov was a fan of Gilbert and Sullivan, so he depicted Hank as owning a book of their plays. Hank wins the case, setting the legal precedent for ghosts to haunt houses. At the end of the story, it is revealed that Nicholls is also an "astral entity" of some sort and he carefully set-up Harley to lose the case.

interior artwork by Frank R. Paul

Having mentioned Dr. Pichegru and his skill at transplanting brains (above), I feel obliged to mention "The Living Test Tube" by Joe Simmons. This is the only story attributed to Simmons by the ISFDB. "The Living Test Tube" was published in the November 1928 issue of Amazing Stories. For "The Living Test Tube", a criminal dies, but his head is kept alive by Dr. Hausen. The dead man's brain is kept functioning just long enough for it to give testimony in a murder case. 

image source

"The Living Test Tube" includes a rather large amount of bogus biological science which decorates a twisted and contrived plot. Still, I have to wonder if "Joe Simmons" was a pen name for some well-known author.

 Related Reading: I've never read the story, but Professor Dowell's Head (1925) featured the evil surgeon Dr. Kern who murders Dowell and keeps alive the professor's head. I'd be interested to know if Alexander Belyaev put any effort in to explaining how a disembodied head might be kept alive. See also: The Brain That Wouldn't Die.

editorial blurb introducing "Doctor Satan"

 Dr. Satan. I began this blog post with mention of Dr. Rat. Here is a fun game to play... start with Dr. and add another word... "Doctor Satan" sounds like what you would expect from Weird Tales and there it was, in the August 1935 issue of Weird Tales. Paul Ernst produced a whole string of Doctor Satan stories. Having read "Doctor Pichegru's Discovery" (see above), I was intrigued by the editorial blurb (see the image to the left) introducing the Doctor Satan series to readers of Weird Tales. I wondered: is this Dr. Satan actually our old friend Dr. Pichegru returned from the grave? Was "Carl F. Keppler" nothing but a pen-name for Ernst? We have to wonder, why is Dr. Satan so devilish?

text from "Doctor Satan"

I'm a sucker for stories about ancient sources of knowledge. As shown in the image to the right, Dr. Satan makes use of both ancient Egyptian knowledge and Hi Tek™ gizmos to do battle with square-jawed Ascott Keane and his cute assistant, Beatrice Dale. 

Dr. Satan in the Ekcolir Reality

In Part 1 of this series I mentioned "Rappaccini's Daughter" in which it is implied that Dr. Rappaccini created a special kind of poisonous plant that was like a sister to Rappaccini's daughter, Beatrice. Paul Ernst told his readers that Dr. Satan was able to modify a type of Australian thorn bush and turn it into a plant that could grow rapidly when rooted in a human brain. This specially designed plant has tiny seeds that can float in the air, enter the nasal passages and take root. Then within two hours the plant has grown large enough to explode the person's head. You will have to read "Doctor Satan" to see how this evil plant is used by Dr. Satan.

I've long been puzzled by a line in Jack Vance's novel The Palace of Love when the excitable Navarth exclaims: "He'll kill us all. He'll drown us in dog vomit. He'll grow trees in our ears." I've wondered: who comes up with these things? I really have to wonder if Vance was influenced by the stories of Ernst.

another "Doctor Satan" cover (1936)

 And Hypnosis, Too. Dr. Satan has many tricks up his red sleeves. He is an expert in the art of hypnosis. Early in the story, in order to provide readers with some background on Doctor Satan and his evil ways, readers are introduced to Dr. Satan's assistant, Monroe. After a conversation between Monroe and Dr. Satan allows readers to learn about the plant that grows in the brains of victims, Monroe is quickly hypnotized and then reduced to ashes by Dr. Satan by means of a highly flammable yellow powder. 

Its a Small World After-all. A month before the start of the story, Keane set out to destroy Dr. Satan. After informing Keane that he can read minds, Dr. Satan has to ask Keane how he learned about Dr. Satan's existence. Keane can also "read minds" and he learned of Dr. Satan from the mind of Monroe.

in the Asimov Reality

 Green Trumps Yellow. The ancient Egyptian knowledge deployed by Dr. Satan is a yellow powder that he used to incinerate Monroe. However, the erudite Keane, recognizing the yellow powder, protects himself with some green paste, another Egyptian invention that counter-acts the yellow powder. Then things get nasty. Keane desperately tries to destroy Dr. Satan using the Force "the pure form of electricity known as the Life Force". Keane fails to kill Satan and breathless readers are told to wait a month for the next thrilling chapter in the Dr. Satan saga.

Before departing from the electric pages of Weird Tales, I'll mention that Paul Ernst published another story called "The Tree of Life" in the September 1930 issue of Weird Tales. That story hints that somewhere in upper Michigan there is a fabulous Tree of Life that can bring dead people back to life. 

in the Ekcolir Reality

Just like Beatrice Dale and Beverly G. Grocke, of Arlington, New Jersey, I must ask: Who is Dr. Satan? Maybe he's a retired botanist or plant geneticist. I confess that when I began reading the stories in Great Science Fiction About Doctors, I hoped that some of the stories would actually be about scientists, not medical doctors. 

A Physicist. One such story that I found is "Doctor Royker's Experiment" by Joseph Whitehill from the September 1960 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. (story here). This is apparently a time travel story although it ends rather abruptly and we readers are left to guess what has just happened to Dr. Royker, a physicist. Dr. Royker is renowned for his work in the field of Time-and-Information circuitry. I have no idea what that means, but I want to believe that it is the foundational science that will make time travel possible.

Figure 2. interior art by Elliott Dold

 A Biologist. Earlier this year I blogged about a story called "The Living Equation" by Nat Schachner which was published in September 1934 issue of Astounding Stories. In that same issue of Astounding was "A Scientist Divides" by Donald Wandrei. 

In "A Scientist Divides", Dr. Weylith, a biologist, is well-known for having been the first person to photograph a virus. Now he has isolated what he calls homoplasm... which is kind of like protoplasm on steroids.

image source

I'm intrigued by the idea that human bodies might contain within them nanoscopic components as yet unknown to science. In any case, when Dr. Weylith spills the newly-isolated homoplasm on himself, he quickly turns into an amorphous mass which first splits in half and then forms two half-sized copies of Weylith. The fission process continues, creating the gaggle of mini-Weyliths shown in Figure 2. That scene is not the end of the story, but it degenerates into an incoherent ending that reminds me of "Liquid Life" by Ralph Farley. Maybe Farley was influenced by having read "A Scientist Divides". What about the fictional science in these two stories? Sadly, writing in the 1930s, Wandrei and Farley were just about as "scientific" as anyone might be expected in those days when little was known about the molecular basis of life.

 Professor I.V. Frost. Starting in 1934, Wandrei wrote a series of stories about the scientific detective Professor I.V. Frost, Sc.D. (doctor of science).

Figure 3. Editorial blurb appearing right at the end of "A Scientist Divides".

Figure 4. Cover by Les Edwards

 Astounding and Clues Detective Stories were owned by the same company (Street & Smith), so it is not a surprise that the editor of Astounding advised his readers to go out and get a copy of Clues.

In "Frost", when Jean Moray enters the mansion of Professor Frost, her body is x-rayed, revealing her two guns, one in her purse, the other worn on her thigh (see Figure 4). Professor Frost is quick to call that second little gun a "toy". However, Jean is soon blasting away at bad-guys and holding up her end of the first Ivy Frost adventure.

I have to wonder if the young Isaac Asimov was permitted to read Clues Detective Stories. Supposedly, he talked his father into letting him read science fiction magazines because anything with the word "science" in it must be educational.

Figure 5. Educational?

The covers of those old 1930s detective magazines (such as the one in Figure 5) might have attracted readers, but under inspection by suspicious parents, they would not have suggested much in the way of educational science content. Reading "Frost" (you can read it here), I was impressed (not favorably) only by the endless violence.

Violence is the refuge of incompetents. Still, Isaac Asimov did eventually write his own detective stories (such as The Caves of Steel) and his "Cal" is an amusing robot story. A robot named "Cal" tries to learn how to write mystery fiction from his owner. Cal's first written story is about a detective named Cal. In Asimov's detective stories, what little violence there is tends to take place "off stage". I imagine that the young boy, Isaac, was rather disheartened by all of the violence that he saw in the pulp magazines.

Dr. Frost (left). Interior art by H. W. Wesso.

 The Other Dr. Frost. In the February 1938 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories was "The Changer of History" by Alexander Samalman. I'm always on the lookout for stories about time travel. "The Changer of History" really concerns viewing the past by means of a device created by Dr. Frost; that device is something like a telescope but its lens is composed of a marvelous material called lumindust. Also in that issue is an account of the initial stimulus that led Samalman to write "The Changer of History".

interior art for "Medical Note"

"The Changer of History" is not a very good story which is probably to be expected... according to the ISFDB it was the first published work by Samalman. Of more interest is "Medical Note", published by Alexander Samalman in the February 1942 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories. I have not been able to learn very much about Alexander Samalman. Apparently, he worked for many years in the publishing industry and occasionally published one of his own stories.

medical humor in the Ekcolir Reality

"Medical Note" is a kind of joke story that might very well have been written to mock other stories such as the previously described "Doctor O'Glee's Experiment". In "Doctor O'Glee's Experiment" there was a magical "ether wave" to cure every illness. 

For "Medical Note", Samalman imagined that music could be used to treat any affliction. Earlier in this series, I mentioned "A Matter of Ethics" by Clifton Dance, in which the Intergalactic Board of Mural Cardiosurgery had a monopoly on use of a life-saving medical treatment that could repair the hearts of heart-attack victims. 

Similarly, in "Medical Note", the Medical Music Trust charges unreasonably high prices for the therapeutic music used to treat patients in hospitals. Read the story to learn the comical means that were used by a daring doctor to defeat the evil Medical Music Trust.

Figure 6. The first paragraph of "The Last Story".

Before I abandon Alexander Samalman, I must mention what the ISFDB identifies as his last published speculative fiction story which was published in 1951. Samalman only lived 52 years and died in 1956. "The Last Story" appeared in the September 1951 issue of Startling Stories. It is another joke story concerning the one writer in the universe who is pleased to receive a rejection slip. The story is set in the year 2160, in an alternate utopian future where money was abolished in the year 2015. 

interior art for "The Last Story"

In the future imagined by Samalman for "The Last Story", fiction is now illegal (see Figure 6). In defiance of the law, Ignatius writes a Western story and shares it with Jonathan Hearsay, an old man who edited the last magazine, Western Whimsies.

In this "utopian" future of 2160, every 4-dimensional super-television set has a camera built-in and the television set in Hearsay's room captures images of the two men reading and enjoying the story. Soon the police arrive to execute the two criminals. Hearsay completes one last task before he dies. He provides Ignatius with a rejection slip for the story. Thrilled to have even had the chance to write one last story, Ignatius dies happy, with the rejection sheet in his hand.

Fig. 7. Long Life

 Vitality Index. I've long been dismayed by science fiction stories about the future in which the entire economic system of the galaxy is built around one rare substance such as the "spice" of Arrakis or kyrt. 

I also have little interest in the seemingly endless parade of vampire and zombie fantasies that has saturated our modern world, and for that reason alone I tend to avoid much speculative fiction that was written during the past 50 years. "A Bonus for Dr. Hardwick" is one such "modern" vampire story by Brian C. Coad that was published in the February 1974 issue of Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact. Yes, it is a vampire story pretending to be a science fiction story.

"A Bonus for Dr. Hardwick" is set in the near future after it has been discovered that the bodies of living creatures contain an Essence of Vitality™. Each person's "Vitality Index" is measured when, as a new employees of Long Life Corporation, they arrive at the sprawling research facility in Long Life City, Nevada (see Figure 7).

Schizzy Frehan checks out Smith's Vitals

 A whole vampiric industry has grown up around the process of taking the Essence of Vitality™ out of some peoples' bodies and giving it to other more deserving people. This is accomplished by the Schlagle Process™.  

Schizzy Frehan, PhD. Schizzy was close to devising a way to synthesize the Essence of Vitality™. However, her work has been halted and her Vitality Index lowered by draining her body of the Essence of Vitality™. Can anything be done to save poor Schizzy? This is where Dr. Smith walks on stage and is quickly smitten 💕 by the cute Schizzy and then he is soon battling the corporate vampires who are content to continue sucking the Essence of Vitality™ out of people as a way to prolong their own lives.

image source

 In Conclusion. This 4 part series of blog posts (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) documenting my exploration of fiction about doctors has included discussion of more than 50 old stories that were published between 1844 and 1974. My favorite type of fiction is science fiction, but I allowed myself to examine a few stories from other genres (including detective fiction) for this series. I remain tempted to read more adventures of the scientific detective Professor I.V. Frost, Sc.D., but I fear the meager scientific content of the "Ivy" Frost stories is seriously out-weighed by all the silly fantasy violence and use of magic potions from ancient Egypt. On a more positive note...

Figure 8. Dr. Iglowt P. Slakmak (left)

 Arthur Porges. I'm please that some of the stories I've read concern doctors who are not medical doctors (Dr. I. V. Frost is a good example). In Part 2 of this series I discussed "Emergency Operation" and "The Fly", two stories by Arthur Porges. Porges taught mathematics and some of his stories had a distinctive mathematical flavor and an academic setting. I'll end my collection of stories about doctors with three more short stories by Porges...

Figure 9. In the Ekcolir Reality.

 Alien Educator. In the January 1954 issue of Dynamic Science Fiction was "The Unwilling Professor" by Porges. The titular professor is shown in Figure 8, professor Slakmak, an alien visitor to Earth who happens to look like a rabbit. Slakmak crash-lands on a college campus and is force to help some college students with their math homework before another alien arrives and rescues Slakmak. Such stories by Porges have two big advantages: 1) they are very short and 2) they don't take themselves too seriously.

Larsen vs Corman. Two stories published by Porges in 1963 both feature Dr. Larsen and Dr. Corman. In "Controlled Experiment", Porges made mention of Oliver Lodge and Samuel Soal. Corman loves playing tricks on Larsen. Larsen is something of a hot-head and can't help falling for Corman's gags. Larsen is skeptical when Corman claims that he can telepathically communicate with his friend, Merritt.

in the Ekcolir Reality

You will have to read "Controlled Experiment" to learn how Corman is able to seemingly send telepathic messages to Merritt, while Larsen carefully controls the conditions of the experiment. Two hints: 1) it involves a dog and 2) since this was still before 1964, Corman's trickery also involves cigarette smoking. "The Formula" is a sequel to "Controlled Experiment". At a faculty gathering on a warm evening, Corman claims that he can always tell what the outdoors temperature is. When Larsen challenges Corman on this claim, Corman suggests that he is able to telepathically obtain information about the current temperature, saying, "It's a sort of ESP thing with me." As the evening progresses and the outside temperature drops quickly, poor Larsen can't figure out how Dr. Corman is able to accurately report the outside temperature from inside an air-conditioned house.

Please, Doctor, I want to stop. see also

 The End. On the topic of tobacco smoking, there was good old Doc Newell ready to help if you wanted to quit (see image to the right).

 Related Reading: The Brazen Android by William Douglas O'Connor, 1891

Next: 4th dimensional surgery

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