Thrift Shop Book Covers: "The Fantastic World War II"

The Fantastic World War II, is an anthology of science fiction and fantasy tales about World War II, edited by Frank McSherry, Jr. A paperback original published by Baen Books in 1990, which is the very edition that caught my eye, it features ten short stories, each a reprint, from Nelson S. Bond’s “Take My Drum to England” (1941) to “The Last Article” (1988) by Harry S. Turtledove. The cover art is nicely pulpy with everything that convinces me to take a book home: strafing airplanes, a tumbling Statue of Liberty, all encased in a vivid background. The artist: Ken Kelly.

The first paragraph from H. Bedford-Jones’ “Red Moon on the Flores Sea”:

It was the morning of the third day, and a mist covered the face of the waters, and overhead in the sky a cloud was smoking.

The stories included in the anthology are:

“The Howling Man” by Charles Beaumont (1959)
“Take My Drum to England” by Nelson S. Bond (1941)
“Vengeance in Her Bones” by Malcolm Jameson (1942)
“Red Moon on the Flores Sea” by H. Bedford Jones (1942)
“The Devil is not Mocked” by Manly Wade Wellman (1943)
“Secret Unattainable” by A. E. van Vogt (1942)
“My Name is Legion” by Lester del Rey (1942)
“Barbarossa” by Edward Wellen (1973)
“Two Dooms” by C.M. Kornbluth (1958)
“The Last Article” by Harry Turtledove (1988)