he Golden Age of science fiction was not only the heyday of imaginative, free-spirited writers who discarded convention and freed their minds to speculate, it was also the era of gifted illustrators whose visual images of the stories the writers crafted gave a dynamic dimension to the storyteller’s vision and shaped the reader’s image of fantastic worlds, amazing events, and innumerable heroes and villains.

Edward Daniel Cartier—known better to generations of admirers as Edd Cartier—was one of the, if not the, best of the Golden Age illustrators. His immediately recognizable style, his impeccable lines and so often an innate humor to his illustrations made him a leading figure in the dramatic art of the pulps of the era.

It was only natural that John Campbell, the editor of Astounding Science Fiction and Unknown magazines, would bring Edd Cartier together with L. Ron Hubbard. They became one of the Golden Age’s most memorable pairings. Edd’s illustrations served as a tableau for Ron’s words for no less than twenty-three stories and the magazine covers for “Death’s Deputy” and “The Indigestible Triton.”

ASI spoke with Cartier, at his New Jersey home.