57 Books from the University Book Sale: Book 40

Title: Out of the Dark (Ace G-557, ca. 1965)
Author: Ursula Curtiss
Cover artist: Schinella (?!) [he couldn't decide betw. "scintilla" and "shinola," so split the difference...]

Yours for: $5

• Looks like someone got angry and took it out on lavender.
• So ... a headless snow queen in a purple fur coat / dress is preparing to bowl the freshly severed head of a pretty blonde down some unseen runway, while Peter Falk looks on ...
• God, that hand. It's gonna haunt me.

• That militaristic font simply doesn't work in hot pink.
• "[Ring ... Ring...] ... Uh, hi boss, about that "Outta the Dark" novel: we can't think of nothin' to say so we found this quote from some guy named Boucher and we're just gonna fill up the back cover with that, OK? ... Yeah, he summarizes the book and everything. We don't gotta do nothin'. ... awesome. Thanks [click]."

Page 123~

Erect, even majestic with his flowing hair, Sip set out blindly for his sister's house.

To recap: this book has a character named "Sip." He apparently looks like Fabio.

~RP

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Paperback 235: The Unfair Fare Affair (The Man From U.N.C.L.E. #18) / Peter Leslie (Ace 51701)

Paperback 235: Ace 51701 (PBO, 1968)

Title: The Unfair Fare Affair (The Man From U.N.C.L.E. #18)
Author: Peter Leslie
Cover artist: photo

Yours for: $12


Best things about this cover:

• Illya Kuryakin shows how he won first place at the Gun Shuffleboard Tournament of 1963
• "And then I swam over to my gun, like so..."
• "That fare was so unfair that ... oh ... I'm just going to lie here ..."

Best things about this back cover:

• I love that the publishers could give a flying !@##$ what stills they use on their covers. "Boss, we need two pics for the "Man From U.N.C.L.E." book. Which ones should we use?" / "I don't know, just grab two off the top." / "But ... in this one the guy's just holding a tape measure. That doesn't really conv—" / "Just do what I say and shut yer yap!"
• I was too young ever to have seen an ep of this show. I think that for some reason the paperback tie-ins numbered 14 and over are rarer than those with lower numbers. Forget where I heard this. Anyway ... maybe I can find the show on TV or DVD somewhere. I think I should at least see one ep — it was a huge hit in the 60s.

Page 123~

Now that the mechanics of Bartoluzzi's one-man escape network were known, now that he was morally sure that he had in fact been approached by THRUSH on the lines that Waverly had feared, Kuryakin felt justified in throwing the Corsican, as it were, to the wolves.

~RP

Paperback 137: Ten Thousand Light-Years From Home / James Tiptree, Jr. (Ace 80180)

Paperback 137: Ace 80180 (1st ptg, 1973)

Title: Ten Thousand Light-Years from Home
Author: James Tiptree, Jr. (Alice Sheldon)
Cover artist: [Chris Foss]

Yours for: $9


Best things about this cover:

• Well, not a lot. An intergalactic schoolbus dangling an aircraft carrier dangling a Death Star over some exceedingly arid planet, in close proximity to a smoking obelisk. Seriously, what was the author hoping to convey (besides confusion)?
• James Tiptree, Jr. is the pseudonym of Alice Sheldon, a luminary in the world of science fiction from the late 60s until her death in 1987. Her life story is fascinating. Bisexual. Onetime CIA agent. There's a recent-ish bio I've nearly picked up at the library several times now. I've read one novel by her and Loved it (Brightness Falls from the Air).

Page 123~

"Don't say it, baby." The golden body slid close. "Don't down the trip. We love you, No-Pain." They were all petting him now. "Happy, sing him! Touch, taste, feel. Joy!"

But there was no joy.

~RP

PS Starting on Sunday, and every Sunday thereafter, I will be semi-syndicated (in that my post here will also be "broadcast" over at "Judge a Book by its Cover")

PPS To hear a story inspired by this Page 123, go here.

Paperback 136: Night of Masks / Andre Norton (Ace 57752)

Paperback 136: Ace 57752 (3rd ptg, 1973)

Title: Night of Masks
Author: Andre Norton
Cover artist: "JW"

Yours for: $7



Best things about this cover:

It looks a lot like this cover (Paperback 74):

Let's compare

• In our book, the mask is basically the same as the face of the guy holding it, whereas in the earlier book, Wrinkles McGreenhand clearly needs his mask to pass for human.
• Actually, the more that I look at it, our book appears to depict Arnold Horshack holding a Charles Grodin mask.
• Our book has more soothing colors, though the soothing they induce is kinda offset by the scimitar-wielding dance troupe in the background.
• The sky of our book appears to have been finger-painted.
• Verdict: version 1 is way way better. Horrifying and mysterious, where our book just looks silly.

Page 123~

"So you just went out on the surface with the boy to hide out. What did you hope to gain?"

So that's why he needed a mask. Got it.

~RP

Paperback 134: Letter of Marque / Andrew Hepburn (Ace D-440)

Paperback 134: Ace D-440 (1st ptg, 1960)

Title: Letter of Marque
Author: Andrew Hepburn
Cover artist: uncredited

Yours for: $7


Best things about this cover:

• "My these seas are certainly heaving ..."
• Jebus, look how nicely she has gift-wrapped those things for us. They're Tremendous!
• OMG is she dead? Her neck! Between the garrote and the cover crease, terrible things appear to be happening to her head. Look at her glassy eyes. Is she tied to the mast of the world's gayest ship? Is she an ethereal sea goddess emanating from the ships below? I think I'll just stare at her breasts some more and try not to think about it too much.
• "Replete with action ..." - well, at least we know the guy at the Herald-Tribune did well on his SATs.

Best things about this back cover:

• "Action and more action is Author Hepburn's motto ..." - o man that's sad. I don't know what's sadder - that he has a motto at all, or that it's so lame.
• Is it wrong that I think his girlfriend's name looks vaguely like "Madeleine de Vagina?"
• "Stockton is a swashbuckling hero who's not afraid to ... cut through red tape!?" OK, that was totally *not* in your motto, dude. Boooring. Hepburn needs to get some lessons from Rafael Sabatini, and "Capt. Stockton," if that is his real name, needs to call Errol Flynn for some pointers.

Page 123~

She was stiff and weatherly, and the broad track of her wake gave evidence of her effortless pace, as she rose over the small seas with no check to her speed.

I ... think that was the sex scene.

RP~

Paperback 99: The Einstein Intersection / Samuel R. Delany (Ace F-427)

Paperback 99: Ace F-427 (PBO, 1967)

Title: The Einstein Intersection
Author: Samuel R. Delany
Cover artist: Jack Gaughan

Yours for: $10


Best things about this cover:

• "Red Bull - gives you gorings and talonous scrapings wings!"
• "Sorry, sir, Hideously Mutated Bovine Night is Thursday. Tonight is Ladies' Night."
• "I have seen the future ... and it has fancy vending machines."
• Sadly, that pasty discothèque bouncer / ATM guard looks a lot like me.

Best things about this back cover:

• "Cordwainer" is possibly the best first name in human history.
• I can only hope that "Lobey" has Gigantic ears.
• "They call me 'Kid Death' ... on account 'a I kill people."
• Editor me says: "'Millennia' has two 'n's"

Page 123!~

Suddenly he tossed the skull gently. It passed me, hovered a moment, then smashed on the stones and Spider laughed. It was a friendly laugh, without the malicious flickering of fish scales and flies' wings that dazzled the laughter of the Kid. But it nearly scared me to death. I ran out the door. For one step bone fragments chewed at my instep. The door slammed behing me. The sun slapped my face.

I must give a ton of credit to the very accomplished Mr. Delany, who made sure that the cover artist got credit on this book by including him in the Dedication! Awesome:

"for Don Wollheim
a responsible man
in all meanings
to and for what is
within and
Jack Gaughan
for what is
without"

~RP

Paperback 72: The Jagged Orbit / John Brunner (Ace 38122)

Paperback 72: Ace 38122 (1st ptg, 1969)

Title: The Jagged Orbit
Author: John Brunner
Cover artist: Uncredited


Best things about this cover:

• Gotta love the olde-timey computer script: "Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate ... The Jagged Orbit!"
• In the future, the universe will be run by giant, anthropomorphic gumball creatures.
• If this cover, and the endorsement from Philip K. Dick, don't make you realize that everyone in 1969 was high, then I hereby offer Exhibit B...

Best things about this back cover:

• I love how "this world of ours" (circa 1969) sounds just like "this world of ours" (circa 2008).
• Thomas Disch gives us a good example of why more people don't write blurbs in the middle of acid trips. "The styling is now" is something we should all start saying. That, or "Eat it!"

RP

Paperback 39: Ace D-478

Paperback 39: Ace D-478 (PBO, 1960)

Title: Spacehive
Author: Jeff Sutton
Cover artist: Uncredited

"Hi honey, it's me. Yeah, can you tell me how to hold these compass thingies again? I'm pinching it between my thumb and forefinger while holding it in midair, but nothing seems to be happening. Uh oh, I gotta go. A miniature Soviet fighter just threw a gigantic numbered spider web over me. I'll see you tonight." [click]

Mmmm, Space Race anxiety. Thank you, Sputnik!

RP

Paperback 17: Ace F-386

Paperback 17: Ace F-386 (1st ptg, 1966)

Title: The Time Traders
Author: Andre Norton
Cover artist: Unknown (possibly Ed Emshwiller)

Yours for: $8


Best things about this cover:

• Swirling vortex of Time!
• Martian probing stick!
• Prehistoric mullet!

RP