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Showing posts with label Skull. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Skull. Show all posts

Sunday, April 30, 2017

Paperback 989: Once Upon a Dreadful Time / ed. Alfred Hitchcock (Dell 6622)

Paperback 989: Dell 6622 (1st ptg, 1964)

Title: (Alfred Hitchcock's) Once Upon a Dreadful Time (Dell 6622)
Editor: Alfred Hitchcock
Cover artist: Banbury (one name! stylish)

Estimated value: $8-10
Condition: 8/10

Dell6622
Best things about this cover:
  • Alas, poor Hitchcock...
  • Nice self-sideeye
  • Not sure why he's hiding a skull ... from ... himself ... but I'll admit it all looks super-cool.

Dell6622bc
Best things about this back cover:
  • Donald Westlake completists will want to be sure to pick this up
  • Contributors are indeed exclusively male. Women wrote a lot of horror / crime / suspense stories, so the men-only thing here is at least a little weird.
  • The whole Hal Ellson / Hal Elison thing is so weird that his name is spelled both ways in this book (in table of contents, it's ELLSON—which is correct. Here's the NYT also getting it wrong in 1955). And then there's this, from wikipedia:
Harlan Ellison cites Ellson's work as having inspired his own interest in juvenile delinquency — an interest which led directly to the writing of Ellison's first novel, Web of the City. Ellison has also stated that in the earliest days of his career as a writer, he was often mistaken for Ellson writing under a pseudonym — and that decades later, when Ellison had become much more known and Ellson's career had waned, Ellson was often mistaken for Ellison writing under a pseudonym.
 Page 123~ (from "Anatomy of an Anatomy" by Donald Westlake)

At three o'clock on the dot, she heard a thump from above, and knew it was the head.

Westlake is just a champ and that's all there is to it.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Friday, April 22, 2016

Paperback 937: Death of a Stray Cat / Jean Potts (Berkley G492)

Paperback 937: Berkley Medallion G492 (1st ptg, 1961)

Title: Death of a Stray Cat
Author: Jean Potts
Cover artist: photo cover

Estimated value: $10-15 (condition: purrrfect) (sorrynotsorry)

BerkG492
Best things about this cover:
  • Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, kitty kitty.
  • I love how her chair is so dark you can't really see it, so it looks like she's kind of shimmying and dancing toward you in some kind of gothic version of The Twist. Let's call it the "Stray Cat Strut" (stillnotsorry!)
  • What do you call that hairstyle, where it's a bouffant but with a kind of sinkhole up front? It's pretty glorious.

BerkG492bc
Best things about this back cover:
  • Ooh, his and hers panting! You shouldn't have.
  • Uh, safe word. We need a safe word up in here. Stat!
  • Hmm, never heard of Jean Potts, or "Go, Lovely Rose," or this book. Anyone know if I'm missing anything?

Page 123~

"We gagged him because he kept talking dirty," said Gen.

This concludes the first meeting of "BDSM 4 Prudes"; please help yourself to mini-donuts and Sanka on your way out. See you next week.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Friday, February 5, 2016

Paperback 921: Nine and Death Makes Ten / Carter Dickson (Pocket Books 335)

Paperback 921: Pocket Books 335 (2nd ptg, 1946)

Title: Nine and Death Makes Ten
Author: Carter Dickson
Cover artist: Uncredited

Estimated value: $12-17 (condition: stunning, unread)

PB335
Best things about this cover:
  • Amazing Moon-Skull almost makes up for terrible, awkward title that sounds like somebody counting change.
  • Somehow, the cursive-script author name following the contours of the cranium reads Adorable. Rules of Pictorial Menace, #28—never make your death skull wear a cute word hat!
  • This book is in near-perfect condition. Slight fraying of the perma-gloss is the only sign of wear. Bright and tight and shiny, like it wasn't anywhere close to 70 bleeping years old!

PB335bc
Best things about this back cover:
  • Again with the problematic naming. Good luck stopping me laughing with a ship name like "Edwardic!"
  • "Douse that light!" sounds like the title of an Edwardian rap anthem.
  • I shared this book with my UPS guy. I hope that was OK.

Page 123~

"I want you to stop actin' the fool," continued H.M., calmly sighting with another quoit ... 

Carter Dickson is not wasting all those hours of nautical terminology research, so suck it up, landlubbers.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Friday, May 30, 2014

Paperbacks 780 and 781: The Unknown and The Unknown 5 / ed. D.R. Bensen (Pyramid R-851 and R962)

Paperbacks 780 & 781: Pyramid R-851 & R-962 (PBO, 1963 & 1964)

Titles: The Unknown and The Unknown 5
Editor: D.R. Bensen (both)
Cover artist: John Schoenherr (both) / Illus. by Edd Cartier (both)

Yours for: $12

PyrR851
PyrR962

Best things about these front covers:
  • Two for one today, as these appeared back to back on my bookshelf and seemed to go together.
  • The adorableness of Winky Peek-a-Boo Demon is considerably undermined by his unholy thumbnail.
  • I'm classifying that bony limb on The Unknown 5 as "Fear Hand," though honestly, it's more like "Hey. 'Sup? Hand."
  • Can't tell if that bird has no head, or if it's just set completely within its squat little torso.
  • I don't know what became of The Unknowns 2-4, but I fear the worst.

PyrR851bc
PyrR962bc

Best things about this back cover:

  • Weird that 3/5 of the names on The Unknown 5 are legendary and 2/5 I never ever saw before just now.
  • Everybody must name something "Cleve," the next opportunity you get. I insist.
  • I like that the back cover of The Unknown 5 believes there is such a category as "Fine Paperbacks." Adorable.


Page 123~ (from "Hell Is Forever" by Alfred Bester)

"Ego—" mused the voice. "That is something which, alas, none of us can understand. Nowhere in all the knowable cosmos is it to be found but on your planet, Mr. Braugh. It is a frightening thing and convinces me at times that yours is the race that will—" The voice broke off abruptly.

Don't tase me, Braugh.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Monday, September 26, 2011

Paperback 459: Spill the Jackpot / A.A. Fair (Dell 109)

Paperback 459: Dell 109 (1st ptg, 1946)

Title: Spill the Jackpot
Author: A.A. Fair (Erle Stanley Gardner)
Cover artist: George A. Frederiksen

Yours for: $21


dell109spilljackpot
Best things about this cover:
  • When slot machines get drunk (Xs for eyes, dead giveaway), they barf blood and skulls. True fact.
  • This is a fantastic example of the bright, vivid, more abstract covers that Dell tended to feature in its early years. You don't really get the saucy, realistic, Great Girl Art covers until about 1948.


dell109bc.spilljack_0001

Best things about this back cover:
  • Wow, no wonder people gamble. You can practically feel the monotony coming off the page.
  • Is Hotel Sal Sagev a real place? 'Cause that's some painfully unimaginative naming. Diputs!
  • "Boulder? Sure ... just go down Fremont here past Eighth and then it's just another 775 miles. You can't miss it."

Page 123~

Abruptly he turned and smiled at Bertha. "So sorry, Mrs. Cool, I interfered with you so early in the morning. Try and overlook it. If you people can learn to accept these interruptions philosophically, it's going to be a lot easier on you."

If you are a chronic interrupter, I suggest you memorize that last line. The key to being a dick effectively is: you must go all in.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Monday, May 17, 2010

Paperback 314: The Reign of Wizardry / Jack Williamson (Lancer 72-761)

Paperback 314: Lancer 72-761 (1st ptg, 1964)

Title: The Reign of Wizardry
Author: Jack Williamson
Cover artist: Frank Frazetta

Yours for: $15

BERJAYA
Best things about this cover:
  • Satan conducts the Stygian Philharmonic!
  • It's one bad-ass demon who can shoot skulls and naked ladies out of his armpits...
  • Is "the Unknown" a genre?

BERJAYA
Best things about this back cover:
  • OK, how many walls are we going to encounter in this book? Three? That is a terrible pair of bold headings. Are the walls the same in both headings? And who's saying that mystery "quote" in the middle?
  • "The man they called 'Captain Firebrand' ..." — that sounds apocryphal. In fact, that sounds like a male stripper.

Page 123~
But the hairy pirate caught his arm again. "I wish you wouldn't leave me, Captain Firebrand."
Two words: Hairy. Pirate.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Friday, January 29, 2010

57 Books from the University Book Sale: Book 42

Title: Road to Folly (Popular Library 60-2158, 1st thus, [1967])
Author: Leslie Ford
Cover artist: uncredited

Yours for: $3

BERJAYA
  • Least sexy threesome of all time
  • "Me and my pet hourglass and this photo of my mom gotta stay under this net on account of the tse-tses..."
  • "Good telling!" — "I say, old chap, good telling, pip pip etc."


BERJAYA
  • Pardon my French, but Jennifer Reid sounds like a fucking idiot who deserves whatever she gets.

Page 123~

"She's better this morning, thanks, Boston. How are you?"
"Po'ly, miss, thank you. You lookin' mighty peaked yo'self, Miss Jenny."

Yeah, I don't want to read this.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Paperback 278: Savage Bride / Cornell Woolrich (Gold Medal 719)

Paperback 278: Gold Medal 719 (3rd ptg, 1957)

Title: Savage Bride
Author: Cornell Woolrich
Cover artist: Barye Phillips

Yours for: $20

BERJAYA
Best things about this cover:

  • "Rowrrr! Tigress care not for clothing, or for bed sheets. Tigress eat new husband and leave only giant skull behind!"
  • "Uh, honey, when I asked you if you wanted to play a little 'stroke the totem pole,' I didn't mean that literally..."
  • This cover has all the "savage" iconography: nudity, writhing ritualistic dance, mysterious carvings, evidence of cannibalism, and miniature tribal elders with flamboyant headwear presiding over it all.
BERJAYA
Best things about this back cover:
  • Let it be known that I wrote "writhing" re: the front cover before I read this back cover blurb. Prescience!
  • Nothing says random exotica like "an ancient tribe." "Which one? Who cares!? It's got human sacrifice and pagan altars, and that's all you need to know. Now writhe!"

Page 123~

They were fed liberally, if monotonously, on an unvarying diet of baked maize cakes [ed. "You call it corn..."], and water was given them to drink from a brackish-tasting pottery bowl.


I like Cornell Woolrich's writing. Rendezvous in Black is one of my favorite noir novels of all time. But this bit from "Savage Bride" is horrible. Liberal use of passive voice ... "they were fed [...] monotonously?" Unless you're at Medieval Times or Applebee's on your birthday, what do you expect? ... and why are they tasting the "bowl?" You're supposed to drink what's *inside*.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]