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Showing posts with label 1962. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1962. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Paperback 983: Angel! / Carter Brown (Signet S2094)

Paperback 983: Signet 2094S (PBO, 1962)

Title: Angel!
Author: Carter Brown
Cover artist: Robert McGinnis

Estimated value: $6
Condition: 6/10 (stupid sticker pull) (8th ring of hell for pb stickerers!)

Signet2094
Best things about this cover:
  • I have always been fascinated by highly localized storms. Here, we see a downpour located exclusively in the butt region of a woman whose name, I gather, is Angel (!)
  • Yes ... a "luscious lass." A very luscious lass. Lass is definitely what I think when I look at this cover. "Nice lass!" I think to myself. McGinnis had an amazing talent for drawing ... lasses. 
  • The wraparound hand! To go with the wraparound gaze! It's an exquisite, if uneventful, cover painting.

Signet2094bc
Best things about this back cover:
  • That's a rather defensive opening claim. I saw the cover. I didn't have doubts. Easy, copywriter.
  • Don't tell Venus she took second. Trust me, when goddesses lose beauty contests, *very* bad things happen.
  • Mavis Seidlitz thrillers!? I don't think I own any of these. Color me intrigued.

Page 123~

"So what happens after the bomb, huh? Tell me that?"

Wow. Timely.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Paperback 968: Eros Laughed / Bart Mayes (France Books F19)

Paperback 968: France F19 (PBO, 1962)

Title: Eros Laughed
Author: Bart Mayes —credited nowhere on either front or back cover :(
Cover artist: "Cover photo by Sam Wu" ("photo posed by professional model")

Estimated value: $25
Condition: 8/10

FranceF19
Best things about this cover:
  • Jesus wept.
  • Is that a bare mattress?
  • It is at least somewhat remarkable that these books provide a *photographer* credit. Most paperbacks don't give their *fully painted covers* an artist credit.
  • This book is immaculate, but for a bent-up corner of the back cover.
Here's the fold-out!:
FranceF19FullCover
  • "Odd" and "ball" desperately want to be reunited. See also "twenty" and "eight."
  • Hey! Hidden lesbian content! That stuff's not normally, uh, hidden where these books are concerned.
  • Based on the last two France covers, it appears that what men want in their fold-out covers is a generous expanse of haunch. Nothing wrong with that.

FranceF19bc
Best things about this back cover:
  • Gonna start referring to myself as "on the dark side of thirty." I'm 46, so I think it works.
  • Wow this writing is straight terrible. First, it just doesn't got with the girl pictured. Second, the whole last third of the paragraph adds nothing to either the "eros" of the passage or to character development or Anything.
  • Oh, Gawd, indeed.

Page 123~

When Louise saw her fully clothed, she dressed, too, and they sat together tiredly, letting the coffee do its beneficial work.

Good ol' coffee. Doing the work. Easing the shame. My best friend.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Friday, August 12, 2016

Paperback 967: Silent Sex / Jim Harmon (France F21)

Paperback 967: France F21 (PBO, 1962)

Title: Silent Sex
Author: Jim Harmon (credited on back) (?)
Cover artist: "Cover Photo by Ralph Poole / Cover posed by professional model"

Estimated value: $25
Condition: 8/10

FranceF21
Best things about this cover:
  • Doesn't sound like much fun tbh
  • Should the main visual component of the cover of a book called "Silent Sex" be the fabric pattern on the couch? Seafoam Sex!
  • France books are ... so odd. They combine the fanciness of a fold-out front cover with the low-rent ickiness of everything else. Here's the out-folded cover:

FranceF21FullCover
  • I guess we get a pretty good stretch of hind quarters there, but once again, I'm queasily mesmerized by the decor. Sex in a gilded frame!

FranceF21bc
Best things about this back cover:
  • Whoa. 1920s Hollywood? Did NOT see that coming.
  • Next time someone doesn't recognize your (or anyone else's) name, just follow it up with "... of the Purple Gloves?" and see what happens.
  • I want to like Sherri Novak because like me she appears to be a medievalist of sorts, but that blurb makes no sense.
  • I really want "Billy" to be a literal horse.

Page 123~

Now, six years later, he was sleeping at the side of a girl who had learned "tricks" from an under-the-counter book. Full circle.

He shook her awake. "Do the rabbit one again! Please!"

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Paperback 961: The Chocolate Cobweb + Who's Been Sitting in My Chair? / Charlotte Armstrong (Ace Double G-511)

Paperback 961: Ace Double G-511 (1st / 1st, 1962)

Title: The Chocolate Cobweb / Who's Been Sitting in My Chair?
Author: Charlotte Armstrong / Charlotte Armstrong
Cover artist: Uncredited / Uncredited

Estimated value: $15
Condition: 7/10 (because of warp—else 9/10; square, shiny, unread)

AceG511.2
Best things about this cover:
  • "Come away from the cobweb, dearie. I'm saving that one for company."
  • "It's chocolate!" "It's pica, dearie."
  • This isn't the first time Charlotte (Armstrong) has been associated with Webs...
  • Mystery writers are frequently praised for their "skill" (here, twice) as if they were performing a parlor trick as opposed to, you know, writing well. I just read a conventional mystery (by Helen Nielsen—Sing Me a Murder) and it was painfully contrived, as most puzzle-mysteries are (though Nielsen is a fine writer, in general). Chandler's "Simple Art of Murder" has made it virtually impossible for me to take the whodunnit seriously, or even enjoy it. Too much improbable nonsense and implausible, unprofessional, downright stupid gimmickry, all to make a complicated plot work out just so. Pass.

AceG511
Best things about this other cover:
  • I love her so much.
  • She knows how to get comfortable. Kicked off the heels and curled up on the chair, just relaxing. Arm across the body says "Please &*%# off, I'm trying to enjoy my cigarette in peace, thanks."
  • The Girl Who Dreamed of Some Square Guy Holding What is Clearly a Desk Mic
  • "Authentic witches"?!—I don't know what you're on about, Anthony Boucher, but I'm intrigued.

Page 123~ (from The Chocolate Cobweb)

The little paw touched his tired head in a brief caress.

In a not-too-distant future, when dogs and humans have switched positions ... The Chocolate Cobweb!

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Saturday, July 2, 2016

Paperback 957: The Case of the Golddigger's Purse / Erle Stanley Gardner (Pocket Books 4505)

Paperback 957: Pocket Books 4505 (8th ptg, 1962)

Title: The Case of the Golddigger's Purse
Author: Erle Stanley Gardner
Cover artist: Robert McGinnis

Estimated value: $6-10
Condition: 8/10 (shiny and unread but mildly, uh, storage-smushed in a couple places)

PB4505
Best things about this cover:
  • Honestly, this is ridiculous. It looks like she's somehow killed a fancy, jewel-encrusted parrot and is preparing to devour its carcass. The bones!
  • There are precisely two great things about this cover: a. orange! and b. that left shoe and whatever story lies behind its location.
  • I have never seen McGinnis's talents put to poorer use. A huge Perry Mason logo, but only a teeny tiny half-shod McGinnis girl?! Priorities, man.

PB4505bc
Best things about this back cover:
  • This way to dish!
  • I'm guess a guy named Harrington Faulkner doesn't work at the docks.
  • Now I ain't sayin' she a goldfish-digger...
  • So ... Goldfish ... that explains the color. I think.

Page 123~

With every simulation of candid surprise, Dixon raised his eyebrows.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Paperback 953: Spill the Jackpot / A.A. Fair (Dell R117)

Paperback 953: Dell R117 (1st thus, 1962)

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

Estimated value: $10-15
Condition: 9.5/10

DellR117
Best things about this cover:
  • So. Great. It's like a rogue's gallery of hot and shady '60s people.
  • Redhead's cigarette is freaking me out. Like some sixth finger that got horribly bent backwards.
  • Just genius to use the margins of the cover this way. The encroachment of text, to the point of total visual dominance, is of course one of the most lamentable trends in paperback history. This cover responds to that trend not by shrinking the art (which often happened) but by incorporating the text into the art, making the margins the place of real action. It's superior cover design.

DellR117bc
Best things about this back cover:
  • Man, that "VEGAS" font is god-awful—totally out of sync, period-wise, with the cool-modern front cover.
  • Oh wow, that's a rake. I had to look at that visual element very closely to figure that out. This back cover is the Bizarro version of the front cover, i.e. it's Terribly designed.
  • "Jaded pleasure seekers"! I relate to these people. JPS4LIFE!

Page 123~

Somehow, looking at her, you felt she hadn't been to bed and that she wasn't accustomed to going to sleep before daylight.

Coincidentally, Vampire Weekend was playing on the radio when I typed this out.

~RP

P.S. I found this immaculate Detective Book Club offer card sleeping safely in the pages of this book.

BERJAYA


[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Paperback 950: The Screaming Cargo / J.M. Flynn // The Bullet-Proof Martyr / James A. Howard (Ace Double F-130)

Paperback 950 (!): Ace Double F-130 (PBO / 1st ptg, 1962)

Title: The Screaming Cargo / The Bullet-Proof Martyr
Author: J.M. Flynn / James A. Howard
Cover artists: Uncredited / Uncredited

Estimated value: $10
Condition: 7/10

AceDoubleF130
Best things about this cover:
  • Screaming babies in the cargo hold? Jeez. Grim.
  • Love the Telly Savalas-esque skyward-looking guy. "Who loves you, screaming babies?"
  • Cool font. Cool tie. Weird lambada-on-the-tarmac.

AceDoubleF130b
Best things about this other cover:
  • This looks like someone's intense hate-drawing diary. Ugly, dumb, red.
  • Why is the eye candy so tiny? The visual equivalent of burying the lede.
  • Her left arm is the dumbest thing I've seen in 950 paperbacks worth of posing. "How's that, baby? You like it when mama puts just one arm in her jacket? Yeah, you like it." What the hell?

Page 23~  (there are no p. 123s) (from The Screaming Cargo)

She was more girl than woman. She wore her hair in a pony tail—soft dark hair. She wore a too-tight blouse and short shorts, and she had a face that might've been innocent a few weeks earlier.

A few weeks earlier ... you know, before she took up knitting. Nobody comes back from that, man. Nobody.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Monday, April 11, 2016

Paperback 932: The War Against the Rull / A.E. Van Vogt (Permabook M4263)

Paperback 932: Perma Books M-4263 (1st ptg, 1962)

Title: The War Against the Rull
Author: A. E. Van Vogt
Cover artist: Some Richard Powers knock-off artist (or possibly Richard Powers, who knows?)

Estimated value: a few bucks, ish

[part of the newly established Laura R. Braunstein Collection]

PermaM4263
Best things about this cover:
  • This is pretty lazy as scif fi covers go. Feels like it was made on some kind of assembly line where they just slap down hackeneyed visuals without much thought. "Floating orb of some kind ... dude in space suit ... maybe a few other smaller dudes ... wacky '60s font ... paint splatter to suggest some kind of, I don't know, flare? ... And, done!"
  • The Rull had eyes in their knees and wore elaborately decorated space woolens, so war was kind of inevitable. 
  • I am tempted to read this book, as I have been tempted to read several of these prolific but largely forgotten popular fiction writers (I'm in the middle of a Mary Roberts Rinehart book right now! It's super-fun!). Thanks to Pop Sensation reader and librarian extraordinaire Laura Braunstein for sending me a buncha beat up paperbacks that only a mother or vintage paperback enthusiast could love! More to come.
PermaM4263bc
Best things about this back cover:
  • "... or are you just happy to see me?"
  • So ... they're Cylons. Or Pod People. Or latent zombies. Got it.
  • That is the most nauseating question mark ever produced.

Page 123~ 

With Diddy in tow, the two Rulls came to Cross 2. The Way itself was Cross 1.

Thus setting up an epic '90s space-rap battle. My money's on The Way.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Friday, March 18, 2016

Paperback 928: Murder Up My Sleeve / Erle Stanley Gardner (Pocket Books 4503)

Paperback 928: Pocket Books 4503 (1st ptg, 1962)

Title: Murder Up My Sleeve
Author: Erle Stanley Gardner
Cover artist: Uncredited

Estimated value: $10-12 (condition = perfect)

PB4503
Best things about this cover:
  • The best-selling follow-up to "Larceny Down My Pants"
  • Wow, that dude's magic carpet ride appears to have gone terribly, horribly wrong
  • "Hi, I'm here for the 'Yoga for Mourners' class ... my, that's quite a convincing Corpse Pose you've got there."
  • This cover is terrible. It has two good things about it: orange, and title font. The rest is a sketchbook, at best.

PB4503bc
Best things about this back cover:
  • "Hey, what if, instead of an orange rectangle, we go with, like, a jagged ... orange rectangle?" "Brilliant!"
  • More great font action.
  • Sleeve gun? Ohhhhhhh, now I get it. Murder up my SLEEVE. Good one. Much better than "Dartgun up My Sleeve." Wordplay!

Page 123~

"Mix the highballs, stupid."

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Friday, October 16, 2015

Paperback 910: The Key / Junichiro Tanizaki (Signet D2073)

Paperback 910: Signet D2073 (1st ptg, 1962)

Title: The Key
Author: Junichiro Tanizaki
Cover artist: [gah, can anyone make out that signature underneath the noodle bowl?!]

Estimated value: $8-12

Sig2073
Best things about this cover:
  • Font Victory! That title is smashing.
  • In case you could tell the people on the cover are Japanese ... chopsticks!
  • This painting is beautiful yet boring. It really really wants you to believe that the hardcore marital boning inside is tasteful.

Sig2073bc
Best things about this back cover:
  • "It leaves one both roused and afraid." Uh ... TMI, "The Reporter."
  • Mid-century was a big time for arguing that books about Doing It could be "art." Like, you had to justify it because of stupid hypocritical censorious America. Note the critical armature on this book's covers. Some kind of Chatterley-related hold-over. "If critics like it, then it's OK to jerk off to."
  • Love the author photo. "Just take the fucking picture. You weary me."

Page 123~

All through March I'd written that I was still stubbornly defending the "last line," and I did my best to convince him of it. In fact, it was on March twenty-fifth that I surrendered that last "paper-thin" defense.


It seems like she is talking about "anal sex" but I "can't be sure."

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Paperback 886: The Girl From Midnight / Wade Miller (Gold Medal s1221)

Paperback 886: Gold Medal s1221 (PBO, 1962)

Title: The Girl from Midnight
Author: Wade Miller
Cover artist: Robert Abbett

Estimated value: $20

GM1221
Best things about this cover:

  • Houston, we have Hair Failure.
  • She has my hairline.
  • Not sure how you manage to make naked lady with giant cat look like an alien extra on "Star Trek: TNG," but here we are.
  • Where the hell is Midnight?
  • Kitty thinks you're hilarious.


GM1221bc
Best things about this back cover:

  • Seriously, just scooch her wig forward like an inch and you're in business.
  • Rand Hammond is like something out of a Square-Jawed Sap Name Generator.
  • I like the idea of Rand Hammond working quietly in his veterinarian's office when suddenly a naked bipedal cat just drops from the ceiling.


Page 123~

"His name's Wingy Heller, alias the entire phone book. Anybody remember him?"

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Friday, May 22, 2015

Paperback 883: The Case of the Shapely Shadow / Erle Stanley Gardner (Pocket Books 4507)

Paperback 883: Pocket Books 4507 (1st ptg, 1962)

Title: TCOT Shapely Shadow
Author: Erle Stanley Gardner
Cover artist: Uncredited [Robert McGinnis]

Estimated value: $8-15

[Donation to the collection from L. Gagne]

PB4507
Best things about this cover:
  • Ladies and gentleman, the greatest BitchFace™ in human history.
  • If you want to know what it feels like to be a chump / sap / sucker, just stare at this cover.
  • The sexy assassin was able to get very close to her targets by dressing as the Michelin Man.

PB4507bc
Best things about this back cover:
  •  Wow, this is as terrible as the front cover is fantastic.
  • "Let's reduce her head to a single color tone, cut it in half, sever it from her body, and just ... sorta ... oh, I don't care, put it anywhere."
  • I like the second Mrs. Theilman. "Look, Mr. Mason, stop being such a condescending prick and get the fuck out. Thank you."

Page 123~

"Now look here, Janice. If you were having an affair with Mr. Theilman, I want you to tell me about it and tell me about it now."

Look here, Janice, Perry needs dirty talk and Perry needs it now. Jesus, Janice. Come on.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Paperback 876: Lie Down, Killer / Richard Prather (Gold Medal s1166)

Paperback 876: Gold Medal s1166 (5th ptg, 1962)

Title: Lie Down, Killer
Author: Richard S. Prather
Cover artist: Barye Phillips

Estimated value: $6-10

GMs1166
Best things about this cover:

  • Good boy. Stay.
  • Dude's "Down Dog" sucks.
  • She has awesome Disappointment Face.
  • We've seen this book before, under different cover.


GMs1166bc
Best things about this back cover:

  • Aw, man, it's even got the same back cover copy as the last version
  • Apparently this is the story of a man who got a police badge tattooed on his penis, which then got infected. Edgy.
  • This book should've been called "Ask Margo" or "That Woman Gag."


Page 123~

They both laughed loudly and then Gross said to Steve, "Doesn't that convince you, jerk?"
Steve said nothing.

Then Steve retorted, "Yeah? Well, you're gross! hahahahahaha…" Then they shot Steve in the face The End.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Paperback 865: Appointment for Sin / Paul V. Russo (Midwood F217)

Paperback 865: Midwood F217 (PBO, 1962)

Title: Appointment for Sin
Author: Paul V. Russo
Cover artist: Uncredited

Est. value: $22-25

MW217
Best things about this cover:

  • Suzie Masseuse's gaze is burning a hole in that washcloth.
  • "Now that you're naked, just cross your feet like … like so, and now … I strum your ankles. Isn't that nice?"
  • I love how Blondewig Amplebosom's like "Well is this a sin appointment or isn't it? Jeez, what's a girl gotta do to get some sin? I made an appointment and everything, and still no sin. Put my ankles down!"
  • I love orange, but no. This room color is a no.


MW217bc
Best things about this back cover:

  • Terrible tagline—stupid within
  • "Editor's note" LOL. It's in typewriter font, so you know it's real.
  • Winnie and April will be plenty, thanks.


Page 123~

"Some of the clients are particularly fond of the vibrating mechanism in it."
"Vib—"
Her hand closed his mouth.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Paperback 852: The Astronaut / Hank Searls (Pocket Books 6093)

Paperback 852: Pocket Books 6093 (PBO, 1962)

Title: The Astronaut
Author: Hank Searls
Cover artist: Uncredited

Estimated value: $5-10

Donation to the collection from The Second Reader Bookshop (Buffalo, NY)

PB6093

Best things about this cover:

  • It's the touching story of a lonely Stormtrooper and his inflatable girlfriend…
  • If you're gonna fall to your death, may as well go out ogling bikini-clad blondes.
  • This must be just before he captures her and puts her in a bottle and makes her wear pajamas all day long.
  • The design here is actually spectacular. It's got that wackadoodle '60s vibe. Nice incorporation of the letter "O" into the spacesuit design. Stars in her eyes are a little cheesy / spot-on, but her little green bikini makes a nice visual impact, and the overall sun-drenchedness of the thing is a nice counterbalance to my mostly Dark cover collection.


PB6093bc

Best things about this back cover:

  • The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat, Literally.
  • "You down with M.P.P.?" ("M.S. Ph.D.!")
  • Whoa, "hanky-panky at the motel"!? Tell me more. Seriously, if it happens at motels, I need to know.
  • Project Head? Really? No one batted an eyelash at that? OK, then, '60s, carry on …


Page 123~

Straight in front of him were the retro-rocket controls, welded immovably in place so that the chimp could not override ground control.

Chimps? It's got chimps? Talk about burying the lede…

~RP

P.S. Many thanks to John from The Second Reader Bookshop in Buffalo, NY, who reads my crossword blog and responded to my fund-raising drive there with a donation of books for here. Two more coming later this week.

P.P.S. John also sent me this postcard, which … well, if you all won't appreciate it, I don't know who will:

LUBERACK
[Miss Lube Rack]

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Paperback 811: Vengeance Is Mine / Mickey Spillane (Signet D2116)

Paperback 811: Signet D2116 (44th ptg, undated [1962])

Title: Vengeance Is Mine
Author: Mickey Spillane
Cover artist: Uh … I doubt it.

Yours for: $6

Sig2116

Best things about this cover:

  • It's pretty icky all around. Not sure why this hasn't been relegated to some dank cardboard box of "extras" in my basement. That said, I'm kind of fascinated by how ugly it is.
  • It's like someone was noodling with a prehistoric version of Photoshop, and then realized "no one's going to care anyway," and then just sent this weird silhouette thing into the editor. Neither the silhouette nor the naked lady is large enough to be compelling. Maybe if she were doing something more than blandly standing there as if waiting for a director to shout "Action!" 
  • Purple font for some reason!


Sig2116bc

Best things about this back cover:
  • Without the lady inside him, he looks like he *just* got bit on his left hip by some kind of flying insect. Insect-swatting hand!
  • "How many different font sizes can we squeeze in here?" "Shouldn't there be some rationale to the varied font sizes?" "[Blank stare]" …
  • Copywriter is perversely fond of compound adjectives. "Action-tough" and "bullet-sparked" are meaningless. I'll give him "lead-riddled" as slightly apt, but "forty-million-copy bestselling" is an ungainly beast. 

Page 123~
My fingers were hurting her and I couldn't help it. "I want you to say it, Mike. You've played games with so many women I won't be sure until I hear you say it yourself. Tell me."
That first sentence is very telling. Mike's love and Mike's violence have a disconcerting resemblance.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Paperback 768: Star Science Fiction Stories No. 2 / ed. Frederik Pohl (Ballantine 612)

Paperback 768: Ballantine Books (2nd ptg, 1962) (isfdb entry)

Title: Star Science Fiction Stories No. 2
Editor: Frederik Pohl
Cover artist: [Richard Powers]

Yours for: $10

BB612

Best things about this cover:
  • Beard.
  • Seriously, beard. How often do you see beard? Not too often.
  • I'm disturbed by his lack of hands. I guess they're inside those little spheres, but it looks like they've replace one of his hand with a giant hypodermic.
  • Not the most scintillating cover art, but I do love Powers's fever-dream space shapes and colors.

BB612bc

Best things about this back cover:
  • Rocket! Or jet gull! Probably rocket!
  • Again, I love when books explain the basics of publishing to you. "We find good stories … and then we publish them!"
  • Weird to brag about being an "original publication" and claim that the stories "appear here for the first time" when this is a reprint of the real original, published in 1953.

Page 123~ (from "Conquest" by Anthony Boucher)

"I fly with my synapses, if that's the word I want, and sometimes I guess they don't apse."

I see APSE a lot in crosswords. Never quite like that, though.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Monday, December 2, 2013

Paperback 724: Live With Me / Jerry M. Goff, Jr. (Merit 612)

Paperback 724: Merit Books 612 (PBO, 1962)

Title: Live With Me
Author: Jerry M. Goff, Jr.
Cover artist: Uncredited

Yours for: $27

Merit612

Best things about this cover:
  • I honestly don't know what I'm looking at. Unless her bra straps clasp behind her head like some kind of necklace, I can't see why her elbows are up that high. Is she making her boobs do a little dance performance? Her companion seems intrigued.
  • Those are some straight-up terrible hands. Or hand, I guess. Hands are always the giveaway. Only the best artists can do hands right. The reason for the giant boobs and Krazy Eyes is to distract you from the terrible, terrible hands. 
  • That left boob has a mind of its own. It seems to be experiencing the gravitational pull of the artist-lady's gaze.
  • What is up with that lady's gown? Here is the dialogue I like to imagine they are having: "I like your gown." "Thank you." "Are you headed to a ball?" "Balls don't interest me much … if you know what I mean …" 

Merit612bc

Best things about this back cover:
  • Hey look, it's the artist lady, back from Barbados and possessed by twelve demons!
  • "… lovely, normal and stunning …" ??? Can't wait for all the red hot normality.
  • So basically Suzanne Pleshette goes on a telekinetic lesbian rampage. Got it.

Page 123~

"Tell us. Does she wash your back when you bathe? She did the other girls. That was always her first approach."

"Her second approach involved ball gowns, sketch pads, and mind control. I'm a little fuzzier on the details there…"

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Paperback 723: Death Spins the Platter / Ellery Queen (Pocket Books 6126)

Paperback 723: Pocket Books 6126 (PBO, 1962)

Title: Death Spins the Platter
Author: Ellery Queen (ghost-written by Richard Deming)
Cover artist: Al BrulƩ

Yours for: $11

PB6126

Best things about this cover:
  • And the award for worst mixed metaphor goes to …
  • I'm the DJ, he's the Piper?
  • Quit getting your grubby thumbprints all over the vinyl, lady. Unless it's one of them there braille records and you are deaf, in which case, carry on.
  • Looming background head is the best.

PB6126bc

Best things about this back cover:
  • I now want to name everything "Tutter King." 
  • Because King Tut was taken?
  • No one tutted better than he! Nary a one!

Page 123~

"Did you find fingerprints on the ice pick?"
'
~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Paperback 721: Operation: SEX / Kimberly Kemp (Midwood F181)

Paperback 721: Midwood F181 (PBO, 1962)

Title: Operation: SEX 
Author: Kimberly Kemp
Cover artist: Paul Rader

Yours for: $30

Mid181

Best things about this cover:
  • Operation: LACK OF IMAGINATION
  • I have an alternative title for this book: Naughty Pine.
  • This cover manages to be both deeply disturbing and super hot. Indirect evidence of nudity = very effective.
  • You have to love the absurdity of the pull-down window shade in the foreground—it's architecturally impossible, of course, but does a cool job of implicating us in the voyeurism.

Mid181bc

Best things about this back cover:
  • Whoa. Ruby? Tell me more about Ruby. The cover said nothing about Ruby.
  • "Anything!"
  • Talk about burying the lede—how is the front cover not more lesbianified? I mean, I love the cover, but if lesbian pulp has taught me anything (and it Has), it's that when your book has lesbian sex in it, some visual/textual indication of that goes on the cover. No beating around the bush. As it were.

Page 123~

She visualized the tiny droplets striking the shoulders and then draining down in liquid rivulets, down over those peaked breasts. Down. Across that smooth belly and down into—

End of paragraph. I assume the next words were going to be the aforementioned bush, but who knows?

~RP

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