Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Paperback 290: Dagger of Flesh / Richard S. Prather (Gold Medal s1157)

Paperback 290: Gold Medal s1157 (4th ptg, 1961)

Title: Dagger of Flesh
Author: Richard S. Prather
Cover artist: no idea

Yours for: not for sale (gift of Doug Peterson)


Best things about this cover:
  • As I told Doug the first time he showed this to me: "Dagger of Flesh ... well, that wouldn't be very effective. It would buckle on you every time you tried to use it."
  • At first I thought I was looking at a drug-addled couple sitting/lying on a bed. Then I realized they were sitting/lying on the neck of a donkey.
  • Why are the man's hands bound by the wimple of a snow leopard with an Asian lady's face?
  • I imagine that these two look as wasted as the artist must have been when conceiving / executing this painting.
  • Trite tagline! Come on, copy writers! Shell deserves better.

Best things about this back cover:

  • Op Art! I am getting dizzy...
  • "Like I had no control over my brain" — been there. Am there, frequently.
  • "Maybe I did kill Jay" — now now. No one wants to kill Jay himself. Just his mediocre new show.

Page 123~

This is the day, Logan, I thought. Today you get even, maybe. Today you find out what the hell's been going on and fix some bastard's wagon, if you're lucky.


"Fix some bastard's wagon" is pure awesome. I have to start using wagon-fixing as a metaphor for revenge. For real.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

10 comments:

DemetriosX said...

I don't know if that's a donkey they're sitting on, but it was definitely drawn by Franz Marc. As for "Dagger of Flesh", well the first thing that sprang to my mind was more... y'know... porn-oriented. Probably with the words "twilight world" somewhere in the cover copy.

Anonymous said...

yeah i agree with the above, thought it was euphemism for the *cough cough* ha but i don't really see the donkey...it looked to me like the snow queen's palace or something and her skirt is just mysteriously floating i dunno

Eunice said...

Add me to the gutter brain Dagger of Flesh interpretation camp.

Okay, after you said it, I see the donkey head. First thought was cliff or maybe a boulder. In the clouds, or maybe in front of a waterfall. Still doesn't make any sense.

Sofia Loren got the blue skirt. Victor Mature got the red one.

Can anyone explain the head in the corner? It's kinda freaking me out.

I'm guessing if you're color blind the back loses some of its impact...

JamiSings said...

I still don't see the donkey. I do, however, see a skull just to the left of the Asian weresnowlepord lady.

And dude, lay off Jay. It takes time for a new show to get going. They need to work out all the kinks first. If it's still bad after 50 episodes that's when people can make fun.

Tulse said...

Does fixing someone's wagon also entail painting it? And if so, do you have to sing?

Unknown said...

I think this is my new foolproof excuse for when things go wrong at work. "Someone must have hypnotised me into stuffing up that project and I don't even remember them doing it!"

Deb said...

Him: "...and, so, that's how I ended up editing owners manuals for Kenmore appliances."

Her: "Hmmmm, fascinating. Now Let's see what my fortune cookie fortune says."

beggar1015 said...

Someone has to read this book so they can tell me just what that wereleopardlady-thing is supposed to be. I have to know what the heck that thing has to do with the story. Was it the wereleopardlady who hypnotized Logan into fixing the wagons of bastards? I must know!

Maybe I did kill Jay...

justjack said...

Not just any wagon is eligible for fixing; make sure it's a little red wagon.

Michael5000 said...

I'm pretty confident you are the first person ever to have written the sentence "Why are the man's hands bound by the wimple of a snow leopard with an Asian lady's face?" So that's good.

The Jay in "Maybe I did kill Jay" isn't Jay LENO, it's Jay of "Silent Bob & Jay." Much more understandable that way.