Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Paperback 472: The Woman Racket / Gil Lawrence (Pyramid G468)

Paperback 472: Pyramid G468  (PBO, 1959)

Title: The Woman Racket
Author: Gil Lawrence
Cover artist: Miller (?)

Yours for: $25


pyr468.womanrack

Best things about this cover:
  • The doctor's eyes! It's like he wants to blow that damned needle.
  • The painting of the girl is actually pretty damned hot. I Love her dress. And her ... what is that, a datebook? 
  • "Fury With Legs": an abstract concept that can get up and walk around!? Tell me more ...
  • I like to think the girl is being pursued by Fury With Legs, mostly because she looks more like someone about to die in a horror movie than she does a girl going to get an abortion in pre-Roe v. Wade America.


pyr468bc.womanrack

Best things about this back cover:
  • If you want to spice up your nouns, just put "Flesh" in front of them. It'll really make your flesh prose pop. (See!?)
  • Shocking, brutally honest ... but not frank.
  • Who is this "Miller" person and what does he have against first names?

Page 123~

I weighed the assets and demerits of the polygraph machines. "Yes," I told him finally. "I think it's a good idea. Lie detectors are good for snotty kids."
See, an ordinary writers would've just gone with "pros and cons," but this guy is a thesauristic master: "assets and demerits!" All hail unnatural usage! (Also, I'm imagining the polygraph industry's awesome ad campaign: "Lie detectors: They're good for snotty kids!"

~RP

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3 comments:

Alessandra Kelley said...

Have you noticed the bannisters on that staircase are sawed off? She's just holding it in the air. I guess Miller figured the painting of the woman was so good, who'd notice?

That is a nice-looking dress, although the color is reminiscent of traffic safety, that sort of eye-watering fluorescent chartreuse.

And wow, that Boris Karloff-y doctor is so not the Jane Collective.

infoqueen said...

"vicious flesh baron": I ♥ that phrase. But which is vicious, the baron or the flesh? Or both??

Anonymous said...

Flesh blackmail, flesh murder, and flesh vice....hey, you're right!