Sunday, December 27, 2015

Paperback 918: Call for the Saint / Leslie Charteris (Avon 526)

Paperback 918: Avon 526 (1st ptg, 1953)

Title: Call for the Saint
Author: Leslie Charteris
Cover artist: Uncredited

Estimated value: $10-15

Avon526
Best things about this cover:
  • Tied-up lady's expression: "So, uh, are we gonna do this or aren't we? .... guys?"
  • This looks more like ballet than a legit needle take-away. What is that showoff one-handed bullshit? With that dramatic right hand? WTF, Saint?
  • Would-be assailant is both racially and genderly ambiguous. I'm going with Philippine woman, but that's a (needle) stab in the dark.
  • This cover has needle *and* bondage, so it's priceless, no matter what the market dictates.

Avon526bc
Best things about this back cover:
  • She's got quadrilateral eyes!
  • Needle me once, needle me twice!
  • No shapely rags for you, missy!
  • "Almost screamed"? Not sure if her voice didn't quite there, or if she thought better of it, and went for demure statement instead.

Page 123~

"Killed? De Champ? Why, he'll moider de bum!"

Had to read this a few times to get it. I figured De Champ was a French dude.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Saturday, December 26, 2015

Paperback 917: The Fall of the Dream Machine / Dean R. Koontz // The Star Venturers / Kenneth Bulmer (Ace Double 22600)

Paperback 917: Ace Double 22600 (PBO / PBO, 1969)

Title: The Fall of the Dream Machine / The Star Venturers
Author: Dean R. Koontz / Kenneth Bulmer
Cover artists: Jack Gaughan / John Schoenherr

Estimated value: $20

AceD22600
Best things about this cover:
  • That water slide needs cleaning. Badly.
  • I love the incongruous whimsy of the polka dots. It's like the ghoul faces are all angrily thinking "What Is This Silliness!?!?!"
  • Q: What do you get when you cross Edgar Winter with a blow-up doll?

AceD22600b
Best things about this other cover:
  • When Car Grilles Attack.
  • Tentacled floating beast ripping apart stupid flimsy human ... Now *that's* a scifi cover!
  • Galactic Haystack had some minor psychedelic rock hits in the late '60s. Then they joined a cult. I hear the lead singer's a hedge fund manager now.
Page 123~ (from "The Fall of the Dream Machine")

The man's face disappeared in a spray of unmentionable things.

This conjures up either terrible carnage or a man being assaulted by lingerie.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Paperback 916: In a Lonely Place / Dorothy B. Hughes (Carroll & Graf nn)

Paperback 916: Carroll & Graf (unnumbered) (1st thus, 1984)

Title: In a Lonely Place
Author: Dorothy B. Hughes
Cover artist: [movie stills] [colorized!]

Estimated value: $25 (prices All over map on this ... up to $136???!)

CandGnn
Best things about this cover:
  • Not really in my main collection. More ... collection-adjacent. But it's Dorothy Hughes and it's got film noir stills on the cover and its *immaculate*, so I'm throwing it in.
  • Library Sale FTW!
  • If you ever thought Bogie would be sexier with cobalt contacts and pink lip gloss: here you go!

CandGnnbc
Best things about this back cover:
  • Nothing to see here, except the comically phallic name of DIX STEELE.
  • I do like the font on the title, actually. Monumental.

Page 123~

She hadn't been to bed!

Egads!

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]