Friday, October 7, 2016

Paperback 977: The Weirwoods / Thomas Burnett Swann (Ace 87941)

Paperback 977: Ace 87941 (PBO, 1977)

Title: The Weirwoods
Author: Thomas Burnett Swann
Cover artist: Stephen Hickman

Estimated value: $5-10
Condition: 8/10

[Part of the Laura R. Braunstein Collection]

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Best things about this cover:
  • Where woods? There woods.
  • Slow your roll, fantasy fiction Teri Garr.
  • That dress is pretty hot.
  • She doesn't have Fear Hand™but somethin' ain't right.
  • "Welcome ... to the Land of Towering Sex Toys. The pegasi will be here shortly to take you to pleasures unknown..."
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Best things about this back cover:
  • Those are some respectable blurbs right there. Makes me wanna read this. LADY OF THE BEES also sounds promising.
  • This back cover's sense of the boundary between reality and fantasy seems a little feeble. Rome, real, Etruscans, real, Centaurs, uh ...
  • Well, sure, you name a guy Lars Velcha, what do you expect him to become?

Page 123~

She skittered down the trunk with the speed of a hungry squirrel.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

2 comments:

DemetriosX said...

Swann was really popular among fans of literary SF in the 60s and 70s. He was nominated twice for a Hugo, but he died fairly young and faded from the scene pretty quickly. I've never actually read any of his stuff, but he's supposed to be really good.

I think this cover suffers slightly from the perspective. Looking up at her like this gives her a bit of double chin and makes her face look fat. I see the Teri Garr resemblance, though.

Jean said...

With her face, it's almost like an imitation of some of those Art Nouveau posters. And, yeah, her hands are a problem. Nobody goes around bending their wrists like that.

OK, so take a look at this awesome quilt I saw (in real life) the other night. It's just like an old SF paperback cover! I need to sew something like it one day. http://www.robappell.com/?q=node/60 There was another one with orange that was pretty good too, but this was my favorite quilt in the whole extensive lineup of the artist's work.