Title: Model for Murder
Author: Stephen Marlowe
Cover artist: Walter Popp
Yours for: $16
Best things about this cover:
- I have no idea what these people are up to, but that cigarette and that cigar are getting it on.
- Finally, a taut thriller about the exciting, dangerous world of copyediting.
- Steve is puzzled to find that his meticulously researched paper, "Broads: Stacked vs. Unstacked," merits only a B-. "I don't think I understand this whole 'Women's Studies' thing, Bernie."
Best things about this back cover:
- Kinsey!
- Out-Kinseyed Kinsey! "Screw this survey stuff, let's just install hidden cameras."
- Lady wrestlers! Be still my heart.
- Talk about ... Pop Grujdzak. Talk about ... Pop Grujdzak.
- If I had to invent a stupid-sounding last name, and had several days to do it, I still couldn't beat Wompler.
Page 123~
The clothing was Ken's naturally, and as I dressed and tested the stiffness in my left arm, I began to wonder. The arm couldn't have punched its way through a wet Kleenex tissue.
So ... he dresses up like Barbie's boyfriend and he has a lot of experience testing the tensile strength of wet Kleenex. He sounds dreamy.
~RP
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]
Holy moley. "But first the cute daughter of Pop Grujdzak, a Bible-quoting cop, had to pose for Wompler in her sister's lingerie!" has got to be the best awful sentence of the week. That just made my day.
ReplyDeleteI want to open a bakery called "Wilson Wompler, the Cheesecake King".
ReplyDeleteWow, they spent the money for two pieces of art. This is a class act.
ReplyDeleteWait, the heroine's name is Phyllis Kirk? Like the "House of Wax" actress? I wonder if she knew about this.
ReplyDeleteWhat's that word for when you see images in things that are suppose to be random?
ReplyDeleteBecause in the cigar smoke I swear I see a man's profile, wearing glasses, staring intently at her boobs, and in her cigarette smoke I swear I see the word "WOO" written above smoke-man's head.
Whoa. It's weird that you ask. I just learned that word today (a few hours ago, in fact) while reading the new Chuck Klosterman novel, "The Visible Man." The word is: APOPHENIA.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophenia
That name "Wompler" just destroys any semblance of disbelief suspension I'd muster for this novel. If it's a pseudonym, it's horrible: Wompler is the kind of name you change from, not to.
ReplyDeleteAnd finally, because I can't resist...
Pop
Pop
Pop Grujdzak
Pop
Pop
Pop Grujdzak
Well, you started it... ;)
Actually, the word JamiSings is looking for is pareidolia. That's when you see Jesus on a moldy orange or something. Apophenia is more like Richard Dreyfuss playing with is mashed potatoes and going,"This means something."
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the blonde on the front is going to get a burn on her left thigh soon. That cigar is going to drop ash any second and it's pretty precariously balanced, too.
Wilson Wompler (undoubtedly Willy to his friends) is a terrible name. It just makes you crack up, destroying any atmosphere the author might have built up. Also, it took me a while to realize that "cheesecake king" didn't mean he was a baker.
@Demetrios,
ReplyDeleteActually, pareidolia is a type of apophenia.
Here's the Apophenia subheading for Pareidolia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophenia#Pareidolia
I learn so much by reading this blog!
ReplyDeleteEither way I still see a man's face and the word "Woo" in the smoke.
ReplyDelete