Title: Onionhead
Author: Weldon Hill
Cover artist: Mitchell Hooks
Yours for: $9
Best things about this cover:
- This book is all about this guy's insatiable appetite. He likes to eat. Hence "onion." And "head."
- "Oh, Onionhead, you're so ... ribald."
- When the S.F. paper calls your book about a girl-crazy sailor the "gayest novel in years," you might have a marketing problem on your hands.
- Mitchell Hooks is a highly underrated coverartist. His stuff is generally sketchier and more whimsical than the work of the more famous Great Girl Artists, but I always find it very engaging. Love the rough black line work. Also, LOVE the redhead's outfit.
Best things about this back cover:
- On the cover, the girls thought Onionhead was in the Navy. Here, they learn he was in the Coast Guard.
- FOOD OR SEX? They're really pushing this appetite parallel a lot. Unless this book culminates in Onionhead eating large plates of pasta and various desserts off the naked bodies of gorgeous young ladies, I'm going to be very disappointed.
- Again: Ribald! For her pleasure.
Page 123~
Al began browsing among the supplies, getting oriented. He noticed a recipe for muffins on a bag of cornmeal, and got a brilliant idea. He had to learn how to cook, so he ought to practice, learn by experience, trial and error. He would make some goddam muffins.
I want an apron depicting the front cover art and the caption: "He would make some goddam muffins." I would wear it every day.
~RP
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]
5 comments:
I actually read this one years ago, and it was a lot of fun. Yes, most of the action hinges on the fact that he's pretty much driven by his appetite. I remember a lot more about what he ate than any action with the ladies.
This was made into a movie with Andy Griffith, right after he starred in the classic No Time for Sergeants. Of course, it was toned down a lot. I would certainly love to hear Andy say, "I'm gonna make some goddam muffins."
That is an absolutely awesome line. I think I'd shift it to the first person on an apron, but still.
Fun fact: the ancient Athenian statesman was mockingly called Onionhead, because his head was shaped like an onion. That's why he has a helmet tilted rakishly back in the best-known sculpture of him. I wonder if Weldon Hill knew that.
I did not at first read the second paragraph of the back cover as "...the best COOK in the Coast Guard."
My way was funnier.
Pericles
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