Title: The Astronaut
Author: Hank Searls
Cover artist: Uncredited
Estimated value: $5-10
Donation to the collection from The Second Reader Bookshop (Buffalo, NY)
Best things about this cover:
- It's the touching story of a lonely Stormtrooper and his inflatable girlfriend…
- If you're gonna fall to your death, may as well go out ogling bikini-clad blondes.
- This must be just before he captures her and puts her in a bottle and makes her wear pajamas all day long.
- The design here is actually spectacular. It's got that wackadoodle '60s vibe. Nice incorporation of the letter "O" into the spacesuit design. Stars in her eyes are a little cheesy / spot-on, but her little green bikini makes a nice visual impact, and the overall sun-drenchedness of the thing is a nice counterbalance to my mostly Dark cover collection.
Best things about this back cover:
- The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat, Literally.
- "You down with M.P.P.?" ("M.S. Ph.D.!")
- Whoa, "hanky-panky at the motel"!? Tell me more. Seriously, if it happens at motels, I need to know.
- Project Head? Really? No one batted an eyelash at that? OK, then, '60s, carry on …
Page 123~
Straight in front of him were the retro-rocket controls, welded immovably in place so that the chimp could not override ground control.
Chimps? It's got chimps? Talk about burying the lede…
~RP
P.S. Many thanks to John from The Second Reader Bookshop in Buffalo, NY, who reads my crossword blog and responded to my fund-raising drive there with a donation of books for here. Two more coming later this week.
P.P.S. John also sent me this postcard, which … well, if you all won't appreciate it, I don't know who will:
[Miss Lube Rack]
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]
8 comments:
Everything about this post is fabulous.
I had to tilt my screen to make the yellow bikini appear green. Tilting my screen for Miss Lube Rack, too.
Seems those guys with Miss Lube Rack should be happier.
"Tilting my screen for Miss Lube Rack?" Hmmm. I've never heard it called that. "That guy talks a good game, but most nights he's back at the dorm, tilting his screen."
LOVE the postcard. And for some reason, I want to read the book. It gives off the same vibe as "A Pennant for the Kremlin."
It would be so much better if this were true:
http://www.snopes.com/photos/politics/luberack.asp
It's like a still from the credits for a sit-com of that era. It's perfect. I can hear the cheesy theme music!
To Unknown – I never knew about the phony Nancy Pelosi connection and wouldn't have believed it if I had. It's just a funny picture that says something so true (and so wrong) about America in the '50s.
Late '70s, I worked in a warehouse and while checking the contents of a crate, found a wadded up piece of a contemporary newspaper from a city half a continent away. A picture showed a pretty girl in a tiara. The headline said, "Pork Queen to Visit." I tore it out and kept it in my wallet for years.
Amazing post! This is why I subscribe to this blog.
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