Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Paperback 938: The Silver Eggheads / Fritz Leiber (Ballantine Books F561)

Paperback 938: Ballantine Books F561 (PBO, 1961) ("First published as a novelet in Fantasy & Science Fiction," 1958)

Title: The Silver Eggheads
Author: Fritz Leiber
Cover artist: Richard Powers

Estimated value:  $10-15

BB561
Best things about this cover:
  • Fish-faced robot wearing a bra and carrying a young Joe McCarthy to the boudoir? Sure, I'm in.
  • This is Richard Powers at his wackadoodle best. Love how he can conjure a scifi world with just a few odd shapes and blotches.
  • As one of my Twitter followers wrote just now, upon seeing this cover: "'Alien Pietas' would be an alt-metal band that I would TOTALLY listen to..."

BB561bc
Best things about this back cover:
  • The mad, gay, heady world of the "arts" is the only place I want to be.
  • MISS BLUSHES! "A censor-robix of delicate pink"; I think that's her on the cover, looking not very censorious. Erotica robotica!
  • "... a luscious platinum ro-but ..." I was like "What's a ro-but!? What Is A Ro-But!?"" But it's just an awkwardly placed speech-cessation hyphen.Still, as a daring reader, I feel obliged to, uh, go in. This one's going on the "Must Read" pile.
Page 123~

Behind Miss Blushes lurched Pop Zangwell, waving his caduceus and yelling thickly, "Avaunt, by Anubis! No news-robots in here!"

Ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for caduceus-waving.

~RP

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2 comments:

  1. DemetriosXApril 28, 2016 at 3:23 AM

    The back cover is rather wordy, but I like the segues between the character bios.

    The "ro-but" thing is made worse by the fact that a lot of people, especially New Yorkers, pronounced robot that way back in the 50s. You can hear it in a lot of old sci-fi films.

    Leiber is almost always worth reading. This one is a gap in my reading, but it does have a good reputation.

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  2. CYNTHIAJune 8, 2016 at 2:06 PM

    Ha! "Gaspard de la Nuit" is the name of the Ravel piece painted on the side of this Minneapolis building, which Prince posed in front of in 1977. This photo just sold at a fundraiser for about $30,000.

    http://www.twincities.com/2014/10/22/photos-of-prince-in-1977-featured-in-exhibit/

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