Paperback 1133: Seduction Campaign / Bruce Shelly (Merit Books 681)

Paperback 1133: Merit Books 681 (PBO, 1962)

Title: Seduction Campaign

Author: Bruce Shelly

Cover artist: photo (?)

Condition: 8/10    

Value: $40

[newest addition to the Doug Peterson Collection]

Best things about this cover: 

• Help me, Seduction Campaign girl! Your nymphomania is my only hope! (this is a Star Wars reference)
• For a really effective seduction, try taking the Chinese lantern or birdhouse or whatever that is away from your face
• Not a fan of photo covers, esp. when the photos seem to have been weirdly artificially colored (her Ronald McDonald hair color is implausible). But I actually really love her sassy, casual get-up. I guess the unbuttoned top button of the pants is supposed to be part of the seduction campaign? I just assume she ate a little too much at breakfast. 
• I like to think that she's in a western, and signaling to some gunslinger in the road, "Four..." Four what, I don't know. Maybe pancakes she had at breakfast?

Best things about this back cover: 

• As seduction campaigns go, this one seems pretty low-budget. SEDUCTION CAMPAIGN feels less like cover copy and more like a placeholder. It's like "future site of Seduction Campaign" or "Seduction Campaign, Coming 1963"
• "You ever think about anything lse besides bed?" "Well, sure. There's, uh, seduction. Oh, and campaigning. Ronald McDonald. Bralessness. Lots of things."
• "Like to see?" is a weird line. "Wanna see?" tracks, but "Like to see?" sounds like she's threatening to put his eyes out. "Like to see? Then you better stop bugging me pal. Be a shame if anything happened to them peepers of yours."

Page 123~

    "Here's some pants, Davey." It was Bunny. All dressed and standing demurely in the living room. "Nice of you to call on us, Mrs. Kelly. It was time for us to get up anyway."

    Bunny was back in character. She flounced around Janet and handed me my slacks. "Don't mind us, Davey," she said. 

    "Oh, no!" said Janet. "Don't mind us at all!" She stalked into the living room and I followed just as soon as I was trousered.

This is basically an episode of Three's Company. Two girls and a guy. A landlady (probably). I mean, there's even a character named "Janet." 🎶"Come and knock on our door / Nymphomania reigns / Where the flouncing is hers and hers and his, / It's the Seduction Campaign!"🎶

~RP

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