Showing posts with label Curtis Lucas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Curtis Lucas. Show all posts

Friday, March 13, 2009

Paperback 206: So Low, So Lonely / Curtis Lucas (Lion Books 91)

Paperback 206: Lion Books 91 (PBO, 1952)

Title: So Low, So Lonely
Author: Curtis Lucas
Cover artist: Uncredited

Yours for: $20


Best things about this cover:

  • "I'll leave you to your imaginary cup of coffee, then..."
  • "A Negro Searches for Love in an Alien World" - "These earth women cannot satisfy me. Damn it [pounds fist on table], I'm going to Mars!"
  • That guy is very tan or sooty from working in the mines or relaxing backstage at his one-man minstrel show, maybe, but "Negro?" More like an Italian guy who just finished bobbing for apples in chocolate milk.
  • I've apparently hit the part of my collection that's vaguely organized. Two versions of "Cotton Comes to Harlem," two Ace Doubles by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, and now the second of two early 50s titles by Curtis Lucas.
  • This book is beat up and slightly water damaged but completely solid and intact, i.e. beautifully readable. It's got the well-worn, broken-in feel I like. It's also pretty rare - a Lion PBO with miscegenation themes. Hot.

Best things about this back cover:

  • This book should be called "Carla's Way"
  • Wait, which part was "wrong?" Wanting the white girl or stealing the money? The wording here confuses the issue very, very badly.
  • Hey baby, I'm Curtis Lucas, and I will probe your torment with deep and uncompromising sincerity. Aw yeah.

Page 123~

He picked up his glass. She picked up her own glass, looked at it.

"You don't have to do that," he said.

For a moment she held her glass in mid-air, and her hand trembled. Then she smiled at him and they touched glasses. Both tilted their glasses.


If you love glasses, you'll love ... Curtis Lucas!

~RP

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Paperback 205: Third Ward, Newark / Curtis Lucas (Lion Books 80)

Paperback 205: Lion Books 80 (1st ptg, 1952)

Title: Third Ward, Newark
Author: Curtis Lucas
Cover artist: Uncredited

Yours for: SOLD (3/12/09)


Best things about this cover:

  • "Oh, U.S. 1, please don't leave me! I love you so much! You're the only .... one. For me."
  • "... the jolt of her life!"??? Way to make a brutal rape sound like a caffeine high. Jeez.
  • If those are her assailants, they're not fleeing very well. "Hurry, let's ... damn! My contact lens! Hang on, Pete."

Best things about this back cover:

  • "Wonnie?" Really. That's almost as bad as "Mihie." Is naming characters really That challenging?
  • Revenge! Sweet, now I want to read this. I hope it is less brutal than "I Spit On Your Grave," which I never saw, but just hearing about it made me kind of sick.
  • She "ripened" on "filthy" "pavements." Like all the finest fruit. What an endearing portrayal of your heroine.
  • "I'm sorry, honey, but I just can't sleep in such a comically small bed. There, there. Let's get out of the kid's furniture section and see what we can find."

Page 123~

Wonnie came back from the kitchen and sat beside Joe. "I'm gonna work here every night, Joe. I'm gonna cook all the corn bread and biscuits, and I'll cook greens with real seasoning in them. In a little while that white man over in the diner will lose all his customers to us."


Worst. Revenge. Ever.

~RP