Paperback 1141: Corruption City / Horace McCoy (Dell First Edition A188)

Paperback 1141: Dell First Edition A188 (PBO, 1959)

Title: Corruption City

Author: Horace McCoy

Cover artist: photo

Condition: 7/10

Value: $20

[The Book Den, Santa Barbara, CA, August 2025]

Best things about this cover: 

• "Take me down to Corruption City / Where the bricks look fake and the hoods ain't pretty..."
• She's got good "Fear Hand"; feels like I haven't seen a good "Fear Hand" in a while.
• This is the kind of photo shoot I wish I'd been present at. It's a pretty complicated pose. I wonder how long she had to hold it. Maybe they actually put the brick background on the floor and shot it that way. There's not a ton of visual interest here, but they make good use of what they've got. The hood is truly shadowy—all hat, no face—the bricks really gleam, and there enough of her (face, hand) to convey terror effectively. Plus.
• This is a first edition Horace McCoy, so assuming it held together and wasn't astronomically priced (check, check) I was gonna buy it no matter what it looked like.

Best things about this back cover: 

• Belts, anyone? 
• Look, I'm no beltologist, but these look hideous.
• "The finest long-stretch elastic ever used in belt-making"! Wow, this I gotta* see! (*do not care to)
• This is the second book in my collection (so far) with this particular belt ad on the back. I don't own any other books with totally un-book-related ads on the back. I guess some guy at Dell First Editions had a bright idea for how to make better use of the back covers ... and then someone higher up was like "fire Belt Boy" and that was that (seriously, this book is numbered A188, the other book I own with this back cover is A185 ... if you told me this belt ad "concept" lasted for only four books, I would have no problem believing you)

Page 123~

"We know how you feel about this, John," Fogel said. "We also know how Nemo Crispi'll feel when he finds out you've pulled off the case."

I'm staring at "Nemo Crispi'll" with a kind of awe. I mean, Nemo Crispi is a Hall of Fame name on its own, but you do that contraction bit there with the apostrophe "L"s at the end and wow. That's hapax legomenon territory.

~RP

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Paperback 1098: Madball / Fredric Brown (Dell First Edition 2E)

 Paperback 1098: Dell First Edition 2E (PBO, 1953)

Title: Madball

Author: Fredric Brown

Cover artist: Griffith Foxley

Condition: 6-7/10

Value: $25

[The Book Den, Santa Barbara, CA]

Best things about this cover: 

• If I were a lady I would buy these pajamas (both colors) and sleep in them every night. Not sure how I feel about the capes, but the pajamas are hot.
• Most of the stuff I was eyeballing at The Book Den was a little on the pricy side (for me—I tend to be cheap and will only pay collector prices if the book is Really desirable and/or the condition is very good). But this book ... I feel lucky to have found a copy in the wild at all. I mean, you can order it on abebooks or whatever, but where's the fun in that? And I still got it for less than it's probably worth. But beyond the whole question of "Value" there's the book, a beautiful early Dell First Edition by a masterful, versatile, often hilarious writer. The book's a bit worn, but it's tight and complete. Got that slightly soft, highly read feel. I love a well read paperback. A really broken-in paperback. This book just screams Everything Good About the Midcentury Paperback. The dings and and creases give it character. In short, I'm very happy with this purchase. Very.
• Griffith Foxley's covers are always so ... creamy. Just a great painter of people. The girls look great, but I'm especially fond of the dopey-looking guy in the hat just slack-jawed gawking at the girls, as well as the square-jawed huckster in the boater and bow tie, carnival-barking into the mic with his whole damn body.
• "They're all alive inside!" is so enigmatic! I mean, are these girls robots? Or had there been rumors going around that everyone who went into the tent earlier had been murdered? "Those guys are still alive, fellas! That screaming you heard ... a chicken, I think. Anyway, step right up!"

Best things about this back cover: 

• Copy writer is on point today! Working that alliteration like his job depended on it. "The pitchmen and the pickled punks, the cotton candy and the kewpie dolls ... all-night alibis!"
• Well that is *one* way to pluralize "carny."
• "Can I take you home? Where do you live?" "You know Frenzy?" "Sure." "Well it's close to the edge of there." "How close?" "Too close." "Hmm. You know, I think the buses are still running. Or ... can I call you a cab?"

Page 123~

He'd pushed the brakeman off the moving train in sudden anger, the same blind anger that had made him strike Sammy last night. And he hadn't really meant to kill the lush he rolled, just to make him unconscious would've been enough. But they were murders just the same. They'd have fried him for either one.

That's the problem with lushes. So fragile. The law should really take that into consideration, you know? But carceral state's gonna carceral state, amirite? Yeah I'm right. Hey, pass me the Madball, I'm gonna see if it'll tell me where to eat tonight ...

~RP

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Paperback 1073: Girl Out Back / Charles Williams (Dell First Edition B114)

Paperback 1073: Dell First Edition B114 (PBO, 1958)

Title: Girl Out Back

Author: Charles Williams

Cover artist: Darcy

Condition: 7/10

Value: $40-50

Best things about this cover:

• Saw this yesterday under glass at the cash register at a used bookstore in Saratoga Springs and impulse-bought it so fast I almost felt guilty. Paid more than I've paid for a vintage paperback in a while and still paid less than what it's worth. It's Charles Williams, after all, and a first edition, and a Beaut!
• What makes a book desirable may be many things, and this book has a bunch of them. Name author. Paperback original. Great Girl Art. Legible artist signature and/or artist credit (this may not be important to everyone, but it is to me!). Only the tiniest of spine leans. A square, tight copy. I could do without the sticker pull on the price (grrr) and the back (as you'll see) has a top-to-bottom crease, but ... I mean, it's pulp fiction, a little wear/tear gives it some character, imo.
• The print and drape of the dress is fantastic. The cover is not as lurid as the ones I tend to gravitate toward, but it's unusual in appealing ways—a Coke bottle instead of a martini glass, a dock instead of a bar, rural instead of urban, day instead of night. The text prods me to lurid imagination, but that's just it—the painting leaves a Lot of room for imagination. Will she brain that guy with her soda bottle and steal his boat? Will she join him on a fishing expedition? Is he actually three inches tall? Is she 100 feet tall? So many possibilities...
• I love the exposed knee, as well as the hint of cleavage. There is something odd about the left hand. Looks boneless. But otherwise, she's very well put together.

Best things about this back cover:

• He looks like an eighth-grade science teacher
• If the husband makes it through the novel, I'll be stunned
• OK, the weirdo in me is actually most intrigued by "... and an old hermit for a friend." There's a relationship you don't see every day.
• "How You Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Swamp (After They've Seen Barney Godwin)?"

Page 123~

"No," he said. I noticed there was no "sir" now. "I reckon you wouldn't take no chances with me. Goin' to be quite a feather in your cap when you bring me in, ain't it?"

"I'll probably be promoted," I said. "So you just behave yourself, and none of your slippery tricks."

But it was too late. With a snap of his fingers, Cliffords turned himself into an eel and swam away. I shook my fist in impotent fury. "Damn you, Cliffords! First the banana peel on the prison steps, now this!? When will it end!?"

~RP

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Paperback 1020: The Lineup / Frank Kane (Dell First Edition B125)

Paperback 1020: Dell First Edition B125 (PBO, 1959)

Title: The Lineup
Author: Frank Kane
Cover artist: Victor Kalin

Condition: 6.5/10
Estimated value: $10-12

Best things about this cover:

• So gorgeous. Victor Kalin with that insane take on the police interrogation lamp, but instead of the perp being all sweaty and nervous, this lady's like "What the fuck do you bozos want?" It's not a harsh light of intimidation, but a warm, caramel light revealing the real power in the room. "Keys? ... What keys?"
• That dress! That posture! Sorry, bullet point 2 is just gonna be an extension of bullet point 1. She is all style and attitude. Those dough-faced dudes are inconsequential and marginal and now they know it. I love her.
• Whenever anyone tells you that smoking can be sexy, this is what they're talking about. It allows people to reveal themselves gesturally. Her hands are mesmerizing. Also: lips, nails, dress—all on point. The Drab Twins don't know what to do.

Best things about this back cover:

• Mid-century S.F. = So Hot. This is the S.F. of "Vertigo." Do the cable cars still run? They were iconic in my youth (I was born in S.F.).
• Wait, what? MY name is Ben Guthrie!!!!? Second person!? Hoo, boy, sign me up. And thanks for not making me "Matt Greb," as Greb is a name you'd make up in a panicked haste if you were really bad at making up names
• Today, November 5th, Guy Fawkes Day...
• "... you put your cop phone to your cop ear, sit on your cop ass, and say with your cop mouth, 'What?'"
• What, a novelization of a TV show!? O please O please (checks youtube...) Oh, cool. Looks like its name got changed to "San Francisco Beat," but here ya go!!!

Page 123~

"I"d say you were all trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey, Doc," Greb added. "Must feel a little foolish taking the fall alone."

"Metaphor? check! Cop patter? check! Man, I am killing it at my job today!"—Greb, in his head, probably.

~RP

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Paperback 862: The Valiant Strain / Kenneth E. Shiflet (Dell First Edition B126)

Paperback 862: Dell First Edition B126 (PBO, 1959)

Title: The Valiant Strain
Author: Kenneth E. Shiflet
Cover artist: [Robert McGinnis]

Estimated value: $8-10

Best things about this cover:

• Lieutenant Grumpystache misses his Xbox.
• That neckerchief is beautiful. I also love the orange, the hint of mountains, the way the line of soldiers on horseback extends and fades to nothing. Fine little touches like these make this potentially generic cover visually interesting.
• Turns out McGinnis can paint things other than bored-looking half-naked ladies with ample hips. I had to double-check my own labeling just now, because I thought "no way this is McGinnis."

Best things about this back cover:

• "A story as big and rugged as these two giant dueling cocks … oh, sorry sabers. Those are sabers. All appearances to the contrary … sabers."
• I can't wait to read about the "strain" that brought the giant dueling cocks men to their "final glory." I am in. Money down, out the door. You had me at "shavetail."

Page 123~

Roan thought of how Graham had denied them.

Don't deny them, Graham. Open your heart. Let your love flow. And nevermind that I'm taking things out of context, just go with it.

~RP

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Paperback 823: Last of the Breed / Les Savage, Jr. (Dell First Edition 37)

Paperback 823: Dell First Edition 37 (PBO, 1954)

Title: Last of the Breed
Author: Les Savage, Jr.
Cover artist: Stanley Borack

Yours for: $12


Best things about this cover:

• "I told you I didn't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no calves! I told you!"
• Mysterious stranger just wants to borrow a bucket.
• Wardrobe malfunction in 5, 4, 3 ...
• We get it, Stan Borack—you are good at drawing hands. Stop showing off.
• "I don't know, Les, I think this tale might be a bit too savage. Do you think you could make it …?"

Best things about this back cover:

• Looks like this book was in Brian Sheridan's back pocket when he got into whatever he got into on the front cover. Books with war wounds!
• He came alive as a man. It was a good feeling. If this isn't a tale of sexual awakening, I'm gonna be very disappointed.
• What is up with the design on this cover? "The blue arrow going round and round symbolizes life's twists and turns, while the sloppy gray daubs that frame the arrow symbolize the artist's not giving a shit."

Page 123~

Jess Miller was helping a pair of bonneted women near the rear.

Because bonnets make it practically impossible to see back there.

~RP

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Paperback 796: Stacked Deck / Frank Kane (Dell First Edition B197)

Paperback 796: Dell First Edition B197 (PBO, 1961)

Title: Stacked Deck
Author: Frank Kane
Cover artist: Bob McGinnis

Yours for: $8


Best things about this cover:

• I see why she is drawn as a reflection of herself—the whole playing card angle—but dear god this cover would be 10x better if the top half of the painting just Continued. Down. I feel slightly ripped off. Let's just say that McGinnis had a knack for the lower half.
• The upper half is, however, is exquisite.
• Black hearts = nice touch.
• Ooh, short stories. That's cool. You don't see that very often in single-author paperbacks.

Best things about this back cover:

• Love the description of the Hollywood swimming pool as "well-stocked." 
• "Debonair" is one of those words that can cut both ways—teeters on the wall between "cool" and "repulsively slick."
• Last line there is a super-weak attempt to drum up some Marlovian mystique. Face it: you're never going to get more succinct and bad ass than "Trouble Is My Business," so don't even try.

Page 123~

He stared glumly at the coffee, pulled himself out of the chair and spilled the coffee into the sink. He lifted the Scotch bottle from the closet, spilled three fingers into a glass.
"What a waste of good material," he groaned.
He lifted the glass to his lips, drained it, shook his head sadly. "What a waste!" [end of story]

This after a woman left his apartment, telling him that she was going to turn herself in to the police. I can only assume that that last line is an aural pun that is utterly lost in print.

~RP

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Paperback 764: The Sirens of Titan / Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (Dell First Edition B138)

Paperback 764: Dell First Edition B138 (PBO, 1959)

Title: The Sirens of Titan
Author: Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Cover artist: Richard Powers

Yours for: $65


Best things about this cover:

• Yes, *that* Vonnegut.
• This year's sexiest accessory—the asteroid belt!
• God bless Richard Powers. Most of his stuff does not contain what is traditionally known as "Great Girl Art" (GGA), but … this'll do.
• I love her electric blue emanations.
• Seriously, the colors on this are Gorgeous.

Best things about this back cover:

• Wow. Terrible cover copy—at least in the headers.
• I have not read this book, but it sounds like the future is not awesome. How can that be?
• Isolation of the female figures here is a nice touch. Not sure why they have a handle. But I don't mind.

Page 123~

Unk went into the furnace room and closed the door.

He was excited, though he didn't know why. He began to read by the light from the dusty window.

Dear Unk:—the letter began.

~RP

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Paperback 730: Doctor with a Gun / Richard Ferber (Dell First Edition A198)

Paperback 730: Dell FE A198 (PBO, 1960)

Title: Doctor with a Gun
Author: Richard Ferber
Cover artist: John Leone

Yours for: $6


Best things about this cover:

• I guess I can kind of make out a gun, there, in a holster near his knee. Still, with a title like that, you'd think you'd make the "gun" a little more prominent. "Doctor with a Horse!"
• What do you call those kinds of neck ties? Not bolos … 
• Few doctors had the guts to ride alone through the Land of Mustard.

Best things about this back cover:

• That's a damned stupid layout of KILL OR BE KILLED. It makes no sense. What are all the "Kills"? why would you wrote "Be" after "Kill" — "Kill Kill Kill OR Kill BE Killed ellipsis Kill Kill" WTF?
• Nothing more sheeplike then "the whole town" in a Western. 
• If Luke Short's word is so important, maybe give it slightly more prominence? Just a thought.

Page 123~

Nothing was as simple as it seemed. Nothing could stand isolated, without sooner or later infecting something else. There was no good in running away. 

Damn. Matt Kirby has gone full Greek Tragedy. Pray to Athena, Matt! I hear that works sometimes.

~RP

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Paperback 663: Women / Ed. A. M. Krich (Dell First Edition D3)

Paperback 663: Dell First Edition D3 (PBO, 1953)

Title: Women
Editor: A. M. Krich
Cover artist: Walter Brooks

Yours for: $7


Best things about this cover:

• Women—can't live with 'em, can't tear their arms off.
• Women—how to tell a real one from a sculpture.
• Women—baffling us with their arcane "experiences" since the times of the ancient Greeks
• I'm familiar with the green "women" symbol, but I'm having trouble with the mysterious pink thing they've thrown around her neck. Is that a diaphragm?

Best things about this back cover:

• "Prepuberty in Women" seems self-contradictory.
• "The Unmarried" sounds like a horror film.
• "Menopause: It's Scary So Here's A Comforting Euphemism."

Page 123~

Among the Arapesh, the problem is seen not as maintenance of potency but as resistance of seduction by strong positively sexed women. "She will hold your cheeks, you will hold her breasts, your skin will tremble, you will sleep together, she will steal part of your body fluid, later she will give it to the sorcerer and you will die."

Sorry, I'm still giggling at "She will hold your cheeks..."

~RP

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Paperback 650: Hospital Hill / Adeline McElfresh (Dell First Edition B201)

Paperback 650: Dell First Edition B201 (PBO, 1961)

Title: Hospital Hill
Author: Adeline McElfresh
Cover artist: Bob Abbett

Yours for: $8


Best things about this cover:

• Smoking doctor. Smoking car. Smoking lady friend. Like flying, being a doctor used to be so fucking glamorous.
• I hate when reality shatters my dreams.
• If there were a Hall of Fame for author names, I'd immediately induct Adeline McElfresh.

Best things about this back cover:

• I like how the ellipsis makes it look like Doctor Chris Chiselface is thinking the whole thing.
• I think the cover nicely captures his noble ideals (/sarcasm).

Page 123~

Old Mrs. Pearce was in the kitchen, nursing a steaming bowl filled with a greenish, pungent-smelling liquid. She greeted him with a sly smile.

"I reckon I'm catched," she wheezed.

Chris grinned. "I guess you are, Grandma."

Chris then shot her in the head for being a witch.

~RP

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Paperback 603: Angel Eyes / Robert Dietrich (Dell First Edition B203)

Paperback 603: Dell First Edition B203 (PBO, 1961)

Title: Angel Eyes
Author: Robert Dietrich (pseud. of Howard Hunt)
Cover artist: Robert McGinnis

Yours for: $16


Best things about this cover:

• I call wig.
• It's like there's a giant vacuum just out of frame, sucking the left side of her head away—earring and hair eerily defying gravity.
• She died the way she lived: fondling her bongos.
• She died the way she lived: on a giant magic diaper ride.
• She died the way she lived: one shoe on, one shoe off.

Best things about this back cover:

• Chunky pictorial question mark for the win!
• "I'm Bentley. Steve Bentley." — Steve Bentley, wowing them with his Bond imitation.
• You might ask what / the rationale is for / the line divisions on this back / cover copy

Page 123~

"As for any feeling I have about that little Bolac whore, I could put it all in a thimble and still have room for my finger."

I don't know what "Bolac" means and I don't care—this line is unimprovable.

~RP

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Paperback 587: The Nothing Man / Jim Thompson (Dell First Edition 22)

Paperback 587: Dell First Edition 22 (PBO, 1954)

Title: The Nothing Man
Author: Jim Thompson
Cover artist: Stanley Borack

Yours for: nuh uh


Best things about this cover:

• I wish I had a foreground me and background me.
• It's like a PSA against alcohol-induced psychosis: "Hi folks. You ever wake up with that 'not-so-fresh' feeling?"
• By "lost the power to love" they mean he has no penis (if I'm remembering this one right, which I think I am, but I could be confusing it with another Thompson title, as castration / genital mutilation is kind of a recurring theme)
• That guy looks like an actor, but I can't place him. Robert Stack?

Best things about this back cover:

• Yep, this is definitely the (or a) penis-loss story.
• Drink is a poor substitute for a penis, I find.
• Awesome psycho-face.

Page 123~

"That's awfully pretty, Brownie. Did you write that?"

"Yes," I said. "I did it under my pen name, Elizabeth Khayyam. I wrote it one eventide on a wind-swept hill while watching a father bird wing home to his wee ones. There was a long caterpillar in his beak and he had it swung over his shoulders, muffler fashion, as a shield against the wintery cold. I ... listen to me, Deborah! For God's sake, listen!"

"Heckuva job, Brownie," she sneered, right before he bludgeoned her to death with whatever blunt object was handy.

~RP

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Paperback 570: The Big Bite / Charles Williams (Dell First Edition A114)

Paperback 570: Dell First Edition A114 (PBO, 1956)

Title: The Big Bite
Author: Charles Williams
Cover artist: Arthur Sussman

Yours for: $30


Best things about this cover:

• If, god forbid, I ever get taken hostage, please let it look like this.
• I love this so much. Sexy, menacing, and depraved. Manages to combine realism, abstraction, and surrealism into one hot, delicious tableau. The orange background is inspired. That bed frame is like something out of a Tim Burton film.
• The small details make this painting exquisite—her: the haughty eyebrows, the cocky hand-on-hip, the neglected negligee strap, the ambiguously hovering cigarette hand (Will she offer him a drag? Burn his thigh? Who knows!?). Him: the resigned backward tilt of his head, the perfectly framed limp hand, the perfect-electric-white shirt. This is hall-of-fame cover art, for sure. 

Best things about this back cover:

• MWAH!
• That "life's a jungle" paragraph is about as good an expression of noir philosophy as I've read since the Flitcraft story in "The Maltese Falcon."
• Charles Williams was a paperback hero. Well admired by crime fiction aficionados, long forgotten by most others.

Page 123~

She said nothing. I went on out and got in the car. On the way out of town I stopped at a small grocery and bought a dozen cans of beer and some more supplies for the kitchen. I picked up a roll of the plastic film they use to wrap things in a refrigerator with, and two rolls of scotch tape. I bought fifty pounds of ice, wrapped it in an old blanket, and shoved off for the lake. 

I love the "How-the-fuck-am I-supposed-to-know-what-Saran-wrap-is-called!?" attitude of this paragraph.

~RP

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Paperback 491: 24 Hours to Kill / James McKimmey (Dell First Edition B169)

Paperback 491: Dell First Edition B169 (PBO, 1961)

Title: 24 Hours to Kill
Author: James McKimmey
Cover artist: Robert McGinnis

Yours for: $10

Best things about this cover:

• Dishevelment, thy name is this lady.
• I like the double entendre of this title: "She had 24 hours to kill ... everyone in the room!"
• Let me answer the obvious question: yes, Robert McGinnis painted everything in sight from about 1957-64. Every paperback cover, every magazine cover, every line on every freeway, etc.
• Her slip is behaving oddly ... in relation to gravity, I mean. It's somehow coming together in a lacy, snowflaky formation to prevent us from getting the upskirt view we all so richly deserve.
• Her smirk is killer.

Best things about this back cover:

• Paradox! The back cover copy writer's second-best friend after HYPERBOLE!
• I want a business card that states my occupation as "Killer-hero of the state's young punks."
• "Teen-age" my eye. I mean, look at her feet. Those bunions say a hard-worn 28, minimum.

Page 123~

He blinked, stunned. Then he said, "I'll be right down, Rod." He hung up and picked up the machine gun. "Stay here, Sue. Lock the door and don't leave this office under any circumstance." He strode out and down the marble steps, trying to control the wild anger surging in him. . . .

I find that when I'm trying to control my wild, surging anger, I'm more often successful when I'm *not* holding a machine gun.

~RP

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Paperback 382: The Conspirators / Frank Kane (Dell First Edition C127)

Paperback 382: Dell First Edition C127 (PBO, 1962)

Title: The Conspirators
Author: Frank Kane
Cover artist: Mort Engle

Yours for: $6


Best things about this cover:

• "O Steve, you're the captain of my heart! I hope we can stay like this forever and not be killed in some freakish accident like a spontaneous tidal wave..."
• I kind of love how Engle can evoke an entire yacht from just two panes of glass and one of those phallic knobby things on the steering wheel.

Best things about this back cover:

• Ugh.
• Is the text supposed to mirror the tidal wave on the cover? Because if so, fail.
• Gray-on-blue = not advised as a cover copy option unless you hate your readers, good taste, and common decency.

Page 123~

Carter kept his eye on the blade, started circling crab-fashion.

Fully half the sentences on this page are written in this conjunction- and pronoun-hating fashion. "He glared at Carter, pulled a long-bladed fishing knife from the scabbard at his belt." "Joe started to protest, subsided at a snarled order from Carter." Etc. Maybe Kane thinks it creates momentum. I think it creates annoyance. In me. Being a hard-boiled writer means not just paring down your prose, but knowing where the paring is supposed to happen.

~RP

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Paperback 347: The Race of Giants / Matt Kinkaid (Dell First Ed. A118)

Paperback 347: Dell First Edition A118 (PBO, 1956)

Title: The Race of Giants
Author: Matt Kinkaid
Cover artist: Sam Bates

Yours for: $10


Best things about this cover:

• "... do you smell something funny? Hmm ... probably just my mustache. No, wait, my ass is on fire."
• Wow, he is a giant—keeps a herd of cattle in his back pocket.
• Love how he Fills the frame; also love the partial view of the horse. Not so keen on being able to see his long johns, but whatever.

Best things about this back cover:

• "Blood on his hands ... money on his mind!"
• Not the most realistic flames, but they are pretty.

Page 123~

Julius made a small sound of grim satisfaction. "Here comes the wagon."

~RP

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Paperback 330: The Joy Boys / Walt Grove (Dell First Edition

Paperback 330: Dell First Edition B136 (PBO, 1959)

Title: The Joy Boys
Author: Walt Grove
Cover artist: Mitchell Hooks!

Yours for: $9


Best things about this cover:

• "'I Dream of Jeannie?' Fuck that. Jeannie dreams of me!"
• I submit to you that this woman would look much better if that horse's tail were removed from the back of her head.
• That spider has six legs. Is that guy's squadron called "The Mighty Ticks?"
• "The Joy Boys" ... does not evoke aviation. It evokes something slightly more tawdry—like GLORY HOLE meets RENT BOY.

Best things about this back cover:

• Walt Grove, doing his best Mickey Spillane imitation. Tough sell.
• Seriously? "The Joy Boys" is the successor to "DOWN!?" Who knew the world of aviation had such a strong undercurrent of fellatio?

Page 123~

He wished he would stop thinking about that, but he had been around and he knew.

Looks like he's been behind the barn.

~RP

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Paperback 225: Winner Take All / James McKimmey (Dell First Edition A185)

Paperback 225: Dell First Edition A185 (PBO, 1959???)

Title: Winner Take All
Author: James McKimmey
Cover artist: Darcy (what's his first name?)

Yours for: don't know ...

I'm posting a book I don't have in front of me. I have its scans on my computer, but I don't know where it is, physically (buried in my collection, no doubt). I usually blog books that I have right in front of me, but I can't scan any new books til I replace my printer/scanner (soon), so I'm relying on old scans for the moment. I'll run across the book eventually. For now, enjoy the scans ...



Best things about this cover:

• The abbreviation "GGA" (for Great Girl Art) gets attributed to a Lot of books, but this one truly deserves the tag. Wow. Shapely, classy, with an amazing face, exquisite hands, a stunning dress, and great dark accents giving her hair a kind of controlled kinetic feel. Yes, I will spend all my money at this table.
• Sadly for her, her head appears to be bathing in a haze of smoke that starts somewhere around shoulder level.
• Love how the red title tapers down into her hands, ending in a small pile of red chips
• Always nice when an artist signs his work (or his signature doesn't get cropped in production). Here, Darcy has put the signature near where people are apt to look, i.e. in the vicinity of her rear end.

Best things about this back cover:

• Well, I bet you didn't see that coming.
• Before Garanimals, there was ... Paris Belts. "This one goes with gray, moron."
• I can count on one hand the number of paperbacks that I own with advertisements on their back covers. Really truly odd/rare.
• I actually love the design, with the different colored dots and then the same-sized logo with the little Paris man and his proud puffy shirt
• Who wrote the cover copy, Yoda? "Rugged these belts are."
• "the finest long-stretch elastic ever used in belt-making" - you don't say. Why, that is impressive.
• Two of the belts have coats-of-arms, so you can rule Scotland in style.

No Page 123, sadly, as I have no book in front of me ... aargh. OK, I'm getting a printer/scanner tomorrow.

~RP

Paperback 179: Kill Now, Pay Later / Robert Kyle (Dell First Edition B178)

Paperback 179: Dell First Edition B178 (PBO, 1960)

Title: Kill Now, Pay Later
Author: Robert Kyle (pen name of Robert Terrall)
Cover artist: Robert McGinnis

Yours for: $9


Best things about this cover:

• Nearly everything. It's quintessential. It expresses everything I love about this era - a sense of cool combined with a sense of something fading, something ending ... a kind of twilight. These two look like their best days are behind them, just behind them, and it is only beginning to dawn on them. Look, she's already forgotten how to hold a martini glass. And he seems bemused by his gun. Poor, poor, hot people.
• "Remember when we used to find wandering daughters, fight thugs, and have hot sex in my mid-century modern apartment? ... good times ..."
• Love the whimsical font - great contrast with the smoky, languid, gin-laden miasma of grief and nostalgia that pervades the bar scene
  
• Robert McGinnis could draw the hell out of a woman when he wanted to. He and Maguire are the kings of Great Girl Art. That bare foot ... I'm not a foot man, myself, but man that is cute bordering on adorable.
• Honey, I officially want a padded white semicircular wet bar for Christmas. I'll take up drinking and shooting, and you take up cigarettes, and we'll be in business. I'm not sure what we do about the kid ...

Best things about this back cover:

• Ben Gates is Looking At You
• "Dacron and worsted" - wtf? That sounds like a buddy cop show waiting to happen.
• "Contact was total" - HA ha. That kind of writing takes balls.
• So ... she tasted like a caterpillar soaked in champagne? I don't want to know how anyone would know what that tastes like.
• The back cover is ... continued on page 1!? That's a very interesting sales technique that I've seen only once before.

Page 123~

What she saw in her living room cured her of the giggles.

That is a great line - the opening line of a new chapter. How could you not read on?

~RP

PS Thanks to Duane Swierczynski for pointing out that McGinnis also painted the cover for the recent reprint of this title (published by Hard Case Crime). I prefer the original cover, but the new one definitely has its charms: