Paperback 1046: The Sit-In / George B. Anderson (Ace 76835)

Paperback 1046: Ace 76835 (PBO, 1970)

Title: The Sit-In
Author: George B. Anderson
Cover artist: George Gross

Condition: 7/10
Estimated value: $20-25 (counterculture, baby!)

[from giant box of books I got in the mail from "Special Sauce" ... I'll be rolling these out as fast as I reasonably can]

Best things about this cover:

• Answering the question: What if Dirty Harry had been a T.A. for Marxist Cultural Theory?
• Two words. One, mustard. Two, cardigan. KILLER outfit!
• A narc wrote this
• This was published just after Kent State. So you'd know who the real bad guys were. Cut your hair, Comrade Cardigan!

Best things about this back cover:

• LOL grad student. Called it!
• "Don't trust anyone over 30 ... or, you know Happiness in general, man"
• Wow, this is a right-wing fever dream. "He's coming for you and your suburban children, aged 2 and 4, named John and Jennifer, probably!"

Page 123~

He remembered going duck-hunting, as a kid, in the late fall, but he wouldn't even handle a shotgun since his return from Viet.

Was that a common way to refer to Vietnam? Just shortened like that? First I've seen that. Also, predictably, the family-man is the *real* man, the real hero, because he'd actually *been* to war, as opposed to Murdery McBeardo, who is a nerd.

~RP

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Paperback 407: Border Wolves / Archie Joscelyn (Star Books No. 9)

Paperback 407: Star Books No. 9 (PBO, 1950)

Title: Border Wolves
Author: Archie Joscelyn
Cover artist: George Gross

Yours for: $12


Best things about this cover:

• Great girl art! Love the blouse and the skirt and I admire her firm and fearless (if unorthodox) gun-handling technique.
• Captain Just-For-Men there, however, looks decidedly less confident. "Ehh, I don't like this shooting business! I'm just gonna dance myself off, stage left."
• I'd love his neckerchief if it were on her.
• Where are the wolves? I was promised wolves.
• I defy you to find the adjective "gun-ruled" anywhere else. It's an adjectival exclusive!

Best things about this back cover:

• Again, no Wolves. Giant psychedelic logo, but no Wolves, Border or otherwise.
• We get it. This was a range. Move along.
• VENGEANCE! (I'm a sucker for all things revenge/vengeance/avenging/retribution/vigilante/payback)

Page 123~ (book too short, so ... Page 23!)

Her face warmed transfiguringly, but Thane had little time to watch that.

A big improvement from the first draft of this sentence: "She had a face like a hotplate, but Thane only had eyes for Dun Wanderin'" (which, I swear, is the name of a character in this book)

~RP

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Paperback 58: Orient Express / Graham Greene (Bantam 1333)

Paperback 58: Bantam 1333 (1st ptg, 1955)

Title: Orient Express
Author: Graham Greene
Cover artist: George Gross

"The story of a woman who struggled valiantly to hold up a giant, red wall!"

or

"The story of a woman who stood up to a marauding Lionel Train set!"

or

"The story of one woman's attempt to reach the On / Off switch
without drawing attention to herself!"

Best things about this cover:

• Fabulous melodramatic art. Love the exaggerated expression of terror on her face.
• Trenchcoat!
• After a few shabby reprints, we're back in the sweet spot of my collection. 1955 is probably the high point for paperback cover art, and George Gross is one of the top artists of the period (God I love it when I can read the artist's signature on a cover - it's shocking how often the artwork goes unattributed). I'd venture to guess that the average quality of cover art for 1955 is higher than that for any other year, with a rapid decline thereafter. I may have to start assigning covers ratings in order to "prove" my assertions.
• I had a student this past semester who looked an awful lot like this woman. She got an A-, which is pretty damned good in any class of mine.
• Graham Greene is my hero. He made so-called "genre fiction" cool in the eyes of the so-called "literary" establishment. He writes a hell of a sentence. If I could have anyone's literary career, it would be Graham Greene's. His, or John O'Hara's.
  

RP