Paperback 1005: All Men Are Liars / John Stephen Strange (Dell 438)

Paperback 1005: Dell 438 (1st ptg, 1950)

Title: All Men Are Liars
Author: John Stephen Strange
Cover artist: Robert Stanley

Condition: 6/10
Estimated value: $5-10

Best things about this cover:

• "I solemnly swear ... aw, who am I kidding? All men are liars, amirite!? Up top!"
• Her side-eye! I really should have a "Women Looking At Losers" blog tag. (See Paperback 1004)
• Her mustard suit is smokin'
• Shouldn't "man about town" be hyphenated? ... wow, even dictionaries seem divided on this one. One thing no one's divided on: the Ben Affleck movie "Man About Town" is probably best left back in 2006.

Best things about this back cover;

• Mapback!
• Love the Gay '90s font on the title, wtf
• How have they managed to make Manhattan look so boring? So many things on that island we get ... a generic courtroom interior!?
• The crossword maker in me is like "hmm... is HDQRS really a valid abbr.?"

Page 123~

Won Way Street rose and strolled across the well of the court.

Sorry. I'm dead. That name just killed me.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Paperback 978: Pemmican / Vardis Fisher (Cardinal C-253)

Paperback 978: Cardinal C-253 (1st ptg, 1957)

Title: Pemmican
Author: Vardis Fisher
Cover artist: Daniel Schwartz

Estimated value: $7-10
Condition: 7/10

[from the Laura R. Braunstein Collection]

Best things about this cover:

• The only thing scarier than her fright makeup is her linebacker hands. Look at those meat claws, dear god!
• Why would you kneel in the river like that? Serious question.
• Her mouth! We get it, she's "savage," dial it back.
• I do like the way the light shines off her hip.
• Chief Wahoo on Cleveland Indians uniforms. Dakota Access Pipeline. This dehumanizing shit must be exhausting.

Best things about this back cover:

• Ah, the "savage white girl" trope. See Natalie Wood in "The Searchers."
• I wish this were titled "A Virile Young Scotsman, or, The Debauchery"
• Rawboned! The bones of this book have not seen fire! Like sushi, are these bones!

Page 123~

"Coming!" he whispered.

He whispered with an exclamation point? Wow. Graphic.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Paperback 809: Tidewater / Clifford Dowdey (Perma Books P143)

Paperback 809: Perma Books P143 (1st ptg, 1952)

Title: Tidewater
Author: Clifford Dowdey
Cover artist: Uncredited

Yours for: $6


Best things about this cover:

• "She was river scum…" I like a cover that gets right to the point.
• Ha ha, I'm enjoying speculating about her "something."
• Wow, that's a pretty high class of "scum" they got there in Tidewater. She must've got hosed down good. Only thing disgusting about her is her freakish arachnoid hand.

Best things about this back cover:

• "It was something that had to be done"—way to use the passive voice to get your sex on, Libby.
• Protracted deshabillitation scene gets thumbs up from this reviewer.
• Caffey… yeah, I'm not buying that as a guy's name. Caffey is a woman in my mind now. Sorry, nothing I can do, that's just the way it is.

Page 123~

To be with them more, he did his drinking, with Jeff Bunting as a companion, in the Pitch Bottom bars where the small planters went.

The olde-timey gay code of the river folk was pretty elaborate.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

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

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]