Paperback 772: The Mind Cage / A. E. Van Vogt (Tower 43-503)

Paperback 772: Tower Books 43-503 (1st ptg, 1965)

Title: The Mind Cage
Author: A. E. Van Vogt
Cover artist: uncredited

Yours for: $10


Best things about this cover:

• "No, God, no!!! Take me instead!!! Space Capades on Ice needs Debra!"
• Her false eyelashes unlocked the door to … The Mind Cage!
• "Voltaged?"

Best things about this back cover:

• "Transplantation?"
• "He?"
• "His body tingled in a peculiar and nameless manner." — "That's perfectly normal, son. You're becoming a man, and …"

Page 123~

Marin returned to the laboratory, sobered by his own antics.

"That's perfectly normal, son. You're becoming a man, and …"

~RP

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Paperback 344: 5 Beds to Mecca / Rod Gray (Tower 43-944)

Paperback 344: Tower 43-944 (PBO, 1968)

Title: 5 Beds to Mecca (The Lady from L.U.S.T. #4)
Author: Rod Gray
Cover artist: Uncredited [Paul Rader]

Yours for: Nope—staying here (another gift of the generous Doug Peterson)

Best things about this cover:

• As Doug can testify, this one left me completely speechless—or, rather, it left me saying "Oh my god" repeatedly until I took it all in. I mean ... I've seen the gun/crotch motif before, but scimitar/crotch! That's a new one.
• Well, that's *one* way of taking care of unwanted hair ...
• I am guessing that you were so blown away the vagina dentata that it took you a while to notice that this lady is also carrying a gun (!) in her completely useless garter (!!?).
• The Man from U.N.C.L.E. spawned a number of these kinds of parodies in the '60s. "L.U.S.T." is one of the better acronyms I've seen, in that the literal explanation is completely plausible.
• I think this cover is designed to make you (man) wish you were that sword. Legs spread, hands wrapped around hilt ... etc. Fans of subtlety will have to look elsewhere.

Best things about this back cover:

• Not just white slavery—Milk-white slavery!
  
• "Hypodermics hiss" is my favorite part of this nonsensical paragraph.
• Kama Sutra? Huh. I guess east is east is east.
• "Shiekh" is apparently a brand of shoes. I've never seen that spelling otherwise.

Page 123~

"Unbelievable," she whispered. "There is no sag, despite their size. It is as if they were equipped with springs."

Other randomly pulled quotes include:

"My vaginae constrictor muscles were the only part of me that moved."

And

"You have a couple of cannons yourself," he quipped, eyeballing my female-female breasts, all 38 inches D cup of them, where they stood at attention, brown nipples saluting. They were rock hard as they aimed themselves at his broad chest."

"Let's shoot each other," I suggested.

~RP

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Paperback 317: The Summer Ghosts / Alexis Lykiard (Tower 43-891)

Paperback 317: Tower 43-891 (1st thus, 1966)

Title: The Summer Ghosts
Author: Alexis Lykiard
Cover artist: photo

Yours for: $11


Best things about this cover:

• That photo does not say "never caring about tomorrow." It says "ennui." Also, "UNCENSORED!" = false advertising. Move your arm!
• That's a wig. That is also Cameron Díaz.
• I thought "hippie" was spelled "-ie," and "hippy" was a word used to describe a somewhat widish woman.

Best things about this back cover:

• "Society" w/ a Capital "S" = HA ha. "We're not gonna conform to your bourgeois ways, man!
• "The What's Happening? Generation" — I think I was part of the sequel generation: "The What's Happening Now? Generation"

Page 123~

... Fantastic battles begun with zip-gropings or oiled smooth friction of hand on nylon leg ... she sheds clothes like petals, hurriedly ... breast straining to its full pink apex ... fleecy triangle ... a cunt like a warm sticky fondue into which I dip my finger my tongue my prick seeking that unique tangy flavour like a madman or a driller for texan oil.

Bored with his many accolades, and distressed that most people knew him only as "that 'Road Less Traveled' guy, Robert Frost turned to ghostwriting softcore late in life, primarily as a way to amuse himself.

~RP

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Paperback 121: Bucks County Report / Irwin Wallach (Tower 43-690)

Paperback 121: Tower 43-690 (1st ptg, 1966)
Title: Bucks County Report
Author: Irwin Wallach
Cover artist: uncredited

Yours for: $10


Best things about this cover:

• "Frankly, Scarlett, this mattress is lumpy"
• For such a hot topic (sex in suburbia) this is a terribly tedious cover. If it weren't for the tepid embrace there on the bed, it would look like a government report of some kind. "Bucks County Report: The Roads Have Been Repaved" ["Yay!"]
• The publication of the Kinsey reports on male and female sexuality in the late 40s and early 50s created a public discourse on sexuality that (ironically?) gave license to sex fiction publishers to promote their work with cover copy appealing to people's alleged scientific / civic interest in the subject. Peyton Place + Kinsey Report => books like this one.

Best things about this back cover:

• Awesome dated vocabulary: "jerkwater"! "squaresville"!
• "... then along came Wilson" - I knew that guy was a perv

Page 123~

Bucks County parties were the easiest for Sam because he did not have to participate beyond having his body in attendance and a glass in his hand. But this particular party held a strangeness for him.

~RP