Paperback 546: Trail of the Restless Gun / Will Hickok (Signet 1675)

Paperback 546: Signet 1675 (1st ptg, 1959)

Title: Trail of the Restless Gun
Author: Will Hickok
Cover artist: Robert Schulz

Yours for: $10

Best things about this cover:

• "We need a really heroic name. How about ... a first name that will make everyone go 'What?' and a last name that kinda sounds like 'boner'?!" "I like it!"
• I love the look of crushing existential angst in this guy's face. "Why? Why do I use this? Futility. All roads lead to death. Does it even matter if I turn around and fire?"
• Or else he's turned his gun into a thermometer and is confirming that it is, indeed, hot out there.
• "Hickok" looks wrong. Like it's missing a second "c." "I'm a HICK ... OK?"

, Best things about this back cover:

• This family sounds unequivocally awesome. 
• Are "dancehall teasers" (great phrase) notoriously "curious?" About ... what? Science? I think of a "tease" as being knowing and at least somewhat jaded—wanting to deceive or toy with someone, not wanting to learn. 
• J.C. Penney is proud to feature—The Paxton Brand.

Page 123~

Something seemed to push Rasher forward in his saddle. Then all at once his legs rammed straight and he reared up to his full height, his back arching and a look of spasmed agony and shocked wonderment.

The sex scenes in this book are much hotter than I'd anticipated.

~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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