Random Paperbacks: Always Say Die by Elizabeth Ferrars (Fontana, 1962)

Given that cover artist John L. Baker appears to have never actually seen a cat (or at least, couldn’t remember what they looked like very well), his decision to illustrate this particular incident from Elizabeth Ferrar’s 1956 mystery novel seems nigh-on inexplicable. But, his decision to go with it nonetheless, reference materials be damned, has helped make this strikingly bizarre effort one of my favourite paperback acquisitions of recent years.

(I also like the fact that that blue-tinted illustration on the back cover has clearly been swiped wholesale from a different book cover, complete with a different artist’s signature still visible on the bottom left.)

For the record, the alleged cat attack occurs on page 32, when a stray moggie leaps onto the shoulders of heroine Helen as she stands around in the grounds of the house belonging to her absent Maiden Aunt’s former home, and it comprises about two paragraphs of what otherwise seems to be a pleasantly atmospheric, old fashioned potboiler, set in the depths of darkest, uh, Berkshire, apparently.

Random Paperbacks: The Moonraker Mutiny by Anthony Trew (Fontana, 1973)

Boy, talk about yr ‘tough guy literature’… I found this one at a charity donation stand in the foyer of a branch of Tescos in South West Wales recently, and couldn’t say no. It’s in terrible condition, effectively unreadable – looks as if it’s led a harder life than any paperback deserves (stashed next to the whisky and the chart books on somebody’s yacht, I’d like to think), but… that cover.

I think this one is up there with Three Day Alliance in my Awkwardly Staged Cover Photos Hall of Fame. Just imagine all the trouble they must have had to go to to recruit these two salty sea-dogs (a challenging assignment for the modelling agency), to mock up a background with a convincing porthole, to sort that chap on the right out with his string vest and fake tattoo, to find a prop rifle from somewhere…. at some point I would bet, some harried editorial assistant must have been heard to declare, “..remember the good old days when we’d just hire some nice man to paint a picture and pay him twenty quid?! Jesus wept!”

Psychedelic Sci-Fi Round-up: Nightmare Blue by Gardner Dozois & George Alec Effinger (Fontana, 1977)

Cover illustration by Justin Todd.

I don’t really have a lot to say about this one. Sounds like one of the counter-culture influences early ‘70s sci-fi novels that could either be genius or utterly insufferable. Perhaps worth a go?

Cover illustration by Justin Todd is definitely some quintessential ‘70s ‘SF for heads’ gear though, right down to the big, freaky syringe.

A prolific British commercial illustrator and painter whose work often seems to have taken a garish, fantastical or comedic turn, a brief bio of Justin Todd can be found here, and an interesting gallery of his work can be seen here. Apparently still working today, he maintains a website showcasing some recent paintings.

Savage Streets by William McGivern (Fontana, 1962)

Whilst it sadly has nothing to do with the ‘80s Linda Blair uber-trash classic of the same name, this UK repackaging of veteran US crime writer William P. McGivern’s JD drama ‘Savage Streets’ is nonetheless liable to provoke a similar feeling of dazed and dehumanised bewilderment.

From the shock-red background and crudely rendered image of Richard Nixon delivering a beating to ‘Repo Man’-era Emilio Estevez, to the foaming-at-the-mouth hysteria and garish colour-clashes of the back cover, this is certainly an approach to book design that, uh… goes for the jugular?

With no disrespect intended to McGivern’s novel, the sheer, crazed over-reaction of the back cover blurb here just cracks me up. Teenagers stealing stuff and lying about it? MY GOD, WHERE WILL THIS SUB-HUMAN BARBARITY END? BAR THE WINDOWS, MILDRED! etc etc.

Psychedelic Sci-Fi Round-up, part # 2:The ‘70s

A few more random gems from the golden era of this sorta thing post-1970, including a double-bill from the perennially mindbending Peter Goodfellow.

(Quartet, 1973 [originally published 1957] – cover uncredited)

(Panther, 1972 – cover uncredited)

(Fontana, 1978 – cover illustration: Peter Goodfellow)

(Mayflower, 1978 – cover illustration: Peter Goodfellow)

Smut Evolution.

Wherein it occurs to me that a pile of paperbacks I found in the same box at a charity book fair last week make an interesting case study re: changing attitudes toward sex in paperback publishing through the ‘60s and ‘70s.

1962:


(Fontana, cover illustration uncredited.)

1967:


(Collier books, cover uncredited.)

1972:


(Grafton, cover photograph: Beverley LeBarrow)

1974:


(Pinnacle Books / Heinrich Hanau Publications, Cover design: Neil J Crawford / Bromley Arts)