Some of the better covers I've seen lately are from Pinnacle, a regular publisher of thrillers, SF, and horror throughout the 1970s and '80s - that golden era of paperbacks we so dearly love! I haven't read any of these, so I can't comment on content, but I think you can appreciate 'em still.
First up, two by
Kenneth Girard: at top,
Altered Egos, showcasing the ever-popular and extra-creepy ventriloquist's dummy. I'm diggin' it!
The Calling is all kinds of off, and the title and illustration seem to have no connection, the same way dude's arm has no possible connection to his body.
The Hearse is apparently a novelization of
a movie I've never heard of, but I like its random thrown-together look. Is the lady being run over by the titular vehicular? Dunno, but damn, the irony!
Heh. I said
titular.
Sexual possession! Aw yeah. Great art thanks to Paul Stinson. Is she about to blow a ghost?!
Fuck yeah! Love this. Watch out mom and dad!
Hey-O. This isn't offensive at all!
"The unsuspecting footsteps" - is that right? What the hell? Although I always like a quieter style of cover too.
Anyway, I hope to get a solid review up soon, but right now I'm leisurely reading my first Agatha Christie book -
Endless Night - so I don't know when I'll pick up my next horror novel. Not sure what, or who, to go with next...
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THE HEARSE movie is a fairly decent low-budgeter. Read the adaptation before seeing the film. Standard fare overall but enjoyable enough to make me want to see the flick.
ReplyDeleteI also own THE NIGHT VISITOR (got it for $1 a few years back) but I have yet to read it--that is if I ever get to it.
I read ALTERED EGOS a little while back. The writing style was unlike any other I've come across. The narrative is done like a stand-up, vaudville-type act; constant da-da--dum joke delivery put together as a story. Somehow, it kept me engaged. But it can be rough going if it rubs you the wrong way.
ReplyDeleteCraig
I love the cover of THE OTHER CHILD. That is priceless! Ought to have a blurb like: "GUN CRAZY meets THE BAD SEED!" Puts to shame all the wimpy covers on those evil children books by John Saul I use to devour when I was a teen.
ReplyDeleteTHE NIGHT VISITOR must a be an incubus novel. I remember the explosion of succubus and incubus books back in the 70s. Have to look for that one. Bet it's lurid and trashy.
Titular. Ugh. At least you didn't use the term "eponymous" as a synonym for titular. Something that drives me crazy, almost as much as the rampant incorrect use of the phrase "begging the question", a literary device that has nothing to do with asking a question.
And congrats on your first Christie! For a writer known primarily for her ingeniously plotted detective novels you picked probably the most atypical book of hers -- a freaky psychopath crime novel. If you want to try one of her whodunits yet a book that's still in the horror mode I highly recommend HALLOWEEN PARTY, the nastiest and most violent book she ever wrote, IMO. Child murder, sociopathic villains, and the second highest body count outside of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE.
ReplyDeleteTHE OTHER CHILD is a very decent read. Read it when I was a teen.
ReplyDeleteNot as big a fan of THE HEARSE as the reader above, but to each his own. THE HEARSE novel is far superior.
The tagline doesn't lead into the title. "Unleashed upon the unsuspecting" is the end of the sentence. Turns out that three dots are an ellipsis, and four dots are an ellipsis and a period.
ReplyDeleteThe number of dots used to seem random. Then I found out it actually means something.
(That said, I don't know why they didn't just stop after the period. The ellipsis is for when you skip something or trail off.)
Don't go looking for grammatical excellence either on horror paperback covers or on the internet.
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