Pages

▼

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

So Don't Play with Me

A thoughtful TMHF reader has sent me some scans of his old horror paperback collection, graciously allowing me to post some of them here. Had to post this one immediately. I don't know who author Bob Veder is, nor have I ever seen his 1980 novel Playing with Fire (Pocket Books/May 1983) before. But that cover art... that cover art. Truly some of the most absurd I've ever witnessed. So specific I have to wonder if actual cookies are a story element. Delicious!


at

10 comments:

  1. Jack TripperMarch 16, 2016 at 9:18 AM

    Wow. That cover's so far to the "bad" on the wheel o' suck it swung back around to "amazing."

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chris TXMarch 16, 2016 at 11:43 AM

    Yes yes yes! And for the record, my favorite nuance of this fine artwork is that the Cookie Victim is wearing a...an...NBA-style athletic headband? At least that's what I insist it is. Because Nobody Knows Where the Madness Ends!

    ReplyDelete
  3. toomuchhorrorfictionMarch 16, 2016 at 12:09 PM

    I *love* the headband! Actually it made me think of jogging, which was so hot in the early '80s, something the horror genre was not above exploiting no matter how silly:

    http://tinyurl.com/zod6ug2

    ReplyDelete
  4. Chris TXMarch 16, 2016 at 12:28 PM

    Well, there's another one I've gotta get. And while I love Graham Masterton and want to take him at his word on the cover blurb, why does the phrase "experience of unmitigated terror" not quite spring to mind when I think of J.N. Williamson?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Villain NewsMarch 17, 2016 at 1:53 AM

    That cover art put into words: Charlie Villanueva traded in time to the '80s Houston Rockets, rendered into a cookie, and condemned to a fiery exile for playing bad.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ron ClintonMarch 17, 2016 at 7:15 AM

    According to Kirkus, there really *is* a cookie connection: "Heinz the baker is an unrepentant Nazi who bakes Gingerbread Jews and does disgusting things with his bread dough." Uh...okay. Review (a longer one that I suspect the book deserves) is here: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/bob-veder/playing-with-fire-5/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Will ErricksonMarch 17, 2016 at 8:00 AM

      Ha I linked to that review but apparently didn't read it!

      Delete
  7. GriffMarch 22, 2016 at 8:19 PM

    Reading that review it actually sounds pretty interesting, more like a misanthropic black comedy than an actual horror novel, I guess the ridiculous covert art is fitting then.

    ReplyDelete
  8. SAM NINALGAJanuary 1, 2018 at 1:53 PM

    That font looks like the same font used on V.C. Andrews', maybe they were hoping to capitalize on her success???

    ReplyDelete