Thursday, August 28, 2008

Paperback 131: This Violent Land / William H. Jacobs (Monarch Books 163)

Paperback 131: Monarch Books 163 (1st ptg, 1960)

Title: This Violent Land
Author: William H. Jacobs
Cover artist: again, uncredited

Yours for: $9

Best things about this cover:

  • "Stop right there, Henry Fonda! Now ... give me my scarf back, nice and easy."
  • "Raw" and "earthy" means people are doin' it.
  • Now that I look at her hands more closely, I'm not convinced she aims to fire it. She's sort of ... stroking the ... underside of the ... shaft? "Oh, is this big thing yours?"
  • She is undeniably hot. I mean - fantastic. Everything a rifle-toting cover girl should be. I have a Girls with Guns collection, so I ask you, how was I supposed to not buy this book?

Best things about this back cover:
  • OMG the names of these people! Genius!
  • "'Joanna' doesn't sound ... I don't know, exotic enough." "How about ... Zoanna, sir?" "Brilliant!"
  • I love a good Malabar every now and then. "Hard-bitten?" When I get through with them, yes.
  • "Earthy" again! Unless they literally smear soil on themselves, I'm going to be very disappointed in this book.

Page 123~

He saw again the woman with the scarred face, her white legs parting, the black devil's cup beckoning. "Make me a woman! Make me a woman!" Soft, warm, melting. He was on the road to hellfire.

"Black devil's cup?!" That's a new one to me.

Earthy!

~RP

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

The 'black devil's cup' was beckoning? That's some different anatomy than human, bub.

JamiSings said...

Black devil's cup - makes me wonder if the guy is Muslim or one of those psycho Christians who think women are the source of sin.

Anonymous said...

I couldn't help reading that blurb as "a hot-blooded woman who yielded to Bowie's hard-muscled willy".

Which would have been a more honest way of putting it.

Eggmaster said...

The unabridged edition was way...earthier. And the abridged edition leaves out at least three of the raw threads of classic literature.

Schmoopale said...

I read "Big Sky" as "Big Sexy." I know how you love the redheads. -Shauna

LGD said...

I need a cold shower after just reading this post. How could I survive reading the book itself?

Anonymous said...

Zoanna "yielded" to Bowie, but Travis thinks she was "raped"? Seems to me Zoanna's got some 'splainin' to do.

Michael5000 said...

Who did William H. Jacobs have to yield to in order to get this crap reviewed in the New York Times?