Apr 17
Good Show Sir Art Direction: This cover has to be at the printers in 15 minutes. Just cut some pop stars out of Melody Maker and paint over the collage. And add a rocket — it’s supposed to be “science fiction”. Next time don’t smoke angel dust before you come to work.
Published 1971
April 17th, 2017 at 12:28 pm
There will be a 1985, but Manfred Mann’s Earth Band won’t be together to enjoy it.
April 17th, 2017 at 1:00 pm
I think the odds of there being a secret Hoover FBI file on Mr Lupoff increased dramatically because of this cover.
April 17th, 2017 at 1:13 pm
“We’re Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Cover. We hope you will enjoy our book! Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Cover. Open up and take a look!”
April 17th, 2017 at 1:26 pm
Enormous turquoise hover-hand behind the groupie. Is this musician a Motie?
April 17th, 2017 at 2:22 pm
Art direction: “Let’s circle the boob, in case our audience misses it!”
April 17th, 2017 at 2:26 pm
At first I thought the title was Sacred Locomotive Files, which doesn’t make much sense. Then I realized it was Sacred Locomotive Flies. That doesn’t make any sense either. But the cover is groovy!
April 17th, 2017 at 2:56 pm
THE FAST AND THE BILIOUS
April 17th, 2017 at 2:57 pm
I checked, and not only was there a 1985, there was a Dick Lupoff for it!
April 17th, 2017 at 3:09 pm
Was there an injunction preventing the use of the term ‘Soul Train’?
April 17th, 2017 at 4:00 pm
Purple hair and shades drummer resembles Phil Collins. Is this a cover of confusion?
April 17th, 2017 at 4:49 pm
Grand F*cked Railroad
April 17th, 2017 at 5:01 pm
The magenta aircraft with all those engines and no windshield also has serious perspective issues.
April 17th, 2017 at 5:04 pm
So when he’s not writing trippy sf, Dick spends his time boxing Beagles?
April 17th, 2017 at 5:37 pm
1985? More like 1965, complete with the subtle effects of LSD and a groovin’ dance party.
April 17th, 2017 at 7:11 pm
@B. Chiclitz – This is a Beagle Boxer edition. I prefer the Beagle Briefs.
April 17th, 2017 at 8:42 pm
The official term for a beagle/boxer mix is a “boggle”, and they are adorable:
https://animalso.com/breeds/boxer-beagle-mix/
April 17th, 2017 at 10:46 pm
@JuanPaul—this cover “boggles” my mind, but not so adorably. 😉
April 18th, 2017 at 3:19 am
As part of a promotion for the first edition, they soaked the cover in acid. Just lick before reading.
April 18th, 2017 at 3:33 am
I’ve met Mr. Lupoff on several occasions (post 1985), and a worse mismatch of author to cover cannot be imagined.
@Tat Wood: indeed, the Soooul Train parallel is the only idea that can make even a modicum of sense of the title.
April 20th, 2017 at 4:53 am
The Sacred Locomotive has Flies, because no one on this frigging hippie bus ever does the damn dishes! I swear laying around dropping acid, believing you’re the next Greatful Dread and coming up with long rambling discourses entwining “cosmic oneness” with sex is fine, but if you ever leave this “spaceship” for ten minutes when you come back the smell is going to knock you out!
April 25th, 2017 at 11:46 pm
A science fiction novel by
Luchard Ripoff
July 16th, 2019 at 12:22 am
There’s a ‘gibberish title’ tag, what about ‘word salad title’?
October 23rd, 2019 at 10:06 am
Remember when people actually wrote SF stories about the cool, rad Rock Bands of the Future?
That all seems so dated now… like mentioning “CD-ROMs” (I’m looking at YOU, Margaret Atwood) or phone booths.
October 25th, 2019 at 3:26 am
@A.R. Yngve: I think the problem is not so much writing about rock bands, but rock bands that are suspiciously like the ones at the time of writing. Unlike CD-roms, there will be cool, rad bands in the Future, [1] but they may not be called “rock” bands, or have anything more in common with 70s and 80s Giants of Rock than they do with 14th century strolling lute players.
[1] Discounting the possible total collapse of civilization and playing music being just something the tribe members with the better breath control and sense of rhythm do at the annual Moon God Celebration and Long Pig barbecue. .