Jun 20
Click for full imageWes Comments: I recently went to Hay-on-Wye in Wales for the first time, which is famous for it’s bookshops. There’s something like 28 second-hand bookshops in one tiny town, it’s incredible! So many obscure titles, such a rich vein of stunningly cheesy covers, I honestly felt a bit dizzy. So anyway, I only bothered snapping a few and this is my favourite.
Published 1987
(Average: 8.60 out of 10)
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June 20th, 2012 at 10:32 am
Is he wearing those things over his hands, or are they prosthetic limbs? I’m not going to say what they look like, but I will say I’ve never seen any quite that big. Good show, Sir!
Wot, no ‘font problems’ tag?
June 20th, 2012 at 11:25 am
I haven’t read it, but i read a little bit about it out of curiosity – apparently it was the first mainstream gay scifi novel! In it’s very sexually liberated society, the only taboo is loving an android. Why the android looks human except for the metal ‘arms’, and what exactly the function of those is, and why you’d need 2 of them, and, well if anybody can explain it to me, then… actually don’t, i don’t think I want to know lol.
June 20th, 2012 at 11:28 am
Heh, I have this book, albeit with a slighlty more tasteful cover. IIRC, those things on his arms are medical devices, and the guy in blue is his physical therapist.
George Nader was a famous Hollywood movie star in his day, and this book from 1978 is interesting for being an early ‘gay SF’ novel with actually quite a few homoerotic scenes. Of course, all it needed was a cover like this to make it an instant smash hit.
June 20th, 2012 at 12:18 pm
And Homoeroticism Week continues at GSS!
Today’s game is ‘Spot the Phalluses’! How many do you see on this cover, boys and girls? I counted eight!
June 20th, 2012 at 12:22 pm
The cover art is not so much homophobic as “homo-deterring” — as in: “This will scare you straight!”
Or maybe the cover artist was working out some deep-seated issues. I have NO idea.
June 20th, 2012 at 12:32 pm
Feet are hard to draw aren’t they.
The pillar on the left bothers. At what point does it stop being a pillar and start being a hooded-figure holding aloft a bare skull?
June 20th, 2012 at 12:36 pm
Thank goodness Cuddles an android. What would he do if he got a cold and had to wipe his nose?
June 20th, 2012 at 1:31 pm
Pickup Line: “So, what else have you got that’s sheathed in chrome?”
June 20th, 2012 at 1:49 pm
“My metal space hand restraints say no… but my topless shaved chest says yes…”
June 20th, 2012 at 2:06 pm
What I find interesting is the use of empty signifiers as symbolism. This cover conveys that the story is erotic with symbols which are assembled together like, and about as erotic as, Egyptian hieroglyphs. It’s anti-erotic.
I mean, I’m not in the target audience and I don’t claim to understand tastes, but this strikes me as the visual equivalent of a highway exit sign that says “Gas – Food – Lodging,” only it says “Gay – SF – Erotica.”
The expressionless chunk faces, the clumsy hands, the vaguely ignored feet, the sorta displayed but oddly sexless guy, the alarming cocktail-shaker forearms, all seem coldly distant from, even disapproving of the erotic. The hooded figure with the skull just seems like the final stamp of disapproval.
June 20th, 2012 at 2:12 pm
Yikes! this cover is not more tasteful.
June 20th, 2012 at 2:40 pm
“Just the back massage today, thanks.”
George Nader starred in Robot Monster! I hope that classic’s dialogue was reflected in this book: “I must… yet I cannot!” Is there a bubble machine too?
June 20th, 2012 at 4:17 pm
For the life of me I can’t remember what the hood and the skull had to do with anything.
I was referring to this cover:
http://ca.pbsstatic.com/l/61/6061/9781555836061.jpg
Which has its problems, and is also very much targeted at a certain demographic, but is the least horrifying I’ve seen.
June 20th, 2012 at 9:54 pm
I think Alessandra’s link beats this one, as hard as that was to imagine before I clicked on it…
June 21st, 2012 at 11:51 pm
Seriously, what’s with this romance/soft porn fascination all of a sudden?
June 25th, 2012 at 10:10 am
I don’t understand… what’s the point of wearing both belt and suspenders? Especially when your clothes are skin-tight like that?
July 17th, 2012 at 6:37 pm
Just when the Reaper was about to strike he noticed that he forgot his scythe at the other tower….doh!
November 2nd, 2012 at 9:34 pm
What is really disturbing is that it was propped up in front of the more…er…”kid-friendly”…Doctor Who books for its mug shot. Please tell me it wasn’t actually shelved near them.
Parent: “Oh look at this, “Chrome”, it’s shelved next to the Doctor Who books, it must be good for younger readers!” (Pulls book off shelf, sees cover) “Yikes!” (Hair falls out, bans Junior from going into the science fiction section, ever again).
November 3rd, 2012 at 11:51 am
Well, unless Junior had two daddies, in which case the reaction would be a more reasonable: “I don’t trust a book in which one of the protagonists has no forearms. Maybe in a few years time, kid.”
November 3rd, 2012 at 2:41 pm
“Honey, can you PLEASE help me open the door?”
January 24th, 2022 at 12:49 am
Amazingly this cover pre-dates ‘Edward Penishands’.