Jul 10
Joachim Comments: Although borne in space, Ken still liked to go into towne centre and strut his special pants in front of the shoppes…
Published 1959
Joachim Comments: Although borne in space, Ken still liked to go into towne centre and strut his special pants in front of the shoppes…
Published 1959
July 10th, 2012 at 11:36 am
Coo-ee! Space fleet’s in and I’m all oiled n ready to go!
Is that a rocket or are you just pleased to see me?
Oh it is a rocket.
July 10th, 2012 at 11:40 am
I see that polyester pants are all the rage in space. How….er…sweaty….?
July 10th, 2012 at 11:40 am
And what does MBIS stand for?
The list of acronyms at the free dictionary suggests these among others:
Mobility Bag Inventory System
Model Based Information System
Multiplex Bus Interface Specification
July 10th, 2012 at 12:43 pm
MBIS is probably Macho Bear In Space.
wow, the author is, or was a priest!
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?2161
July 10th, 2012 at 12:45 pm
At first I wondered if this was a recently-published book giving a knowing wink to pulp covers. The guy looks much more recent than his background, what with his highlighted, muscular torso.
July 10th, 2012 at 12:47 pm
I hate to say this, but that model may not have marginally been wearing those trousers! Some sort of …. photoshop of 1959 seems to have messed with his hips!
July 10th, 2012 at 1:00 pm
SI, That only makes it better. It’s like a happy homemaker took the picture from her trouser sewing pattern package in an attempt to restore decency in the world.
July 10th, 2012 at 1:00 pm
Definitely not a new book — Badger books is a nefariously bad late 50s and early 60s imprint — almost all of their catalogue was written by R. L. Fanthorpe (and under about 15 publisher chosen pseudonyms). He wrote each in about a week (check the sci-fi encyclopedia if you don’t believe me) for ~20$s each.
July 10th, 2012 at 1:02 pm
Urgh, I forgot to spell Town with an E — Ken still liked to go into town[e] centre and strut his special pants in front of the shopp[e]s.
July 10th, 2012 at 1:50 pm
Before there was Baen Books…
July 10th, 2012 at 2:47 pm
Geez, that was a close shave considering the speed and trajectory of that rocket.
July 10th, 2012 at 4:12 pm
The lovely home maker made his pants too tight.
Also, what is that yellow miasma flowing from the earth?
I feel that these 2 things are linked.
July 10th, 2012 at 4:49 pm
I thought that was Action Man for a minute, then I saw that the hands and arm joints weren’t quite right. I agree that this looks like a modern parody of old crap SF, rather than genuine old crap SF. The designer was clearly ahead of his time.
July 10th, 2012 at 6:01 pm
Glancing at the titles of his books this cover could be appropriate for about half of them at least.
July 10th, 2012 at 7:57 pm
There’s a reason why Jason Borne became an amnesiac …
July 10th, 2012 at 8:01 pm
“Earthmen in name only?” Who the heck refers to themselves as ‘earthmen’?? If I was to refer to myself as a species, I would say ‘human’. Of course, I’m not an ultra-buff dude wearing super-tight polyester pants, so what do I know.
July 10th, 2012 at 9:48 pm
Just to the right of the trousers–you can’t miss it–it reads ‘two feet’. It’s clearly labeled.
Stop looking at me like that! It’s not my fault I read the title as ‘Space-Bone, by R. L. Panthorpe’.
July 11th, 2012 at 1:13 am
MBIS would be Member of the British Interplanetary Society and 2/- is another way to write the book price, two shillings.
I can’t recall ever having read one of his books, but from his webpage the man must be superhuman: journalist, headmaster, priest, TV/radio talking head, weightlifter, martial arts instructor, oh, and he writes books too.
July 11th, 2012 at 10:27 am
At first I thought it was the cover for some kind of risque porn-ish parody of old scifi. Like that book that had the man and his vibrator-armed robot on the cover, but intentionally silly.
July 11th, 2012 at 10:36 am
“Chrome”, that’s what it was called. I couldn’t remember anything but the giant vibrator-arms; a failed design if ever there was one:
Customer:
“I want to buy a copy of a scifi book, but i can’t remember the title or author because of the insane cover art.”
Retail Clerk:
“Can you tell me anything about it?”
Customer:
“I’d really rather not. “
July 17th, 2012 at 7:59 pm
MBIS stands for Man Bear In Space, or Masters of Business Information Systems….I’m leaning towards Man Bear.
February 4th, 2013 at 7:44 pm
Space-Bone, the fun frontier!
December 21st, 2015 at 2:52 pm
M.B.I.S. …??
– Minister’s Boyfriend Is Standing
– Musclebound Butch In Skiffy
– Modest Bulge In Slacks
– Might Be Into Spaceships
January 28th, 2016 at 3:08 pm
Father Lionel’s back in the news http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/28/porn-film-accidentally-shown-at-funeral-service-cardiff
January 28th, 2016 at 7:27 pm
Another Fortean mystery for Rev. Fanthorpe – weird transmissions, electronic voices?
January 29th, 2016 at 12:40 pm
@Muttley: It’s fun stay at the M.B.I.S…
February 12th, 2016 at 4:13 am
The Quatermass Sexual Xperiment
February 16th, 2016 at 8:53 am
A Novel About Fellowship
January 4th, 2017 at 4:29 am
He’s not space-borne, he’s Tom of Finland-borne.
Wiki tells me M/Bi means “Male, bisexual” in personal ads and internet dating, and we all know what S means in that context, so… that goes with the cover as well.
Ooo-err, Vicar!
October 2nd, 2019 at 4:09 pm
Welsh accent:
“I’m the only gay in this starship.”