It’s the seventies, someone had the chance to paint a bejeweled, flying steam locomotive and they chose this instead. Some things are truly beyond comprehension.
At some point in this copy’s history some frustrated reader had enough and simply busted a cap on this cover, leaving a neat bullet hole in the upper right corner.
“You want Alien Heat? I’ll show you alien heat. Hot lead.”
So if the sun’s setting just slightly to the right of the end of the painting but the shadow of the paintbrush is pointing almost due left, what’s creating the shadow?
That’s not as big a mystery as how anyone can read this book and think ‘paintbrush at sunset’.
@Tat, B’mancer: maybe that’s a black hole in the sky at upper right, and it’s bending the light just so so that the shadow is coming from the wrong direction. Future earth, itinerate black holes, that sort of thing.
“You come back here and FINISH painting that cover! Or you won’t get paid, you hear?? Crap… deadline’s shot already. Just take a picture of the damn brush and send it to the printer. I’m off to the pub…”
@ B. Chiclitz – Thanks for pointing out the hole punch; I hadn’t noticed at first. When I saw it, it reminded me of those holes that come in The Farmer’s Almanac. You know, so you can hang the book up on a string and consult it daily? Although the hole is usually in the spine side so you don’t tie the book CLOSED…
On the alien cock: highly appropriate given how the book tells the story of an odd romance between a sybaritic libertine from the far-future and a primly moral Edwardian English lady.
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April 11th, 2016 at 11:45 am
I’m so glad I signed up for GSS After Dark! There’s mammaries all over today’s cover, for a LOW, LOW Β£3!
April 11th, 2016 at 11:59 am
An Alien Sink Plunger.
April 11th, 2016 at 12:15 pm
Where is Rolf Harris?
April 11th, 2016 at 12:17 pm
No, wait, I see what this is, it’s actually VERY APPROPRIATE: one of those librarian’s book stamps to let you know when it’s due back at the library.
April 11th, 2016 at 12:34 pm
If a brush stands up like that, they’re going to have to soak it in turpentine for a couple days to even start cleaning it.
April 11th, 2016 at 12:38 pm
@ Ray P: Don’t make us sad.
April 11th, 2016 at 1:08 pm
It’s a Michael Moorcock paperback. A bad cover practically paints itself.
April 11th, 2016 at 1:54 pm
So, is the streak of paint in the foreground supposed to combine with the shadow cast by the brush and make a human silhouette?
April 11th, 2016 at 2:17 pm
Most people see a paintbrush, while I see a pack of cigarettes impaled to the ground with a butter knife.
April 11th, 2016 at 2:21 pm
It’s the seventies, someone had the chance to paint a bejeweled, flying steam locomotive and they chose this instead. Some things are truly beyond comprehension.
April 11th, 2016 at 2:59 pm
Of course this cover currently has a rating of “1”
It’s the equivalent of watching paint dry.
April 11th, 2016 at 3:13 pm
At some point in this copy’s history some frustrated reader had enough and simply busted a cap on this cover, leaving a neat bullet hole in the upper right corner.
“You want Alien Heat? I’ll show you alien heat. Hot lead.”
April 11th, 2016 at 3:44 pm
So if the sun’s setting just slightly to the right of the end of the painting but the shadow of the paintbrush is pointing almost due left, what’s creating the shadow?
That’s not as big a mystery as how anyone can read this book and think ‘paintbrush at sunset’.
April 11th, 2016 at 4:42 pm
@Tat Wood – Why of course it is the “alien” sun that is casting the odd shadow. We are not limited to one sunset on this planet.
April 11th, 2016 at 4:45 pm
@Bibliomancer: yes we are, it’s Earth at the end of time. Sort of the point of the book.
April 11th, 2016 at 5:51 pm
This strikes me as some sort of weird avant-garde art project – “Painting an Entire Planet with a Giant Paintbrush”. Capische?
April 11th, 2016 at 5:59 pm
@Tat, B’mancer: maybe that’s a black hole in the sky at upper right, and it’s bending the light just so so that the shadow is coming from the wrong direction. Future earth, itinerate black holes, that sort of thing.
April 11th, 2016 at 7:52 pm
After becoming the invisible man, all he had was his post modern art.
April 11th, 2016 at 8:17 pm
…Unicorns!?
April 12th, 2016 at 9:38 am
Where is Rolf Harris when you need him …
April 12th, 2016 at 11:09 am
@misterbob: post #3.
April 12th, 2016 at 11:39 am
Must get new glasses !
April 12th, 2016 at 12:37 pm
“You come back here and FINISH painting that cover! Or you won’t get paid, you hear?? Crap… deadline’s shot already. Just take a picture of the damn brush and send it to the printer. I’m off to the pub…”
April 12th, 2016 at 1:32 pm
@ B. Chiclitz – Thanks for pointing out the hole punch; I hadn’t noticed at first. When I saw it, it reminded me of those holes that come in The Farmer’s Almanac. You know, so you can hang the book up on a string and consult it daily? Although the hole is usually in the spine side so you don’t tie the book CLOSED…
@DSWBT – Let’s go with your black hole theory.
April 12th, 2016 at 6:36 pm
MICHAEL MOORHEAT
AN ALIEN COCK
I’m probably not the first person to make that joke, and I probably shan’t be the last.
April 12th, 2016 at 6:40 pm
@DSWBTβPerhaps the first person willing to put one’s name to it?
I’ve been trying to work some variation on the “More Cowbell” theme, but so far unsuccessfully.
April 12th, 2016 at 9:48 pm
@BC: then stop playing around with it! π π π π π π π π π π π π
April 12th, 2016 at 10:25 pm
On the alien cock: highly appropriate given how the book tells the story of an odd romance between a sybaritic libertine from the far-future and a primly moral Edwardian English lady.