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Jul 06

Ohhhh I get it.. no wait what...?Click for full image

Corwin Comments: Where to start… A truly wretched color scheme with a bright pink neon title, two title fonts that go in four different directions. Then the rest of the cover is way too busy including a blue shark, a green sub with pink polka dots, and a man hole cover. And lest we forget, the story has a computerized Ayn Rand as one of its characters.
Published 1998

Flying shark!
Many thanks to Corwin.

Actually, that cover IS a classical work of art!I would touch it without protective gloves.I've seen worse. Far, far, worse.Interesting, but I would still read it in public.Middlng: Neither awful nor awfully goodWould not like to be seen reading that!Awful... just awful...That belongs in a gold-lame picture frame!Gah... my eyes are burning! Feels so good!Good Show Sir! (Average: 8.66 out of 10)
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26 Responses to “Sewer, Gas & Electric”

  1. SI Says:

    This is glorious… simply glorious…

    Someone is throwing a giant Frisbee at the trade tower buidlings!

  2. SophaLoaf Says:

    somehow i am waiting for the shark to turn to face me from the cover to sing me ‘”Don’t Worry, Be Happy”

  3. Phil Says:

    I think I saw this discussed on a Channel 5 documentary called “The Twin Towers – What Really Happened?”. Hijacked aircraft? No, ’twas a flying shark, a spotty submarine and a huge manhole cover what brought them towers down.

  4. anon Says:

    What is the purpose of writing “a novel” on a book cover?

  5. A.R.Yngve Says:

    anon asked:
    “What is the purpose of writing ‘a novel’ on a book cover?”

    Well… it’s a desperation device of sorts. Like shouting “We’re RESPECTABLE people! Honestly!”

  6. SI Says:

    Anon> Possibly to let people know it is a novel. Not some drug endued hallucination you might be having in a book shop… not that I have had any experience with that type of thing.

  7. Andy Says:

    I sense a connection between the “Sewer” in the title and the cover…..

  8. DeadRobot Says:

    Ceci n’est pas une pile of crap

  9. John T Says:

    In Soviet Russia, shark jumps *you*…

    Thomas Pynchon thinks it’s “dizzyingly readable” – I love that. I always judge the quality of books by how nauseous they make me feel.

  10. NickG Says:

    @John T

    Do you suppose they made the title “dizzyingly readable” to mirror the review of the contents?

    Maybe I’m giving “them” too much credit.

  11. Chris Says:

    There is this, though, which makes the whole thing slightly more reasonable, if not any less garish:

    http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/09/0907_050907_glowingshark.html

  12. e.lee Says:

    We all live in the pink polka-dotted submarine!

  13. Moggy Says:

    I remember that novel. My gosh it was wretched.

  14. David Traver Adolphus Says:

    Man, I have that one. I really gotta get some of my collection shot before you do them all.

  15. stand Says:

    My! I seem to have gotten a case of whiplash from reading the text on this cover.

  16. Kathleen Says:

    cover shark says “I’m just a dolphin, ma’am”

  17. cutmanmike Says:

    This would look fantastic next to “Hunters of Red Moon”

  18. H Says:

    Sewer, gas, electric? That’s the author’s ‘bills to pay’ list, surely. There must’ve been a ghastly communication error.

  19. biogrrl Says:

    I read this book years ago and remember really loving it. Not the cover, however. The cover makes my eyes ache. All the more incentive to keep reading, though. As long as you’ve got the book open, you don’t have to look at what’s on the outside.

  20. Tom Noir Says:

    Was there ever a less enticing name for a trilogy?

    “The SPACE Trilogy!”
    “The LORD OF THE RINGS Trilogy!”
    “The HUNGER GAMES Trilogy!”
    “The, uh… Public Works… Trilogy?”

  21. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:

    @Tom:

    The 401(k) Trilogy
    The Municipal Bonds Trilogy
    The Civil Service Trilogy (that eventually encompasses five books and a short story collection)

    Readable? Maybe. Dizzying? For sure!

  22. RachelJ Says:

    Actually, this is one time that specifying that the book is “a novel” might be justified, since the reader could hardly be expected to guess.

  23. anon Says:

    What are the other books in this trilogy?
    Schools, Highways & Waterworks” and “Park Rangers, Pothole Fillers & Bridge Inspectors“?

  24. anon Says:

    @DeadRobot: Instead of “a novel” they should have that printed on the cover. Then again, either way the lady doth protest too much, methinks.

  25. Tat Wood Says:

    @anon 23: ‘Parks & Recreation’ was taken. They even had trading cards http://www.cardboardconnection.com/2013-press-pass-parks-and-recreation-trading-cards

  26. anon Says:

    While I do think Matt Ruff is a better pen name than, say, Wally Paper, Knive Kitchen or Woody Tablé and that it definitely is many steps above Shaggy Karpeth, I would have expected a novelist to come up with a name with a bit more pizazz (not piss-ass)..

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