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Apr 15

Nope, I didn't squash the photo! It's really like that. That's why he has a single tear!Click for full image

Art Direction: Long ago an old wise man gave me an ancient remedy to find my inner soul. I looked into a mirror and my face was elongated, like in one of those wacky mirrors at a funfair. I couldn’t help but notice the four screws of enlightenment, it made me cry. Turned out I’d just taken LSD, but what the hell, it would make an awesome cover!
Published 1979

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: 8.82 out of 10)
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20 Responses to “The Unexpected Dimension”

  1. Tom Noir Says:

    Yes Bob, this cover DOES make you look fat.

  2. THX 1138 Says:

    Dolph Lundgren in a pressurised container?

  3. Bibliotropic Says:

    Looks like Arnold Schwartzenegger’s crying in fron of a funhouse mirror…

  4. SophaLoaf Says:

    I agree, Bibliotropic.

    “It’s not a too-mah!”

  5. SI Says:

    Why the screws? Is it supposed to be some sort of mirror? A yellow mirror?

  6. Dalton H. Says:

    Don’t you hate it when your upper head cries and it gets in your lower mouth?

  7. Phil Says:

    I have this book! I think he looks like Action Man, or possibly one of the characters from Thunderbirds.

    The screws make this quite a clever concept, I think. It might be a mirror, or it might be a part of the shiny spaceship that we can assume this character travels in. I can’t for the life of me remember whether there is a spaceship in this book. Or a mirror. Or a tear.

    I have made it through several decades without having to say the name “Algis Budrys” out loud. Like “A.E.van Vogt”, it’s one of those names I THINK I know how to pronounce, but I can’t be sure.

    So much uncertainty!

  8. Zycrow Says:

    Perhaps if you speak the name out loud, you would reach enlightenment.

    And then your face would telescope.

  9. Scott Marlowe Says:

    Is that Tom Berenger?

  10. Frank Says:

    …I have two faces..and I WILL scream!..

  11. Scott B Says:

    The artist decided that the unexpected dimension was width. I for one would never have expected so much of it.

  12. Jane Says:

    Maybe if you unfasten the screws, the cover of the book comes off.

  13. Dear Prudynce Says:

    Is this guy crying because his face is stretched out?

  14. Smith Says:

    “NOBODY expects the Unexpected Dimension. Our chief weapon is
    surprise…surprise and fear…fear and surprise…. Our two weapons are fear
    and surprise…and ruthless efficiency…. Our *three* weapons are fear,
    surprise, and ruthless efficiency…and an almost fanatical devotion to the
    Tom Berenger…. Our *four*…no… *Amongst* our weapons…. Amongst our
    weaponry…are such elements as fear, surprise…. I’ll come in again.”

  15. arch9enius Says:

    The unexpected glass door? *whump*

  16. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:

    This is a problem I have with science fiction in general.

    Dimensions are quantitative characteristics to describe matter. Length, width, height, time. Anything like “the Lost Dimension” or “Dimension X” is something at right angles to our universe that we must be interacting with, yet, it also implies that we no longer have our usual, matter-descriptive characters. Suddenly, we’re all energy, or Xs, or something. I can’t visualise it at all, and it bothers me.

    So, partly what I’m trying to say is, any new dimensions would be unexpected dimensions to me.

    Partly what I’m trying to say is, I think we should make up new dimensions to measure things. Like, say, Tropical. Essex is measured ‘low’ in Tropical, and has been since the Eocene, while Bimini is ‘high’ in Tropical. Or Sexual Satisfaction. After spending all week close to the origin, Saturday night comes round and suddenly, boom! You’ve moved a great long way along the Sexual Satisfaction axis.

    Let me conclude by saying that Mr. Budry’s novel’s cover must be measured with the dimension Ridiculous, and it must be measured a very great deal.

  17. Rev Says:

    @DSWBT – are you saying, that on Saturday nights Essex experiences a pronounced spike in sexually transmitted tropical diseases? Is your given name Dickie? Do you come from Billericay?

  18. Tat Wood Says:

    @Rev: I was going to counter Dead Stuff’s point with some arcane wise-crack about String Theory but you’ve trumped me – you’re doing very well.

    Stand by to explain it to Bibliomancer.

  19. B. Chiclitz Says:

    @Tat Wood—funny, I was going to mention the importance of Inflation in measuring the sexual satisfaction axis. Bibliomancer, I am sure, would approve.

  20. A.R.Yngve Says:

    Well, at least the cover sort of admits how screwed up it is.

    BA-DA-BUM!

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