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Jul 07

Trumps of Doom

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Ah, I see you have the new apple face-pad.Click for full image

E’s Art Direction: Make him look like Darth Vader, but lame…
Published 1985

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: 5.71 out of 10)
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25 Responses to “Trumps of Doom”

  1. Druaightagh Says:
    July 7th, 2011 at 9:57 am

    I had those once, after extra strong jalfrezi…

  2. Repton Says:
    July 7th, 2011 at 9:59 am

    That cover would make a lot more sense on _Creatures of Light and Darkness_..

  3. Phil Says:
    July 7th, 2011 at 10:07 am

    Methinks Mr Zelazny, being an Americorn, knows not the British slang term “trump”.

  4. THX 1138 Says:
    July 7th, 2011 at 10:24 am

    “You mean I wore my own specially designed gas mask for a game of bridge?!”

  5. Tom Noir Says:
    July 7th, 2011 at 11:58 am

    Had no idea Zelazny wrote Fantastic Four fanfic.

  6. SI Says:
    July 7th, 2011 at 12:15 pm

    The senior middle class worst nightmare… cyborg hoddies!

  7. Mike Says:
    July 7th, 2011 at 1:56 pm

    Whoa whoa, they swiped Michael Whelan’s cover art to Brother Assassin – and then made it lame!

    http://www.paperbackfantasies.jjelmquist.com/images/whelan/SaberhagenBrother.JPG

  8. Phil Says:
    July 7th, 2011 at 4:38 pm

    Mike, good find! Whelan’s version wins, hands down. (Or clock-wielding claws down, to be more accurate.)

  9. Smith Says:
    July 7th, 2011 at 7:08 pm

    The new Apple iFace needed work.

  10. Diane McIlmoyle Says:
    July 8th, 2011 at 11:50 am

    I can safely say that’s the most hilarious thing I’ve seen in an age, thanks to the publisher’s absence of understanding of UK slang!

  11. A.R.Yngve Says:
    July 8th, 2011 at 10:55 pm

    “Aaaa-CHOO!!”
    “Gesundheit, Lord Vader!”

  12. Ian Says:
    July 10th, 2011 at 5:21 am

    What a terrible cover for a book in a great series. Random cover chosen, do publishers want to sell these books I wonder…

  13. Don Hilliard Says:
    July 10th, 2011 at 4:49 pm

    @Ian: I’m pretty certain that this cover was never intended to appear in a bookstore. Even though the publisher is apparently shown as Underwood-Miller (the identical copy on my own bookshelf says Arbor House), it’s a Science Fiction Book Club edition.

    SFBC was notorious in the Eighties as a tool for publishers to screw over writers. If a writer’s contract specified both hardcover and paperback releases, the publisher would subcontract hardcover publication to SFBC which printed scaled-down, low-quality editions and then sold them for about the same price as a paperback, through no channel except the book club or by special order direct from the publisher. The catch was that royalties were based on the assumption that the publisher was bearing greater expense for hardcover publication, so received a higher percentage of the profit (while in reality were spending very little for production, and nothing for promotion or shipping since both of those were handled completely by SFBC.)

    And as you’ll see elsewhere on this very site, SFBC didn’t get the top artists to do most of their covers in that era…

  14. Dalton H. Says:
    July 18th, 2011 at 1:47 am

    I hate that villain in the new G.I. Joe movie.

  15. J. Says:
    March 27th, 2012 at 2:18 pm

    Great site. I realize this is old but, I just wanted to also mention that this is a plagiarized version of a Michael Whelan cover for Saberhagen’s Brother Assasin.

  16. Tom Noir Says:
    June 16th, 2015 at 9:06 pm

    Let’s see if I can list the Trumps of Doom. There’s Donald, Ivana…

  17. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:
    June 16th, 2015 at 9:17 pm

    The new Abominable cover by
    NED DAMERON

  18. L.B. Says:
    November 26th, 2015 at 4:00 am

    So what kinda hand is a doom one that it trumps all others? And is the guy on the cover a real card or what?

  19. Anna T. Says:
    December 17th, 2015 at 8:04 pm

    Hey, it’s Robot’s creepier cousin!

    (Does no one else here read Gunnerkrigg Court? Because seriously, that’s what this looks like.)

  20. A.R.Yngve Says:
    December 24th, 2015 at 8:11 am

    You gotta admit, there’s something eerily prophetic about this book cover. The 2016 election might become the Trump of Doom…

  21. Ray P Says:
    January 14th, 2016 at 9:30 pm

    Swiss army face.

  22. GSS noob Says:
    January 9th, 2017 at 11:27 pm

    And lo, it came to pass that we were all Doomed by Trump.
    (Dude’s a bit reminiscent of Doctor Doom, who Putin is kinda like)

  23. Tom Noir Says:
    January 10th, 2017 at 11:05 am

    Zelazny was a surprisingly prescient writer!

  24. JuanPaul Says:
    February 16th, 2017 at 9:35 pm

    I prefer the sequel: Drumpfs of Tomb

  25. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:
    February 16th, 2017 at 10:51 pm

    Let’s have the appropriate background music…

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