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Mar 20

I hate it when you get a metal nipple vest that doesn't fit... so embarrassing!Click for full image

Bilbiomancer Comments: So as I understand it fish started walking upright, evolved into robots, evolved into birdmen, evolved into women, evolved into Human? Got it!
Published 1954
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: 8.58 out of 10)
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31 Responses to “Human?”

  1. Phil Says:

    I assumed we had to answer the question, “Human?”

    So, from left to right:

    Apparently (top half man, bottom half not known)
    Probably (woman)
    Unlikely (at least 30% chicken)
    Possibly (spacesuit hides a multitude)
    Definitely not (fish with legs)
    Perhaps in a former life (wispy ghost)

    I like to think that this parade continues off-screen…

  2. Sir Exal Says:

    Or Dancer?

  3. dloburns Says:

    Anybody else seeing Steve-O from Jackass?

  4. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:

    So, if he gives her cheek, she pulls on the neck wozmit and his head falls off?

  5. Jaouad Says:

    Say what you will, but this cover was clearly ahead of its time. Not only does it have a non-white hero (sort of) in the foreground, but also: Uma Thurman! Free-range chicken! Full citizenship for domestic appliances! Uplifted fish!

  6. SI Says:

    The robot looks happy at least… but the man fish looks a bit disturbed!

  7. Tom Noir Says:

    Many men have trouble finding a ‘bro’ that fits.

  8. THX 1138 Says:

    “Want to wear a bra but don’t want to wear a woman’s bra?” I think human in front is answering “Mom!”

  9. Jaouad Says:

    Which nipples would one need to tweak to turn him on?

  10. JuanPaul Says:

    @dloburns, that’s the first thing I thought of when I saw the cover! 🙂

  11. NGpm Says:

    Steve-O looks terrified by Betty Page. Wonder what was said just before what’s recorded on the cover.

  12. Tom Noir Says:

    In the future, fashion show catwalks are suspended over hot lava for extra entertainment.

  13. FearofMusic Says:

    To me it looks like the dude front and center is looking off screen at the art director saying “Really? They actually pay you to come up with ideas like this? With money? Àctual, real möney?”

  14. fred Says:

    Fishman went on to Hollywood and headlined ‘Horror From Party Beach’ and ‘Humanoids From the Deep’.

  15. RachelJ Says:

    @Tom Noir. That is actually a very good idea…

  16. Anti-Sceptic Says:

    Is the guy in front wearing the modern version of the stethoscope? Or is it some contraption for him to send sound back to his throat so that he can feel the vibrations of his voice?

  17. Ewan Says:

    @Anti-Sceptic – I think it’s Apple’s new product – the iVest. Music player, phone and stethoscope all in one handy garment.

    (iBra was already trademarked by the Swedish footballer)

  18. Rags Says:

    Thats not Steve-O its Tiger Woods!

    Why does the robot have cookie monster googly eyes?? Cookie, cookie, cookie, um-yum-yum.

  19. FearofMüsic Says:

    The robot appears to have a lazy eye, same ol’ decent lazy eye, and notice how the quality goes down as the line goes back. A subtle reference to the degenerating effect of de-evolution on the part of the artist, yes? Eh, probably not.
    The fella front and center appears to be gazing off screen, perhaps at the art director?
    “They pay you to come up with ideas like this? Really? Pay, as with actual real money? Really?”

  20. Linden Says:

    In the future, telemarketing gets weird.

  21. Phil Says:

    @Rags: Googly eyes? Not so much Cookie Monster as… Mister Blobby. Ye gods!

  22. Claire Says:

    It’s the new gameshow from the makers of Sale of the Century.

  23. B. Chiclitz Says:

    There’s so much *here* here. The blurb, judging by its use of capitalization, may have been written by Emily Dickinson. The Unrevealed 15, who, apparently by being published in the anthology, became, by that very fact, the best 15 science-fantasy writers in the world, but not even one of whose names should grace the book’s cover. The stories—with 15 different authors, just what could a theme like “Humans?” mean anyway? Did the editors have the cover in mind ahead of time? (MERRIL: Ok, so far so good. Now we need a story about a lazy-eyed robot with a perfectly spherical head who stands on a burning lava conga line between an upright-walking Fishphibian and a rather androgynously-built Birdman, 2000 words tops. Call Ellison.) Or, did they finish they cover first, and then . . . just wait until the stories were written?

  24. Phil Says:

    Good to see that the new BEHIND YOU tag is coming in useful. I always said it would!

  25. HappyBookwyrm Says:

    This cover is one of my all-time favorites! I want to read this book. Or possibly try to write a story that incorporates everything in this parade-o-weirdness. Or both.

    If Amazon reviews are to be trusted, this book contains stories by the likes of Asimov and H.G. Wells. It also contains a story about someone’s memories about participating in a spitting contest…The cover promises randomness and it delivers.

  26. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:

    [A]bort, [R]etry, [I]gnore, [H]uman?

  27. A.R.Yngve Says:

    Can you buy this book and still call yourself…
    HUMAN?

  28. A.R.Yngve Says:

    STUPID?

  29. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:

    @SirExal: One year, two months, two days later, and I get the joke. 😐

  30. Raoul Says:

    Is that you, Jerry Seinfeld?

  31. Tor Mented Says:

    Frederic Brown one through 204 refused to write an introduction for the book.

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