Nov 07
V Coupland Comments: Well, it should have been titled, Off all possible covers. There is everything on such a small space! Naked woman running around with out-of proportion limbs, marine monsters and eyes, very big, desincarnated eyes. Just missing a cat man with a gun, to be really a must!
Published 1960
November 7th, 2013 at 10:03 am
Submarines 0, flying saucers 1
An impressionist cover that makes a clear impression, albeit not a favourable one….
November 7th, 2013 at 10:33 am
Hey, I played this game on the ZX Spectrum back in the 80s! Ah, nostalgia.
November 7th, 2013 at 10:52 am
The sad thing is, this wouldn’t really have stood out on the bookshelves of America in 1960 (from my other favourite time-sink http://www.retronaut.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/1.jpg ). Which is a shame: WIlliam Tenn is like a decaf Alfred Bester or a more subtle Robert Sheckley.
November 7th, 2013 at 11:49 am
So many sharp teeth, and yet everyone seems so jolly! Is it the colour scheme? The google-eyes?
November 7th, 2013 at 11:51 am
I remember seeing my friends mother reading this very book, with that cover, and thinking it was some sort of sexual education book.Being that I was eight at the time it seemed a fairly accurate representation of what sex was about.
November 7th, 2013 at 12:06 pm
This is like an optometrist’s eye chart in reverse, with the tiny type at the top. Only missing a single big “E” at the bottom. Does it qualify for “font problems”?
November 7th, 2013 at 1:52 pm
1. Is the tiny naked lady running because those are two naughty spermatazoa chasing her? Is that a parable of the human condition? Am I perhaps giving too much credit here?
2. Are the fish and the sub in space or is the UFO underwater?
November 7th, 2013 at 2:40 pm
@ B. Chiclitz – i think the UFO is coming to rescue the submarine, inside is a crew of catmen with laser guns!!
November 7th, 2013 at 2:43 pm
@Rags—thanks, mate, that explains everything! I’ll bet the catmen hold their laser guns like guitars too.
November 7th, 2013 at 3:39 pm
Surreal clip-art runs amok!
November 7th, 2013 at 4:30 pm
Looks like a bizarre and twisted version of the opening sequence for “The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.”
November 7th, 2013 at 5:17 pm
Eyeballs 9, William 10
November 7th, 2013 at 5:59 pm
Only Spongebob Squarepants is missing.
November 7th, 2013 at 6:06 pm
Just throw a bikini on the lady and it’s the plot for every SYFY movie ever made.
November 8th, 2013 at 6:07 am
An early contender for http://googlyeyebooks.tumblr.com/
November 8th, 2013 at 2:00 pm
And let us never forget the epitome of
googly-eyedness.
November 9th, 2013 at 3:32 am
It’s William Tenn, but there’s only nine surreal objects on the cover. NINE. (This bothers me for some reason.)
November 9th, 2013 at 9:34 am
@Jen: Maybe she’s running towards the vertical ‘Blanchard’.
November 27th, 2013 at 2:44 pm
I bet this was an easy one for the Tag Wizard.
November 29th, 2013 at 8:52 pm
How does “cleavage” qualify as a tag? I should see a line between two boobs. I would have gone with “side boob” in this case.
December 12th, 2013 at 12:52 pm
Right: Dick Cheney’s O-face.
July 28th, 2015 at 4:51 am
Of All Possible Worlds…
this is the one most reminiscent of the credits to Monsters Inc.
July 28th, 2015 at 11:18 am
Of All Possible Worlds…
this is the one made from Fuzzy Felt.
July 28th, 2015 at 11:57 am
Of All Possible Worlds…
I AM WILL in TENN of them.
October 28th, 2015 at 10:47 pm
Due to last week’s unfortunate construction paper incident, cover artists will no longer be allowed to participate in bring-your-child-to-work day.
December 3rd, 2019 at 4:41 pm
A rare case of star billing for the cover artist: His name was William, and he was (very nearly) Ten.
December 4th, 2019 at 6:15 am
@ump: GSS!