Over at The Rap Sheet, J. Kingston Pierce has an interesting post on paperback cover revisionism. As anyone who reads this blog knows, I like to post links to what I call "book cover porn." My use of the term porn is tongue-in-cheek and has as much to do with the visual appeal of the book covers as it does with any overtly sexual content (although that's not absent.)
I agree with Pierce that we live in strange times when book covers that would fly in the Fifties wouldn't fly now.
You can log onto the Internet and look at pictures of (insert your favorite sexual act here), but heaven forbid someone browsing in a bookshop might see a drawing of a naked lady. Sheesh.
This is currently my favorite book cover. It's got it all: a naked woman, a gun, liquor and money. If there's something missing I don't know what it is.
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2 comments:
Wow. I hope you understood that I was aware you were using the term "book cover porn" in jest, not to condemn. I really enjoy Independent Crime, by the way, especially those references to classic covers and forgotten authors (such as Spike Morelli). Keep up the good work.
-- Jeff Pierce, The Rap Sheet
Yes. I didn't mean to imply you didn't get it. The explanation probably wasn't needed, but I did it anyway, mostly because whenever you link to my site you cause a lot of traffic (a good thing.) I just wanted to make sure the people who were reading about it, got it, and also to draw attention to your post, which I found very interesting.
Thanks for your kind words.
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