2.16.2009

Sultry Sunday #22 - The weekly "Pop Sensation" crossover

OK, so it's Sultry Monday. I was away for the weekend, during which I made a new purchase. It ties in nicely with the last post, re: how (not) to use babies on book covers. Enjoy.

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Paperback 200: Perma Books M-4026 (2nd ptg, 1955)

Title: That None Should Die
Author: The insanely prolific Frank G. Slaughter
Cover artist: Charles Binger

So I had an early 70s movie tie-in of Chester Himes' "Cotton Comes to Harlem" all cued up and ready to go as my 200th Paperback ... and then I went to Plattsburgh.


Best things about this cover:

  • This doctor is

a. preparing to shoot the newborn at the ceiling like a rubberband
b. preparing to make "newborn tea"
c. deciding whether to keep it or throw it back
d. looking Way too long and hard at the baby's genital region, or
e. so handsome that nobody cares what he's actually doing

  • I love how the mother is the very least important figure on the cover - almost like an afterthought, or a shorthand visual cue to let you know that the baby is alive and he didn't steal it.
  • "That none should die, Dr. Rand Handsome ingested the mysterious, rune-inscribed baby before it could explode."

Best things about this back cover:

  • "That story alone is fascinating" - uh, no, sorry it's not.
  • If this description makes the book sound anti-socialized/nationalized medicine, that's because the book *is* anti-socialized/nationalized medicine. The first (teaser) page has as its headline: "President announces medical care free to rich and poor alike!" - in this book, that's the terrifying Orwellian future. Because we all know that real doctors are all driven by "ideals" (see cover), unlike nameless bureaucrats who want only to flatten all social distinctions and erect statues of Lenin.

Page 123~

"I shouldn't be saying this, I suppose, but you look like a better class of man than we usually get in a job like this, and I hope you're going to stay with us."


He added, "I mean, I'm not gay or anything, but dear god you're handsome."

~RP

15 comments:

camille said...

that baby is a very hairy newborn.

Anonymous said...

Does he get the nurse or the mother of the sexless baby?

Alissa Grosso said...

Crowscious,
It definitely looks like he is eyeing the mother. Do we know who this baby's father is?

Miss Maggie said...

So THAT'S how you turn a trick. And all this time I thought...well, nevermind...

Anonymous said...

The nurse looks a lil like she wants him too. I hope it's a happy ending anyway.

lauredhel said...

... and all babies are born blue. Gotta love it when manly medico-gods think they invented the switch from the fetal circulation to the born-human circulation.

BikerPuppy said...

I'm so glad the cover confirms that this is the complete book! I was worried I might just get the "intern to super-doctor" part.

Anonymous said...

Young Dr. Warren likes to turn tricks, apparantly. ;)

Anonymous said...

newborn tea! *dying*

high.on.markers said...

I heard a rumour that there was a time when just having the word 'doctor' in your title guaranteed higher book sales. I think 'nurse' had a slightly less pronounced effect

xenobiologista said...

Medicine in the USA already HAS been taken out of the hands of doctors and given over to "politicians, bureaucrats, and quacks", i.e., HMOs, Big Pharma, and industry lobbyists. And it all happened with the privatized medicine you have now.

Mark Wadsworth said...

Re your point d), the good news is that "'his ideals prove stronger than any temptation"'.

Isn't the mother quietly bleeding to death, poor lass?

high.on.markers said...

more medical book covers
http://www.uwm.edu/Library/special/nurse_romance/archive_romance.htm

would the cover for 'ski resort nurse' be too obvious for this site?

Anonymous said...

Am I the only one who finds the relation between the title and the author's surname... incredibly hilarious?

Laura Nõmmik said...

Yeah, that was one of the first things I noticed..interesting choice of pseudonym, very interesting indeed.