Vintage Pulp | Nov 26 2017 |

Sure, you can get a hot coffee—right in your lap if you don't get your meathooks off me
Rudolph Belarski once again shows his unique painterly skill on this cover for Mamie Brandon by Jack Sheridan. The book, which first appeared in 1949 in England, deals with Mamie Thomas, who runs a roadhouse in desolate central California. She becomes Mamie Brandon when she marries an older man for security, but quickly finds when an old flame reappears in town that money doesn't satisfy all her needs. You know the drill—attraction, infidelity, death. This Popular Library edition has two copyrights. The first date is listed as 1950 “by arrangement with the author,” but a second date specifies January, 1951. Since the book is slightly abridged, according to the editors, maybe the two copyrights make sense somehow.
Vintage Pulp | Aug 12 2016 |

A suitcase and a sense of adventure will take you anyplace you want to go (and some places you don't).
As noted in the above post, we've gotten a trip together for this summer, so we thought we'd inspire ourselves by collecting a set of paperback covers featuring characters with suitcases. Just about anything can happen once you leave the comfy confines of home and we're hoping several of the scenes depicted here come true for us. See if you can guess which. Hint: not the one above—we already did that last year when we got caught in a monsoonal downpour that shut the airport on the day we were supposed to fly. No, we're thinking we want something more like the below cover to happen. And actually, that's a guarantee because the Pulp Intl. girlfriends are coming with us. Anyway, this group of covers serves as a companion set to our hitchhiker collection from last year. Art is by Robert McGinnis, Mitchell Hooks, George Gross, and others.
Paul ConnollyClyde AllisonPeter ShelleyBrian MooreLuther GordonWilliam O'FarrellEugenie GaffneyJack SheridanGerald FosterDay KeeneJim ThompsonMichael AvalloneJames ClayfordKermit WellesAnn BannonMarty HollandScott LaurenceDon BellmoreDante ArfelliNorman BlighAl HineRalph DeanJoe WeissAnna SaundersMaurice DekobraWhit HarrisonJohn O'HaraJoe McDowRobert McGinnisMitchell HooksGeorge GrossVictor OlsonJames AvatiGuiseppe Bertecover collectioncover artliterature
Vintage Pulp | Dec 7 2015 |

Of course I have anger issues! You would too if you needed ridiculous hair to compensate for a tiny head!
It's always interesting to compare the covers of reissued paperbacks to the original editions. Often they're similar, but sometimes—as with the above examples—they're very different. These two versions of Thunderclap strongly reference the weather but that's all they have in common. Both from Fawcett, the top cover is from 1951, and the second appeared in 1959. Which do you prefer? Think carefully—these are like ink blots. One choice indicates a sane and insightful mind, while the other reveals deep psychological issues. We'll give you a hint—Clorox 'fro bad. Uncredited art for both covers.