signet horror paperback covers of the 70s and 80s and related desiderata

back when signet was king of the airport bookstand

those 70s farmers were by bob pepper who also did those great PKD covers for DAW in the 80s

And who ALSO did... Forever Changes!

"THE MOST UNINHIBITED, DELICIOUS, EROTIC NOVEL A WOMAN EVER WROTE"

"THE MOST BACKHANDED, SEXIST BLURB..."

And who ALSO did... Forever Changes!

― Lewis Apparition (Jon Lewis), Monday, July 30, 2012 6:37 PM (25 minutes ago)

during my googling today I stumbled across the blog of a guy who theorized that pepper did the uncredited 60s signet cover for do androids dream of electric sheep based on its similarity to forever changes

this one

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/ea063acc.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm243/andydecker/HerbertDomain-1.jpg
The thirs Herbert Rats book really frwaked me out--nucelar war destroys the waorld, and the surviviors scrabble round in the rubble being eaten by the intelligent rats of the first two books, now rulers of the world.

http://www.bookitinc.com/pictures225/984804.jpg
This is actually pretty good (I'm a big Bainbridge fan), about two girls who decide to kill an adult--based on the same true story as inspired Heavenly Creatures

That's very effective, looks like the girls next door in my 70s neighborhood. Wonder if the idea for that Salem's Lot ocver came from the original jacket of White Light White Heat: plain black 'til tilted, when a l'il skull could be seen. Think Reed or Cale said the cover was a photo of a biker's tattoo.

More Signet horror covers:

http://lh4.ggpht.com/-V-IBwAUePr4/T6EUxHK2B-I/AAAAAAAAGQo/0e3rEwRROik/chesbro_affairofsorcerers_signet1979_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aNmqmLah6BU/T848JWzj19I/AAAAAAAAGRQ/G6_3ctPo4FU/s1600/The+Religion+nicholas+conde+1982+Signet+pbk.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lXubxyM7PEM/T8w8QOQ66zI/AAAAAAAAApc/AmxhTzg8hL4/s1600/scan0006.jpg

A different Rats cover
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U3nuI31Kmpo/T4NfVYX4sjI/AAAAAAAAFw8/a8XY9z8ddGc/s1600/rats%2Bjames%2Bherbert%2Bsignet%2Bbooks%2Breprint.jpg

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2719/4453537387_279d107384_o.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zKfmA6an1SU/TZSO8ZQwScI/AAAAAAAADTQ/yjW82M9HtLc/s1600/dew%2Bclaws.jpg

forgot all about herbert's threads, er, domain I mean

an affair of sorcerers was a detective novel but yeah the cover looks like another escapee from the horror divi

the summer visitors cover is creeping me out

that second cover of the rats says a lot about the new era of signet. I know styles change but they just lost the plot somewhere along the way. these covers nowadays aren't going to haunt the bedtimes of children or feed their dreams of monstrous smirking reptiles swimming in rivers of fucking blood.

I remember staring at this cover for long periods of time.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GfiJkpBdA5E/TirlDlHQf-I/AAAAAAAADz8/OemIso8AqZ0/s1600/in%2Bthe%2Bflesh.JPG

freaky, looks kinda like robert williams

omg this entire thread is basically junior high for me

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/the_killing_gift.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/the_visitor.jpg

From James Herbert's wiki entry

James Herbert, OBE (born 8 April 1943, London[1]) is a best-selling English horror writer who originally worked as the art director of an advertising agency. He is a full-time writer who also designs his own book covers and publicity. His books have sold over forty-two million copies.[2]

I can't believe herbert designed *all* his book covers

cuz that means the guy who came up with this

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/lair_sm.jpg

also came up with this

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/herbertlair.jpg

and I don't want to live in that world

not a signet book but this thread made me check if this cover art was half as frightening to me as when i read it as a kid
http://ca.pbsstatic.com/xl/80/6380/56380.jpg
lolnope

Plenty of fun covers to be found here:

http://uncledougsbunkerofhorror.blogspot.com/

I had this one as a lad and it scared me good:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qpg4IricKFw/UCfO7cBr2CI/AAAAAAAAAyo/DiZ3m0sm4v0/s1600/late-at-night-1.jpg

Been a long time since I read it, but liked this:

http://www.neconebooks.com/BOOKS/TheFaceThatMustDie_COVER.jpg

a friend has it with this cover

http://www.brixpicks.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/face.jpg

But this is the one I still have

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AeV-ZglWJk0/TipZhO_M6sI/AAAAAAAAAY0/wJfdZfLbgh4/s1600/scan0047.jpg

http://www.strangethingsarehappening.com/britcultmovies.html

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bYtLwlwME8M/UiQEwdd-a7I/AAAAAAAAKXc/ChyB1AcePe4/s1600/Berserkers+-+Apr+1974,+ed.+Roger+Elwood,+pub+-+Pocket+Books,+0-671-77769-6,+C.95,+191pp,+pb,+anth+-+Cover+-+Mike+Gross.JPG" class="noborder">.95,+191pp,+pb,+anth+-+Cover+-+Mike+Gross.JPG" class="noborder">.95,+191pp,+pb,+anth+-+Cover+-+Mike+Gross.JPG" class="noborder">.95,+191pp,+pb,+anth+-+Cover+-+Mike+Gross.JPG" class="noborder">.95,+191pp,+pb,+anth+-+Cover+-+Mike+Gross.JPG" class="noborder">.95,+191pp,+pb,+anth+-+Cover+-+Mike+Gross.JPG" class="noborder">.95,+191pp,+pb,+anth+-+Cover+-+Mike+Gross.JPG" class="noborder">.95,+191pp,+pb,+anth+-+Cover+-+Mike+Gross.JPG" class="noborder">.95,+191pp,+pb,+anth+-+Cover+-+Mike+Gross.JPG" class="noborder">

arrgh... sorry about the garbage code

http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4039/4493513282_b6cb57299d_z.jpg

ooh those are good. i like the skull especially.

These always remind me of books my dad used to read on the beach

I like the Ballantine Lovecraft covers also:
http://i40.tinypic.com/zob380.jpg
http://i41.tinypic.com/2lt3cls.jpg
http://i44.tinypic.com/2j3mi9z.jpg

ok well maybe that third one is kinda goofy

He's just a fun guy from Yuggoth, look at his cheeky little face.

Hooooooooly shit: http://www.quirkbooks.com/book/paperbacks-hell#

Wow

full disclosure, i'm involved with this but:

http://www.booklistreader.com/?s=we+read+dead+people

That Grady Hendrix book is a collection of his Tor.Com articles

In all honesty, I'd happily buy a book of '80s horror paperback covers with nothing but lorem ipsum dolor text filling the space between them, so that's cool.

both of these links are v v useful to me!

The Tricycle!

I'm always glad when this thread rises from the dead.

He's just a fun guy from Yuggoth, look at his cheeky little face.

― emil.y, Sunday, 8 September 2013 22:12

I was thinking "damn, I wish I'd thought of that!" but subsequently discovered there's an essay series in Crypt Of Cthulhu magazine called Fun Guys From Yuggoth from the 80s.

That Grady Hendrix book is a collection of his Tor.Com articles

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 6 July 2017 18:31 (four months ago)

Actually it isn't. His Tor reviews of books were quite lengthy but Paperbacks From Hell has quite brief summaries of books. People are definitely tracking down the recommended books, they pop up in my goodreads feed.

that book is fantastic by the way, got through it very fast

It really is. I was very pleasantly surprised by how many (hundreds) of covers Hendrix was able to pack into that thing.

Have my eye 👁 on this book.

I read it last week, it is excellent

leafing through library copy now