Naughty SFF Paperbook Covers from the 1960s (Part 2)

Back to more SF sleaze.

Here’s another book that makes no sense. The title may be referring to The Night Life of the Gods, the 1931 fantasy humor novel by Thorne Smith, which was mild whimsy about what happens when Greek Gods enter contemporary New York and have a night out on the town. But the illustration depicts the future, when, presumably, Greek Gods aren’t in the picture anymore. Plus, the lady introduced in the cover text seems less intent on seducing the rocketeer than resisting his advances. Rather icky vibes there from the smirk on his mug. We do realize the scene’s intention, though,  from that rising, phallic rocket.

The cover would be a classic save for that piss-yellow background. So many 1960s paperbacks, I’ve found, utilize a garish yet off putting pastel color scheme that includes bubblegum pink, pukey shades of ochre, muddled turquoise and bruised purple. It’s likely related to the printing technology of the time and the ink colors available. I think of it was a Jean Renoir color scheme, but sullied and dull.  You can see a prime example of it in this children’s book illustration from the same period.

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The Lost Gospel [Reading Challenge 2025]

The Lost Gospel
The Quest for the Gospel of Judas Iscariot

by Herbert Krosney
National Geographic, 2006
[ #5 Breaking Ground: A book about exploration or discovery, fiction or nonfiction. ]

The lost Gospel of Judas is a piece of New Testament Gnosticism that was discovered in the 1970s but took a very roundabout route into the hands of “legitimate” scholars.  The gospel was considered lost because although it was mentioned in the third century writings of Bishop Ireneaus no copy of it ever turned up. What it contained was a mystery.

This book detailed the history of that manuscript, which was written on papyrus in Egyptian Coptic script. The journey it took was a fascinating one and a cautionary tale about mishandling precious old documents, as the book was exposed to modern air and rough handling after its removal from the desert and deteriorated significantly from when it was found. That was rather heartbreaking, and though the writer never came out and said so, you could read it between his words. The book, which no one could read except scholars of antiquity, went from bounced from semi-criminal Cairo antiquities dealers, more lawful Swiss and Greek ones, university scholars fighting for translation, and big business CEOs looking for investments.

The writing was a bit dry — it was a National Geographic publication, after all — and the parts where the various scholars and colleges and foundations were fighting for dominance was confusing, but also a look inside the world of artifact dealing. I found it touching that two of the manuscript’s “saviors” were women: the first an accomplished Greek antiquities dealer who bought it, and donated it, the second the restorer of the papyrus who worked on it for years.

Because I found the story interesting I read the gospel online (it’s now freely available.) The gist of it was Judas was not the bad guy the other gospels made him out to be, but rather the friend and accomplice of Jesus, who went ahead with the betrayal as we know it because it was all part of Jesus’s plan. This fit in the Gnostic idea of souls being separate from bodies and the souls living forever while the flesh dies; the idea of bodily resurrection is not touched upon. It’s more akin to Buddhism and other Eastern thought. AFAIK it didn’t exactly shake up Christianity or the Catholic Church when it was published. It’s more of an interesting footnote.

It reminded me of how little I know about the Catholic Church, even though I was raised in it.

Worldbuilding Wednesday 1/29/25: Korean Clans

My fascination with Korea continues into this new year of 2025. Pictured above is the South Korean rugby team OK Man, or OK Man Financial Group. Rugby is a specialty sport imported from England that has gained an increasing following in South Korea, where teams are sponsored by companies, colleges, even the military forces. (In the US, it morphed into American football, that most crushing and brutal of sports.) OK Man was one of the participants in the reality show Rugged Rugby on Netflix. They were considered the underdogs, but actually made it to the final match, where they gave the favorite team, Kepko, a grueling contest for the trophy. I’m not a sports fan in general but it’s a show well worth watching for the camerawork, which takes you close up and personal to all the players. By the end of it, I learned a little of the sport myself.

It also illustrates how familiar, and unfamiliar, sports leagues are in a different country. Look at the logo for instance. An anime character dressed up like a giant carrot?

It also got me thinking about Korean names and the iconography of those names.

You may have heard that most people of Korean descent share a limited number of surnames, of which Kim is the most common. But they also have distinct clans that share the same paternal ancestor. These names are passed down patrilineally and don’t change with marriage or adoption. There are more clans than surnames, 36,744 vs. 1,507, because clans are named for ancestor plus their town/area of origin. So ancestor Kim can be Kim from Gimhae (Gimhae Kim) or Andong (Andong Kim), both of them different people.

And like Japanese clan names, each one has a seal!

So, mixing up the various language phonemes, and the existing seals, with the magic of randomgen and Midjourney, it was enjoyable to generate a bunch of faux clans and faux seals, which look like Korean, but aren’t. I did choose to make them one word instead of two words. This is all in the spirit of fun and no insult is meant to Korea or Korean people.

 

Anghwa Bongwoong Byeonguk
Chaeong Encheun Gamwoon
Gwangban Hwaend Inhwon
Kyang-il Michon Nogai
Ohwoo Pumwang Pyoi

Passing Obsessions 1-28

What’s with that Garden of Eden scenario?

Popeye, along with many other creative works, enters public domain in the US this year.

Vast online library of cookbooks, including advertising pamphlets, dating from way back to the 1800s.

Want to play or watch Rugby games in the Pacific Northwest?

Confused about Laurel K. Hamilton, her many loves, and her series of naughty paranormal books?

A real-life Big Bus, with two stories and a movable staircase and observation tower that made it three! More on the sleek, futuristic Ikarus buses here.

2025 Reading Challenge

This year I’m going to go back with 12 choices, to challenge myself.

 

2. Animal house: A book about animals in any way.
Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?,  Frans de Waal
Natural history book about animal intelligence.

5. Breaking Ground: A book about exploration or discovery, fiction or nonfiction.
The Lost Gospel: The Quest for the Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot,  Herbert Krosney
How and where this piece of New Testament apocrypha was discovered.

6. Coming to a theater near you: A book made into a major motion picture or TV series.
Wicked, Gregory Maguire
Uglies, Scott Westerfield
One of these two, the first a movie, the second a series.

7. Continuing on: A book from a series you have already started.
Children of Anguish and Anarchy, Tomi Adeyemi
I read the previous two books of this Africa-based YA fantasy trilogy.

9. Daguerreotype vibes: A book authored in the 19th century
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, Edgar Allen Poe
I think everyone’s heard of this one.

25. Howdy, stranger: A book about immigrants or immigration, or with an immigrant main character.
Cuban Bread Crumbs, Jack Espinosa
A man’s recollection of growing up in Florida as a Cuban émigré.

27. I remember that!: A book about a historical event that took place in your lifetime.
Harry, a History, by Melissa Anelli
How the Harry Potter phenomena began and grew, beginning in the late 1990s when the first book was released.

28. Let’s go clubbing!: A book in a celebrity’s book club
Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides (Oprahs Book Club)
The adventures of a Greek American family and one member who is differently sexed.

29. Literary literal alliteration: A book whose title or author’s name is an alliteration.
Carry On, Rainbow Rowell
A sort-of fanfic about a YA novel that was about fanfic, if that makes sense.

34. No hablo: A book originally written in another language (either a translation or in the original if you’d like!).
The Law of Love, Laura Esquivel
She also wrote Like Water for Chocolate.

42. Succinct: A book with a one-word title.
White, Richard Dyer
A scholarly book about race and what it means to be “white.”

44. Three-color mythology: A graphic novel, manga, or comic book.
The Sandman, Neil Gaiman
Another poster on the forum was reading this too and I had it, so I thought it would be fun to compare reviews and the pathology of this now-disgraced author.

 

A Less Than Impressive Hobbit.

It’s amazing to me how differently artists interpret Bilbo Baggins. Last month I found these two covers and now, here’s this one. It’s not a great depiction. First off, Bilbo is too tall and portly, and his signature feature, the hairy feet, is missing. He looks more like John Goodman from the 1990s sitcom Roseanne. How unconvincingly he wields that sword, too.

Gollum too looks off. Of course, the Gollum from Peter Jackson movies has now become the classic one, the one most readers would expect, or a version thereof. But this creature looks like The Aztec Mummy.

Naughty SFF Paperbook Covers from the 1960s (Part 1)

It’s an ESP orgy, baby!

* smirk *

The 1960s was a time period in which Playboy magazine type humor, the counterculture, and the SFF genre intertwined. Looking to cash in on these various trends, publishers released an astonishing variety of “adult” naughty novels embodying this robust, exploitive stew. The humor ranged from martini-dry to crass (as in the above example) and featured voluptuous, come-hither women posing alluringly, go-go dancing, or in orbit, willing participants this brace new decade of relaxed sexuality and space travel. Dated now, these covers seem both stale and innocent.

ESP Orgy was energetic in flogging the trend, with its bodypainted go-go girls and topless rock guitarists whose guitars are way oversized for them, or else they’re jailbait. But the kicker is the lusty trio who are acting out a spanking fantasy with a rolled up newspaper. The male figure in the back is boring in comparison, even though his single open eye is about to pop in sexual heat, like the leering, whistling wolf character in the old Warner Brothers cartoons.  He’s so heated, he’s about to inhale his cigarette in one puff! The artist of this pic is one Robert Bonfils, whose other work can be perused here.

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Worldbuilding Wednesday 1/7/25: Best of Twittersnips 2024 (Magic Spells)

The effect of a Viralinzia’s Rainbow Twist spell is sudden and dramatic.

Selection of my favorite Twittersnip magic spells of the year 2024, chosen from my X feed.

 

2024 Magic Spells (Best of)

Amphibian Trailblazer: The mage can lay down an invisible trail for others to follow over both land and water.

Claws of the Peacock: Curse that makes a character overly concerned with their attractiveness and physical appearance. They will be always preening, combing, cosmeticizing and buying expensive clothing and jewelry with their hard-earned adventuring cash.

Cone of Breathing: Transforms a cone-shaped vessel of any material into a temporary source of oxygen. High level versions of the spell enable normal breathing for up to an hour underwater or in a place with poisoned air.

Emancipate Mummy spell

Emancipate Mummy: Necromantic spell that forcibly removes a mummy from its sarcophagus or other casing. The mummy can be either Undead or truly dead.

Empress Clavorie’s Darting Ginger: Creates the illusion of a large, fat, red tabby cat that is always moving around at the periphery of the viewer’s field of vision.

Heart Yoke magic spell

Heart Yoke: A love spell that makes two beings believe they are fated mates. This spell has a fixed duration and the two are likely to be very embarrassed when it ends.

Helmcool: Cast on a metal helmet, it keeps the wearer from overheating in the midst of battle or other exertions, improving their stamina and performance.

Jandabara’s Scintillating Blast of Snow: Druidic spell that scoops up snow and blasts it at a target, distracting and blinding them for a number of rounds.

Mox’s Seaweed Scabbard: Creates a serviceable scabbard (equivalent to leather) out of a similar quantity of seaweed.

Mud Bubble: Cantrip that causes a large bubble of gas to form within a puddle of mud. While everyone is watching it, it pops, splattering everyone’s clean clothes.

Pendagarmel’s Cape Wrest: Gives the recipient a +10 advantage towards ripping a cape, magical or not, off someone’s shoulders.

Potato of Venus: A cantrip that molds a potato into the shape of a heart. If the mage then gives it away to someone, the recipient will treat the mage as if their charisma has risen by +1 .

Repulse Gold: Makes items made of gold or with a gold component move out of the reach of living beings.

Robust Devotion: Clerical spell that strengthens the recipient’s faith and enables them to pray for up to 10 hours straight.

Shirwen’s True Unicorn: Many unicorns have the innate ability to transform into human beings. This spell allows the user to penetrate that disguise.

Sidysse’s Automatic Alliance: When cast on a being or group of beings, they will ally themselves with the being(s) of the caster’s choosing if/when they encounter them. The magicked ones don’t have to be aware of the spell.

Silent Gracewolf: Clerical spell that preserves a werewolf’s human personality during their nights of transformation.

Summon Sand spell

Summon Sand: Cantrip used when a small amount of fine, clean is needed, for example to put out a campfire or fill a kitty box.

Unavoidable Messenger: Cast on creature that will deliver an unpleasant or unwanted message to another, the spell makes them keep popping ahead of the reciever no matter how hard the reciever tries to avoid them.

Universal Candor: Forces the recipient to speak the truth, and their truthful opinion, to any and all beings they encounter for a set period of time.

Unwanted Opponent: Cast in a melee situation, it attracts to the target the opponent they are least willing to fight. This can be the most powerful creature or even the most vulnerable one whose death would scar the target for life.

Viralinzia’s Rainbow Twist: The target turns into a rainbow for a certain length of time. Since rainbows are are made of fine water droplets, if hit by a drying spell in this state the target is destroyed and gone forever. A strong gust of wind can have the same effect.

Warrior Eyes: The recipient must be of the fighter class. It lets them accurately size up a maximum of five opponents regarding their armor class and current hitpoints. It lasts one round.

Wayward Mirror: Enchants any kind of small, hand-held mirror to show the back of the holder’s head and not their face.

Worldbuilding Wednesday 1/1/25: Best of Twittersnips 2024 (Magic Items)

The Helm of Silver Pride enables elderly warriors to fight as well as they did in their youth.

My favorite Twittersnip magic items of the year 2024, chosen from my Twitter feed.

 

2024 Magic Items (Best of)

Athena’s Purification Tonic: Drinkers receive wisdom and strength (+2 each) like that of the Greek goddess. Lasts for a few hours. Physical components are an owl feather and gorgon blood.

Beetle slippers are much prized by burglars

Beetle Slippers: Made of wool with glass beadwork of colorful insects, these have soft leather soles let the wearer walk up walls and on ceilings like a beetle does.

Bookmark of Bonding: Very annoying cursed item that glues together whatever two pages it is placed between. The bookmark can be slid out but the pages are bonded together and lost forever.

Concentration of Arachnia: This dark, swirling potion attracts spiders of all kinds wherever it is sprinkled.

Dagger of The Dauntless: A thief’s weapon that gives them an astounding +5 on courage while “on the job.”

Eyepatch of the Osprey

Eyepatch of the Osprey: Commonly used by one-eyed pirate captains. It gives their remaining eye the visual acuity of a raptor’s.

Flute of Cerberus: This Greek-themed musical instrument is three flutes in one, played by a common mouthpiece. It is used to charm and command any sort of canine.  It’s carved from a solid piece of obsidian.

Helm Of Silver Pride: This +1 helm allows a character of old age (65+) to fight as well as they did at age 25.

Horn of Princely Scoffing: The owner of this golden drinking horn will resist every attempt to impress them, responding with snobbish quips. Which can be either good or bad depending on the circumstances.

Lycun’s Tea of Growth: Spiritual growth, not physical. Drink the magic tea and the completion of your next adventure has a 50% chance of raising your Wisdom score.

Morsha’s Manual of Freezing: Contains all the useful ways a freezing spell can be utilized, from preserving food to fighting deities. (The owner must already know the spell to use the book.)

Oily Witch Cloth: Low level female mages use this lightly magicked material to wrap perishable items for shipment or preservation. The items will last up to 5x longer, depending on the level of the witch.

Olvin’s Guide to Vampiric Weddings: Love can strike even the Undead. This book contains helpful magic associated with marriages for these creatures along with fashion, reception, and honeymoon ideas.

Pitcher of the Halfling

Pitcher of the Halfling: Serves up to six halfling-sized portions of the kinds of beverages halflings like to drink. Recharges within 24 hours.

Plough of the Serpent: Not only furrows a field but attracts all kinds of snakes to it that will eat small vermin or poison larger invading creatures, at the owner’s choice. The serpents will never harm the wielder of the device.

Ring of Olfactory Defense: Protects the wearer from odor attacks, like from a giant skunk or siren pheromones.

Ring of Sculpting Vegetation: Made of gold and set with small emeralds. Lets the wearer create topiaries, clear paths through brush and forest, and clean up neglected gardens. (Does not work on plant monsters.)

Roc Bone Shard, Fossilized: Very rare and valuable, used as a component in flight spells where the target would normally be too large and heavy to fly.

Sagisward’s Resolute Journal: Tasks or goals written in this book have an additional 25% chance of coming to fruition when all seems hopeless. Multiple goals can be written, but as soon as one of them is completed, the book disappears.

Staff of Pollution: Has only one power but it does it well. When pointed at an area or body of water, the staff befouls it so badly that beings will flee.

Sword of Somersaulting: Only a +1 weapon, but when the owner holds it they are capable of performing acrobatic flips and tumbles every other round to avoid blows.

The Tome of Dark Places is perfect for witches

Tome of Dark Places: List of innately evil areas where dark magic spells can be crafted with ease – 25% less time and components, and 25% greater chance of success.

Unicorn Honey: Magical and very rare, made from the flowers of a plant fertilized by unicorn dung. A vital component of many healing and anti-poison spells.

The Fall of Númenor [Reading Challenge 2024]

The Fall of Númenor

by J. R. R. Tolkien, ed. by Brian Sibley
William Morrow, 2022
[ #23  Pixies and Dryads and Elves, oh my! : A high fantasy ]

I am backposting this review, as I finished the book only a few days before the end of 2024.

Let’s hope 2025 is a little better, eh?

To begin with, let me say I’d never read anything before of the LOTR background  material — that is, The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, etc. I’d assumed it was all way too dry, going by the few glimpses I had over the years. And I do remember when The Silmarillion was first published, way back in 1977. The seismic waves it caused in fantasy fandom led to more and more Tolkien ephemera being released over the years, with Christopher Tolkien acting as father’s curator. But I was never interested enough to dive into it.

However, when the first season of The Rings of Power was released on Netflix, (which I reviewed here) I was happy enough with it to buy The Fall of Númenor, which was released, perhaps, to coincide with and take a ride on the hoopla. However I still found it a little intimidating and wasn’t inspired to crack it open until 2024.

I was pleasantly surprised at how entertaining and readable it was. Like The Silmarillian, The Fall of Númenor is a compilation of material from Tolkien’s copious background writings, the worldbuilding you could say, arranged to show the origin and the end of his equivalent of Atlantis. For me, it enriched and added to the trilogy itself.

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