Oct 29
Click for full imageScott B Comments: The Day It Rained Forever… there were warning-sign-red clown faces staring regretfully at me?
Published 1974
(Average: 7.21 out of 10)
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Scott B Comments: The Day It Rained Forever… there were warning-sign-red clown faces staring regretfully at me?
Published 1974
(Average: 7.21 out of 10)Loading...
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October 29th, 2013 at 10:48 am
The rejected first version of the Open University logo
(all together now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMrbxYrMmOc)
October 29th, 2013 at 11:12 am
Oh god, not the Italian clown with the Jamaican devil nose again!!!
October 29th, 2013 at 11:14 am
Ringo?
“What would you do if I wore a clown mask
Would you slap me onto a sci-fi book…?”
October 29th, 2013 at 11:58 am
“Blue eyes, blue lips, yellow nose yeah, the boys a time bomb…”
Yeah, now that just screams sci-fi. Or drama students on peyote.
October 29th, 2013 at 12:28 pm
Are you sure this isn’t Jerry Colonna’s “behind the laughter” autobiography?
October 29th, 2013 at 2:14 pm
I was very curious why there are so many bad Penguin Science Fiction covers with illustrations having nothing to do with their content. And then I found this parade of horribles:
http://www.penguinsciencefiction.org/20.html
The whole website is a fascinating read with the story of the the art directors behind many of our “favorites” from the late 60s and early 70s, namely Alan Aldridge and David Pelham.
http://www.penguinsciencefiction.org/toc.html
October 29th, 2013 at 2:20 pm
HAHAH fantastic but nowhere below (from goodreads) does it say anything about crazy painted clown man!
A The Day It Rained Forever (1959) is a collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury. It was previously released in the US as Medicine for Melancholy with a slightly different list of stories.
“The Day It Rained Forever”
“In a Season of Calm Weather”
“The Dragon”
“The End of the Beginning”
“The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit”
“Fever Dream”
“Referent”
“The Marriage Mender”
“The Town Where No One Got Off”
“Icarus Montgolfier Wright”
“Almost at the End of the World”
“Dark They were and Golden-eyed”
“The Smile”
“Here there be Tygers”
“The Headpiece”
“Perchance to Dream”
“The Time of Going Away”
“The Gift”
“The Little Mice”
“The Sunset Harp”
“A Scent of Sarsaparilla”
“And the Rock Cried Out”
“The Strawberry Window
October 29th, 2013 at 2:31 pm
@bibliomancer: when Penguin was the most prestigious paperback imprint, it paid twice what most pulphouses did so authors didn’t complain too much. Back at the start of their SF output it was mainly respected artists from the galleries being redeployed (a lot of Tanguy and Klee, plus Desiderio Monsa) ans there was a vgue attempt to look sort of like Columbia Records’ jazz labels.
Then it all went horribly wrong.
October 29th, 2013 at 2:42 pm
Thanks for the link, Biblio!
I find it quite baffling that these bizarro covers are celebrated while the covers of the 80’s, which featured illustrations that actually had something to do with their contents, were pooh-poohed.
I get that the Pelham covers might look nice all shelved together as a collection, but surely even in the 70’s that wasn’t how people bought books? But perhaps the idea of using the cover to attract readers who might not have heard of the book is a new-fangled modernist construct.
October 29th, 2013 at 2:48 pm
I think the answer is something like, “Screw you, Clown.”
October 29th, 2013 at 4:18 pm
Hair or eyebrow?
October 29th, 2013 at 7:43 pm
Black mustache and eyebrows; yellow hair, beard, eyelashes and, um, under-eye whiskers?
October 30th, 2013 at 12:34 pm
Hey, Rags – thanks for that info about the book itself. I’m a big Bradbury fan and was wondering how come I’ve never heard of this one. I have A Medicine For Melancholy and now know I don’t have to go digging for this one.
October 30th, 2013 at 2:00 pm
Looking at bibliomancer’s first link, I’m shocked (shocked!) that the cover to “Connoisseur’s Science Fiction” hasn’t previously appeared on this site. If you doubt its worthiness, have a close look at the face … you will reel back, demanding of your loved ones “pluck out my eyes, pluck out my eyes!”
October 30th, 2013 at 2:19 pm
“The Day It Rained Forever”. So forever tops out at twenty-four hours?
October 30th, 2013 at 2:59 pm
@StevenLP — Not only has “Connoisseur’s Science Fiction†appeared on this site:
http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/2011/11/connoisseurs-science-fiction/
but it is currently #4 on the “Top Rated” List:
http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/?r_sortby=highest_rated&r_orderby=desc
This cover has not gone unnoticed to the true “Connoisseurs” of bad taste here.
October 30th, 2013 at 5:45 pm
Bibliomancer: I’m shamed …
I blame my own cowardice – I could not trust myself to spell “connoisseur” correctly, so I searched for “Boardman” (the editor) instead.
My present expression bears some resemblance to that of the … the … whatever it is … the oddly faced gentleman is riding, though my tongue isn’t quite as lolling.
October 30th, 2013 at 7:25 pm
There’s no shame in that, Steve, even (or especially) when a splendid terrible cover is melting your face off it’s easy to be blinded by the horrific genius of it all.
Welcome to the comments!
October 30th, 2013 at 8:38 pm
The only shame is David Pelham”s. Or whoever posed for the clown portrait.
October 30th, 2013 at 10:04 pm
“…whoever posed for the clown portrait.”
Charlie Cairoli would be my guess: http://www.arthurvercoepedlar.goldiellepromotions.com/images/charliec_02.jpg
November 25th, 2013 at 7:28 pm
That’s no clown. That’s an ink blot painting
I see a spaceship flying between two water planets, and headed into what looks like a squished Ring World. There’s a crow’s wing in there too.
August 25th, 2015 at 2:29 am
That’s not a clown. That is the mask of a horror movie villain.
June 13th, 2017 at 1:12 pm
For some reason this cover reminds me of Jesus.