Make a Note of It

• Why just use a good piece of art once, when--with a little manipulation--you can use it twice? Author-blogger Bill Crider spots a pair of look-alike paperbacks from the 1950s.

• Meanwhile, the Euro Crime blog has gathered together recent novel fronts displaying Britain’s iconic red phone boxes.

• Ragged Claws Network showcases five Sax Rohmer novels with very handsome cover artwork by Joseph Lombardero (1922-2004). It also features some of Lombardero’s science-fiction covers, for which he was probably better known.

• Pulp International presents its own fine gallery of paperback façades, this one themed around hitchhiking. “The hitchhiker,” it relates, “has been a central element of many a mid-century thriller, with the results of these rides ranging from hot sex to bloody murder, and several outcomes in between.”

• I hadn’t realized it before, but at least three of the paperback fronts I included in my updated gallery of “suburban sin” novels--Suburbia After Dark, The Empty Bed, and The Sex Rebels--featured famous artist’s model Eva Lynd.

• Beautiful Robert Barnard covers, illustrated by Greg Harlin.

• Back in May, when I reported in The Rap Sheet on the title and story direction of Anthony Horowitz’s forthcoming James Bond novel, Trigger Mortis, it appeared that UK publisher Orion had settled on the cover design for that 320-page book. But The Book Bond suggests there’s still some tweaking going on.

• And which do you prefer, the British cover or the American cover of Horowitz’s novel? I’m frequently partial to the UK versions of books, but I have to say, I favor the U.S. martini-and-babe front of Trigger Mortis to the British rocket plans version.

• Finally, a belated adios to renowned painter and illustrator Earl Norem, who died on June 19 at the ripe old age of 91. As the lifestyle and entertainment site Unfinished Man notes, “Mr. Norem was known for his paintings of Masters of the Universe as well as MANY other pop-culture properties, defining the looks and ‘universes’ for many fans. He was still working as an artist up until his last day. His last project was for Mars Attacks. Mr Norem was incredibly influential on several generations of artists and many of us were fortunate enough to be able to meet him at PowerCon. He was prolific, one of a kind and he will be deeply missed.” You can enjoy much of his magazine and comic-book artistry by clicking here and here.