The first time I was aware of an attempt to sell mm paperbacks in the mode of the Book of the Month Club or the various Doubleday clubs (Literary Guild, SFBC, Mystery Guild, Dday BC, etc.). Ace flashed some tempting titles, but I don't think the program lasted long (and the SFBC would initially sell you four Dday-excuse-for-hardcover volumes for dime at the time...cheaper than the SFBC offers of the Forbidden Love era, albeit the shipping and per-volume cost had gone up, and the quality of the book-building had fallen...but at least in the latter '70s, you could still get classic 1950s novels such as ROGUE MOON and THE DEMOLISHED MAN in hideously-covered SFBC editions new for $1.95...and they fulfilled the purchase requirement as much as the $6.95 coated paper picture-heavy books I was less interested in, a lot of Brothers Hildebrant and STAR TREK Enterprise manuals at the time). And by chance of moving to Hawaii after having joined, they didn't even do the automatic mailing scam they pulled on hapless members in the contiguous 48 + DC (such as myself as a New Hampshirean)...I didn't have to tell them Not to send GOD-EMPEROR OF DUNE or the latest STAR WARS book to keep them from charging me. Not the worst deal...though the Quality Paperback Club, side project of BOMC, was more fun on balance.
Gary Viskupic did those mostly horrible covers. He did some better work for SFBC editions, and better work yet (particularly with animal imagery) on other book covers, and some of his work for the NEWSDAY weekly television schedule/listings pullout in the '70s is brilliant, among other work demonstrating serious talent. But, wow, those SFBC classic covers (and his illustration of John Varley's "The Barbie Murders" for a Terry Carr best of the year volume)...yish. Google Image on his name will run the engine-searcher a gamut.
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The first time I was aware of an attempt to sell mm paperbacks in the mode of the Book of the Month Club or the various Doubleday clubs (Literary Guild, SFBC, Mystery Guild, Dday BC, etc.). Ace flashed some tempting titles, but I don't think the program lasted long (and the SFBC would initially sell you four Dday-excuse-for-hardcover volumes for dime at the time...cheaper than the SFBC offers of the Forbidden Love era, albeit the shipping and per-volume cost had gone up, and the quality of the book-building had fallen...but at least in the latter '70s, you could still get classic 1950s novels such as ROGUE MOON and THE DEMOLISHED MAN in hideously-covered SFBC editions new for $1.95...and they fulfilled the purchase requirement as much as the $6.95 coated paper picture-heavy books I was less interested in, a lot of Brothers Hildebrant and STAR TREK Enterprise manuals at the time). And by chance of moving to Hawaii after having joined, they didn't even do the automatic mailing scam they pulled on hapless members in the contiguous 48 + DC (such as myself as a New Hampshirean)...I didn't have to tell them Not to send GOD-EMPEROR OF DUNE or the latest STAR WARS book to keep them from charging me. Not the worst deal...though the Quality Paperback Club, side project of BOMC, was more fun on balance.
Gary Viskupic did those mostly horrible covers. He did some better work for SFBC editions, and better work yet (particularly with animal imagery) on other book covers, and some of his work for the NEWSDAY weekly television schedule/listings pullout in the '70s is brilliant, among other work demonstrating serious talent. But, wow, those SFBC classic covers (and his illustration of John Varley's "The Barbie Murders" for a Terry Carr best of the year volume)...yish. Google Image on his name will run the engine-searcher a gamut.
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