Revenge Of The Sproutoids
Published in 1951 Revenge of the Sproutoids by J.N. Faber was for a period the most-read book in American schools owing to an endorsement on national radio by then-President Harry S. Truman. The plot of the book is broadly one of an invasion sparked by perceived abuse of vegetables from an alien race who bear a striking resemblance to them; the format is a series of tales that span the course of two hundred years and follow different groups of people from different areas of the world and the ways in which they mobilise resistance. Generally fairly light-hearted in tone the book is nevertheless notable for the graphic depiction of the destruction of the Soviet Union and this was Truman’s reported reason for the story’s fondness. Truman’s biographer Clement Connor put forth the alternative opinion that Truman simply loved sprouts but this is not supported by offical White House records that indicate the vegetable was actually banned from the building during the President’s...
Inappropriate Space Vacation Clothing
Published in 1977 Inappropriate Space Vacation Clothing was the first of Joachim Tung-Deprezant’s trilogy of space vacation novels. The book follows the exploits of hapless space vacationer Annabelle Starr and the occasionally humorous adventures that befall her as she chooses increasingly inappropriate clothing for her holiday destinations on distant worlds. On the planet Leonid Beta she finds that the natives’ belief in a beast god causes diplomatic problems due to a misunderstanding with her sexy panda costume; on the therapy moon of Lucifer 6 her silk kimono patterned with spider imagery leads to a fatal stampede on Arachnophobia Beach. One of the shorter tales is a brief stop on Frigeratia with only a bikini in her luggage, and this formed the pleasing inspiration for the front cover of the book. The sequels to Inappropriate Space Vacation Clothing were progressively less well-received by the science fiction novel purchasing public. Anabelle’s Big Disco Space Vacation missed out on the international change in mood towards that form of music while Space Vacation: No Blacks was simply deemed racist and led to many questioning how the book even managed to get published at...
Rutland High School Yearbook 1971
The Internet Archive is always a great place to have a virtual wander through if you’re forever finding yourself stuck in a timewarp of nostalgia like me. It doesn’t help you escape the timewarp of nostalgia – not that you’d ever want to because it’s nice there – but it does make it even more enjoyable. So, today’s discovery has been the the publications of the Rutland Historical Society and, in particular, the Rutland High School Yearbooks. You might have been able to work that out from the title of this post because I can see you and you look smart. It’s quite possible that some schools in the UK do yearbooks and possibly have for some some time but in my experience they’re a purely American phenomenon that I’ve heard about, seen glimpses of in films and on TV, and know next-to-nothing else about. This makes discovering scanned American high school yearbooks very interesting and for no other reason than it’s the year I was born in I’ve decided to take a nose through the Rutland High School Yearbook of 1971. The inside cover and evidence that before there were fonts there were still fonts. And what beautiful fonts they were! Look at that “70-71” and picture any other decade in which a more suitable font wrote something appropriate to the era. You can’t! Mostly because you’re not sure what I’m saying. I’m not sure what I’m saying and I just wrote it. I think I’m saying it’s quite seventiesish. A message from the superintendent Dr James Tinney. He knew that the students of Rutland High School were going to accomplish great things. But did he know know? Or did he get some kind of guidance through… … astrology!? No. It was neither of those things. He was just being polite. He couldn’t wait to see the back of them. But who is them? I’m glad you asked. David Cook. CRASH! Jan Eastman. D.A.R. girl. I dont know what a D.A.R. girl is. I think it’s probably got something to do with her hair. It’s quite impressive hair. Judy Godnick. Teensy-weensy bikinis and BIG MOUTH. Judy sounds like the sort of person I’d have liked. And she had a dune buggy. You never know when those will come in useful. You suspect it’s around dunes but you never know for sure. David Alberico. One of the Fantastic Four. I’ve ruled out Invisible Woman but he could be any of the other three. Richard Savage. Good head. Well, that’s nice to know. High schools were very progressive back in the early seventies. Barbara McKirryher. Which boy this week? The...
The Crabonauts Conquer The Stars
January 1970 saw the presentation to the International Marine Biology Symposium in Khartoum of Jacques Cousteau’s groundbreaking work on the growing literacy of sealife so it was no surprise to see book publishers rush to fill the genre void. One of the first novels to print was C.D. Hippocampus’s science fiction adventure The Crabonauts Conquer The Stars. Taking place in the near future the story follows the first group of space crustaceans and their quest to dominate the wild worlds within the crab nebula. Critics were generally kind to the book and its author although concern was raised that it might give the undersea creatures megalomaniacal ideas. Ultimately, though, Cousteau admitted he’d been drunk during the symposium, the literacy of sealife had been grossly overstated, and crabs overwhelmingly demonstrated a preference for turn-of-the-century romance over sci-fi in the book...
Space Toblerone
A great little find this, Space Toblerone by American author Alan V. Bern. Bern put up all the money to commission the artwork for the science fiction book and self-publish it in 1958, hoping to recoup his investment through support from the Swiss company whose produce he shamelessly promoted in the title. Space Toblerone ended up being his only novel, though, as – soon after publishing – he discovered to both his financial and marital detriment that as a people the Swiss’s famed neutrality in times of war and their workmanship with cuckoo clocks was matched equally by their heartless disdain for books about chocolate starships exploring strange worlds made of pralines and honeycomb in outer space. The book was later printed in the United Kingdom by Puffin Books when Bern removed the controversial visit to the planet of Sodomia and added in the child-friendly co-pilot character of Hornwoggle...
Photographs And History: The Face Of Virginia
I do like to visit charity shops, mostly in search of weird vinyl, but anything related to photography will always catch my eye too and so it was with this recent discovery and purchase, a book titled The Face Of Virginia, a pictorial study by A. Aubrey Bodine. The man himself is described on the inside jacket thusly: Aubrey Bodine has been taking pictures for the Baltimore Sunday Sun for 35 years, and he is practically an institution in Maryland. He also has won national and international recognition for his work, including probably a thousand ribbons, medals, and trophies. One of his pictures won a $5000 prize, and fourteen of them are on permanent exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution. No mean photographer then, and a look at just a few of the photos from the state of Virginia in this book will demonstrate that superbly. His write up on Wikipedia – A. Aubrey Bodine – is very interesting too, especially for his photographic techniques and his use of darkroom tricks to enhance some of his pictures. The book’s inner covers, both front and back, are decorated with a delightful hand drawn map by Richard Q. Yardley, cartoonist and fellow worker on the Baltimore Sunday Sun. And now for a small selection of Bodine’s photos from the book, all of which are accompanied by great historical information in the publication making it well worth tracking down and checking out for yourself should you get the chance: Astronauts! The first Americans into space trained with NASA at Langley Field in Virginia as seen in this photograph from August 1959 showing off four of the Original Seven. Left to right are John H. Glenn Jr (third up and first into orbit), Virgil I. Grissom (second up), Alan B. Shepard Jr (first up), and Malcolm Scott Carpenter (fourth up). One of 6000 ships shipping cargo from Hampton Roads to nearly 350 ports (“in the free world” according to the book) every year. At the time of printing about 200000 tonnes of tobacco was exported annually. A worker showing off a Smithfield ham. According to Virginia law only the four packing companies in Smithfield were permitted to produce it and its distinctive flavour came from feeding the hogs peanuts then hanging the hams over hickory log fires for weeks. Sounds gorgeous. A collection of religious buildings. Top left is Abingdon Church. Top right is Christ Church or King Carter‘s Church (because the cost of building was paid by him). Bottom left is Ware Church. Bottom right is One-Room Shrine, birthplace of Walter Reed, the physician who discoverd the cause of yellow fever. Falls Church...
Recent From Retro
-
The Women Of Kilobaud Computing Sep 26, 2016 -
-
-
-
-
Recent From Entertainment
-
Dance Music Triple Nov 19, 2016 -
-
-
-
-
Recent Comments