Back Cover Blurbs

[erebus]

Like most of the members on this site I grew up reading the Pan books. As a small boy they were everywhere. Sadly not anymore, but back in the day they popped up all over the place. As I went to various friends and relatives houses there was always one or two of these books around. My elder sister always took me around the town centre to book stalls where I was thrilled at the sights on the covers. Skulls, spiders and skeletons, believing the tales within featured just that very scene depicted on the covers. I even bought a whole lot of them from a book stall for my Mum one Mothers Day knowing very well she wouldn't read them ( not her thing ) so I could claim them.
The covers always struck a chord. But also the descriptions on the back to delighted me, and brought out the sick ghoul within. Although as a boy of six or so I knew the stories may have been a little complex for me, so I just hunted down the gory stuff and wallowed in the mayhem. The blurbs on the back covers helped out until I was old enough and more educated to understand the stories.

The early editions just mainly told of the authors within, or gave us indicators such as.
Subtle frightfulness
Malign insanity
Gruesome infamy Startling terror ( Volume 2 ).

Sometimes they mentioned the tales within like Volume 4 did
THE LITTLE GIRL EATER
SLIME
THE HAUNTED TELEPHONE. Just those titles scared the crap out of me. But none more so than the descriptions on numbers 9 and 10.
The Bedroom that was deep in Blood
The rubber face man who left a trail of slime
The Jolly Uncle and the dummy that sucked Blood
The film director who flayed his girl alive
The wife who turned into an insect.

Those alone were enough to have me going. Then as the volumes went on the gore became more graphic as we all know to well. Alex White, Norman Kaufman two of the main culprits. An early indicator was on the back of number 5 with its classic .....
...The severed head lay in the dogs basket, fluff sticking to the lips, sightless eyes gazing up at the ceiling..
How could you not love that.

Some of my favourite examples of gory shenanigans are as follows.

It was heavy work shovelling in his liver and intestines, heart and limbs-even his brain which I tore from his skull after cracking it open with a bung hammer ( Volume 26 )

He pushed the point of the hook into the stump, and began to turn it, exerting all his strength...Thick dark blood welled up, like...like jelly that hasn't set ( Volume 14 )

Gwyneth placed the point of the pin on the iris of his left eye and pushed, sinking it inuntil the pinhead was flush with the surface of the eyeball. ( Volume 23 )

To punish Susanna by peeling her skin with a butchers knife and sprinkling her raw flesh with pepper. ( Volume 20 )

Her grey and pink brains oozed from his shattered skull and trickled down his eyeless face. ( Volume 21 )

So as you can see these books where a Godsend to a young rampant horror fiction lover. Crude, violent and very descriptive. And responsible for so many writers inspiration.

Are there any memorable back cover blurbs that coaxed in you ? Any that stick out. Volume 9 was always the one that struck a chord with me. As well as 14. But what about yourselves ?

[dem bones]

Always thought this one, from the Panther '76 edition of Robert Bloch's Opener Of The Way, was quite cute.

The publisher regrets to announce that there is no blurb to inform prospective readers about the contents of The Opener Of The Way. Unfortunately the person designated to write the blurb was found dead after reading the book, having apparently suffered some mysterious kind of severe shock ...

There are some neat examples on Craig's Best Back Covers thread.