Friday 18 July 2014

About That Cover



The designers knew that Patton fought for the Allies, right?

Rohmer, too.

10 comments:

  1. That's a pretty underwhelming swastika for a guy who wrote a book about writing best sellers.

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  2. The colour may be different, but I hate the fact the font is the same size for both author's name and title.

    A single comma would change it to RICHARD ROHMER, ROMMEL & PATTON.

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    1. A little hard to tell on a screen, Stan, but the author's name is larger, albeit using upper and lower case.

      For the record, Balls! was bigger than Richard Rohmer.

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  3. Right! I can see it but I have to look carefully - my copy had not dust jacket, so I haven't seen the thing in real life.

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    1. No dust jacket! So, you don't know about the "bold, surprise ending." Twenty-seven pages in, the pay-off somehow seems farther away than when I began.

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  4. My General Paperbacks copy is hellfire orange with lots of tanks.

    On the back, one paragraph promises "The tension mounts..." which, like I have to tell you, is something I like.

    But the next paragraph promises "In a bold, surprise ending..." which makes me more certain than ever that some leader will spend the second half of the novel refusing to reveal a decision he's made, and then reveal it.

    Truman, in good shape for a man his age, cleared his throat. "Gentlemen. As you know, I've been thinking about dropping the bomb on Berlin... but... and I don't make this decision lightly... I... and you know me, I love our boys... have decided... and this is final, so I won't be taking any questions... that I... will... drop it on... Berl...

    Japan!

    The blurb from Peter C. Newman begins "Richard Rohmer has done it again..."

    We'll see.

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    1. Tension mounts in the Irwin edition, too! Did General just lift from the Irwin hardcover? That would be copyright infringement, right?

      Either way, they couldn't have fit the entire flap copy on a mass market paperback. Did you know, for example, that this is "Richard Rohmer's best and most ambitious book to date"? That "a reconnaissance pilot" will alter the course of history? Or that "at the very end of the book and its remarkable non-fiction epilogue, Richard Rohmer reveals an amazing secret about the reconnaissance pilot who spotted Rommel's staff car - the man who caught Rommel"?

      "The man who caught Rommel" should be registered.

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  5. I refuse to nitpick in a main post, but while we're in the comments thread, by the time I hit page 30 I was getting pretty annoyed at the way Rommel spoke - using expressions like "as the crow flies" and "I reckon".

    I had 5 or 6 examples like that that I wrote down, but I am trying to not to be petty, so I won't go upstairs and get my list.

    And while we're at it - Rommel does take time out of his planning meeting to praise the highly-trained reconnaissance pilots.

    Also - now that you've conveniently quoted some of the back cover for me - why is "most ambitious book" taken as positive? It's a neutral statement disguised as a positive assessment. It could easily be followed by "that falls dramatically short of succeeding".

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    1. It's an odd thing about Rohmer that his characters are so often stereotypes, complete with requisite dialogue. We saw this first with President Blank in Ultimatum, it became laughably absurd with Major Potts, and now it's Monty:" Jolly good show. Send word directly to Collins with a copy to Bradley. Tell Collins to crack about, as I say."

      Jacques Parizeau does 'Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey' one better.

      I don't know what I expected from his German characters - cold and calculated dialogue, I suppose. Instead, they talk like the Alberta oilmen of Separation Two: "We'll shove those goddamn British bastards right into the goddamn ocean!"

      "Sorry about the language, Herr Feldmarschall."

      Rommel chortled.

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  6. Brian -- If our Rohmer Odyssey has accomplished nothing else, I will judge it a success for introducing you to "chortle." I remember my first encounter with "snigger." It was in the comic book version of Bugsy Malone and I thought, Holy cow, this has got to be a typo. I mean, they must have meant snicker, right?

    This can't be a real word.

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