The Book Cover Art of DAVID PLOURDE

WHEN I read Blind Voices back in 1978 it seemed to strike a permanent chord in me. Its characters were young and weird, I was young and weird. It featured a carnival freak show, my family was a carnival freak show (well not really, but you know what I mean). Published posthumously in hardcover by Berkley Putnam that same year, Tom Reamy's only published novel went on to be a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and BSFA Awards for Best Novel. All very remarkable considering it was derived from a not final draft, and one with its share of shortfalls.

Like everyone else, I loved it nonetheless.

"Dreams Turn To Terror. It's summer. The circus is coming to town. And in the shadows of the gaily-painted wagons lurks an ancient and evil creature whose inhuman lusts will shatter forever the peace of a small Kansas community..."

I also loved the jacket art by David Plourde. This was my first awareness of his existence even though he had been producing book and magazine covers all throughout the 1970s. Plourde would continue to do so in New York for at least another fifteen years until he, apparently, packed up and moved to sunny Austin, Texas, to teach art and illustration at the University of Texas, painting instruction at the Austin Community College, and life drawing at the Elisabet Ney Sculpture Conservatory. Today it would seem he's mostly creating fine arts, landscape paintings in particular. I only wish he would find the time to do more book covers.

Plourde's early style of commercial illustration indicated a commitment to clean lines, clean shapes, and vibrant, solid forms. Time Thieves by Dean R. Koontz was published in paperback by Ace in 1972, part of a double package with Against Arcturus by Susan K. Putney. I don't think anyone after reading this novel could've guessed the heights that Koontz would reach in publishing, but it's always cool if you're a cover artist to know that you were in on someone's beginnings, and vice versa of course, even if your illustration has nothing at all to do with actual plot of the novel.

Here's another early cover by Plourde, both striking and mysterious. Earthstrings by John Rackham (aka John T. Phillifent) was published in paperback by Ace in 1972, part of a double package with Chariots of Ra by Kenneth Bulmer. To quote a Goodread's online review: "Earthstrings is a fast blast, wildly entertaining pot-boiler, one that's worth owning." Yup. Plourde's cover art tells me its worth owning too.

Kit Reed (1932-2017) was a great American writer, but like all writers she probably benefited from some great cover art, in this case from distinguished artists like Jill Bauman, Alan Gutierrez, Peter Jones, Richard Powers and Alexander Wilensky. Looks like Plourde was able to make a name for himself on her list too. Tiger Rag was published in paperback by Fawcett Crest in 1973.

"Still on her knees, she became aware of the presence of evil, as palpable as a waking tiger, it uncurled and rose to stalk around the house, snuffling at the cracks and staring with bright, yellow eyes at every window, trying to find its way in...

It was only when she read about Richard Thrall's murder that it began--the slow, terrifying journey into that special world of the past where she was suddenly a prisoner of her childhood. it was then that everything came smashing back into her life, blurring the realities of her husband and son. There were things about the past she never understood. And somehow Richard Thrall's murder was part of it all. Now she must find out the truth--or surrender to her madness..."

This is a book cover illustration that Plourde made for a children's book by Newberry Award winning writer Elaine Lobl Konigsburg, titled, The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Dell's Laurel Leaf imprint published it in softcover format in 1973. Do you think Plourde's scene, and Konigsburg's book, could have inspired the creator of 1993's picture book A Night at the Museum, and its filmmakers in 2006? I do.

"When Claudia decided to run away, she planned very carefully. She would be gone just long enough to teach her parents a lesson in Claudia appreciation. And she would live in comfort--at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She invited her brother Jamie to go, too, mostly because he was a miser and would have money. The two took up residence in the museum right on schedule. But once the fun of settling in was over, Claudia had two unexpected problems: she felt just the same, and she wanted to feel different; and she found a statue at the museum so beautiful she could not go home until she had discovered its maker, a question that baffled even the experts. The former owner of the statue was Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. And without her help Claudia might never have found a way to go home."

Plourde produced quite a few magazine covers during the 1970s, but finding images of them is not always easy. This cover is from the February, 1975, issue of Travel & Leisure.

I read a Philip K. Dick novel once, which lead to another Dick novel, and another, and another, and then a dozen of his short stories. That's my way of saying that PKD was a pretty good writer. I haven't got around to reading Our Friends From Folix 8 yet, but we all know the old proverb; so many books, so little time. This paperback edition from Ace Books, with Plourde's spaceship interior, was published in 1977.

"In the 22nd Century Earth was controlled by a cabal of genetic freaks, superior to "normal" men because of their powers of telepathy and precognition. Mere ordinary men didn't have a chance. Suddenly, however, there was one ray of hope--Thors Provoni was coming back. Provoni had stolen a spaceship, escaped from Earth and gone out to the stars in search of another intelligent race that would help end the slavery of homo sapiens--he had been given up for lost. He was coming back now with the representative of a powerful alien race that would champion the rights of man. Who was this inhuman savior? And what was the price of this friend from Folix 8?"

Before 2013's hit film Gravity there was Plourde. Gardner Dozois's Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year: Sixth Annual Collection was published by Ace in 1978. Two years later Plourde placed the same artwork on the cover of Jerry Pournelle's science-fiction novel Exiles to Glory, also published by Ace. 

David Plourde is keeping a watchful eye out for us, which in this unruly world of ours is greatly appreciated. This edition of Asylum World was published in paperback by Warner in 1978. John Jakes was a good, sometimes great, fantasy and science-fiction writer, but he eventually found greater success by switching over to historical novels. Remember his series The Kent Family Chronicles? Yup, it sold 55 million copies.

"Was it paranoia? Were the Mars colonists, who had returned to their mother planet Earth, just imagining things? Were they deliberately being prevented from meeting the authorities who could give them aid in fighting off intergalactic invaders? Were their seedy quarters in this run-down city the best their hosts could offer them? if this was V.I.P treatment intended as a cover-up, what was the true state of Mother Earth?

I wish this cover image were clearer, the more to admire Plourde's plucky "Western" theme. This British reprint of Six-Gun Planet by John Jakes was published in paperback by New English Library (UK) in 1978.

"The planet Missouri rang with the news... Buffalo Yung is in town!

"I have seen him," said Dr. Buster Levinsohn, "and he appears to be the genuine article. Atrocious grammar. Mustaches to here. Plus those pearl-handled beauties he carries. And those hovering black harpies of the pit--those three easy riders who follow him everywhere to scrape up his victims."

"I also have heard," Buster observed to Pacifist Zak Randolp, "that he's called you out."

Can off-worlder Randloph score against the Gunslinger of the Galaxy, the Terror of Extra-terrestrial Space, the Killer of the Cosmos? Right faces Might in the future world of SIX-GUN PLANET."

Plourde had to succeed Don Punchatz's wild cover art on the first printing of John Jakes's satirical dystopian novel On Wheels (Warner, 1973), and that can be awful intimidating for any artist, but I think Plourde came through with aplomb to spare. This 2nd edition of On Wheels was published by Warner in 1978.

"He who lives by the wheel dies by the wheel! This is the time of clans in vans. Caravans of clans in vans roll out their lives, their loves, their wars, their retribution on superstrip America--land of autos that steer the lives of those inside them on the accelerated hallucinatory highway of tomorrow. Remember the rules of the run! You are sentenced for life to do no less than 40 mph. at all times. To drop below that speed means death. The future is here: the automotive revolution has finally overrun human evolution. This is life-- ON WHEELS."

Kin Platt was a genuine "Jack of all Trades;" writer, scriptwriter (Jonny Quest, among others), painter, sculptor, caricaturist and comics creator (Supermouse, among others). Actually, he mastered most things pretty well, including, in my opinion, novel writing (all genres; children, teen and adult). When he passed away in 2003 at the age of 91 he had published 55 books, some under pseudonyms (Nick Tall, Nick West, Guy West, Alan West, Guy York, Wesley Simon York, Kirby Carr). He even left behind unpublished manuscripts. Platt's run of published Max Roper Mysteries consisted of seven titles, each one fast and fun to read. The Giant Kill, The Princess Stakes Murder, The Kissing Gourami, and The Pushbutton Butterfly (not shown) were all published in paperback by Charter in 1980. David Plourde produced the cover art on all three titles, and probably others in the series as well.

THE GIANT KILL: "Max Roper, durable investigator, is sapped, doped and imprisoned on a boat apparently used by a mysterious Oriental for business purposes. The point of this caper is to have Max carry a warning to basketball superstar Jo-Jo Gonzaga that he must throw the championship play-off. When Gonzaga is shot and killed in his own fabulous and eccentrically designed home after his team wins the second game of the series, Roper decides to find the hoods who had abducted him. Max discovers that a lot of people wanted Gonzaga dead and that there is more to this murder than the gangland routine of forcing a team win at any cost."

THE PRINCESS STAKES MURDER: "Willie Rich asked Max Roper to come out to the Princess Stakes at Del Mar where he would be riding Calamity in the $100,000 race. Willie had a problem he wanted to discuss with the detective after the eighth race. When Willie didn't show up, and Max couldn't find him around the track, Roper went out to Willie's estate. The jockey was there. In his pool. Dead. The Princess Stakes Murder is further complicated when the beautiful daughter of one of the top stable owners turns up missing at the same time. Throw in a widow who isn't too heartbroken, some Las Vegas mobsters, a cosmic charlatan and four more murders and you're off to the races."

THE KISSING GOURAMI: "It starts out as a simple investigation for Max Roper--find a missing $10,000 dress. Since Max knows that the girl who is supposed to be inside it has dynamic specifications as well as one hundred million dollars, he doesn't mind the assignment. Nothing stays simple for long in California, though. Before he's through, Max will have to contend with some Las Vegas heavies, a shark-loving redhead, a fish-loving blonde, a murderer or two, a marine biologist, and someone with a novel idea of where to leave a piranha. Max Roper finds himself in another fine kettle of fish!

While working for Charter, Plourde also produced cover art for writer/teacher Raymond Obstfeld, including his Edgar nominated mystery novel Dead Heat (1981) and at least one other entry in his hardboiled Harry Gould crime series, The Dead-End Option (1980). All told, Plourde may well have painted dozens of covers for Charter, as well as for Ace, their sister imprint.

Raymond Obstfeld has published nearly 50 books so far, mostly mysteries, westerns and novels but also non-fiction, some in collaboration with others (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), many under pseudonyms (Pike Bishop, Carl Stevens, Jason Frost). He also wrote several Mack Bolan novels for series author Don Pendleton. 

THE DEAD-END OPTION: "Harry's found himself a nice quiet sort of job... enforcing the No Smoking regulation at an "art theater." Certainly not the type of place where you'd expect to find a dead body sitting up front. Or $200,000 in negotiable bonds stuffed behind the seat. That kind of money can be tempting, especially for a small-time crook trying to go straight, and the thought of taking off with the loot does pass through Harry's mind. Trouble is, several other people seem to have the same idea, including a crooked cop and even Harry's own true love, the beautiful Vicki. Harry Gould has a special knack for being in the wrong place at the right time and a healthy respect for men who chase him with guns. But sometimes he comes out ahead..."

DEAD HEAT: "Harry Gould went into the game with fifty grand. And came out of it $30,000 light. But that was okay. He'd lost to Blackstone, who promptly keeled over with a coronary attack. It could have been worse--he could've lost to Bender. So when Frank "Stillwater" Bender bought Harry's marker it got worse--fast. "Harry, Bender said. " There's one important lesson I learned from Guido Sarducci, and that is to always have a fall guy to protect yourself. And you, Harry, are going to be our fall guy."

A snow smothered Manhattan, as envisioned by Plourde. Funny how so many novels in the 20th Century imagined the earth being devastated by expanding ice, not melting ice. Now of course we know better. The Sixth Winter by Douglas Orgill and John Gribbon was published in paperback by Ballantine in 1981.

"For five years, each winter has been colder, longer, icier. For the first time in centuries, packs of hungry wolves are roaming in from the wilderness, ferociously attacking anyone in their path. Huge tornados of ice, known only to the Eskimos as the legendary Dancers, swoop down on the northern hemisphere, leaving enormous glaciers in fields, rivers, and cities. For years, American scientist Dr. William Stovin has been warning people, including the President, that these catastrophic weather changes are moving south. Now snow is engulfing the United States. Ice covers skyscrapers. Cities must be evacuated. Worldwide starvation is imminent. Another ice age is devastating the earth. It's The Sixth Winter."

Back in the last century we were always being threatened by one disaster or another. In The Deadly Frost, it's methane gas. Oh smelly crap! Terrence Moan's apparently lone thriller was published in paperback by Ballantine in 1980. Plourde produced for us a great image of the ship and its leaking cargo.

 

"On an ordinary August day, the S.S. Prometheus, the world's largest carrier of liquefied natural gas, enters New York harbor. Moments after it passes a routine safety inspection, a freak accident unleashes a cloud of 260-degree-below-zero methane gas that rises and drifts toward the packed beaches of coney Island and Brooklyn. Only Prometheus First Mate Val Paknis and beautiful scientist Cybil Yale escape the doomed tanker and begin a nerve-shattering race to save the ship--and the city. Newspapers howl, politicians balk. All over town, in all kinds of ways, people begin to fight for their lives. But any moment could be the last--for contact with the cloud means instant frozen death and even a tiny spark can ignite a blaze certain to devour all of New York..."

John Varley's first short story collection, The Persistence of Vision (1979) was one of the most powerful works of science fiction published in the latter half of the twentieth century. The Barbie Murders was published one year later in paperback by Berkley, and it too was powerful, but perhaps not as earthshaking as the previous collection. Though, in my humble opinion, Plourde's cover art made it instantly collectible.

"Whether he's looking into a murder on the moon or pondering life among the outer rings of Saturn, John Varley creates controversy among SF fans and readers everywhere. One of today's top young authors, compared by Asimov to the early Heinlein--he has been accused of being too flashy, too deep, too sexy, too adventurous, too "pulpy", too literary... Accused, in fact, of everything but being dull."

 

Here's a benign, pastoral scene by Plourde for Sydney J. (Joyce) Van Scyoc's science-fiction novel Sunwaifs. It was published in paperback by Berkley in 1981.

"Feliss, who dances in a rainbow cloud of birds. Trebb, master of wild grasses and of trees. Ronna, lighthealer. Herrol, herdfather. Corrie, dreamer of deathstorms. Nadd, regulator who sees many futures. The orphan children of humankind, shaped by a planet called Destiny, gifted with all the terrifying powers of the Gods."

Long before bestselling adventure author Alistair MacLean had passed away, negotiations were under way to have someone else transform his 1980 CBS film, The Hostage Tower, based on his 25 page treatment, into a novel. Enter John Denis, aka John Edwards and Denis Frost. That was the beginning of eleven more novels written by Denis and others but published under the MacLean header. Plourde clearly got into the spirit of the affair, hence the piercing cover art on the U.S. paperback edition, which was published by Fawcett Crest in 1983.

"The most ingenious criminal in the world has come up with his most spectacular exploit. He hires for his team: A top weapons expert, who can steal and use the newest, most secret military equipment. The best cat burglar, who can scale any height. A man whose extraordinary strength and ingenuity could conquer any obstacle. Faced with the most audacious crime of the century, the world's politicians can only trust The United Nations Anti-Crime Organization--UNACO--and its team!" 

The Crossing has a beautiful rendered and composed painting by Plourde on its cover, which perfectly accommodates the book's stylish titling font, while also illuminating the story's key, critical launching moment. At this point in his career Plourde was at full throttle, artistically speaking that is. What covers he produced after this are not known to me, but I do believe he has a lot more out there, all waiting to be discovered. I plan to find as many as I can.

Jim Flanagan's crime thriller was published in paperback by Fawcett Gold Medal in 1983.

"Austin Hardy had driven his beautiful wealthy wife to her death. And for this he had to pay. "The hell with the law," said Sarah's lover. "Austin Hardy is an evil son of a bitch. If the law can't make him pay for killing Sarah then I can."  Thus begins an ingenious and deadly tale of vengeance--and of love."
 

[© February, 2022, Jeffersen]