Terror on Planet Ionus

Extollager

Extollager

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OK, Damon Knight despised this book -- "This is no novel: it is half-heartedly 'novelized' screen story. The blank-faced characters stand up and speak their lines woodenly, without any perceptible motivation; of characterization, explanation, depth of any kind there is none...[the book is] so bad that ordinary epithets will not do. It is incredibly, stupidly, loathsomely bad... The style is pretentious, ignorant and vulgar." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mach_1:_A_Story_of_Planet_Ionus)

I wondered if anyone had read it and had anything to say about it, because it was one of the first sf paperbacks to catch my eye, among the limited number thereof that I saw years ago when I was a youngster. Suddenly something brought it to mind just now, and I thought I'd ask!
 
Didn't read it but bought it when it came out. A friend made fun of it so I traded it in at a local second hand bookstore. Periodically I wish I still had it just to see if it's any good.
 
I doubt that it is worth reading, but the monster cover art made an impression on me when I was around 12. The PayLess drugstore in Coos Bay, Oregon, had racks of paperbacks on display back in the late 1960s, and browsing them was an important part of my fledgling acquisition of a sense of sf and fantasy. No online info-dumps were available then! That store might have been where I saw the book. If so, I don't know if I have seen a copy since then.
 
Extollager said:
I doubt that it is worth reading, but the monster cover art made an impression on me when I was around 12. The PayLess drugstore in Coos Bay, Oregon, had racks of paperbacks on display back in the late 1960s, and browsing them was an important part of my fledgling acquisition of a sense of sf and fantasy. No online info-dumps were available then! That store might have been where I saw the book. If so, I don't know if I have seen a copy since then.
Click to expand...

Well, has anyone read it since this was posted? Bad, bad?
 
Y'know, if I can get this on interlibrary loan I think I'll give it a try. It's stuck in my mind all these years. Doesn't mean it's any good, of course. I'll start a thread for that topic -- books you haven't read but that have stuck in your mind for ages.
 
Somehow I never found that one. Now it will probably show up in a box behind a thrift store. I doubt there's a version for Kindle, but anything is possible.
 
Well, if you can't find it on Kindle there is a new copy available at Amazon for a mere $1,998! (Plus $3.99 shipping.)
 
Since they are so starved for original material , maybe Hollywood will make it into a movie .:D
 
Jeb vs. Karkong huh...? How did we ever miss this epic. I thought I had seen every cheesy SF PB but no, the well is apparently bottomless.
 
I may have a copy in hand in a few days. If I manage to read it, I will have to report here.
 
The title alone would make a great Grindhouse film. :D
 
Since we're fascinated with this unknown Jeb/Karkong showdown.. why Mach 1 as the original title? Is there a hardcover first somewhere? Signed, NM, light foxing inside back cover, 175.00$ inc, shipping? Or is it rubbish from the word go? DID I read this years ago and have forgotten the mighty Jeb? not to mention Karkong. IS Karkong anything like King Kong?
 
You would remember that? What are ya - a book dealer or summat? Perhaps Karkong IS like King Kong, only he drives a kar.
 
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