The Stranger at the Gate

The Stranger at the Gate by Jospehine Edgar
published by Pocket Books
Copyright 1973

Forbidden Legacy

As she drew nearer the great hall, Sarah
fought back the fear and dark memories that
had made her a stranger at its gates. Six years
ago she had been a baronet's daughter, and this
had been her home. Now, sixteen and father-
less, she was an actress begging her aunt, Lady
Sefton, to take her back.

But her aunt drove her away with the bitter
words that Sarah was not a Sefton, and worse,
that her true father was unknown.

Cruelly hurt, Sarah vowed there would come
a day of reckoning - when Lady Sefton would
be humbled and Sarah would again rule her
ancestral mansion.

It seems to me that Lady Sefton was justified is not really liking Sarah. Firstly, she is sixteen. No one can get along with a sixteen year old. Secondly, she is an actress and teenage actresses tend to be a bit self-centered. Add that to the fact that she is a power hunger bastard and I would have driven here away too.

Now publishing is an expensive business and so is marketing. There is a story that goes around in the industry of a man who says he wastes half of the money he spends on market but he just doesn't know which half. Well Pocket Books was too smart for that. If they were going to press anyway, they were going to sell a little ad space. And if they were going to sell ad space, they wanted to make sure it worked for their target audience.

Who was their target audience? Well, let just say they covered all their bases.



The young.



The middle aged.



The old.

True marketing genius.

Good-Bye Julie Scott

Good-Bye, Julie Scott by Alice Abbott

published by Ace Books
Copyright 1975

Julie Scott had never known her
grandfather, but nonetheless he had
left her a sizeable fortune. However,
her grandfather's house was a dilapi-
dated ruin, and his servants, the
Moons, kept her a virtual prisoner.
Then Brian Campbell, her grandfather's
lawyer, claimed her inheritance was
valueless and suggested she leave
Rosemont at once.

Frightened and bewildered, Julie
turned to friends from her past - only
to find that they were an evil part of
the sinister present ...

GOOD-BYE, JULIE SCOTT

Back in the good old days when the Surgeon General had ONLY found cigarettes to be dangerous to our health in some general sort of way, there was a place called Newport, a place (sandwiched between pages 64 and 65) that was Alive with pleasure! And in that now mythical place there lived Ontonio J. Gabriele who had no reservation about letting the world know he was the one responsible for the mediocre illustration gracing the cover of Good-Bye, Julie Scott. Good for you Ontonio!

The Ghost of Channing House

The Ghost of Channing House by Genevieve St. John

published by Lancer Books
Copyright 1967

OF HOPE
AND HORROR (quite a promising start)

The Channing Mansion was a bizarre pile of
stone stucco ... and misguided hopes. Anita
Collins could remember it only as she had first
seen it: barren, dripping with cobwebs, nearly
ghostly in its state of neglect. Its new owner
had spent thousands of dollars to rebuild it,
furnish it elegantly, and restore it to pulsing,
exciting life. But Anita was right ... for death
hovered over the house, striking unpredictably
and apparently without reason. Death
interrupted the first opulent dinner party; death
lurked in every shadowy corner and cranny ...

Anita was merely a guest, but she felt strangely
responsible. Perhaps, she thought, she might
cast rational light on the seemingly supernatural
menace when others could see only looming
terror. But then it began to appear that only
Anita's own death would lift the sinister curse -
and she learned what real fear was!

Firstly, Anita needs to let go of the past. How disappointing it is to spend thousands of dollars on cleaning up a place only to have your mopey house guest dwell on past cobwebs. Now, the whole death around ever corner thing is a whole other story. But still, she is no life of the party.

The book as a whole is only added to by the wonderful addition of a 4 page foldout advertisement for TRUE® Cigarettes. I don't know about you, I haven't really read a gothic romance novel that warranted a smoke afterwards.

I can't find a credit on the cover art but I think this illustration is pretty sharp. I mean, I can easily image the overwhelming need to flee a newly remodeled, cobweb free house that was so powerful that I would leave without my shoes.

Masque of Satan

Masque of Satan by Virginia Coffman

published by Lancer Books
Copyright 1971

Mission to Fear ...

It was Jean Benedict's missionary
zeal that had brought her to the Cove
- that, and a message from a friend
who had cried out to her in torment.

But what was Lucky Schallert's
plight? Here, at the coastal resort, a
cure was offered for lost romances and
early sorrows, a renewed chance to live
as freely, as vibrantly, as one wished -
a chance, even, to call on occult powers
which offered excitement and balm for
the soul ... but at a terrible price.

Jean Benedict wanted only to help
her friend. But when she met the mys-
terious and fascinating Marc Meridon,
she knew her fight was not for her
friend's soul - but for her own ....

MASQUE OF SATAN

The Classy ads above were bound into this book between pages 120 and 121. Could anything be greater. All true literary types smoke fancy cigarettes and serve their equally literary type friends from the finest of serving ware.

We can only assume the copy of this book I was lucky enough to find was the "Book Club" edition.