They said it couldn't be done! - Dark Interval

Yep, that's right. They said it couldn't be done but with today's offering I will have judged exactly 100 books by their covers!

On our journey we have seen beautiful illustrations and childlike scrawls. We have seen lovely ladies and frightening drag queens. We have seen looming castles, Greek ruins, crypts, swamps and turbulent seas. And we were even lucky enough to see a wheelchair.

So I wanted to thank you for stopping by as Women Running from Houses celebrates its 100th book and vows to bring you 100 more!

Dark Interval by Joan Aiken
published by Pocket Books
Copyright 1974


She Woke to Terror

When Caroline awakened, she didn't know where
she was. Then a name pricked at her memory.
Beaumont - a word from her childhood at the
manor. Beaumont - where the hopelessly mad
were committed. Beaumont - great, gloomy
home of the living dead.

And now she was there, watched over by hard-
eyed nurses, visited by a doctor whose smile could
not hide the icy indifference of his gaze. Why was
she there? How could she escape? And above all,
where was the man who had claimed her body
and destroyed her mind - and who she so des-
perately loved?

This cover brings many questions to mind the least of which concerns that woman's creepy man-hands. Yikes! Questions like how much does it cost to check into a mental health facility located in a castle? Does that floor length pink gown come in a straight jacket? And is it really a good idea to have crumbling archway structures dotting the landscape outside of a madhouse?

All sensible questions.

But my real question is if there is really anything unhealthy about "desperately" loving someone who wants to destroy your mind? Isn't that the whole bad-boy thing taken to a super extreme? And EVERYBODY knows that if a little of something is good for you a whole lot more is even better,

If loving a man who wants to destroy my mind is wrong I don't want to be right!

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.