Kin Platt Message Board
Cynthia posts on 6/20/2013 5:55:17 PM
I have to admit, I love the hardcover dustjacket art for The Blue Man best, but I also like the paperback cover, since that's the version I own. I keep looking for the hardcover, but no luck yet. I was probably lucky to find the paperback, it is pretty hard to come by as well.
Phil posts on 6/20/2013 9:07:16 AM
Chris - Thanks for the info. I've never seen the cover for the hardback but just now looked it up online and I see what you mean. That is a great cover, too, in that vivid, graphic style that you just don't see anymore. I love the woodcut-like appearance of the face, the angles of those lines, the look in the eyes, the star background with the blue planet in the background, it all works together very well. As I said, my sense-memory revolves around the Scholastic paperback so that one will always be etched in my mind but I'm sure the other cover would have been the same. However, I'm still curious if anyone out there can see the Lee Marvin resemblance. Anyone out there familiar with Marvin's appearance see what I'm talking about? Your dad was an amazing guy, but I guess no one has to tell you that. Cynthia (and Chris) - Thanks for the tips. I will definitely go get those ebooks. I'm kinda on a used bookstore kick right now so I'll keep looking for printed copies, too.
Cynthia posts on 6/20/2013 3:53:44 AM
Not only are most of the Kin Platt Max Roper mysteries available as ebook, but right now they are 99 cents each at Amazon! For that price, I just got them all! Barnes & Noble and Kobo also have them, but are a little higher priced. I think you could use Kobo coupons on them though, but I haven't checked to be sure.
Chris Platt posts on 6/20/2013 1:07:56 AM
Hi Phil, It will be interesting to see if you get a reply on the paperback Blue Man cover. I have seen it once or twice, but I am way more familiar with and impressed by the hardback edition, for which the stunning cover art was done by Leonard Everett Fisher. Many Kin Platt books are now available online as eBooks, so enjoy your obsession before your wife cuts you off.:-)
Phil posts on 6/20/2013 12:50:41 AM
The Blue Man by Kin Platt is the first "real" book I read cover to cover (1971, age 10, the Scholastic paperback edition) and it has always stuck out in my mind as a vivid sense-memory. Not just the reading of it but that great cover art by Ray Kursar. I've long suspected that the inspiration for the figure on the cover was film actor Lee Marvin. At the very least, he strongly resembles Marvin and I've found at least one or two movie stills that are quite close to the pose and expression on the cover. I emailed Kursar himself (he's a famous Broadway poster artist these days) through his website, asking him if Marvin was an inspiration for the cover, but have never got a response. Does anyone on this message board have any information about this or maybe have an opinion? Am I crazy or doesn't that guy on the cover of the Scholastic edition of The Blue Man resemble Lee Marvin? Anyway, my main interest in Platt comes from the place that The Blue Man holds in my life as a reader, but after learning of his utterly amazing biography online (my jaw literally dropped reading about his accomplishments and I made my wife sit and listen while I read it to her)I am eager to read everything of his I can get my hands on - the kid's books, the mysteries, and even the "dirty books." This could be the beginning of a whole new obsession for me.
Chris Platt posts on 5/16/2013 12:58:29 AM
Really? Why do you say that about yourself? Are you on the right message board?
Chris Platt posts on 4/1/2013 11:29:37 PM
Hi Andy, Thanks, but the publisher has already taken care of the scanning with their own versions of scanning and publishing software. We are now in the process of trying to prove the Kin Platt estate has the rights to publish the book before we proceed. We have determined that the rights must have reverted before 1991, but the paper trail is extremely difficult to follow. Keep the faith.
Andy Valencia posts on 4/1/2013 10:16:30 PM
Hi, Chris.
How are things going? My offer still stands to scan in a copy of the hardbound version of your father's novel, if that'll help things moving forward. Let me know!
Regards,
Andy
p.s. It'd be sort of cool to compare what was changed between the paperback and the original!
Chris Platt posts on 3/7/2013 4:28:15 PM
No, Karl, you are right -- he only wrote those two. He wrote three Sinbad books, young adult titles about a bulldog and his boy, Steve.
Karl posts on 3/6/2013 10:12:21 PM
I thought your Dad only wrote two Three Investigator Books, Coughing Dragon and Nervous Lion. Was there a third?
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