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RANDOM_ENCOUNTER

                                          December 20, 2002

   
Back in the early 70s, before I was
into my teens, I was enamored of   
the zine's of Richard E. Geis.  
In one of the first issues that 
I saw, he was raving about some 
book called "The Dice Man" by Luke           
Rhinehart, and by way of review,         DICE 
included many blocks of quotations. 

I happened to come across this  
book on the remaindered table of                                          
one of the sleazier book stores          Pornography in the back          
of Huntington Station...                 room, and up front               
                                         (probably as a blind)            
                                         back-issues of comic books
   This is the kind of place             and a few used books.      
   that ran a cheapo table of            
   paperback books with the                                     
   covers ripped off.  Meaning    
   that the covers had been   
   sent back to the publisher   
   as evidence that the books    
   were unsold, but rather       
   than destroy the damaged     
   copies as they were          
   supposed to, they sold them  
   for under a buck.              
                                
                                     
And here, is where I found                                           
"The Dice Man", for 50 cents. 

   Judging from the back cover                                       
   alone -- it's front was long                                            
   gone -- this Pocket Books        Looking down on a bed, pink 
   edition was being marketed            satin sheets fill the visual     
   as soft core porn.                    field, with a blonde woman  
                                         peeping out from under, dead       
                                         center.                         
      This probably explains             
      both how it ended up in                                        
      this bookstore, (and                                           
      how Richard E. Geis                                            
      happened to read it).                                          
                                                                     
                                      
      
               
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