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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 straight down on a
   edition was being marketed            bed done up in pink satin
   as soft core porn.                    sheets that fill the visual
                                         field, and in the center, a
      This probably explains             blonde in heavy make-up
      both how it ended up in            peeping out from under.
      this bookstore, (and
      how Richard E. Geis
      happened to read it).

         ALTER_EGO




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