S. Lazarus's surreal cover deeply impressed me as a child; it impresses me still. My introduction as a lad to drug addiction and, for that matter, homosexuality ("Huh...?") in print. Published the year I was born, so it's a real cultural fossil; King was self-absorbed, self-destructive, went through women like Kleenex, and was a regular on the Jack Parr Show back in the day. Great yarns and a rant or two, or three, from a curmurdgeon. (Lenny Bruce called him the Mark Twain of dope!)