Totems of a sort

I have noticed that as the years have gone by, there have been some concepts or images that have maintained a consistent appeal for me. These are the things that an author can put in a story (or a marketer in an advertisement) that are guaranteed to get my attention and make me predisposed toward the text.

First of all, as goes without saying, there are kilts of all sorts:



Of course, there are dirigible balloons – zeppelins, airships, blimps – of all types.



(I even wrote a history paper in high school on airships and Nazis.)

And then there are autogyros:



And motorcycles with sidecars:



(Does anyone remember that I owned one of these for about five minutes a few summers ago?)

And rounding out the top five would have to be what I have always called “deep-sea divers” but which are also known as hard-hat divers or just divers:



Given this last, it is a wonder that it has taken me so long to watch Men of Honor, the Robert DeNiro/Cuba Gooding movie about the first black Navy diver. We saw it on DVD last night, and it had everything I expected – overcoming adversity of all sorts, antagonists who become allies, displays of physical courage, swelling music, and looks of grim determination from the protagonists. It also managed to imbue the slow, ponderous divers with a sense of action and movement. As hokey and hackneyed as the film was, I loved it, even if there were no blimps in it.

So, what does it for you? What elements spark your responsometer and ensure your interest in a narrative? What is on the cover of the paperback you'll juts have to pick up and leaf through? Women with crossbows? Rusty metal artifacts? Muscle cars? Unicorns? Diners?