Science Fiction and Other Suspect RuminationsRecent Science Fiction Purchases No. CCCXLIV (Margaret St. Clair, Edgar Pangborn, Keith Laumer, and Edmund Cooper)
Which books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?
It’s the summer Joachim Boaz. Where are the reviews? I’m currently on a much needed vacation (Iceland). I will be back soon! In the meantime here are four recent purchases.
1. The Dancers of Noyo, Margaret St. Clair (1973)
- Davis Meltzer’s cover for the 1st edition
From the back cover: “Like so many others before him, reluctant Sam MacGregor was sent on a pilgrimage for the Frail Vision by the Dancers: androids grown from the cells of one man, with the powers of hypnotism and illusion–androids who held the tribes of the Republic of California in thrall.
But soon Sam began to doubt his own identity, for he experienced, in close succession, extra-lives in different corridors of time and space.
And he could not know whom his search would destroy: the Dancers… or himself.”
Initial Thoughts: Um, the tagline: “How long would men dance beneath the whips of the androids?” Good question! A reader of the city recommended this novel to me as an example of intriguing SF inspired by the Counterculture.
2. Still I Persist in Wondering, Edgar Pangborn (1978)
- Uncredited cover for the 1st edition
From the back cover: “The waters rose, and darkness was upon the earth… For a few decades after the Twenty-Minute War and the Red Plague, there were those who remembered the ways and pleasures of civilization, but soon the harsh realities of life in the flooded seaboard of North America pushed the survivors into a new Dark Age–an age of superstition and brutality, but one of seeking and poetry as well. This is the world of Edgar Pangborn’s classic Davy.”
Contents: “The Children’s Crusade” (1974), “Harper Conan and Singer David” (1975), “The Legend of Hombas” (1974), “Tiger Boy” (1972), “The Witches of Nupal” (1974), “My Brother Leopold” (1973), “The Night Wind” (1974).
Initial Thoughts: Acquired due to my goal to read all of Pangborn’s fiction. This contains most of his short stories within the same universe as Davy (1964), “The Music Master of Babylon” (1954), and The Company of Glory (1974, novelized 1975).
3. Tomorrow Came, Edmund Cooper (1963)
- Uncredited cover for the 1st edition
From the back cover: “WORLDS OF IMAGINATION–OR REALITY? Ranging from sheer terror to the frankly incredible, from the mysteries of outer space to a world of destruction and a society where everyone lives like millionaires by order, these stories probe deep into the unknown tomorrow–a tomorrow where the unexpected is an everyday occurrence and the unforeseen an ever-present danger… the tomorrow that is about to become TODAY!”
Initial Thoughts: To be completely honest, I can’t for the life of me remember why I bought this one. Maybe one of the stories came up in a work of scholarship I was reading. Looking through the contents, none of the stories ring a bell. It’s been sitting in my pile of purchases next to my desk for at least two years. At least my mysterious late-night purchases tend to only cost a few dollars!
4. Worlds of Imperium, Keith Laumer (1961, novelized 1962)
- Ed Valigursky’s cover for the 1967 edition
From the inside page: “For Brion Bayard, the discovery of an alternate world to Earth where history took a different turn in the road was not a pleasant experience. His kidnapping brought him some startling revelations. Here was a world in which appeared identical doubles of famous personages–including a dangerous and hated dictator named Brion Bayard!
His assignment was simple enough. Dressed as his double, Brion was to enter the enemy stronghold, kill the dictator, and take his place until law and order could be maintained.
But once having seen his mirror-image brother, Brion had a little inclination to murder him as some other people had to let him live.”
Initial Thoughts: SF Encyclopedia describes Laumer’s Imperium sequence as his most interesting series. I assume that’s why I acquired the first volume.
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#1950s #1960s #1970s #art #avantGarde #books #EdgarPangborn #EdmundCooper #KeithLaumer #MargaretStClair #paperbacks #sciFi #scienceFiction
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