Wednesday 28 January 2015

Psychedelic Sci-Fi Round-up:
To Challenge Chaos
by Brian M. Stableford

(DAW, 1972)



Here, a young Brian Stableford (25 years old in 1972) presents one of what seems like about a million ‘70s science fiction/fantasy books about the forces of galactic order rather abstractly battling the forces of chaos, and that sort of thing. Did Michael Moorcock popularise this notion, or was there just something in the air? Either way, presumably best enjoyed with the accompaniment of a Camberwell carrot and a copy of the latest Hawkwind LP, whilst skiving off an engineering lecture.

To be honest, just trying to read the back cover blurb on this one gives me a headache, but the cover art by Frank Kelly Freas (“known as the Dean of Science Fiction Artists”) is very nice. By which I mean, swirly and purple. Lovely detail here if you look closely... which no doubt you will after about half an hour in the circumstances described above. Far-out, etc etc.

As a bonus, here's another rather superb Freas cover for a DAW Stableford book that popped up on a quick google image search.


1 comment:

Elliot James said...

The 50s, 60 and early 70s were rich years for paperback sci-fi. And the trippy artwork! The best part of many books.