A few more wonderful acquisitions from my pilgrimage to Dawn Treader Books in Ann Arbor, MI from month or so ago.
More Malzberg! And thankfully, one of the few really solid covers to grace his extensive oeuvre. I read Sargent’s novel Cloned Lives (1976) recently and was disappointed. Hopefully her short story collection Starshadows (1977) is more my cup of tea.
A 50s “classic” by Erin Frank Russell…
And a collection of short works on time travel by Keith Laumer…. Could not resist the early Di Fate cover which I have featured in art posts before.
Thoughts?
1. Timetracks, Keith Laumer (1972)
(Vincent Di Fate’s cover for the 1972 edition)
From the inside flap: “Five variations on a theme… Well, four really. The fifth is just so damn much fun it didn’t seem fair to leave it out. We don’t know anyone but Keith Laumer who could make Lucifer, a quantum professor, entropy, dimensions, negative-R, devils, and a beautiful Samoan girl all hang out together so delightfully. And it does have, or could have, something to do with time distortion if you look for it hard enough. But there are still four more for those of you who insist on finding out about honest-to-God time travel. An area in which Keith Laumer is an authority if not a downright originator.”
2. The Gamesman, Barry N. Malzberg (1975) (MY REVIEW)
(Ed Soyka’s cover for the 1975 edition)
From the back cover: “THE GAMESMAN. A staggering vision of Earth in the not-so-distant future. In a controlled and mechanical world, the only reality is fear and killing boredom. The only escape from mind-blowing monotony is the Game, which predictable rules of stimulus and response. And if you pit yourself against the Games Master, you may lose our last vestige of sanity. Or your life!
3. Wasp, Eric Frank Russell (1957)
(Art Sussman’s cover for the 1959 edition)
From the back cover: “It was an unorthodox way to fight a war, especially an interplanetary war. But sometimes war can be more effectively fought that way. So they trained James Mowry intensively, altered his appearance by surgery and sent him off across the void to Jaimec, the ninety-fourth planet of Sirius, to stampede an empire.”
4. Starshadows, Pamela Sargent (1977)
(Paul Alexander’s cover for the 1977 edition)
From the back cover: “SHADOWS—The aliens conquered the world… for our own good. THE OTHER PERCEIVED—Oscar was going to change the world… into a nightmare beyond imagination. OASIS—What terrible secret forced Simon Atenn to shun all human contact?”
Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations 
The Malzberg looks fun. I would try the Russell; I hope that dude doesn’t get lost in a system of 94 planets!
I LOVE the Russell cover. Looks like early Powers but isn’t.
It is always interesting to see that style of Vincent di Fate cover vs. those where he is featuring spaceships or other vehicles (which I like very much).
It’s definitely early — I love the when he’s somewhat surreal (albeit this one is not).
Great to see a fantastic Malzberg cover for once, all of mine are just plain bizarre!
Malzberg got stuck with some horrid cheap presses and often has bad cover art. Although, I’ve always found the cover for Revelations absolutely perfect considering the contents of the novel — http://www.isfdb.org/wiki/images/e/e4/RVLTNSQKXL1972.jpg
Wow, that’s a stunning cover. I’d love a copy of that in my collection. By the way, just started reading Strange Relations this evening, really enjoying it so far.
I love the first two stories! Both have very original aliens…
Just finished the second story now, very inventive stuff. Thanks for giving me the urge to put this one to the top of my reading pile Joachim.
I looked at the cover and I read the snippet – what the heck is this “Starshadows” thing! Well, good thing Terry tells us that Pam is important…….
Pam? Pamela…. Not sure we need to refer her to some nickname…..
But, I was not impressed with her novel Cloned Lives (1976). She is a very important editor though — her Women of Wonder series in the 70s is great.
I enjoyed ‘Wasp’. Russell served in the RAF during WWII, and it seemed that he used his war experience in the book, giving it lots of seemingly realistic details.
I look forward to it! The premise seems fantastically ridiculous.
A suspension of disbelief helps. I read it as a memoir of his WWII days… but in space.