Tag Archives: daniel f. galouye

Book Review: A Scourge of Screamers (variant title: The Lost Perception), Daniel F. Galouye (1966)

May 23, 2013 Joachim Boaz 4 Comments

(Paul Lehr’s cover for the 1968 edition)

2.75/5 (Vaguely Average)

Recently I procured a handful of Daniel F. Galouye’s novels (here) for a few dollars on ebay because I enjoyed his first novel Dark Universe (1961), which is an underread/underrated classic of the early 60s. In an effort to rekindle public interest in Galouye’s small ouvre (he died at 54 due to war injuries and was unable to write much in the last ten years of his life), he received the Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award in 2007. Unfortunately, Galouye’s fast-paced sci-fi thriller A Scourge of Screamers (variant title: The Lost Perception) does not measure up to the claustrophobic and well-plotted social rumination (with a good dose of action) that is Dark Universe.

The most redeeming feature is Paul Lehr’s harrowing depiction of mental anguish Continue reading Book Review: A Scourge of Screamers (variant title: The Lost Perception), Daniel F. Galouye (1966) →

Updates + Articles

Updates: Recent Acquisitions No. LX (Galouye 4x + Bunch)

April 1, 2013 Joachim Boaz 10 Comments

What a group of novels! Four novels by the highly underrated and underread 1960s/early 70s author Daniel F. Galouye — the only novel of his I’m missing is The Infinite Man (1973)… I’ve previously read his most famous work Dark Universe (1961) — here’s my review (be warned, one of my first reviews on the site, I’d like to think that I’ve improved) — but copies tend to go for around $10+ online so I didn’t own a copy until I stumbled on a great lot of his novels on ebay for a few bucks…

Just read the back covers quotes (below). They all sound disturbing and absolutely fantastic. Rainer Werner Fassbinder — yes, you read that correctly — even made a German language miniseries adaptation, Welt Am Draht (1973) (World on a Wire), of Simulacron-3 (1964). Criterion just released a DVD…. And of course, Josef Rusnak’s more famous film The Thirteenth Floor (1999) was a lose adaptation of the same novel.

Also, I spent the most I’ve ever spend on a paperback for David R. Bunch’s near masterpiece, Moderan (1971). I finished the novel last week (interlibrary loan) and had to find a copy… They are usually $18 + online but again, found a copy on ebay and made an offer. I’ll have a review of Moderan up in a few days, I promise!

1. Lords of the Psychon, Daniel F. Galouye (1963)