By Jeff Elmquist
Cover art by Gene Szafran
“The Music of a demigod takes over the minds of a country, and even a continent…”
Wonderful Gene Szafran good-girl-art graces the cover of this newly discovered, far-out and freaky psychedelic science fiction novel. The Book of Stier by Robin Sanborn was published by Berkley in 1971. The cover is traditional Szafran and can immediately be confirmed as his; the artist’s signature is visible just below the girl’s left foot. This cover is somewhat reminiscent of those that Szafran did for Poul Anderson’s Corridors of Time, and Rosel George Brown’s Waters of Centaurus. I like the color scheme with warm blues and reds, and of course the GGA is nice. While I haven’t read the book, the cover doesn’t really seem to evoke the essence of the novel, at least not as provided in the back cover blurb:
The Snowchildren were going wild over Stiermusic. Its far-out sounds were sweeping the continent. Everyone was electrified by the music of Richard Stier. His high priestesses, the beautiful Magdelaine, Winnie, Terhikki, and Mrs. Chen, were faithfully fanning the flames of his renown into a high cult.
Paul Odeon, assigned by his agency to the promotion of Stiermusic – this extraterrestial rock that went beyond rock – sensed something funny about the account from the beginning. Why did Richard Stier always wear white? Why had no one ever seen him? Why did Stier’s wife, Adrianne, avoid Odeon’s probing?
First there was the Fifth Advent of Iliyu. People described its effects as the Second Coming of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Then there was the Shakespeare festival at Stratford, which would honor the long-awaited second opera of Richard Stier. And then it happened – and no one was quite sure of what they had seen…
That’s some groovy cover blurb! I’m not sure what it all means, or where it all leads, but one thing’s for sure – this book is truly out-there! It should be no surprise to anyone that Internet searches seem to reveal that The Book of Stier is Robin Sanborn’s one-and-only novel. A classic example of 70s psychedelic…sorry, extraterrestial…rock-n-roll sci-fi? Regardless of the merits of the book, this is one great Gene Szafran cover. Enjoy!
