Author | Chester Anderson |
---|---|
Cover artist | Gray Morrow |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Series | Greenwich Village Trilogy |
Genre | Science fiction novel |
Publisher | Pyramid Books |
Publication date | 1967 |
Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
Pages | 190 pp |
OCLC | 4109267 |
Followed by | The Unicorn Girl by Michael Kurland |
The Butterfly Kid is a science fiction novel by Chester Anderson originally released in 1967. It was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1968. [1] The novel is the first part of the Greenwich Village Trilogy, with Michael Kurland writing the second book ( The Unicorn Girl ) and the third volume ( The Probability Pad ) written by T.A. Waters.
The novel is primarily set in Greenwich Village, and is thoroughly saturated with psychedelic and 1960s counterculture elements. The time is an undefined near future, indicated by SF elements such as video phones and personal hovercraft; the Bicentennial is also mentioned. The use of psychoactive drugs and their effects are a central element of the story; much of the action revolves around an alien-introduced drug (referred to as "Reality Pills") that cause LSD-like hallucinations to manifest physically, generally causing chaos. The book's protagonist shares a name with the author, and another character shares the name of Michael Kurland, a friend and roommate of the author's at that time. [2]
The book's title refers to a character, Sean, who is able to spontaneously produce butterflies of all shapes, sizes, and colors after taking a "Reality Pill." Although Sean is introduced very early in the story, he is not the novel's central character. [2]
The book's counterculture subject matter and lighthearted tone have led to it being associated with the New Wave movement in science fiction. [3] Although some reviews state that the novel is "written with wit and elegance," [4] and "an engaging expression of countercultural exuberance," [5] another says it was "already dated" as of 1984. [6]
Donald Allen Wollheim was an American science fiction editor, publisher, writer, and fan. As an author, he published under his own name as well as under pseudonyms, including David Grinnell, Martin Pearson, and Darrell G. Raynor. A founding member of the Futurians, he was a leading influence on science fiction development and fandom in the 20th-century United States. Ursula K. Le Guin called Wollheim "the tough, reliable editor of Ace Books, in the Late Pulpalignean Era, 1966 and '67", which is when he published her first two novels in Ace Double editions.
Jo Walton is a Welsh and Canadian fantasy and science fiction writer and poet. She is best known for the fantasy novel Among Others, which won the Hugo and Nebula Awards in 2012, and Tooth and Claw, a Victorian era novel with dragons which won the World Fantasy Award in 2004. Other works by Walton include the Small Change series, in which she blends alternate history with the cozy mystery genre, comprising Farthing, Ha'penny and Half a Crown. Her fantasy novel Lifelode won the 2010 Mythopoeic Award, and her alternate history My Real Children received the 2015 Tiptree Award.
Ace Books is a publisher of science fiction (SF) and fantasy books founded in New York City in 1952 by Aaron A. Wyn. It began as a genre publisher of mysteries and westerns, and soon branched out into other genres, publishing its first science fiction title in 1953. This was successful, and science fiction titles outnumbered both mysteries and westerns within a few years. Other genres also made an appearance, including nonfiction, gothic novels, media tie-in novelizations, and romances. Ace became known for the tête-bêche binding format used for many of its early books, although it did not originate the format. Most of the early titles were published in this "Ace Double" format, and Ace continued to issue books in varied genres, bound tête-bêche, until 1973.
Theodore Edwin White is an American science fiction writer, editor and fan, as well as a music critic. He writes and edits as Ted White. In addition to books and stories written under his own name, he has also co-authored novels with Dave van Arnam as Ron Archer, and with Terry Carr as Norman Edwards. He won a Hugo Award in 1968.
Michael Joseph Kurland is an American author, best known for his works of science fiction and detective fiction. Kurland lives in San Luis Obispo, California.
Michael Z. Williamson is an American military science fiction and military fiction author best known for his libertarian-themed Freehold series published by Baen Books. Between 2004 and 2016, Williamson published eight Freehold novels, exploring military and political themes as well as first contact with alien beings. This was followed by the Forged in Blood (2017) and Freehold: Resistance (2019) anthologies, consisting of short stories taking place in the Freehold universe, some by Williamson and some by other authors, including Larry Correia, Tony Daniel, Tom Kratman and Brad R. Torgersen.
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Jove Books, formerly known as Pyramid Books, is an American paperback and eBook publishing imprint, founded as an independent paperback house in 1949 by Almat Magazine Publishers. The company was sold to the Walter Reade Organization in the late 1960s. It was acquired in 1974 by Harcourt Brace which renamed it to Jove in 1977 and continued the line as an imprint. In 1979, they sold it to The Putnam Berkley Group, which is now part of the Penguin Group.
Chester Valentine John Anderson was an American novelist, poet, and editor in the underground press.
Mars Crossing is a science-fiction novel by Geoffrey A. Landis about an expedition to Mars, published by Tor Books in 2000. The novel was a nominee for the Nebula award, and won the Locus Award for best first novel in 2001.
The Unicorn Girl is a science fiction novel by Michael Kurland, originally released in 1969, that follows the adventures of two men from San Francisco in the 60s after they meet a mysterious young woman looking for her missing unicorn. This novel is the second installment of the Greenwich Village Shared World Trilogy, with Chester Anderson writing the first book and the third volume written by T.A. Waters. Kurland, Anderson, and Waters wrote themselves as characters in each book.
Thomas Alan Waters (1938–1998) was an American magician, writer about magic, and science fiction author.
This Immortal, serialized as ...And Call Me Conrad, is a science fiction novel by American author Roger Zelazny. In its original publication, it was abridged by the editor and published in two parts in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in October and November 1965. It tied with Frank Herbert's Dune for the 1966 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
Yoon Ha Lee is an American science fiction and fantasy writer, known for his Machineries of Empire space opera novels and his short fiction. His first novel, Ninefox Gambit, received the 2017 Locus Award for Best First Novel.
The People of the Wind is a science fiction novel by American writer Poul Anderson, first published in 1973. It was a 1974 nominee of the Nebula Award for Science Fiction. The novel is the last book in Anderson’s Polesotechnic League series. However, since the setting of the book is many generations after the series' two main characters, Nicholas van Rijn and David Falkayn, and many generations before Anderson's follow-up series, the Terran Empire; it is more proper to consider this book a bridge between the two series.
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Meg Elison is an American author and feminist essayist whose writings often incorporate the themes of female empowerment, body positivity, and gender flexibility. Her debut novel, The Book of the Unnamed Midwife, won the 2014 Philip K. Dick Award, and her second novel, The Book of Etta, was nominated for the award in 2017. Elison's work has appeared in several markets, including Fantasy & Science Fiction, Terraform, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Catapult, and Electric Literature.