Novels

The Devil is Dead
—R. A. Lafferty


    •    · 1972 Nebula Nominee, Best Novel    · 1972 Locus 7th, Best Novel
      · Excerpt    
      “We will not lie to you. This is a do-it-yourself thriller or nightmare. Its present order is only the way it comes in the box. Arrange it as you will. Set off the devils and the monsters, the wonderful beauties and the foul murderers, the ships and the oceans of middle space, the corpses and the revenants, set them off in whatever apposition you wish. Glance quickly to discover whether you have not the mark on your own left wrist, barely under the skin. Build with these colored blocks your own dramas of love and death and degradation. Learn the true topography: the monstrous and wonderful archetypes are not inside you, not in your own unconsciousness; you are inside them, trapped, and howling to get out.”
        —R. A. Lafferty
      · Commentary
      “ One [cover] I especially liked was on The Devil Is Dead (Avon Books, 1971) ... No, I don't know who was the artist of the cover of the Avon edition of The Devil Is Dead. I have wondered too, but I never found out.”
        —R. A. Lafferty, Interview by Tom Jackson, Lan's Lantern #39 (1991)



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