Shannon, an orphan who was raised by a robotic “mother surrogate,” once was a captain in the Space Patrol with a promising career, one he ruined in an attempt to save the lives of prisoners who were in an orbiting prison that was in the path of his ship.ĭrummed out of the Patrol, Shannon eventually became a self-centered pirate with a variety of money-making schemes. The novel plays out on a smallscale, personal level, even though it has intergalactic trips and action scenes.

Obviously Shannon is an anti-hero, and in fact the thrust of the novel is his eventual rediscovery of his own humanity. Then Shannon and his team of fellow pirates float down to the planet on their little ships and zap the fertilized eggs from the bodies of recently-impregnated women!! He clusterbombs populaces with pellets containing a hallucinogenic of his own manufacture the hallucinogen drives everyone who breathes it 'Mythmad' - a euphoric, delusional state, one where they are incapable of controlling themselves. Our hero is John Shannon, the titular “Mythmaster.” The way he got this title is pretty unusual to say the least. The novel is more of a character study than a space opera or adventure story, but the incidental details Kelley sprinkles throughout the narrative are fascinating. This is a slim book, a little over 200 pages, but engrossing in its storytelling and psychedelicized future setting. Starting in the mid-1960s Kelley published a handful of sci-fi novels, and if Mythmaster is any indication, they all might be worth checking out sometime. Kelley, who passed away in 2002, churned out a variety of genre novels, particularly Westerns Mike Madonna informs me that he also created the Cimarron series.

And just as surprisingly, the awesome Robert Foster cover (sort of) illustrates an actual scene in the novel! Usually it’s just the covers, but sometimes the novels themselves live up to this lysergic promise, and Mythmaster is a case in point.

Avoid GLASSFROGBOOKS, ERGODOBOOKS, MORE BOOKS, IRISH BOOKSELLERS, PRO QUO/BAYSIDE BOOKS, BOOKSPLEASE, RIA CHRISTIE, DISCOVER BOOKS, BOOKS2ANYWHERE, BOOKS EXPRESS, CHIRON MEDIA! These 'Booksellers' have no books of their own.they buy honest booksellers' books, upcharge you and have no idea what the book is really like.I love pulp sci-fi paperback originals, preferably ones from the ‘60s and ‘70s, and especially those that tap into the then-current psychedelic scene, casting their cosmic futures in a hallucenogenic glow. A crisp, clean, tightly bound softcover copy presenting light creasing to spine from having been previously gently read and presenting light shelf wear only. Very Good+ with No dust jacket as issued.

Mythmaster by Leo P. Kelley