John Brunner, known for his Hugo Award winning SF novel Stand on Zanzibar, contributed an existential, noirish fantasy to the ACE SCIENCE FICTION SPECIALS series. In 1971, the original Traveler in Black appeared and boggled plenty of readers’ minds with the strange adventures of a man who had power over Chaos. Michael Moorcock fans will appreciate the conflict between Order and Chaos. Then, in the mid-1980s, the lamented Bluejay Books brought out The Compleat Traveller in Black that featured a new story added to those in the ACE collection and some rewriting of the original stories. John Brunner’s enigmatic fantasy deserves rediscovery for its originality.
I just ordered it from the library. Sounds interesting and I’ve been reading some fantasy lately. I still have STAND ON ZANZIBAR unread on my shelves.
My favorite John Brunner novel is THE JAGGED ORBIT, Jeff, but STAND ON ZANZIBAR is right up there. THE COMPLEAT TRAVELLER IN BLACK is very different from anything else Brunner ever wrote.
Love the first cover. Looks scary.
THE COMPLEAT TRAVELLER IN BLACK isn’t very scary, Patti. But the stories are haunting.
Great stuff. I have the Ace book and a paperback of COMPLEAT. Can’t remember the publisher of that one, but it’s not Bluejay.
Collier Books published an edition based on the Bluejay version, Bill.
For me this was Brunner’s masterpiece. But I have great affection for all the Ace Double adventure novels he wrote as well. I also wish there was a large collection of his short work available. He deserves to be remembered. Thanks for running this, George.
Thanks, Ed. Like you, I enjoyed John Brunner’s early work, too. But STAND ON ZANZIBAR was a game changer in Brunner’s career. THE JAGGED ORBIT is another unjustly forgotten book which I may feature in the months ahead.
And he was as prolific as Silverberg, as they both turned to more weighty matters in the late ’60s and early ’70s…you couldn’t throw a stick without hitting a Silverberg serial in GALAXY or a Brunner in AMAZING. And THE TRAVELER IN BLACK collections were even more useful than they would be otherwise, inasmuch as those stories were all over the magazines, including MAGAZINE OF HORROR and SCIENCE FANTASY. which many of Brunner’s readers were sadly unlikely to come across…
Patti, that cover was one of the many Diane and Leo Dillon did for that Ace Specials series, and one of the better ones in a brilliant bunch.
The Traveller on the cover of the Bluejay edition always reminded me of Stephen J. Cannell, Todd. You’re right about Brunner being prolific. But, like Silverberg, Brunner had a fairly high standard of quality control.
Indeed, it does look like Cannell…I think it’s supposed to look like Brunner, which it does less remarkably.
And when AMAZING dared run a Jack Vance or Gregory Benford serial instead, or GALAXY an Isaac Asimov or Frank Herbert, a stockpile of serious novels by Brunner and Silverberg would be backlogging. Interestingly to me, they both sort of stopped in the mid-’70s after greater reader and/or publisher indifference, as they (reasonably) saw it…and both came back with big books unlike their previous output after a couple/few years…though they diverged there, with Silverberg having a reasonable hit and good return on LORD VALENTINE’S CASTLE, and Brunner’s big historical novel not doing so well at all.
I have a copy of THE GREAT STEAMBOAT RACE, Todd. But, I confess I haven’t read it. I’m not a fan of LORD VALENTINE’S CASTLE. Too long with little pay-off.
I see my memory is off…Brunner did publish some more fantastic-fiction novels before gettng THE GREAT STEAMBOAT RACE published, though he might’ve been working on it for that five-year interregnum after THE SHOCKWAVE RIDER…(and Silverberg’s after SHADRACH IN THE FURNACE).
I know John Brunner sold plenty of his older novels to DAW Books in the form of omnibus editons and “fix-ups,” Todd. But, as you point out, publishing changed and Brunner’s work fell out of favor with major hardcover publishers.
I’m partial to STAND ON ZANZABAR and THE SHEEP LOOK UP, when it comes to Brunner. This is one I’ve not read.
THE TRAVELLER IN BLACK is well worth looking for, Rick. It has a strangeness to it that none of Brunner’s more conventional books possess.
He did a few smaller sf books that I still reread occasionally notably The Whole Man and The Productions of Time. He also did a Geoffrey Household-type thriller that was a good solid thriller, Wear The Butcher’s Medal.
Brunner could write well in almost any genre, Ed. I enjoyed WEAR THE BUTCHER’S MEDAL, too.
Well, Brunner demanded they quit treating his books like cheap knock-offs…in the initial US edition of THE SHOCKWAVE RIDER, from Harper and Row, the clever editors decided when Brunner had been referring to his twin brother protagonists, he really meant one person, so they “corrected” that for him w/o consulting him. Making the book fairly incoherent. He loudly took exception to this, and that might’ve (further) poisoned his relation with certain publishers.
Mainstream publishers didn’t understand Brunner, Todd. Fortunately, those Harper & Row errors were corrected in the later paperback editions.
THE TRAVELER IN BLACK was a fantasy collection, wasn’t it? And yet it was published as a Science Fiction Special. I don’t have a list of all of Ace’s SF Specials handy, but I wonder how many of the rest of them were actually Fantasy. (This was long before Fantasy overpowered SF in terms of popularity, as is the case now.)
Brunner, and Michael Moorcock, wrote in a genre that might be termed “science fantasy,” Steve. The whole Order vs. Chaos theme is common to both writers’ work. Terry Carr, who edited the ACE SCIENCE FICTION SPECIALS, had a flexible approach to SF/Fantasy.
Todd, I either forgot or never knew about what Harper & Row did to Brunner’s SHOCKWAVE RIDERS. Imagine what that editor would have done to Philip K. Dick.
Love the TiB stories. Great choice.
Our tastes coincide again, Scott! I’m a big John Brunner fan, and THE COMPLEAT TRAVELLER IN BLACK is one of his best (and oddest) books.