Sixties Novels, Part 20
TAKEOVER, Lawrence Louis Goldman, Curtis Books, 1973
What was the biggest fear of THE ESTABLISHMENT in the Sixties? Not anarchy, not rioting, not nihilism, not dropping out. No, the biggest fear on the elderly side of THE GENERATION GAP was that youths would commandeer the political system of the USA and turn it to their own ends! Horrors! To lose the reins of power--that was the most primal fear.
Naturally, various works of art played off of this.
First there was 1968's WILD IN THE STREETS:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_in_the_Streets
Then, in 1971, eighteen-year-olds got the right to vote. And in 1973, we got PREZ, from DC Comics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prez_%28DC_Comics%29
Both these instances are well known. But Lawrence Louis Goldman's book seems to have slipped from memory. Even the fabled Clute & Nicholls ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION has no entry on the man or his book or career.
Consulting ABEBOOKS, it appears that LLG began by writing mystery novels.
FALL GUY FOR MURDER, 1943
TIGER BY THE TAIL, 1946
Then, around 1950, he switched to screenwriting, as indicated in his IMDB entry:
http://imdb.com/name/nm0325825/
He played a part in the SF movie boom of the Fifties:
KRONOS, 1957
THE SAGA OF THE VIKING WOMEN AND THEIR VOYAGE TO THE WATERS OF THE GREAT SEA SERPENT, 1957
WAR OF THE SATELLITES, 1958
THE 30-FOOT BRIDE OF CANDY ROCK, 1959
But eventually he turned to books again.
MAN WITH A STAR, 1966
JUDD FOR THE DEFENSE, 1968
JUDD FOR THE DEFENSE #2, 1968
THE HEART MERCHANTS, 1970
THE CASTRATO, 1973
His TAKEOVER seems like a sturdy example of the genre. Fairly realistic in its political details, sober in its speculations. Maybe that's why it's faded, paling next to PREZ and WILD IN THE STREETS.
BONUS BOOK!!!!
The last page of TAKEOVER advertises SHOCKPROOF SYDNEY SKATE (1973) by Marijane Meeker.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vin_Packer
Now there's a name that spans several decades of grooviness. From lesbian pulpster to YA author, never forsaking a certain transgressiveness. Here's the capsule description of SHOCKPROOF SYDNEY SKATE:
"Sydney Skate has dubbed himself 'Shockproof': He decoded his mother's gossip with her glamorous lesbian girlfriends at age eight (but has never let on to her that he knows she's gay). He easily shrugs off his father's demands to skip college and join him in the exciting world of swimming pool sales for suburbanites. During his summer days, he deftly cares for snakes at the local pet shop. And he has memorized the sex scenes of every book he's ever read in order to better seduce women. Nothing, however, has prepared Sydney for his mother sweeping Alison Gray, the girl of his dreams, off her feet."
Lesbian Mom steals son's girlfriend..... Holy L-word!
