cover art by esteban maroto (unsigned, uncredited; shared with ace t/pb 1st edn. and sfbc h/cvr)
interior b+w illustrations by esteban maroto (credited)
isbn 0-441-10257-3
cat# 10257-3
cover price $2.50
276pp? including titles, indica etc, end pp. advertising
indica printing history number-string includes "1": 2468097531
near-identical second ace mmpb printing retains isbn, cat#, cover price
indica printing history number-string drops the "1" leaving 246809753
no indication of printing's date
near-identical third ace mmpb printing, fourth printing
..
fifth ace mmpb printing 1/1983 cover still flashed "first mass market edition!"
isbn 0-441-10254-9
cover price $2.75
indica printing history number-string reported absent
sixth ace mmpb printing 7/1983 still flashed "first mass market edition!"
isbn 0-441-10253-0
cover price $2.95
no indica printing history number-string
?seventh? or later ace mmpb printing 4/1985 (not seen fully reported)
isbn 0-441-10264-6
cover price $2.95
Reviewshort novel or novella telling the story of a powerfully talented, but completely untrained wizard taken from the ruins of his enchanter-emperor father's castle and brought up on earth (as the acceptable alternative to infanticide) unaware of his ancestry or powers.
he grows up to be an adept of a kind: and becomes an immensely powerful guitarist, fronting a rock band and increasingly coming into and using - not to say abusing - his mental powers...
esteban maroto's fifty-odd b+w illustrations suffer greatly from being shot down to standard (~ uk a format) merkin mmpb size page: if you like this, it's prob'ly worth hunting down the larger format tpb or the merkin sf book club h/cvr edition (the limited edition de luxe h/cvr's liable to prove a little on the expensive side).