Reviews of psychedelic literature, trip lit and drug-related writing first published between 1945 and 1970.
The Gantry Episode (1968) by June Drummond was published by Victor Gollancz. One of a host of novels published in the late 1960s, which all had LSD being pumped into a local water supply as their major premise, this particular one manages to stay well clear of any lurid hippie...
Originally published in 1969 by Brockhampton Press (UK), and later reissued by White Lion (1974), The Sugar Cube Trap by Madelaine Duke is a short novel set in Brighton, East Sussex. After one of their friends becomes ‘hooked’ on acid and is taken to hospital, it follows the story of...
Published in the United States in 1967, Lovemaster by Lambert Macy is a hippie exploitation novel set against the backdrop of LSD’s emergence into the youth culture of the 1960s. It is told from the point of view of protagonist Dr Victor X Storm, known by friends and enemies alike as...
This review first appeared in the Psychedelic Press journal 2015 Volume III Albert Hofmann in Godenholm Ernst Jünger’s short novel Visit to Godenholm, first published in Germany in 1952 as Besuch auf Godenholm[i], is now available in English language translation for the first time, thanks to the efforts of its...
The 1950s was an important decade in the formulation of the Western world’s relationship with psychoactive substances. Scientific research with LSD, mescaline, and other hallucinogens gathered great pace; a spurt of new literature, most famously Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception, explored the effects of these substances; R Gordon Wasson’s...
Originally published in 1968 by Michael Joseph Ltd., ‘The Inseparables: He used LSD to recreate the horrors of Dachau’ was written by Russell Braddon (1921-1995). The Australian author also wrote ‘The Naked Island’ (1952), an account of his experience as a prisoner of war in World War II. This review...
Thousand Times Broken is comprised of 3 never-before-translated books by Henri Michaux, originally written between 1956-1959. Undertaken while the author experimented with mescaline, ‘Peace in the Breaking’, ‘Watchtowers on Targets’, and ‘400 Men on the Cross’, reveal the creative output of a deeply experimental artist and writer. Gillian Conoley’s translation is...
Originally published in France in 1967 under the title ‘L’Pays de l’éclairement’, this edition of Charles Duits classic, entitled ‘Peyote Dreams’, has been translated and reissued by Park Street Press (2013). Duits (1925-1991) was a French writer and surrealist largely known for his fantasy saga novels ‘Ptah Hotep’ and ‘Nefer’....
Originally published in 1955 ‘The Splintered Man’ by M. E. Chaber is one of the very earliest works of fiction (and non-fiction) to deal with LSD. The book is remarkable for pointing out how LSD could easily be used by government agencies, such as the CIA, for experimentation, within the...
Originally published in 1964 ‘Green Medicine: The Search for Plants that Heal…’ is written by Margaret B. Kreig. This review is written from the 1st UK hardback edition, 1965. The book explores humanity’s recent botanical investigations in order to discern new sources of medicinal drugs. Kreig was a journalist and...
