Black Clock 20

by Steve Erickson (Editor), Ophelia Chong (Design)

On the fiftieth anniversary of the Psychedelic Era's dawning, Black Clock 20 cites fifty essential works of psychedelic popular culture with commentaries by Jonathan Lethem, Rick Moody, Greil Marcus, Grace Krilanovich, Devin McKinney, Howard A. Rodman, Geoff Nicholson, Lynell George and David L. Ulin among others, along with a mini-history of the time by Jon Savage, road trips to psychedelic America as driven by Tom Carson, "field trips to Mars" as conducted by tour guide Howard Hampton, Ann Powers on the heretofore unknown seductive powers of the Grateful Dead, Claire Phillips on the heretofore unknown acid possibilities of Dragnet (as directed by Jim Morrison), Alan Rifkin's reflections with Jerry Burgan on Sixties folk-group We Five's last gasp before the Tie-Dye Tide, and some of the trippiest fiction and poetry in half a century by the likes of Brian Evenson, Shelley Jackson, Rob Roberge and Matthew Specktor.

208 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2015

About the author

Steve Erickson is a distinguished American novelist known for a visionary, dream-fueled style that blends European modernism with American pulp and postmodernism. Raised in Los Angeles, he studied film and political philosophy at UCLA, influences that permeate celebrated works such as Days Between Stations, Tours of the Black Clock, and Zeroville. Critics, including Greil Marcus, have labeled him "the only authentic American surrealist," placing him in the lineage of Pynchon and DeLillo. His most acclaimed novel, Shadowbahn, was hailed as a masterpiece even prior to its release and was later adapted for BBC Radio. A "writer’s writer," Erickson has published ten novels translated into over a dozen languages, consistently appearing on best-of-the-year lists for The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. He is the recipient of the Lannan Lifetime Achievement Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and an American Academy of Arts and Letters award. Erickson served for fourteen years as the founding editor of the journal Black Clock and is currently a Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Riverside.