A Double Shadow, a novel by Frederick Turner

A Double Shadow (1978), a novel by Frederick Turner

At left: Paperback (New York: Berkley Publishing, 1979), a Berkley Medallion book, 217 p., $1.75.
A strange poetical science fiction novel, here is
the blurb from the back cover:

"Man had kindled Mars and extra sun, had brought ice and frozen air from the rings of Saturn, had given a dead world life. But thousands of years on the terraformed planet had changed man, too. These proud warriors, winged and armed for the status-war that will shape their planet’s destiny, are human -- but no longer of Earth ..."

According to one fan, A Double Shadow is “an excellent science fantasy novel, a bit like Vance, a bit like Cordwainer Smith, perhaps most like Samuel Delany, who is quoted in a brief cover blurb -- but who was Frederick Turner? The usual references don't even seem to know if the name is real or a pseudonym. The cover of the pb says 'now in paperback' -- obviously true, and implying that there had been a previous hardcover. But no other edition is credited. The story is set in a decadent society of the far future on a terraformed Mars. Poverty and death have long since been conquered, and the only remaining human problem is boredom, held at bay with a 'Vision' based on synthetic deities and status wars.”

Who is Frederick Turner? A British ex-patriot writing in the United States, Turner is a poet, critic, and former editor of The Kenyon Review. His books include the monumental Genesis: an Epic Poem about Mars.

As for a hardcover edition of A Double Shadow, one was published in New York in 1978 and another was published in London in 1979.