Half a century ago, author Stanley Crawford nailed the future with a now all-but-forgotten book's take on what has become mundane: everyone lost in their mobile phones, every freeway feeding into supermarkets, service stations, burger joints. Between guffaws, you might recognise our modern world. Fifty years on, Stanley Crawford’s 1966 novel GASCOYNE is a forgotten treasure waiting to be rediscovered. Theprotagonist, GASCOYNE (always written in upper case, which I will ignore in this instance, as this site’s editor tells me the typography looks terrible) is a wheeler-dealer who owns petrol stations, supermarkets, real estate, housing estates, banks, and a secret zoological warfare research facility. In addition, selling dud vehicles to the government, running hookers and managing the drug trade keep the meter ticking over...
6 min read (1138 words)
