first edition
1972 · (San Diego)
by James, Harrison
(San Diego): (Regency Publishing Co), 1972. First printing. Very good.. Rare first edition of this creepily prescient pulp, the story of wealthy college student "Patricia" abducted by political terrorists, published two years before the real-life abduction of Patty Hearst by the Symbionese Liberation Army. In 1974, Dell and Grove Press would republish the novel under more socially acceptable cover art (of the real Patricia Hearst) and the title ABDUCTION: Fiction Before Fact, with a new introduction by New York Post editor Al Ellenberg telling the "bizarre story of the novel [...] that foretold the Patricia Hearst kidnapping." To further capitalize on headlines, the text was then adapted into the 1975 film ABDUCTION by director Joseph Zito: "It was originally conceived of as the first porno crossover with name actors, but it didn't work out that way" (Davies). The author, a pseudonymous James Rusk, Jr., was briefly investigated by the FBI and later immortalized in dozens of equally trashy new-age collections of psychic phenomena and paranormal activity for his extraordinary ability to exploit the future before it happened. Extremely scarce. 6.5'' x 4''. Original pictorial wrappers. 188 pages. Light edgewear, minor creasing, and a faint dampstain to upper corner of inside of wrappers.
(Inventory #: 53314)