Jack of Shadows (Signet Q5140)

New York, NY: Signet Books. Very Good. 1972. 1st Paperback Edition; 1st Printing. Paperback. Cover Art; This is a mass market paperback book. The book is in Very Good condition and was isssued thus without a dust jacket. There is a thin strip of toning to a portion of the book spine. The spine ends and corners of the book covers have some beginning bumping and rubbing. The text pages are mostly clean and bright, but have some light generalized toning. "Aside from working with mythological themes, the most common recurring motif of Zelazny's is the "absent father" (or father-figure). Again, this occurs most notably in the Amber novels: in the first Amber series, the protagonist Corwin searches for his lost, god-like father Oberon; while in the second series, which focuses on Corwin's son Merlin (not to be confused with the Arthurian Merlin) , it is Corwin himself who is strangely missing. This somewhat Freudian theme runs through almost every Zelazny novel to a smaller or larger degree. Roadmarks, Doorways in the Sand, Changeling, Madwand, A Dark Traveling; the short stories "Dismal Light", "Godson", "The Keys to December"; and the Alien Speedway series all feature main characters who are either searching for or have lost their fathers. Zelazny's father, Joseph, died unexpectedly in 1962 and never knew his son's successes as a writer; this event may have triggered Zelazny's unconscious and frequent use of the absent father motif. " (from Wikipedia) .