Life During Wartime

London: Grafton [1988]. Life During Wartime by Lucius Shepard. Published in London by Grafton in 1988. First UK and first hardcover edition. This copy has been inscribed and signed by the author on the title page. 383 pages. 1987 nominated for the Philip K Dick Award. In 1990, it won the Kurd-LaÃYwitz-Preis.David Mingolla is an artillery specialist in the United States Army serving in a near-future Central American war (references are made to then-future "Afghanistan in '89" and a nuclear weapon that destroyed Tel Aviv). As his unit serves in "Free Occupied Guatemala", Mingolla goes on leave and meets a woman named Debora in a cantina. They gradually become lovers; however, as they get close to each other, Mingolla feels intense mental pain later identified as a psychic probing his mind.Soon after this, Mingolla is recruited into the Psicorps, an elite group of psychics the United States has assembled to counter the Soviet Union's own. Debora, a veteran of the revolt that led to American intervention in the first place, is designated his target. On his way through Psicorps training to refine his mental abilities, Mingolla learns that this front of the Cold War (published before 1991, before USSR's fall) as well as the war itself is a manipulation by two Panamanian families, the Madradonas and the Sotomayors, over three centuries to increase psychic potential in humanity as well as their own genetic diversity.Mingolla and Debora meet and part several times before their meeting with the Madradonas and Sotomayors in Darién, Panama and become embroiled with the members of Mingolla's former squad in a firefight which culminates in the nuclear destruction of Panama City. David and Debora leave the city and their former friends and antagonists behind them, deciding that ultimately what matters is their love for one another, the only item that has not been blatantly manipulated.Condition: Bookplate ghost to the front paste-down [with the related bookplate laid in]. VG+ copy [spine slightly cocked, light colored spot stain to the top edge, text paper starting to tan as usual] in Near Fine Dust Wrapper [some creasing and a few specks of wear to the lower left corner edge of the rear panel]. bx196