The following posts include (1) "footnotes" for The Doris Piserchia Website (link at left), (2) texts-in-process that will eventually appear there, (3) texts from other websites, and (we hope) (4) stimulating discussion threads. The picture to the left is the back cover of The Spinner (book club edition), depicting a citizen of Eastland "hanging out" while Ekler the cop and Rune the idiot-superman look on.
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An even clearer version of the Earthchild cover--thanks, twice, AR.
A British edition of Earthchild to add to the cover gallery. Thanks to AR.
Eric Walker at SF Site includes A Billion Days of Earth in his list of "Ten Overlooked Odd Speculative Fiction Classics":
Doris Piserchia urgently needs and much deserves a revival. In this dry, wry tale of the far future, humanity has become "the Gods," and the role of humans is played -- very well -- by evolved rats. When the mysterious and unstoppable Sheen arrives on Earth, only Rik cares enough to resist his dominion. Witty, amusing, thought-provoking, and ultimately quite moving -- this is a book to savor.
Thanks to the folks who did the Wikipedia page on Doris Piserchia. (T. Anthony and Erechtheus if I'm reading the contribs page correctly.)
Some nice descriptions of Piserchia books by Der Trihs from the Straight Dope message board (scroll down):
Doomtime: Set in a far future Earth where the dominant life forms are a pair of mountain-tall sentient trees that have extended their roots over much of the planet. They hate each other, and are constantly trying to destroy one another. They can temporarily (or permanently) absorb creatures into themselves, including people; this process lets them read people's minds, and is pleasurable enough to be addictive, which is one way they control people.
Spaceling: The protaganist is an orphan girl who is a mute, a person who can see the Rings, which are drifting rings of light that are interdimensional gates to those who can see them. Anything or anyone that passes through is transformed into a new form. She, however, secretly has abilities that others don't. She can see many more Rings than others can, her forms are different than normal people's forms, and she can command the Rings to move as she desires. She ends up having to discover her truly odd origins, and deal with multiple conspiracies that want to help/hurt/use her.