The Gas

Number seven in Centipede's Vintage Horrors series, Charles Platt’s The Gas is a classic early 1970s sexually explicit (to put it midly) horror novel. Now available in a new hardcover edition with cover artwork by Ben Baldwin and an introduction by Ramsey Campbell, this can only be considered the definitive edition, with a new lengthy introduction by the author as well, and the classic introduction by Philip José Farmer. Reprints of old edition covers, with photographs of the author and 1970s London.

The Gas was written long ago to be disturbing and disruptive, and it still is. This fast-paced adventure into slapstick sadomasochism is also very funny — depending on your sense of humor. A classic from the golden age of pornographic science fiction, its romp into madness is energized by a simple question: What would happen to British society if all inhibitions were erased overnight? Fucking in the streets is just the first step down a path into total mayhem. While the original edition now sells for $250 or more per copy, Centipede has bravely brought it back as a collectible edition with a new introduction by Ramsey Campbell.

“This is the most perverted book you'll ever read…It's also extremely gruesome and repulsive. Every time you think you can't be shocked or caught of guard, another chapter comes up and slaps you in the face. Even in the modern age of ‘dark web’ message boards and erotic fan fiction, this book is guaranteed to surprise you at least once.”  —  From an Amazon review by S. Michael Wilson.

The book is hardcover with a sewn binding and a printed front panel. The dustjacket has a die cut oval which reveals part of the image. This is the seventh in their Vintage Horrors series. The Gas is a raunchy classic, now aroused back into print in a handsome hardcover.

Edition Specifications:

• Limited to 300 copies, each signed by Charles Platt, Ben Baldwin, and Ramsey Campbell.
• New introduction by Ramsey Campbell.
• New introduction by Charles Platt.
• Reprint introduction by José Philip Farmer.
• New artwork by Ben Baldwin.
• Reprint of original paperback cover, in color.
• Die cut dustjacket with printed front panel.
• Ribbon marker, head and tail bands.
• Original book price: $65.
• Published May 2021.
• ISBN 978-1-61347-287-3.
• Book size 5½ × 8½ inches.
• Number of pages: 328.