NOW WAIT FOR LAST YEAR
Back covers
1968 Macfadden edition
ONLY ONE MAN COULD SAVE THE WORLD, AND HE WAS DEAD AGAIN
Once he had been assassinated by a plitical rival.
The second time he had a heart attack while negotiating a surrender to the ennemy.
Now he was back, younger and more vigorous than before, giving new hope to the Terrans in their battle for survival. Had he really died once - or more than once-leaving a robant in his place? Or had he learned to manipulate time so he could use all of his several possible futures?
"Truly takes on what has been called 'the chilling symbolism , of the absolute nightmare.' " Speculative Bulletin
1981 Daw edition
In a war-torn world, Dr. Eric Sweetscent was caught between his dope-addicted wife and the world leader who was trying to stave off global catastrophe. Gino Molinari (known as The Mole) was the ultimate authority over the lives of billions. He possessed the strange ability to die over and over again, and yet be brought back to life by the wizardry of future medicine. As The Mole came to rely more and more on his personal suicides as the political tool to save the rest of humanity, he grew into a grand and tragic figure. Through his close relationship with Molinari, Eric gradually came to achieve the total vista of a world-spanning viewpoint-and with that came the ability to understand at last the aims of the . 'Iincredible Mole...
1993 Vintage edition
Dr. Eric Sweetstent has problems. His planet is enmeshed in an unwinnable war. His wife is lethally addicted to a drug that whips its users helplessly back and forth across time and is hell-bent on making Eric suffer along with her. And Sweetscent's newest patient is not only the most important man on the embattled planet Earth but quite possibly the sickest. For Secretary Gino Molinari has turned his mortal illness into an instrument of political policy-and Eric cannot tell if his job is to make the Mole better or to keep him poised just this side of death.
Now Wait for LAst Year bursts through the envelope between the impossible and the inevitable. Even as it ushers us into a future that looks uncannily like the present, it makes the normal seem terrifyingly provisional- and compels anyone who reads it to wonder if he really knows what time it is.
From the back cover of the 1975 Panther edition
ONLY ONE MAN COULD SAVE THE WORLD, AND HE WAS DEAD. AGAIN.
Once Gino Molinari, elected leader of Earth and supreme commander of its armed forces in the war against the reegs, had been assassinated by a political rival. The second time he had a heart attack while negotiating a surrender to the enemy. But now he was back, younger and more vigorous than before, giving Earth new hope in its battle for survival. Had he really died? Was an artificial Molinaria robant - masquerading as the overlord of Earth? And what about the men from Lilistar, supposedly Earth's allies? Come to that, what about the reegs, supposedly Earth's enemies? One way and another, the Solar System was in bad trouble - and Molinari was the only one who could get it out of the mess it was in. If he could stay alive long enough. Or at least not stay dead too long. . .
'If it's ideas you want then Philip K. Dick is the author to read' VECTOR
From the back cover of the 2000 Gollancz edition
First, Gino Molinari was assassinated by a political rival. Then he died of a heart attack. But now he is back, younger and more vigorous than ever, giving Earth new hope of survival in the war against the alien reegs. But is this really Molinari, or a robant masquerading as Earth's overlord? Whatever the truth, only he can save the Solar System - if he can stay alive long enough, or at least not stay dead for too long.