In THE JAGGED ORBIT, Brunner, writing at the peak of form that allowed him to create STAND ON ZANZIBAR, takes a long, hard, disturbing, hilarious look at the near, and not-so-distant, future and the catastrophic changes that widespread and rampant drug abuse, uncontrolled violence, high-level corruption in government, inhumane treatment of the too-readily defined "insane" and the accompanying collapse of the social order are wreaking on the world we recognize and turning it into a reality we must fear and hope to avoid.

Brunner tells a spine-chilling tale and makes where the world could possibly go all too believable and real for our comfort.

1970 BSFA Award