Notes
Thorns, a standalone novel by Robert Silverberg.

The image opposite and the blurb below are from the 1978 New English Library paperback edition, SBN 450039676. Cover illustration by Tim White.

Publisher's Blurb – Lower Cover
Duncan Chalk – entertainment industry mogul – fed his 600 lb body a steady diet of pain and suffering. He wanted to give the good people of the universe a new tragedy to watch on their videos.

Minner Burris – starman – came back from Manipool with his body horribiy butchered by the planet's surgeons. He wanted a new, wholly human body. Chalk promised it to him, if he co-operated.

Lona Kelvin – 17-year-old virgin – was the mother of a hundred babies whom she only knew from photographs. She wanted a couple to raise herself. Chalk promised them to her, if she co-operated.

Chalk, Minner, Lona . . . the great triangle. They knew what they wanted, but not what they needed. Only time would give them that.