Notes
Tom O'Bedlam, a standalone novel by Robert Silverberg.

The image opposite and the blurb below are from the 1986 Warner Books paperback edition, ISBN 0446340022. Cover illustration by Jim Burns.

Publisher's Blurb – Lower Cover
MESSIAH OR MADMAN?

It is 2103 and Tom O'Bedlam, madman, prophet, and visionary wanders through California, dwelling place of the last humans on a continent decimated by radioactive dust. Tom, caught up in a living vision of distant worlds ruled by godlike beings, is the herald of a new age, a herald no one wants to hear until others too begin to dream of salvation beyond the stars. Yet while many dream, only Tom has the power to make the wondrous visions real, to give people the ultimate escape they desire. Across the universe they must go . . . if Tom is humanity's last hope – and not its final destroyer.

"Brilliant . . . intertwines the classic themes of science fiction . . . succeeds as both science fiction and social commentary."
-New York Times Book Review

"A wonderful book . . . Silverberg's probably unique in his combination of unerring characterizations, wildness and freedom of imagination, and – what is most important – unmistakable depth of feeling.
-Peter Straub