Colin Kapp cover gallery

An early favourite of mine thanks to his remarkable Unorthodox Engineers series of stories in New Worlds and New Writings in SF (and, I confess, the Chris Foss covers on his novels), Colin Kapp was never an especially prolific author. I rather lost track of him in 1982, having picked up the first two of the Cageworld books. I don't remember ever seeing the last two in our local book shops, and I've only recently — April 2026 — picked them up via Ebay. 

There was a collection of the Unorthodox Engineers stories from Dobson, but I believe it appeared just as Dobson was going out of business, so was never widely distributed. Copies go for inflated prices and I'd love to see it as an SF Masterworks. Of his novels, The Dark Mind is probably his best, along with his novelette 'Lambda 1' and sequel 'The Imagination Trap'. 

There was a further novel advertised, The Timewinders, which was also caught up in the demise of his publisher, Dennis Dobson and never appeared. I wonder what happened to the manuscript?

Transfinite Man (New York, Berkley, 1964; as The Dark Mind, London, Corgi, 1965)
Corgi Books GS7160, 1965, 157pp, 3/6. Cover by Josh Kirby

The Patterns of Chaos (London, Gollancz, 1972; New York, Award, 1973)
Panther 0586-03918-X, 1974, 192pp. Cover by Chris Foss

The Wizard of Anharitte (New York, Award, 1973; London, Panther, 1975)
Panther 0586-04192-3, 1975, 174pp, 50p. Cover by Peter Jones.

Survival Game (New York, Ballantine, 1976; London, Dobson, 1977)
(no UK paperback edition)

The Chaos Weapon (New York, Del Rey, 1977; London, Dobson, 1979)
(no UK paperback edition)

Manalone (London, Panther, 1977)
Panther 0586-04234-2, 1977, 197pp, 75p. Cover by Chris Foss

The Ion War (London, Ace Books, 1978; London, Dobson, 1979)
(no UK paperback edition)

The Unorthodox Engineers (London, Dobson, 1979)
(no paperback edition)

Cageworld #1: Search for the Sun! (London, NEL, 1982; New York, DAW Books, 1983)
New English Library 0450-05131-5, Mar 1982, 172pp, £1.25. Cover by Gerald Grace

Cageworld #2: The Lost Worlds of Cronus (London, NEL, 1982; New York, DAW Books, 1983)
New English Library 0450-05409-9, Mar 1982, 170pp, £1.25. Cover by Gerald Grace

Cageworld #3: The Tyrant of Hades (London, NEL, 1982; New York, DAW Books, 1984)
New English Library 0450-05469-1. 1982, 173pp. Cover by Gerry Grace

Cageworld #4: Star-Search (London, NEL, 1983; New York, DAW Books, 1984)
New English Library, 0450-05531-0, Jan 1983, 171pp, £1.25. Cover by Gerry Grace