In this large, dramatic and darkly twisted oil on canvas, Fred Pfeiffer perfectly captures the menace and seduction associated with the post-hippie /post Manson family druggie scene, as depicted in counter-culture books and films which proliferated in the 1970s. The work appeared as the cover for the 1975 Bantam paperback The Fear Dealers, written by Jack W. Thomas, who specialized in these “savage novels” as they were referred to by the publisher. Verso retains a Bantam Books inventory card label that credits the artwork to Fred Pfeiffer as well as the original proposed title of The Redeemers. The cover shows a trio of these bad news youths in front of a van tagged with the name of their sex cult “The Redeemers”. The slug on the back of the paperback reads as follows: They were hell-bent kids looking for any and every kind of thrill – JANGLE, a spaced-out dropout with a talent for perversity; MAL, his ready for anything chick: CAN, nobody knew whether or not she was stoned, but they knew how she stayed that way; FRIZ, a violent and totally reckless giant; JESSIE, young and beautiful, she thought sex was the answer to everything. They came together in a five-person nude wedding orgy and vowed to take on the world of the “straights” – to the death!