Originally published in 1971, Operation Chaos is a science fantasy novel by Poul Anderson. This book is a fix-up, which is a novel created from previously written works of short fiction. The stories that comprise the novel were published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction between 1956 and 1969.
Operation Chaos is set in an alternate reality where the existence of God has been proven by science. Since humans have a deeper understanding of the supernatural, they have managed to harness magic for both practical and military needs. One of the novel’s characters, Valeria Matuchek, also appears in Anderson’s novel A Midsummer Tempest.
This edition of Operation Chaos was published by Berkley Books in 1978. The cover was painted by Wayne Barlowe. Although Barlowe is not credited, his trademark, a Celtic glyph, is hidden in the illustration.
Over the course of Barlowe’s career, he painted more than 300 covers for books and magazines. He has also provided art for pop-up books such as The Pop-Up Book of Star Wars and children’s books like An Alphabet of Dinosaurs, and he even worked as a concept artist on James Cameron’s Avatar.
Although Barlowe is a prolific artist, he is also an author of both fiction and non-fiction. His first book, Barlowe’s Guide to Extraterrestrials, was nominated for a Hugo. His book Expedition was the inspiration for the Discovery Channel special Alien Planet. Other books by Barlowe include God’s Demon, a novel, and Barlowe’s Guide to Fantasy.