The Mystery of San Gottardo (Taschen specials)

The dark king of the horrific, fantastic and bizarrely erotic, Swiss artist Giger might have languished in obscurity, such is the uncompromising vision of his work. However, in the late Seventies Hollywood came calling and his legendary designs for the Alien trilogy propelled him towards international fame and an Oscar. But Allen's Face-hugger, Chestburster and the reptilian Xenomorph are only a few visitors from Giger's monstrous universe. This latest book exhaustively collates illustrations, texts, photographs, letters, and notes from a covert, personal project that Giger has been striving to realise for over three decades. In a story mixing disturbing body horror and old-fashioned adventure tales, Giger illustrates the surreal science-fiction of a dystopian Switzerland where man is rendered into three bio-mechanical life-forms at the age of 60. The sexually insatiable arm-leg creature which rampages throughout this volume must rate as one of Giger's most grotesque creations. After being distracted by Hollywood for far too long, in this book Giger presents his latest outlandish and extraordinary visual excursion, a death-driving nightmare that will continue to unspool in your head long after you've closed the covers.