Disco biscuits, happy pills, doves, wobbly eggs, burgers, X, Adam, e, ecstasy-however you refer to it, MDMA (3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine) has been a life-changing force, for both good and bad, in millions of people’s lives. Not since LSD and cannabis in the ’60s has a drug acted as such a profound social and cultural catalyst. Ecstasy changed clubbing, music, fashion, design-and overall society-forever. e, the incredibly strange history of ecstasy examines every aspect of MDMA, from its creation in a German lab just before World War I and its use as a psychotherapy tool in the ’70s, to its ultimate explosion on the US and UK dance scene. This visually stunning book features more than 200 photographs and illustrations-including an extensive catalog of the most popular, unusual, and fascinating ecstasy pills-along with listings of what they contained and details about their history and cultural significance. Similar to The Cannabis Companion (which has sold more than 40,000 copies to date), e, the incredibly strange history of ecstasy covers every aspect of the subject-from the physical, emotional, and psychological effects of ecstasy and the rise of key rave locations such as Goa and Ibiza, to the futile attempts made by international governments to halt rave culture and stop MDMA use. It is the most comprehensive and contemporary book ever to explore the history and continuing cultural influences of the drug that changed the world.
Tim Pilcher is a pop culture expert and has worked in and around the comics industry for over 20 years as a writer and editor. He initially started as an assistant editor at DC Comics' Vertigo imprint, based in London, working on ground-breaking titles like The Extremist by Peter Milligan & Ted McKeever; Enigma and Face by Peter Milligan & Duncan Fegredo; The Mystery Play by Grant Morrison & Jon J Muth, Rogan Gosh by Peter Milligan & Brendan McCarthy; and Kill Your Boyfriend by Grant Morrison & Phillip Bond.
In 1992 he co-founded of the bi-lingual comics publishing house, Les Cartoonistes Dangereux, with Paul Peart, Brad Brooks, Dylan Horrocks and others. They published several critically acclaimed one-off graphic novels in English and French, including White Death by Robbie Morrison & Charlie Adlard, The Malice Family by Fareed Choudhury, Aunt Connie and the Plague of Beards by Jonathan Edwards and the first appearance of Fred the Clown by Roger Langridge.
He has written comics for the BBC, DeAgostini, Weldon Owen and the Young Telegraph and has worked for numerous book publishers including Penguin Children's Books and Dorling Kindersley.
As a journalist he has written for Deadline, Comic World, Tripwire, Education Today, Comics Forum, Criminal Justice Matters and G-Spot Magazine and Star Trek Magazine. Pilcher became an associate editor at Comics International, the UK's then-only comic book trade paper, alongside Dez Skinn. Pilcher has written numerous books on comics including The Complete Cartooning Course and The Essential Guide to World Comics with Brad Brooks. He has also contributed to numerous other books including, Comix: The Underground Revolution, 500 Comicbook Action Heroes, The Slings and Arrows Comic Guide (1st Edition), 500 Essential Graphic Novels and War Comics: A Graphic History. His Erotic Comics: A Graphic History Volumes 1 & 2,were the first serious survey of this genre in over 20 years. The books have been translated into French, German, Polish and Czech and were Publication of the Year finalists in the 2010 UK Erotic Awards.
He regular gives talks on everything from Tijuana Bibles, Indian comics, the history of Ecstasy and other esoteric subjects, and is currently commissioning editor at Ilex Press and is the Chair of The Comic Book Alliance (www.comicbookalliance.co.uk), a not-for-profit organization a not-for-profit organisation and "The Voice of the British Comics Industry" promoting graphic novels, webcomics and sequential art in its many forms. He occasionally updates his intermittent blog, Sex, Drugs and Comic Books (www.sexdrugsandcomicbooks.blogspot.com).
He has also written several non-comic related books including: e: The Incredibly Strange History of Ecstasy, Spliffs 2 & 3, and the bestselling The Cannabis Cookbook. He lives in Brighton, England.
