''Damnation Alley'' is a 1969 science fiction novel by American writer

Roger Zelazny Roger Joseph Zelazny (May 13, 1937 – June 14, 1995) was an American poet and writer of fantasy and science fiction short stories and novels, best known for ''The Chronicles of Amber''. He won the Nebula Award three times (out of 14 nomin ...

, based on a novella published in 1967. A film adaptation of the novel was released in 1977.

Plot introduction

The story opens in a post-apocalyptic

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

, in a hellish world shattered by nuclear war thirty years before. Several

police state A police state describes a state where its government institutions exercise an extreme level of control over civil society and liberties. There is typically little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the ...

s have emerged in remaining areas of the former United States that can still support human life. As a result of the war,

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

-force winds above prevent any sort of air travel from one state to the next. Sudden, violent, and unpredictable "garbage storms," and giant, mutated animals make day-to-day life treacherous. Hell Tanner, an imprisoned

Hells Angels The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is a worldwide outlaw motorcycle club whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporati ...

member, is offered a full pardon for his crimes in exchange for taking on a suicide mission: a precarious drive through Damnation Alley, a narrow passage relatively free of lethal radiation, across a ruined America from

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, as part of a convoy of three

Landmaster The Landmaster is a unique 12-wheeled amphibious articulated vehicle constructed by Dean Jeffries at Jeffries Automotive in Universal City, California, for the 1977 science fiction film ''Damnation Alley''. Despite the appearance of two Landmaste ...

vehicles attempting to deliver an urgently needed

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pe ...

vaccine A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious or malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verified.

to survivors.

Reception

Barry N. Malzberg found the book "an interesting novella converted to an unfortunate novel," faulting it as "a mechanical, simply transposed action-adventure story written, in my view, at the bottom of the man's talent." Zelazny himself agreed with Malzberg, stating that he preferred the novella and only expanded it at his agent's request to make it more viable for a movie deal.

Film adaptation

In 1977, a film loosely based on the novel was directed by

Jack Smight John Ronald Smight (March 9, 1925 – September 1, 2003) was an American theatre and film director. His film credits include ''Harper'' (1966), '' No Way to Treat a Lady'' (1968), '' Airport 1975'' (1974), '' Midway'' (1976), and '' Fast Break ...

. Roger Zelazny liked the original script by Lukas Heller, which was more faithful to his book, and expected that to be the filmed version; he did not realize until he saw it in the theater that the shooting script (by Alan Sharp) was vastly different.

Related works

The novel '' Hardwired'' by

Walter Jon Williams Walter Jon Williams (born October 28, 1953) is an American writer, primarily of science fiction. Previously he wrote nautical adventure fiction under the name Jon Williams, in particular, ''Privateers and Gentlemen'' (1981–1984), a series of hi ...

is an homage to ''Damnation Alley''. The two authors (Zelazny and Williams) later became good friends. Kevin O'Neill has said that the '' 2000AD'' story "

The Cursed Earth "The Cursed Earth" is the second extended storyline of the British science fictional comics character Judge Dredd. It appeared in '' 2000 AD'', and was the first Dredd storyline to exceed twenty episodes. Written mostly by Pat Mills, this story a ...

" was inspired by ''Damnation Alley''. The

Hawkwind Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard ...

album '' Quark, Strangeness and Charm'' contains a song inspired by the story. The setting and premise of the 2011 ''Lonesome Road'' add-on for the post-apocalyptic computer game '' Fallout: New Vegas'' was inspired by ''Damnation Alley'', according to lead designer

Chris Avellone Chris Avellone is an American video game designer and comic book writer. He worked for Interplay and Obsidian Entertainment before working as a freelancer. He is best known for his work on role-playing video games such as '' Planescape: Torment' ...

. The film adaptation of Zelazny's novel was also one of several sources of inspiration for the original ''

Fallout Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioac ...

'', according to designer R. Scott Campbell.

Notes

References

* *

External links

* *
Damnation Alley
(novella) at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

* * {{OL work, id=13993W, cname=''Damnation Alley'' 1969 American novels 1969 science fiction novels American post-apocalyptic novels American science fiction novels American novels adapted into films G. P. Putnam's Sons books Novels by Roger Zelazny