''The Death Guard'' is the only published novel of the English author Philip George Chadwick (1893 in Batley, Yorkshire – 1955 in Brighton, Sussex). Although the author is virtually unknown to the wider public, his work has received attention from literary scholars.Nicholls 1979, p. 109. The novel contains many themes later developed by
L. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (March 13, 1911 – January 24, 1986) was an American author, primarily of science fiction and fantasy stories, who is best known for having founded the Church of Scientology. In 1950, Hubbard authored '' Dianetic ...
and James Blish. Chadwick was a political thinker with socialist tendencies, a Fabian and subsequently an Independent and a disciple of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, but by the time it was picked up for publication,
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
was already underway and allegedly, Chadwick had been killed in combat, though the 1992 paperback states that he died in 1955. To complicate matters even further, the printing house that was handling the first run of the novel was bombed in an air raid, and almost all copies were destroyed. Consequently, most science fiction fans wrote off ''The Death Guard'' as pure myth, a figment of Wells's prodigious imagination, and for years it was considered a lost novel. In 1992 it was republished,
with an introduction by Brian Aldiss.Amy Wallace,
Del Howison, and Scott Bradley, ''The Book of Lists: Horror''. HarperPaperbacks, (p.245)
''The Death Guard'' was cited in Karl Edward Wagner's "The Thirteen Best Science Fiction Horror Novels"
and Ramsey Campbell's "Thirteen Novels on the Edge of Horror".
Plot summary
In its tale of a chemist who creates an army of bloodthirsty plant-based humanoids out of a desire to abolish war once and for all (the rationale being that no country would attack England if it were known she possessed such a defence), the book foreshadowed the rise of nuclear weapons and
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
politics. Continental Europe forms an alliance and invades Britain.
The book is divided into three parts. In the first part of this novel we meet the inventors of the artificial life. We follow their story from their first meeting through the time when they relocate their lab to the Congo for its more conducive weather conditions. The first we hear of the matured Death Guard (nicknamed Pugs) is via a radio broadcast that is ended prematurely by the hideous death of the announcer.
The next part is a tour of the process of making and growing the "pugs", as the protagonist "enlists" in one of factories and gets a firsthand look at what his uncle and grandfather had wrought.
The third section recounts the war with continental Europe and the breakdown of infrastructure. Involving poisonous electric gas, "humanite" bombs (atomic bombs), and the unfeeling march of the Death Guard across the very land they were designed to protect. Later the Death Guard continues to wander unchecked across the broken landscape even after all the enemy has been killed. The resulting carnage reduces whole cities and towns in Britain to smoking rubble.
Adaptations
It was adapted for radio for broadcast on
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
radio stations, WKNH Radio and NHPR starring Edward X. Young and produced and directed by Kate Linaker (aka
Kate Phillips
Kate Phillips (born 21 May 1989) is a British actress. She became famous for her role as Jane Seymour in the successful miniseries ''Wolf Hall'' (2015). She subsequently appeared in the miniseries '' War & Peace'' (2016), the first season of th ...
).
References
Notes
Bibliography
* Nicholls, Peter. ''
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (SFE) is an English language reference work on science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and f ...