''Web of the City'' (originally published as ''Rumble'') is the
first novel
A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...
written by American author
Harlan Ellison
Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. Robert Bloch, the author of '' Psycho'' ...
. The novel follows the story of Rusty Santoro, a teenage member of the fictional Cougars
street gang
A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectivel ...
in the 1950s
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. In order to research the book, Ellison spent time in an actual street gang in Brooklyn. His book '' Memos from Purgatory'' (1961) is a non-fiction account of his time in the Barons.
Background
In 1954, Harlan Ellison — inspired by the
juvenile delinquency
Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior as a minor or individual younger than the statutory age of majority. In the United States of America, a juvenile delinquent is a person ...
-themed novels of
Hal Ellson
Harold "Hal" Ellson (1910 – October 31, 1994 in Brooklyn) in ''
Gary K. Wolfe
Gary K. Wolfe (born Gary Kent Wolfe in 1946) is an American science fiction editor, critic and biographer. He is an emeritus Professor of Humanities in Roosevelt University's Evelyn T. Stone College of Professional Studies.
Life
Wolfe was ...
, published 2002 by
Ohio State University Press
The Ohio State University Press is the university press of Ohio State University. It was founded in 1957.
The OSU Press has published approximately 1700 books since its inception. The current director is Tony Sanfilippo, who had previously work ...
(via
Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...
) — decided to research and write a novel about the
teenage
Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the te ...
street gangs
A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectivel ...
of
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
. Before writing the novel, Ellison became a member of the Brooklyn gang ''The Barons'' under an assumed name. The gang's territory was in Red Hook, considered to be one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Brooklyn. He acted as "war counselor" for the gang for ten weeks before leaving.
After leaving the street gang, Ellison went to Basic Training at
Fort Benning, Georgia
Fort Benning is a United States Army post near Columbus, Georgia, adjacent to the Alabama–Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia border. Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve component soldiers, retirees ...
, to begin his military service. The bulk of the novel was written during his spare time at the camp between mid-1956 and March 1957. In an introduction to the 2013 reprint by
Hard Case Crime
Hard Case Crime is an American imprint of hardboiled crime novels founded in 2004 by Charles Ardai (also the founder of the Internet service Juno Online Services) and Max Phillips. The series recreates, in editorial form and content, the flavor o ...
, Ellison claimed he wrote most of the manuscript in the evening hours while sitting in the toilet with a board on his lap and his portable typewriter atop the board. The book was originally bought by Walter Fultz, an editor at the small independent publishing company Lion Books. The company went out of business before it could publish ''Web of the City'', but
Pyramid Books
Jove Books, formerly known as Pyramid Books, is an American paperback and eBook publishing imprint, founded as an independent paperback house in 1949 by Almat Magazine Publishers (Alfred R. Plaine and Matthew Huttner). The company was sold to ...
soon bought the rights to Lion's catalog. Pyramid changed the name to ''Rumble'' and published it in 1958, while Ellison was a Private in the army. The first Ellison knew of the title change was when he received a copy of the book (with other volumes) to review.
Plot summary
The plot revolves around the character of Rusty Santoro, a member of a fictional Brooklyn street gang. In the novel, Santoro is caught between his meager prospects in the neighborhood and obligations to his gang, The Cougars. Throughout the book he struggles with the prospect of leaving his neighborhood and his gang life behind. The novel depicts street fights, murders, and other realities of gang life in urban areas.