''Damnation Alley'' is a 1969 science fiction novel by American writer Roger Zelazny, based on a novella of the same name published in 1967. A

film adaptation A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...

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 area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

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

police state A police state describes a state whose 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 exec ...

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 with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its ...

-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 and insects make day-to-day life treacherous. "Hell" Tanner, an imprisoned

Hells Angels The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is an international outlaw motorcycle club founded in California whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells ...

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

Orange County, California Orange County (officially the County of Orange; often initialized O.C.) is a county (United States), county located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, as part of a convoy of three Landmaster vehicles (fitted with various rocket launchers, flame-throwers, machine guns, and slicing implements) attempting to deliver an urgently needed plague

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

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 (film), Harper'' (1966), ''No Way to Treat a Lady (film), No Way to Treat a Lady'' (1968), ''Airport 1975'' (19 ...

. 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 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" 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. The film adaptation of Zelazny's novel was also one of several sources of inspiration for the original '' Fallout'', according to designer R. Scott Campbell.

Notes

References

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External links

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Damnation Alley
(novella) at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

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