Damnation Alley
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 Cover of first edition (hardcover) |
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| Author | Roger Zelazny |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Jack Gaughan |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | G.P. Putnam's Sons |
| Released | 1969 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 157 pp |
| ISBN | NA |
Damnation Alley is a 1969 science fiction novel by Roger Zelazny. A film adaptation was released in 1977.
Contents |
[edit] Plot introduction
The novel opens in a post-apocalyptic California, in a hellish world shattered by nuclear war. Hurricane-force winds above five hundred feet prevent any sort of air travel and storms so sudden, violent, and unpredictable make day-to-day life a mini-hell. Hell Tanner, a convicted killer and the last Hells Angel alive, is offered a full pardon in exchange for taking on a suicide mission - a drive through "Damnation Alley" across a ruined America from Los Angeles to Boston — as one of three vehicles attempting to deliver urgently needed plague vaccine.
[edit] Film adaptation
In 1977, a film loosely based on the novel was directed by Jack Smight. Roger Zelazny was so upset by the actualisation of his novel that he requested to have his name removed from the film (which the studio refused to do).[citation needed]
[edit] 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.
[edit] Coorelations
The name may come from "Castration Alley" an old famous suburb of lower east side New York named "Castration Alley" due to the number of neutered and spayed stray cats prominent in the area.
[edit] References
- Levack, Daniel J. H. (1983). Amber Dreams: A Roger Zelazny Bibliography. San Francisco: Underwood/Miller, 26-29. ISBN 0-934438-39-0.
