Damnation Alley

De: Roger Zelazny

Narrado por: Paul Bellantoni

Hell Tanner isn't the sort of guy you'd mistake for a hero: he's a fast-driving car thief, a smuggler, and a stone-cold killer. Facing life in prison for his various crimes, he's given a choice: Rot away his remaining years in a tiny jail cell or drive cross-country and deliver a case of antiserum to the plague-ridden people of Boston, Massachusetts. The chance of a full pardon does wonders for getting his attention. And don't mistake this mission of mercy for any kind of normal road trip—not when there are radioactive storms, hordes of carnivorous beasts, and giant, mutated scorpions to be found along every deadly mile between Los Angeles and the East Coast. But then, this is no normal part of America, you see. This is Damnation Alley . . .

©1968, 2001 The Estate of Roger Zelazny (P)2024 Tantor

Early Apocalyptic Road Race

Before there was Mad Max, before Duel, before Smoky and the Bandit, even before Easy Rider, there was this 1968 paean to tough, bandit bikers with hearts of gold. Anti-hero Hell Tanner is drafted ('Nam era readers could appreciate) to get the serum cure from California to plague-ridden Boston, traversing through the postwar hellscape known as Damnation Alley. Highly recommended.

Sci Fi Hell’s Angels

Not Zelazny’s best. Hell Tanner has to choose between life in prison or a suicidal trip cross-country through post-atomic war badlands, to deliver desperately-needed medicine.

The story was heavily influenced by a 1960’s book about the Hells Angels, elevating motorcycle thugs to cool rebel status. On the plus side, it has a very imaginative post-apocalyptic world with scary monsters and horrific storms. On the minus side, its protagonist is a mean, violent, macho criminal, whose only redeeming quality is to endure pain and keep going, against all odds. There is a lot of casual violence, explosions, and a high body count. What little humor is present is cruel. The sole female character is only there briefly to profess her devotion and sleep with him, though any romance is impossible. It all feels very forced, and frankly icky much of the time. Still worth checking out for Zelazny's lyrical, often poetic prose, and his vivid, disturbingly believable, portrayal of a destroyed world where even the weather can kill you.

If you haven't tried Zelazny's best stories yet, treat yourself to his magnificent "Nine Princes in Amber" series, or his hilarious aliens and spies romp, "Doorways in the Sand," or his rather sweet and very entertaining final novel, "A Night in the Lonesome October."