Damnation Alley

[MG1962]

Note: The book was made into an absolutely fking ‚ awful movie in the late 70’s. Starring George Peppard and a young Jan Michael Vincent it had NOTHING to do with the novel in any way shape or form, except the names of the characters and the fact they were driving a weird looking vehicle. Why they even made the movie is a mystery to me. Don’t bother looking it up folks, there are no bikers in it at all, unless you count Vincent on a small trail bike for one short scene.
Cheers: Jaqhama.

LOL yes there is - remember his mates comes riding up and throws that girl into some pit where a scorpion the size of Manhattan is living. Then we discover the girl is a blow up doll -

I mean really 28 seconds of a 91 minute movie - exactly how much bike action did you want

 

[Omphalos]

Though if I had to rate cheeze SF from best to worst, this one would go near the top of the stack.

 

[Jaqhama]

LOL yes there is - remember his mates comes riding up and throws that girl into some pit where a scorpion the size of Manhattan is living. Then we discover the girl is a blow up doll -

I mean really 28 seconds of a 91 minute movie - exactly how much bike action did you want

Yeah...I wrote the review from a Biker's viewpoint, not from a sci-fi fan's viewpoint.

Lot's more car/bike action in the novel.

I'd like to see a remake that stayed truer to the novel.
And the way Hollywood seems to be running out of new and original scripts and ideas, who's to say it won't happen?

 

[MG1962]

Yeah...I wrote the review from a Biker's viewpoint, not from a sci-fi fan's viewpoint.

Lot's more car/bike action in the novel.

I'd like to see a remake that stayed truer to the novel.
And the way Hollywood seems to be running out of new and original scripts and ideas, who's to say it won't happen?

Yeah I could use a good remake - it was a rip snorter of a story. And maybe one of those rare times when the remake is better than the orginal

 

[Connavar]

Here's a review of the novel I wrote for Bikernet dot com some time ago.​

I wouldn't read too much into the story. Like Corny being anything more than a shortened nickname. Nicknames are predominant in biker culture.
It's just a solid, well written action/adventure tale, unusual in that it features an outlaw biker and motorcycles.​

Damnation Alley by Roger Zelany

A well written sci-fi novel of a not totally unlikely future.
Sometime in the future?
Hell Tanner is the last of the Hells Angels left alive in California.
As a dubious alternative to life imprisonment he is offered a pardon to drive a radiation proof armoured car from Cali to Boston. Boston has a plague and only Cali still has any anti serum left.
The small problem is that the bit of America that lies between the two states is now a radioactive wasteland full of mutant monsters and savage humans.
What’s so great about this novel is Tanner himself. He’s been locked up for murder, extortion, rape, trading in human slaves, you name it and he’s done it. He’s mean, dirty and has a general dislike of just about everyone he meets. That attitude lasts until the final page. No changing into Mr Nice guy as the story progresses. The action is fast and furious. More than enough to keep the reader interested.

Whether in the armed to the teeth tank he’s driving, at rest stops along the way or later, on a bike, Tanner is the tough biker outlaw till the very end.
I loved this book when I was a teenager and I still love it today. Dated by modern ideas of sci-fi it nevertheless is one of the few ever written that features a biker outlaw as the main anti hero.
Roger Zelany MUST have ridden bikes when he wrote this.
I have spoken to real Angels who grudgingly admit that Damnation Alley was a great book. Can’t have better praise than that.

I suspect it may be long out of print, but keep an eye out in used bookstores or sites for books online and you may get lucky. There are worst ways to spend a rainy weekend than reading this novel.

Note: The book was made into an absolutely fking ‚ awful movie in the late 70’s. Starring George Peppard and a young Jan Michael Vincent it had NOTHING to do with the novel in any way shape or form, except the names of the characters and the fact they were driving a weird looking vehicle. Why they even made the movie is a mystery to me. Don’t bother looking it up folks, there are no bikers in it at all, unless you count Vincent on a small trail bike for one short scene.

Cheers: Jaqhama.

This was my first RZ book and i adored it too.

Hell Tanner was very interesting. My kind of anti-hero. Yeah i liked too that he didnt change to become a shining hero. Only time he showed some will to do some good was when he didnt want to give up on his mission unlike the indian guy.

The setting and the type of story might have been copied 10000 times by Mad Max and its wannabes but i still didnt fint dated cause the Alley was original enough with raining down rocks and stuff.

Of course it was out of print. I felt like shouting at who ever printed this book and didnt keep it print. He is pretty famous SF author and i wish i didnt have to read this book in a second hand version that almost was in pieces....

 

[Snowdog]

I don't mind second hand books at all, but I'll pay a bit more to get a good clean copy.

 

[Connavar]

I dont mind second hand books either but i dont like paying 28 bucks for a book in a very bad condition.

My Richard Stark Parker novels cost me 28-35 dollars but atleast they are in a very good condition. Like they are very new.


My DA some american dude won it in a competion and apparently didnt care for it cause of its condition.

Thats why i mind buying second hand books from the internet, you dont know of the condition, they all lie and say " Very Good Condtion"

 

[ckovacs]

Roger Zelany MUST have ridden bikes when he wrote this.
I have spoken to real Angels who grudgingly admit that Damnation Alley was a great book. Can’t have better praise than that.

Nope, Zelazny had not been on a bike. However, during basic training in the military he had gotten to know a guy who had been in a biker gang, and he used a lot of what he'd learned from that guy as background material to be able to write Damnation Alley. Plus, he'd just read Hunter Thompson's book Hell's Angel's, and that was another major source of inspiration.

 

[Connavar]

Though if I had to rate cheeze SF from best to worst, this one would go near the top of the stack.

What do you mean by Cheeze exactly ?


I thought for the type of story it was, it was very good.

 

[Omphalos]

What do you mean by Cheeze exactly ?


I thought for the type of story it was, it was very good.

I was referring to the movie. Uber fromage.

 

[Connavar]

Ah my bad.


Hehe i can only imagine the movie version.

 

[Giovanna Clairval]

The lyrics of the song recorded by Hawkwind (album - "Quark: Strangeness and Charm")

DAMNATION ALLEY

( - Brock - Calvert - House - )

I've got the serum and I'm going to take it
All the way to Boston, oh I've got to get through
The going won't be easy, but I'm going to make it
It's the only thing that I'm cut out to do

Ride the post-atomic radioactive trash
The sky's on fire from that nuclear flash
Diving through the burning hoop of doom in an
eight wheeled anti-radiation tomb
Thank you Dr. Strangelove for going do-lally and
leaving me the heritage of Damnation Alley, Damnation Alleyway

No more Arizona, now Phoenix is fried up
Oklahoma City what a pity it's gone
Louisiana delta where the Mississip's dried up
No more Chatanooga, Cherokee, Lexington

Radiation wasteland, radiation wasteland
Ashes coming at me now, craters coming at me now
Radiation wasteland, I've got my anti-radiation machine
Thank you Dr. Strangelove, I said thank you Dr.
Strangelove
For giving me the ashes and post-atomic dust
The sky is raining fishes it's a mutation zoo
Going down Damnation Alley, well good luck to you
Good luck to you now
Armor plated angel, motor-pony express
Armor plated angel, motor-pony express
Going down Damnation Alley it's one hell of a mess

 

[Grimward]

Hawkwind.... *nods approvingly*

Re the book, RZ never wastes a word. Believe that if nothing else; the man was maniacal about how he strung together his stuff. Accordingly, Hell's Angel Tanner would never say "Cornelia" more than once or twice...after that, it's "Corny" for most conversation. Other than that, though, I agree that it's only intended usage here was as a nickname. Freakin' excellent book, and IMHO, one of his best (hard to beat This Immortal, though).

Re the movie, the same CANNOT be said. Zelazny himself would have nothing to do with it, and demanded that the producer and studio remove his name from any association with the movie.

 

[ckovacs]

Re the movie, the same CANNOT be said. Zelazny himself would have nothing to do with it, and demanded that the producer and studio remove his name from any association with the movie.

Completely untrue. Zelazny kept his name attached to the project, his name is prominently displayed in the main credits, he earned a substantial amount from the movie, and he said he would do it again if the opportunity arose. He was quite embarrassed about how little remained of his story (essentially just the name of the movie and the main character) but spoke of how any movie made of his work would lead to new readers discovering his other works (and that hopefully his own works, and not a Hollywood version of them, would be what would endure). The book sold very well when it was re-issued as a paperback bearing photos and a cover from the movie, and the movie paid for many of the renovations in his Santa Fe home.

 

[clovis-man]

The book sold very well when it was re-issued as a paperback bearing photos and a cover from the movie, and the movie paid for many of the renovations in his Santa Fe home.

In the early 1970s, I was amazed to find that he had worked for the Bureau of Disability Insurance section of the Social Security Administration. I was then employed at the state level doing similar functions in California. If his paycheck situation was similar to mine, I can well understand his need to maximize his literary income when he finally got out of civil service and became a full time writer.

 

[Grimward]

Completely untrue. Zelazny kept his name attached to the project, his name is prominently displayed in the main credits, he earned a substantial amount from the movie, and he said he would do it again if the opportunity arose. He was quite embarrassed about how little remained of his story (essentially just the name of the movie and the main character) but spoke of how any movie made of his work would lead to new readers discovering his other works (and that hopefully his own works, and not a Hollywood version of them, would be what would endure). The book sold very well when it was re-issued as a paperback bearing photos and a cover from the movie, and the movie paid for many of the renovations in his Santa Fe home.

Hmm, Chris, I seem to be the victim of an unsubstantiated Wiki entry,

Damnation Alley - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

although there is at least one other such reference to his dissatisfaction with the movie...

3B Theater: Pulp: Fiction: Damnation Alley!

Upon closer investigation, neither is convincing in terms of any supporting references, so consider the comment withdrawn. Much of what I saw in the reviews of the movie, however, seem to think it is a dog, and not true to the book in most respects.

 

[ckovacs]

Hmm, Chris, I seem to be the victim of an unsubstantiated Wiki entry,

Indeed, wikipedia and other sources like these are full of unsubstantiated statements that unfortunately self-perpetuate as if they are facts.

By way of bona fides, I can tell you that I have gone through hundreds of Zelazny's archived letters of correspondence, and some seventy interviews, and no where did I find any hint of a statement that he'd tried to get his named removed from the movie. (I did this research for a biography that will be published in the 5-volume - er, possibly 6-volume - annotated collection of Zelazny's short works that will begin coming out from NESFA in January.) What I did find were many comments from him about how bad the movie was and why, and how he'd had no involvement in the scriptwriting - they hadn't wanted him involved. But there were also many comments from him about how gladly he'd taken the money and how he would do it again readily, if asked. He also participated in the advance publicity for the movie.

I *have* seen the movie, I own a copy on VHS, and I can tell you it is pretty bad. It's a cheesey B-grade cult flick, period.

When the biography (within the collection) comes out, it will dispel a lot of misconceptions/misperceptions about when and why Zelazny wrote his various famous works and other fascinating things about his life. And everything is supported by citing a letter or interview as reference - some 280 or more sources in total. But whether the wikipedia errors go away or persist is another issue altogether.

Chris

 

[Grimward]

But whether the wikipedia errors go away or persist is another issue altogether.

Chris

You mean you can't publish a researched work and make them go away?

January, 2009, on the annotated collection, then? I'll keep an eye open for it, and thanks for the correction and feedback. I, at least, will be one less source of propagation going forward.

 

[ckovacs]

January, 2009, on the annotated collection, then? I'll keep an eye open for it, and thanks for the correction and feedback. I, at least, will be one less source of propagation going forward.

Well, January 2009 for the first two volumes, in time for the Boskone convention. The other 3 or 4 will come out over the succeeding year or two. The uncertainty over the number of volumes is because the typesetting has not been completed, and the length of the various introductions (two per volume, by such people as Silverberg, Delany, Gaiman, etc) remains to be seen (we have Silverberg's already, which is the main introduction to the set). But it looks now like it will be 6 volumes unless we delete some unpublished "extras," which ideally we do not want to do. There's something over one million words in the set, including the stories, poems, volume introductions, story introductions, annotations, and biography.

Chris

 

[BAYLOR]

A great book. The 1977 film was a travesty.