Damnation Alley

by Roger Zelazny | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
ISBN: 1596879939 Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingerishkigalwing of Salt Lake City, Utah USA on 3/24/2018
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This book is in the wild! This Book is Currently in the Wild!
3 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by wingerishkigalwing from Salt Lake City, Utah USA on Saturday, March 24, 2018
An old favorite! Totally unlike most of the Zelazny’s I’ve read.

Journal Entry 2 by wingerishkigalwing at Salt Lake City, Utah USA on Sunday, August 30, 2020
I thoroughly enjoyed rereading this😊
i’m going to loan it to my daughter who has fond memories of the movie, and then I plan on adding it to spatial’s post apocalyptic bookbox come this fall.

Journal Entry 3 by wingerishkigalwing at Salt Lake City, Utah USA on Friday, October 30, 2020

Released 3 yrs ago (10/30/2020 UTC) at Salt Lake City, Utah USA

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Adding to Spatial’s Apocalyptic book box.

Journal Entry 4 by TomHl2 at Beaufort, South Carolina USA on Friday, November 20, 2020
I'm taking this from Spatial's Bookbox of the Apocalypse.

Journal Entry 5 by TomHl2 at The Bookbox of the Apocalypse, A Bookbox -- Controlled Releases on Saturday, November 21, 2020

Released 3 yrs ago (11/21/2020 UTC) at The Bookbox of the Apocalypse, A Bookbox -- Controlled Releases

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This 1969 Roger Zelazny novel (based on his Hugo-nominated 1967 novella by the same name) is about a biker with a heart of gold in a post-apocalyptic future. In it, the Nation of California gives Hell Tanner (yes, that is his name) a choice – take a suicide mission to drive an armored vehicle from Los Angeles to Boston, across post-holocaust America delivering a needed anti-plague vaccine, or complete his life sentence in prison. On the way, enduring highly radioactive zones, weather that drops boulders out of the sky, giant mutant gila monsters, and renegade humans that prominently feature motorcycle gangs, Tanner must consider whether he actually gives a damn. In the end, Zelazny stretches out the conclusion with some prose insertions, including one truly impressive 3-full-page sentence. I found the novel entertaining, in that anti-hero tough-as-nails way.

It was a quick read, and so I'm able to add it back into Spatial's Bookbox of the Apocalypse before I send it onward.

Journal Entry 6 by wingGoryDetailswing at Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Sunday, December 6, 2020
I'm claiming this book from the Bookbox of the Apocalypse. I've enjoyed other works by Zelazny but hadn't come across this one.

Later: Definitely the kind of novel that wants to be a videogame {wry grin}, this one starts out rough and keeps on going. Main character Tanner is exceedingly tough and competent, but he's also a renegade who takes what he wants without regard to consent or prior ownership, so... yeah, not the nicest of guys, even though he does have a code of honor of sorts. His record's so bad that the officials are able to get him to undertake a cross-country drive against incredible odds, in hopes that he can deliver vaccines to the plague-ridden East Coast, in exchange for a reprieve from ALL of his crimes, a carte blanche that seems a bit risky given his tendencies! But he takes on the task, and we get a fast-paced, often dangerous, action-packed trek through survivors' enclaves and abandoned ruins and giant-bug-haunted regions, with personal encounters of various types here and there as a change of pace.

Was it something of a romp? Yes, yes it was - especially as I just could not get attached to the characters, so the periodic violence wasn't as bad as it might otherwise have been. And the ending is... well, under the circumstances, it's quite satisfying {wry grin}.

[There's a TV Tropes page on the novel, with some entertaining tidbits. There's a very loose 1977 film adaptation.]

Journal Entry 7 by wingGoryDetailswing at Little Free Library, Redington Rd in Concord, New Hampshire USA on Thursday, December 10, 2020

Released 3 yrs ago (12/10/2020 UTC) at Little Free Library, Redington Rd in Concord, New Hampshire USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Guidelines for safely visiting and stocking Little Free Libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic, from the LFL site here.

I left this book in this new-to-me Little Free Library; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

*** Released for the 2020 D for December challenge. ***

*** Released for the 2020 Science Fiction challenge. ***

*** Released for the 2020 Movie challenge. ***

*** Released for the 2020 Keep Them Moving challenge. ***

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