Damnation Alley

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Lemmy! 🤦‍♂️ He's the obvious casting choice for Hell Tanner! And Motörhead the ultimate soundtrack! #BooksAndMusic
This was definitely a B-movie vibe, but amongst the general mayhem & violence, Zelazny slipped in some social commentary about war, human shortsightedness, & the brutalising effects of social deprivation. Writing in '69, he also anticipated the state response to pandemic being a mix of concern for the populace & profiteering off ⬇️

Bookwomble ... misery & death.
The thin plot is that nuclear war has created a radioactive wasteland separating the Nation of California from the city-state of Boston. The former has a vaccine for the plague devastating the latter, & Tanner can earn a pardon for his violent crimes & drug running, by delivering the medicine in an armoured vehicle through the nightmare of Damnation Alley. Definitely an inspiration for Judge Dredd\'s Cursed Earth saga. ⬇️ (edited) 3mo

Bookwomble There's a redemption arc of sorts, but Tanner remains an unlovable bastard!
A bubble gum book, but it is Napalm Flavoured! 3mo

RamsFan1963 @Bookwomble I've never read the book but I did see the God awful movie with Jan Michael Vincent and George Peppard. I still remember the lame effects, especially the giant scorpions. 3mo

Bookwomble @RamsFan1963 It's awful, isn't it! I remember watching it on VHS in the mid-80s and feeling disappointed as Zelazny was one of my fave authors. It says something that they've printed the name of a different film on the cover! As @The_Book_Ninja and I discussed in an earlier post, another 10 years and John Carpenter as director would have produced a much better movie. 3mo

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Bookwomble

Damnation Alley | Roger Zelazny

"Ain't the last Catholic the Pope?"

The Last of the Biker Angels, Hell Tanner, on the Hell's Angels existing as long as one of them still lives. Zelazny definitely doesn't like his main character, but his dialogue is such knowingly over the top, testosterone-fueled ham that it's hilarious.

quietlycuriouskate Oh, this picture: be still, my blaspheming heart! 3mo

Bookwomble @quietlycuriouskate I did have a thought it could be considered blasphemous, but then it\'s not a specific Pope, and as it\'s *post* apocalypse, I\'d assume the real deal has ascended to the Heavenly Kingdom (my theology is not robust on these matters though!) 🙏👼🙏 (edited) 3mo

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Bookwomble

Damnation Alley | Roger Zelazny

Wow, the Casting team for the movie adaptation sure goofed when they cast Jan Michael Vincent as bearded, cigar-chomping, neo-nazi Hell's Angel, Hell Tanner. Even doing his best Clint Eastwood impression, he's too clean-cut. I had more a sense of him looking like Snake Plisken from the Escape from New York/Los Angeles films, but while he's a better fit, Kurt Russell is still too pretty. The perfect casting decision would definitely have been ⬇️

Bookwomble ... ? Ta-da!! Randall "Tex" Cobb's portrayal of Leonard Smalls, the Lone Biker of the Apocalypse from the Coen brothers' classic movie Raising Arizona! Unless I read something significantly to the contrary as I progress through the book, Cobb is playing the part in my imagination!
Soundtrack: Gotta be Highway to Hell by AC⚡DC!
#BooksAndMusic 3mo

The_Book_Ninja Good call. I‘m a missive fan of Carpenter/Russell. The Thing is a work of art 3mo

Bookwomble [Note to self: Don't listen closely to AC/DC lyrics 🫠😟☣️🗑️] 3mo

Bookwomble @The_Book_Ninja Yes, I love his Escape From films, and The Thing is a horror masterpiece. Carpenter would have done justice to this book, I'm sure. 3mo

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Bookwomble

Damnation Alley | Roger Zelazny

Having just finished the almost pastoral post-apocalypse novel, Earth Abides, I thought I'd stick with the genre but go to the other end of the spectrum: Damnation Alley is from the "sawn-off shotgun, kick 'em in the nuts" school, featuring MC Hell Tanner, "Last of the Biker Angels", on his mission to cross the radioactive wasteland of Damnation Alley, domain of firestorms and hostile mutants, to deliver a plague vaccine to Boston. ⬇️

Bookwomble My edition is a tie-in to the critically panned 1977 movie adaptation, but Zelazny is an excellent writer, so I'm expecting, yes, knuckle-busting adventure, but also some depth. We'll see... ☢️🏍️☢️ 3mo

TrishB Great pic 👍🏻 and bookmark. 3mo

Bookwomble @TrishB Thanks 😊 The bookmark was the closest one to hand, so as Manchester isn't quite a radioactive hellscape yet (despite what some might say [added Oasis reference!]), it's not a case of #BookmarkMatching , but damned if I haven't tagged it now 😄 3mo

TrishB I‘ve sometimes gone with closest to hand! And now we‘ll have to have #lyricmatching 3mo

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TK-421

Damnation Alley | Roger Zelazny

I must be out of sorts: went to a bookstore & a comic book store today & didn‘t take a single picture! I also spent less than $20 - what‘s up with that?!? Here‘s my mini #bookhaul.

Reviewsbylola It‘s a very nice haul! 6y

Oblomov26 Great haul - Zelazny wrote beautifully in his prime, more poetry than prose. 6y

TK-421 @Reviewsbylola Thanks! (edited) 6y

TK-421 @Oblomov26 Thanks! I‘ve only read the Amber novels so far so I‘m looking forward to reading more of Zelazny‘s work. 6y

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TheNeverendingTBR

Damnation Alley | Roger Zelazny

Okay that's long enough! 😜

Time to share more of these nifty books I got at a book sale.

This one here I've heard of before and it sounds excellent, Mad Max kinda vibes! 😎

TuesdayReviews I was just reading about this book. It definitely sounds like one I need to keep my eye out for. 6y

RamsFan1963 Great book, but for the love of God, don't watch the movie version with Jan Michael Vincent & George Peppard. It's horrible, plus the only thing it has in common with the book is the title, they changed almost everything else 6y

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Martyn_J_Pass

Damnation Alley | Roger Zelazny

The first book I really 'read' when I was about 10 years old. It put me firmly on the path of being an Author.

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