Damnation Alley
Encyclopedia
Damnation Alley is the title of a 1967 science fiction short story by Roger Zelazny
, which he expanded into a novel in 1969. A film adaptation
of the novel was released in 1977.
s have emerged in place of the former United States
. Hurricane-force winds above five hundred feet prevent any sort of air travel from one state to the next, and sudden, violent, and unpredictable storms make day-to-day life a mini-hell. Hell Tanner, an imprisoned killer, 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.
loosely based on the novel was directed by Jack Smight
. Roger Zelazny had liked the original script by Lukas Heller and expected that to be the filmed version; he didn't realize until he saw it in the theater that the shooting script (by Alan Sharp) was quite different. He never liked the movie and was embarrassed by it. However, assertions that he requested to have his name removed from the film (and that the studio refused) are completely unfounded. The movie was released before he ever discovered he didn't like it.
by Walter Jon Williams
is an homage to Damnation Alley. The two authors (Zelazny and Williams) later became good friends.
The 2000 AD comic had a long running Judge Dredd
story arc that was an adaptation of the story (with the journey in the reverse direction), in which Dredd and Spikes Harvey Rotten (the greatest Punk alive) journeyed across the Cursed Earth
between Megacity 1 (on the U.S. East Coast) to Megacity 2 (on the West coast) to deliver a vaccine to the 2T(Fru)T virus. It was also subject to a number of copyright violations.
The Hawkwind
album Quark, Strangeness and Charm
contains a song inspired by the story.
Roger Zelazny
Roger Joseph Zelazny was an American writer of fantasy and science fiction short stories and novels, best known for his The Chronicles of Amber series...
, which he expanded into a novel in 1969. A film adaptation
Damnation Alley (film)
Damnation Alley is a 1977 film, directed by Jack Smight, loosely based on the novel of the same name by Roger Zelazny. The original music score was composed by Jerry Goldsmith.-Plot:...
of the novel was released in 1977.
Plot introduction
Both the short story and the novel open in a post-apocalyptic Southern California, in a hellish world shattered by nuclear war decades before. Several police statePolice state
A police state is one in which the government exercises rigid and repressive controls over the social, economic and political life of the population...
s have emerged in place of the former United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Hurricane-force winds above five hundred feet prevent any sort of air travel from one state to the next, and sudden, violent, and unpredictable storms make day-to-day life a mini-hell. Hell Tanner, an imprisoned killer, 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.
Film adaptation
In 1977, a filmDamnation Alley (film)
Damnation Alley is a 1977 film, directed by Jack Smight, loosely based on the novel of the same name by Roger Zelazny. The original music score was composed by Jerry Goldsmith.-Plot:...
loosely based on the novel was directed by Jack Smight
Jack Smight
Jack Smight was an American theatre and film director.Smight was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and went to school with future actor Peter Graves...
. Roger Zelazny had liked the original script by Lukas Heller and expected that to be the filmed version; he didn't realize until he saw it in the theater that the shooting script (by Alan Sharp) was quite different. He never liked the movie and was embarrassed by it. However, assertions that he requested to have his name removed from the film (and that the studio refused) are completely unfounded. The movie was released before he ever discovered he didn't like it.
Related works
The novel HardwiredHardwired (novel)
Hardwired is a 1986 cyberpunk science fiction novel by Walter Jon Williams.-Plot introduction:The Orbital Corporations now control the world...
by Walter Jon Williams
Walter Jon Williams
Walter Jon Williams is an American writer, primarily of science fiction.Several of Williams' novels have a distinct cyberpunk feel to them, notably Hardwired , Voice of the Whirlwind and Angel Stationn...
is an homage to Damnation Alley. The two authors (Zelazny and Williams) later became good friends.
The 2000 AD comic had a long running Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
story arc that was an adaptation of the story (with the journey in the reverse direction), in which Dredd and Spikes Harvey Rotten (the greatest Punk alive) journeyed across the Cursed Earth
Cursed Earth
The Cursed Earth is a part of the fictional universe from the Judge Dredd series that appears in the UK comic book 2000 AD.-Background:...
between Megacity 1 (on the U.S. East Coast) to Megacity 2 (on the West coast) to deliver a vaccine to the 2T(Fru)T virus. It was also subject to a number of copyright violations.
The Hawkwind
Hawkwind
Hawkwind are an English rock band, one of the earliest space rock groups. Their lyrics favour urban and science fiction themes. They are also a noted precursor to punk rock and now are considered a link between the hippie and punk cultures....
album Quark, Strangeness and Charm
Quark, Strangeness and Charm
Quark, Strangeness And Charm is the seventh studio album by the English space rock group Hawkwind, released in 1977. It spent 6 weeks on the UK albums chart peaking at #30....
contains a song inspired by the story.