Emmett McDowell (1914-1975) was a very obscure American science fiction writer.
The novel is set several thousand years in the future. Joel Hakkyt has been convicted on manslaughter and maladjustment. He is to be sent to the Experimental Station where the maladjusted are used as guinea pigs in scientific research. No-one ever leaves the Experimental Station alive. Joel is however offered an alternative. Selected convicts are sent to Asgard, a planet in the Centauri system, rather the Experimental Station. Slave labour is desperately needed for the colony on Asgard.
Joel is puzzled by a cryptic message given to him by a guard.
Asgard is a jungle planet and it’s rather hostile. The plants can move about and some are carnivorous. It is believed that there are human-like creatures on Asgard. Their villages have been found. Curiously the creatures themselves have never been seen.
Joel makes a deadly enemy on the voyage to Asgard but he also meets a pretty slave girl named Tamis. There’s a certain immediate attraction between Joel and Tamis.
Joel makes a deadly enemy on the voyage to Asgard but he also meets a pretty slave girl named Tamis. There’s a certain immediate attraction between Joel and Tamis.
Joel will find out that he has already met one of the human-like inhabitants of Asgard. They are the Ganelons. Physically them seem very human indeed but in other ways they have evolved very differently. Joel will also find himself mixed up in a simmering revolt.
He has also attracted the attention of Priscilla Cameron, the notoriously wicked daughter of the governor of Asgard. Priscilla decides to buy Joel as her personal slave. She’s had a good look at his body and she likes what she sees.
There’s also something strange about Joel. He’s not just maladjusted.
And there isn’t just one revolt in the offing on Asgard. There are plots and counter-plots and conspiracies within conspiracies.
This novel deals with one of those “utopia gone wrong” futures. Human civilisation seems to be thriving but anyone who doesn’t fit in is ruthlessly weeded out. Humanity has already wiped out the human-like civilisations of Mars and Venus. There’s a subtle but definite edge of totalitarianism to this future human civilisation. It’s a society that seems to be run by doctors and scientists but it’s far from being a humane society, and aliens who encounter humans can look forward to extinction or exploitation. The scientists believe in rational scientific breeding and have eliminated useless outdated concepts like love.
The novel explores evolutionary alternatives. The Ganelons have primitive technology but they have developed some remarkable powers over their own bodies. They have some telepathic powers (an incredibly popular theme in science fiction from the 40s to the 70s). They also have other abilities which explain why the colonists on Asgard have never seen them.
Their society is based on coöperation rather than exploitation.
McDowell isn’t a great prose stylist and this novel is a bit rough around the edges. It’s typical of quite a bit of pulp science fiction of its era, a pulp action-adventure tale that also tries to deal with some science fiction Big Ideas. That’s one of the things that makes the pulp science fiction of that era so fascinating. In this case the Big Ideas are ideas that other writers were addressing as well. McDowell does a reasonable job grappling with ideas about the future of the species whilst still providing plenty of romance and mayhem. And yes, it includes space opera staples such as battles with ray guns.
Citadel of the Green Death is fast-paced and entertaining and manages to deal with potentially silly concepts quite skilfully. Highly recommended.
He has also attracted the attention of Priscilla Cameron, the notoriously wicked daughter of the governor of Asgard. Priscilla decides to buy Joel as her personal slave. She’s had a good look at his body and she likes what she sees.
There’s also something strange about Joel. He’s not just maladjusted.
And there isn’t just one revolt in the offing on Asgard. There are plots and counter-plots and conspiracies within conspiracies.
This novel deals with one of those “utopia gone wrong” futures. Human civilisation seems to be thriving but anyone who doesn’t fit in is ruthlessly weeded out. Humanity has already wiped out the human-like civilisations of Mars and Venus. There’s a subtle but definite edge of totalitarianism to this future human civilisation. It’s a society that seems to be run by doctors and scientists but it’s far from being a humane society, and aliens who encounter humans can look forward to extinction or exploitation. The scientists believe in rational scientific breeding and have eliminated useless outdated concepts like love.
The novel explores evolutionary alternatives. The Ganelons have primitive technology but they have developed some remarkable powers over their own bodies. They have some telepathic powers (an incredibly popular theme in science fiction from the 40s to the 70s). They also have other abilities which explain why the colonists on Asgard have never seen them.
Their society is based on coöperation rather than exploitation.
McDowell isn’t a great prose stylist and this novel is a bit rough around the edges. It’s typical of quite a bit of pulp science fiction of its era, a pulp action-adventure tale that also tries to deal with some science fiction Big Ideas. That’s one of the things that makes the pulp science fiction of that era so fascinating. In this case the Big Ideas are ideas that other writers were addressing as well. McDowell does a reasonable job grappling with ideas about the future of the species whilst still providing plenty of romance and mayhem. And yes, it includes space opera staples such as battles with ray guns.
Citadel of the Green Death is fast-paced and entertaining and manages to deal with potentially silly concepts quite skilfully. Highly recommended.
This novel is paired with Dwight D. Swain’s Drummers of Daugovo in one of Armchair Fiction’s excellent two-novel paperback editions.
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