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Post by Calenture on Apr 24, 2008 10:55:26 GMT
First published 1968; this Hodder edition 1969 I've heard great things about this one, Rog, something along the lines of "the great counter-culture horror novel", though I guess it's usually thought of as SF? I can see exactly why I gave this one away years ago. The back cover blurb starts with a pretty boring paragraph about England being thrown into violent convulsions by an economic depression reminiscent of the gloomy days between the two World Wars. After that things get a bit more promising about gangs of hooligans rampaging through the land bringing in their wake a bitterness and anger that is almost sub-human. Then the pendulum swings, and the reaction is grim religious retaliation. I looked up John Christopher in David Wingrove's SF Source Book. Christopher is a pseudonym of Samuel Youd, who wrote The Tripods trilogy. Other pseudonyms found here include Stanley Winchester, Hilary Ford, William Godfrey, Peter Graaf, Peter Nichols, and Anthony Rye. I'm really not sure about this one. But I think another recent find, Russell Braddon's Committal Chamber, which I started last night, and is described as "strong, horrid and engrossing," could be another Vault must-have (I hope). |
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Post by killercrab on Apr 24, 2008 11:15:38 GMT
I have three books by John Christopher - THE DEATH OF GRASS , THE TRIPODS ( the White Mountains) and THE POSSESSORS. Kingsley Amis suggests you not pick up this latter volume unless you've a free evening!
Needless I've not read any of these *yet* - but Christopher always seems to come highly recommended - which is why I grabbed these initially. GRASS was made into a film ( that I've not seen).
ade
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Post by franklinmarsh on Apr 24, 2008 11:53:58 GMT
The Death Of Grass renamed No Blade Of Grass for the US and filmed as such circa 1970/1. A post-apocalyptic tale with Nigel Davenport. Saw this once on ITV years ago (why does stuff like this never seem to get shown?) - couldn't wait to see it as a result of a still, possibly in Philip Strick's The Movie Treasury - Science Fiction Movies, depicting a group of rifle-totin' angry bikers, some with horns on their crash helmets.
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Post by sean on Apr 24, 2008 11:54:36 GMT
'The Death of Grass' by John Cristopher is one of those classic gloomy end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it novels - grimmer than John Wyndham, but not as bad as Thomas Disch's later novel 'The Genocides'.
I have to say, 'Pendulum' looks quite good!
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Post by Calenture on Apr 24, 2008 20:29:31 GMT
'The Death of Grass' by John Cristopher is one of those classic gloomy end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it novels - grimmer than John Wyndham, but not as bad as Thomas Disch's later novel 'The Genocides'.... is as gloomy as The Genocides. In fact, it's so miserable, I think it's possibly the one SF novel Dem would appreciate!  Brit end-of-the-world stuff is a reason I've known people give for prefering American SF. Consider: J G Ballard's Drought, Brian Aldiss's Greybeard (which is wonderful, I think, and ultimately optimistic, despite its premise of a sterilised human race and England terrorised by packs of weasels - yay! More Animals Attack!  ). Where was I? Edmund Cooper's All Fool's Day, Keith Roberts' The Furies, Lan Wright's The Creeping Shroud, Brian Aldiss (again) Earthworks, Nevil Shute On the Beach, Christopher Priest's Fugue For a Darkening Island, M P Shiel's The Purple Cloud... Ballard pointed out that people liked end-of-the-world stories, because if it happened, it would be fun! |
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Post by sean on Apr 25, 2008 9:06:15 GMT
Nothing is as gloomy as The Genocides. In fact, it's so miserable, I think it's possibly the one SF novel Dem would appreciate! Brit end-of-the-world stuff is a reason I've known people give for prefering American SF. Consider: J G Ballard's Drought, Brian Aldiss's Greybeard (which is wonderful, I think, and ultimately optimistic, despite its premise of a sterilised human race and England terrorised by packs of weasels - yay! More Animals Attack! ). Where was I? Edmund Cooper's All Fool's Day, Keith Roberts' The Furies, Lan Wright's The Creeping Shroud, Brian Aldiss (again) Earthworks, Nevil Shute On the Beach, Christopher Priest's Fugue For a Darkening Island, M P Shiel's The Purple Cloud... A little quote from 'The Genocides' just for Dem: "And for a few days, he satisfied the years' pent-up lusts on the head of Alice Nemerov, RN." Funnily enough, I gave 'Earthworks' by Aldiss another read earlier this week. Cheery stuff indeed. 'Greybeard' is pretty damn good too - except on the edition I've got the bloke on the cover looks like whisperin' Bob Harris! |
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Post by benedictjjones on Jun 18, 2008 11:54:34 GMT
been looking for 'the death of grass' since i heard mention of it on documentary about british sci-fi/post appocolyptic tales. this looks like another to add to the list as well!!
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Post by killercrab on Aug 20, 2008 2:48:21 GMT
I just read The Death Of Grass. Quite honestly I thought it a stunning piece of writing - probably the best book I'll read this year.A real page turner.The examination of human values under extreme conditions was brutally honest.
ade
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). Where was I? Edmund Cooper's All Fool's Day, Keith Roberts' The Furies, Lan Wright's The Creeping Shroud, Brian Aldiss (again) Earthworks, Nevil Shute On the Beach, Christopher Priest's Fugue For a Darkening Island, M P Shiel's The Purple Cloud...