There is a new Croatian edition of Roger Zelazny‘s classic DAMNATION ALLEY! Published by Zagrebačka naklada, as ALEJA PROKLETSTVA TVRDI UVEZ, is it out now. Here’s the synopsis…
Nakon trodnevnog nuklearnog rata, koji je poremetio vrijeme i letove učinio nemogućima, jedini veliki džepovi preživjele civilizacije su u Kaliforniji i oko Bostona. Bostonom hara kuga, u Los Angelesu imaju lijek, ali kako ga dopremiti preko 5000 kilometara ALEJE PROKLETSTVA? Ruševine, radioaktivnost, čudovišta, mutirane životinje svih vrsta – a tamo gdje još ima ljudi, opasniji su od zvijeri. Aleja nikomu ne prašta – ubila je najboljeg bostonskog vozača, koji je vijest o kugi donio umirući. Tko želi proći kroz Aleju, mora biti najbolji.
A najbolji je Hell Tanner, posljednji preživjeli Anđeo Pakla, nasilnik, ubojica, kriminalac, koji ne želi ići – ali to je jedina šansa da se izvuče s doživotne robije. Put je gadan, ali gadan je i Hell Tanner, a tko je gadniji može otkriti samo ALEJA PROKLETSTVA.
Veličanstvena postapokaliptična pustolovina ispisana majstorskom rukom Rogera Zelaznyja, djelo je bez kojeg ne bi bilo ni Pobješnjelog Maxa ni Bijega iz New Yorka jer je on na teren pustolovine u postapokaliptičnoj pustoši zašao prije njih, i bio i ostao najbolji od svih, stvorivši antijunaka kojeg nećete lako zaboraviti.
DAMNATION ALLEY was first published in 1968, and is a classic of the dystopian sci-fi genre. Here’s the English-language synopsis…
Hell Tanner isn’t the sort of guy you’d mistake for a hero: he’s a fast-driving car thief, a smuggler, and a stone-cold killer. He’s also expendable — at least in the eyes of the Secretary of Traffic for the Nation of California. Tanner doesn’t care much for those eyes. You’d also never mistake Hell Tanner for a humanitarian. Facing life in prison for his various crimes, he’s given a choice; rot away his remaining years in a tiny jail cell, or drive cross-country and deliver a case of antiserum to the plague-ridden people of Boston, Massachusetts… if anyone is still alive there to receive it, that is. The chance of a full pardon does wonders for getting his attention. And don’t mistake this mission of mercy for any kind of normal road trip — not when there are radioactive storms, hordes of carniverous beasts, and giant, mutated scorpions to be found along every deadly mile between Los Angeles and the East Coast. But then, this is no normal part of America, you see. This is DAMNATION ALLEY…
Zeno represents Roger Zelazny in Translation, on behalf of the Zelazny Estate.