Planet of the Damned

I was never a fan of Harrison’s fiction, unlike a friend who, back in the 1980s when Harrison was promoting his latest novel at Andromeda Bookshop in Birmingham, turned up with two carrier bags full of Harry Harrison paperbacks, and which Harrison was gracious enough to sign. Having said that, during the late 1970s and early 1980s I probably read a fair number of Harrison’s books. I’d initially liked his Stainless Steel Rat novels, but a reread of The Stainless Steel Rat about ten years ago turned me off them completely. And as for the other Harrison novels… They were hardly memorable.

One Harrison novel I’d managed to miss all those years ago was his Hugo-nominated Planet of the Damned (it lost the gong to Robert Heinlein’s show more Stranger in a Strange Land - and much as it pains me to place that novel above others, it was a more interesting winner than Harrison’s would have been). The protagonist of Planet of the Damned is the winner of a competition on a planet where their entire culture revolves around the competition, which Harrison explains, with eye-opening sexism: “Each year there were two planet-wide contests held, one for men and one for women. This was not an attempt at sexual discrimination, but a logical facing of facts … for example, it is impossible for a woman to win a large chess tournament…”

Brandd is recruited by a secret organisation which maintains galactic political and cultural stability, and soon finds himself marooned on a desert planet, Dis, whose native inhabitants are threatening to bomb a neighbouring peaceful and technologically-advanced planet into oblivion. It’s all to do with an elite group, the magter, who have purchased “cobalt bombs” and are planning the attack. But this is a planet where individualism is so ingrained any kind of concerted effort to overthrow the magter is impossible. Happily, Brandd is, er, on hand…

I think this is the first appearance of the zombie fungus trope in science fiction, and while Harrison focuses more on the derring-do of his hero, it makes the novel a fraction more interesting than it would otherwise have been. The pulp-sf title doesn’t help, and the prose is competent at best, but the novel is damned sight better than The Stainless Steel Rat (see what I did there?), in as much as its plot is predicated on an actual science fiction idea. Having said that, there were undoubtedly better works that deserved to be on the Hugo shortlist that year, and I can think of no good reason in the 21st century to read Planet of the Damned. show less

This book is a page turner, or in the case of ereader for the Palm a button pusher? Anyway, it’s great. The “Winner” on Anvhar is simply the person who beats every other person on the planet in The Games - not just physical like in the Olympics but mental challenges also such as chess. Brion Brand has just become “Winner” which make him uniquely qualified for a particular covert assignment. He is recruited to save an entire planet from destruction. The inhabitants of the planet Dis are seemingly bent on a suicidal course of action. It’s Brion’s job to stop their self annihilation and save both their planet as well as the civilization of the planet that might be forced to destroy them in self defense. It’s Harrison’s show more peculiar brand of futuristic pseudo-utopian politics mixed with adventure, intrigue, mystery, and mayhem. You HAVE to read this book. That’s an order!

(this review was originally posted on my blog at http://www.ganymeder.com) show less

How did Harrison write both this and the Eden trilogy? This book gets everything wrong---mutation, evolution, characterization, gender, brain damage---in a package as dry as a lab animal food pellet. The only thing I enjoyed was when it was over.

Originally posted at FanLit.
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/reviews/planet-of-the-damned/

Brion Brandd has just become the champion of his planet by defeating all the other contestants in �??The Twenties.ƒ? Many men train all their lives for a chance to be the winner and Brion is ready to savor his victory. But not so fast! When a former winner challenges Brion to do something truly meaningful and heroic with his life, Brion sets off to save the planet Dis from a war that will surely destroy the entire planet. Dis has a hostile environment that nearly kills Brion before he even gets to meet the natives. Then he needs to figure out how the planet and the species that have evolved on it work together so he can solve their political show more problems.

Since this is a story written by Harry Harrison, there must also be a hot chick for Brion to save and fall in love with. My eyebrows rose when I found out that the girl in Planet of the Damned is Dr. Lea, an accomplished biologist. That was surprising after Harrison had just told us that men and women have to compete separately in The Twenties because ƒ??the inherent differences prevented fair contests. For example, it is impossible for a woman to win a large chess tournament and this fact was recognized.ƒ? (Itƒ??s true that all chess champions so far have been men, but men outnumber women in competitive chess 16:1. For some reason there are relatively few women who compete in chess. Perhaps itƒ??s lack of talent with that type of competitive and aggressive visual spatial task ƒ?? or just a simple lack of interest ƒ?? but to say itƒ??s a fact that itƒ??s impossible for a woman to win is ridiculous.)

Anyway, some of the men in the story are outraged that theyƒ??ve been sent a female scientist because they think sheƒ??ll ƒ??melt in the rain,ƒ? and Brion decides she must be carefully watched, but the hot chickƒ??s expertise is an important part of the plot after we get past all her shrieking, falling, fainting and being saved and carried around by Brion. Eventually, while sobbing, she decides she wants to get married and that sheƒ??s tired of being a biologist and a ƒ??mental match for any man.ƒ? (If she has a Ph.D. in exobiology, shouldnƒ??t she be more than a mental match for most men? Whatever, Mr. Harrison.)

Planet of the Damned is very similar to Harry Harrisonƒ??s Deathworld. Manly man goes to save planet, planet has hostile environment, nativesƒ?? evolution and symbiotic relationship with planet are key to solution, and thereƒ??s a hot chick to fall in love with for no particularly good reason. Itƒ??s unbelievable, cheesy, poorly written, pulpy and worst of all, boring. It might have been better if I hadnƒ??t felt like Iƒ??d already read this story in Deathworld. I keep giving Harry Harrison another try because I love several of his STAINLESS STEEL RAT books, but I think I might be done with Harrison now. (Three strikes and youƒ??re out!)

Planet of the Damned was originally serialized and then published as a novel in 1962. It has also been published as Sense of Obligation. I listened to the audio version which was produced by Jimcin Recordings in 2010 and has been recently released on CD by Brilliance Audio. Jim Roberts does his usual slightly wooden but competent narration. Planet of No Return is another Harrison novel that features Brion Brandd. show less

There are very few Harrison books I don't like. This book was nominated for a Hugo Award in 1962. It's a good story for the early 1960s. I am being a little generous by giving it 4 stars but I admit it did hold my interest.

It brings up the dilemma of; should you try to save the people of a country, or planet that appears to have no redeeming qualities.

Началото на сагата за Браян Бранд, добродушния супермен, който спасява светове. В типичния за Харисън стил, като тоя път се занимава със свят, в който симбиозата е издигната като начин на съществуване на всяко живо същество, вкл. хората.

That handful of cantos I read made me feel smart for a bit while reading this. The planet in question is named Dis, which is totally a circle of Hell. And get this: an extremely hot one. Which the planet is. There is some intrigue and an interesting bit about symbiotes and things. I gotta be honest here, I was thinking that Harrison was a different author when I downloaded this novel along with some short stories (all carefully researched to have no copyrights, more things from Astounding and the like). It doesn't matter though, it was enjoyable, like Dostoevsky's stuff.