The Black Corridor
Cover of the first edition | |
Author | Michael Moorcock |
---|---|
Cover artist | Leo and Diane Dillon |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Genre | Science fiction |
Publisher | Ace Books |
Publication date | 1969 |
Media type | Print (paperback) |
Pages | 187 |
The Black Corridor is a science fiction novel by Michael Moorcock. It was published in 1969, first by Ace Books in the US, as part of their Ace Science Fiction Specials series, and later by Mayflower Books in the UK.
It is essentially a novel about the decay of society and the deep personal and social isolation this has caused, and tells of a man fleeing through interstellar space from Earth, where civilisation is collapsing into anarchy and wars. The author uses techniques ranging from straight narrative to entries in the spaceship's log, dream sequences and sixties-style computer printouts.
Plot summary
Ryan is a tough-minded British businessman appalled by the breakdown of society at the end of the 20th century. He feels that he is one of the few sane men in a world of paranoiacs.
With a small group of family and friends, he has stolen a spaceship and set out for Munich 15040 (Barnard's Star), a planet believed to be suitable for colonisation. Now he keeps watch alone, with his 13 companions sealed in cabinets designed to keep them in suspended animation for the many years of the journey. He makes a daily report on each one: it is always 'Condition Steady'.
Ryan is tormented by nightmares and memories of the violence on Earth; he starts to fear he is losing his grip on reality. The shipboard computer urges him to take a drug that eliminates all delusions and hallucinations; but he is strangely reluctant to use this drug.
Authorship
Although the novel is credited to Michael Moorcock, it includes many scenes based on a rough draft dystopian novel started but not finished by Moorcock's then-wife, Hilary Bailey, "a straight future disaster story – collapse of society stuff".[1] Moorcock took Bailey's scenes set on Earth and heavily rewrote them, adding all the scenes that occur on the Hope Dempsey.
All the scenes in the ship are mine. Many of the scenes back on Earth are Hilary's. That's why it was never presented as a regular collaboration. She didn't want it done that way. So I worked in acknowledgements in the dedication.
— Michael Moorcock[1]
Typographical art
The novel contains sequences of typographical art, where, in the words of the author, "words create a pattern of other letters forming other words".[2] In various editions of the book, these sequences have not always been presented correctly. The first American edition (Ace, 1969) got the art right, although the book's opening passages were cut. The first UK edition (Mayflower, 1969) restored the opening passages but the typesetters messed up the typographical art, although they did get the art on their correct pages, something that subsequent American printings failed to do.
When John Davey edited the Tales of the Eternal Champion omnibuses for Orion (in the UK) and White Wolf (in the US) in the 1990s, every effort was made to ensure that the typographical art was perfect in the volume containing The Black Corridor (Sailing to Utopia).[3] These omnibuses (particularly the White Wolf edition) are regarded by Moorcock as being the "most accurate typographically".[4]
Critical response
Barry N. Malzberg reviewed the novel unfavorably on its release, saying "it is not good. It is really not at all good", but concluded: "I remain convinced that someday Moorcock will write a substantial novel, fully worthy of his pretensions and our expectations".[5]
The Black Corridor was cited by Karl Edward Wagner as one of the thirteen best science-fiction horror novels.[6] The author China Miéville has described the book as "an underrated and chilling piece of political pulp modernism".[7]
Footnotes
- ^ a b "Moorcock's Miscellany - View Single Post - the Black Corridor". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 2 February 2007.
- ^ "Moorcock's Miscellany - View Single Post - the Black Corridor". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 2 February 2007.
- ^ "Moorcock's Miscellany - View Single Post - the Black Corridor". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 2 February 2007.
- ^ "Moorcock's Miscellany - View Single Post - the Black Corridor". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 2 February 2007.
- ^ "Books", F&SF, May 1970, pp.25–6
- ^ N. G. Christakos, "Three By Thirteen: The Karl Edward Wagner Lists" in Black Prometheus: A Critical Study of Karl Edward Wagner, ed. Benjamin Szumskyj, Gothic Press 2007.
- ^ "The Quietus - Features - Tome On The Range - Brave New Worlds: A Michael Moorcock Retrospective". Thequietus.com. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
References
- "Moorcock's Miscellany". Archived from the original on 1 November 2007. Retrieved 15 December 2007.
- "Internet Speculative Fiction Database". Retrieved 14 December 2007.
- v
- t
- e
- The Dreaming City (1961)
- The Fireclown (1965)
- The Jewel in the Skull (1967)
- The Final Programme (1968)
- The Mad God's Amulet (1968)
- The Sword of the Dawn (1968)
- The Runestaff (1969)
- The Black Corridor (1969)
- Behold the Man (1969)
- The Chinese Agent (1970)
- The Eternal Champion (1970)
- Phoenix in Obsidian (1970)
- The Warlord of the Air (1971)
- A Cure for Cancer (1971)
- The English Assassin: A Romance of Entropy (1972)
- Elric of Melniboné (1972)
- Breakfast in the Ruins (1972)
- The Land Leviathan (1974)
- The Adventures of Una Persson and Catherine Cornelius in the 20th Century (1976)
- The Sailor on the Seas of Fate (1976)
- The Condition of Muzak (1977)
- Gloriana (1978)
- Byzantium Endures (1981)
- The War Hound and the World's Pain (1981)
- The Entropy Tango (1981)
- The Steel Tsar (1981)
- The Brothel in Rosenstrasse (1982)
- The Laughter of Carthage (1984)
- The Alchemist's Question (1984)
- The City in the Autumn Stars (1986)
- The Dragon in the Sword (1986)
- Mother London (1988)
- Jerusalem Commands (1992)
- King of the City (2000)
- Firing the Cathedral (2002)
- The Vengeance of Rome (2006)
- The Coming of the Terraphiles (2010)
- The Whispering Swarm (2015)
- The Time Dweller (1969)
- The Lives and Times of Jerry Cornelius (1976)
- The History of the Runestaff (1979)
- The Dancers at the End of Time (1981)
- A Nomad of the Time Streams (1982)
- The Opium General and other stories (1984)
- Elric: Song of the Black Sword (1995)
- The Metatemporal Detective (2007)
- Conan the Barbarian
- Michael Moorcock's Multiverse
- Tom Strong
- Corum Jhaelen Irsei
- Dorian Hawkmoon
- Elric of Melniboné
- Erekosë
- Eternal Champion
- Jerry Cornelius
- Multiverse
- Stormbringer
- Symbol of Chaos
- Ulrich von Bek
- Melniboné
- "Epic Pooh"
- "Kings in Darkness"
- The Land That Time Forgot
- New Worlds
- Airtight Garage
- The Chronicle of the Black Sword
- The Final Programme
- Elric: Battle at the End of Time
- Stormbringer RPG