Born in Captivity

by Bryan Berry

Bryan Berry. Born in Captivity. London: Hamilton, [1952]. First edition, first printing. Octavo. 192 pages. Publisher's binding and dust jacket.

Genres: Science Fiction

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

Roderick Bryan Berry (1930-1966), was a British SF author.

Berry was a rising star of the UK SF scene in the 1950s, before tragically dying at only 36 in Hampstead, London, towards the end of 1966. Berry had worked as a copy writer in advertising, and edited a monthly literary magazine, before starting to freelance as a writer in 1952.

See also works written as Rolf Garner.

NB: Some account incorrectly record this author as dying in 1955 instead of the correct date of 1966.

Bibliography:
Return to Earth (1951)
Born in Captivity (1952)
Dread Visitor (1952)
And the Stars Remain (1952)
Aftermath (1952) - serialised novel
From What Far Star? (1953)
The Venom-Seekers (1953)
Resurgent Dust (1953) as Rolf Garner
The Immortals (1953) as Rolf Garner
The Indestructible (1954) as Rolf Garner
(Posthumous)
Groundling (2021)
The Imaginative Man (2021)
Mars is Home (2021)

Some of his works, when published in German, were accredited under the pseudonyms W. Brown or James Spencer.

Reviews

[Janne Wass · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael Blayne is a newly-wed “Environmental Psychologist” or an “EP Man” for the government in the year 2018. His job is to monitor the inhabitants of his neighborhood for deviants – people who present a danger to society by clinging to ancient and forbidden notions that contradict the effectivity and streamlining of modern society. Old books, art, and forbidden musical records are all signs of hysteria, as are such notions as washing your dishes by hand or cooking yourself, instead of allowing machines to do it for you. Mike moves into a new area with his wife, June, who is not very fond of Michael’s line of work, and displays an unhealthy sympathy for the deviants' right to live their own lives. And while making house searches to people who read Shakespeare, listen to Beethoven and paint abstract art, he grows ever more hostile towards his own profession and the ideology that underpins it, and soon finds himself and June drawn into an underground resistance movement awaiting to seize control after the inevitable 4th world war looming on the horizon.

At first I was flabbergasted by this novel, which seemed like a blueprint for Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451”, published a year later. Then I realised that Bradbury published three short stories earlier, that he then decided to work together into a novel. However, British up-and-comer Bryan Berry beat him to the mark by one year. Heavily influenced, almost to the point of plagiarism, “Born in Captivity” is nevertheless a remarkably good novel, written, like Bradbury’s work, with people in the forefront, rather than technology. The story unfolds gracefully and keeps you on your toes, even if hindsight pretty much informs you of where it is going from the very first page. Still, the final revelation is a departure from Bradbury’s work, and quite an interesting one.

Mystery surrounds the life and death of the young and promising Bryan Berry, who churned out 10 excellent pulp novels over 27 months between 1951 and 1954, and then disappeared. He is thought to have died in 1966, aged 36.