Horizon Alpha

by Douglas R. Mason

Book by Mason, Douglas R.

Genres: Science Fiction

168 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Douglas R. Mason (born Douglas Rankine Mason 26 September 1918) is a British science fiction author, who has written books both as by John Rankine and by Douglas R. Mason.

Mason was born in Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales and first attended Chester Grammar School and in 1937 went to study English Literature and Experimental Psychology at the University of Manchester, where he was a friend of Anthony Burgess (as mentioned in Little Wilson and Big God: The First Part of the Confession, AB's autobiography).

Reviews

[Jay M · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a really hard book to rate. The overall dystopian story isn’t bad, but since it’s original publication in 1971 time has fossilized many of its plot points into tropes. In 2023, Horizon Alpha could be called inessential, at best. Not uninteresting, but not anything that hasn’t been done better.

The real problem is the writing. My god, the writing is clunky. Dialog reads like badly translated subtitles. Words are used in odd ways and I had to read read passages a few times just to understand what was being said. I *think* the goal was to sound futuristic, but the effect doesn’t work.

Outside of dialog, the writing is often confusing. Mason ping-pongs between points of view from paragraph to paragraph without any real warning. Not generally an issue, but all the characters behave the same, think the same. It gives the effect of one character being fractured into different pieces instead of multiple voices. It’s confusing and monotone. The worst example of this can be found in the last 2-3 chapters of the book where multiple characters and nautical language combine into incomprehensible word salad.

I think Horizon Alpha could have been a really awesome early 70s sci-if flick. I think that’s what it wants to be. John Boorman would have had a field day. As a book, though, it’s a mildly infuriating rainy afternoon.

[Scott Nieradka · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this a while ago, but i remember it clearly as a piece of marinated dog tripe.

[Morgul the Friendly Drelb · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book near when it came out when I was in High School and from what I remember I "kind of" liked it, or, liked aspects of the plot.

Now, decades later I downloaded it out of curiosity and nostalgia (I forget the artist who did the cover, but he did a lot of memorable sci fi covers).

As I re-read it i kept wondering why I ever thought it was good. I used to read very fast- so maybe I appreciated the tropes and ignored the actual writing (?). The writing is bad. The characters are wooden and one dimensional. The style is plodding and oddly worded. There are many obtuse and "strangely voiced" sentences which made reading a tiresome chore.

The protagonist is imbued with a noir-ish hard boiled quality which doesn't help character-wise or plot-wise. I did make it to the end of the story- which was not satisfying or memorable (he saved the day and got the girl, in his hard-boiled way).

I then deleted it from my device to make room for other books as I have no intention of ever reading it again.

[Marko]

I have the german edition: Rebell von Metropolis