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To Conquer Chaos
A postapocalyptic thriller with “the fun aspect of an American International 50’s SF movie” from the Hugo Award–winning author of Stand on Zanzibar (Vintage45). In To Conquer Chaos, John Brunner gives us a heaping helping of classic planetary science fiction adventure. The barrenland is a mystery and an enigma, a dangerous and terrifying place that none who enter ever return from. More than three hundred miles around, it has existed far longer than collective memory can guess, and all too often, strange beasts emerge from it and kill at random. Conrad lives on the edge of the barrenland and is haunted by visions of its past as a haven, populated by magical people who could travel between worlds. He meets Jervis Yenderman, a soldier who has knowledge of the visions and who believes that within the barrenland is an island of human survivors—and that one man has escaped it within recent memory. For each generation, there is a writer meant to bend the rules of what we know. Hugo Award winner (Best Novel, Stand on Zanzibar) and British science fiction master John Brunner remains one of the most influential and respected authors of all time, and now many of his classic works are being reintroduced. For readers familiar with his vision, it is a chance to reexamine his thoughtful worlds and words, while for new readers, Brunner’s work proves itself the very definition of timeless.
186 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1964
7 people are currently reading
177 people want to read
About the author
John Brunner
572 books480 followersJohn Brunner was born in Preston Crowmarsh, near Wallingford in Oxfordshire, and went to school at St Andrew's Prep School, Pangbourne, then to Cheltenham College. He wrote his first novel, Galactic Storm, at 17, and published it under the pen-name Gill Hunt, but he did not start writing full-time until 1958. He served as an officer in the Royal Air Force from 1953 to 1955, and married Marjorie Rosamond Sauer on 12 July 1958
At the beginning of his writing career Brunner wrote conventional space opera pulp science fiction. Brunner later began to experiment with the novel form. His 1968 novel "Stand on Zanzibar" exploits the fragmented organizational style John Dos Passos invented for his USA trilogy, but updates it in terms of the theory of media popularised by Marshall McLuhan.
"The Jagged Orbit" (1969) is set in a United States dominated by weapons proliferation and interracial violence, and has 100 numbered chapters varying in length from a single syllable to several pages in length. "The Sheep Look Up" (1972) depicts ecological catastrophe in America. Brunner is credited with coining the term "worm" and predicting the emergence of computer viruses in his 1975 novel "The Shockwave Rider", in which he used the term to describe software which reproduces itself across a computer network. Together with "Stand on Zanzibar", these novels have been called the "Club of Rome Quartet", named after the Club of Rome whose 1972 report The Limits to Growth warned of the dire effects of overpopulation.
Brunner's pen names include K. H. Brunner, Gill Hunt, John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Ellis Quick, Henry Crosstrees Jr., and Keith Woodcott.
In addition to his fiction, Brunner wrote poetry and many unpaid articles in a variety of publications, particularly fanzines, but also 13 letters to the New Scientist and an article about the educational relevance of science fiction in Physics Education. Brunner was an active member of the organisation Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and wrote the words to "The H-Bomb's Thunder", which was sung on the Aldermaston Marches.
Brunner had an uneasy relationship with British new wave writers, who often considered him too American in his settings and themes. He attempted to shift to a more mainstream readership in the early 1980s, without success. Before his death, most of his books had fallen out of print. Brunner accused publishers of a conspiracy against him, although he was difficult to deal with (his wife had handled his publishing relations before she died).[2]
Brunner's health began to decline in the 1980s and worsened with the death of his wife in 1986. He remarried, to Li Yi Tan, on 27 September 1991. He died of a heart attack in Glasgow on 25 August 1995, while attending the World Science Fiction Convention there
aka
K H Brunner, Henry Crosstrees Jr, Gill Hunt (with Dennis Hughes and E C Tubb), John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Keith Woodcott
Winner of the ESFS Awards in 1980 as "Best Author" and 1n 1984 as "Novelist"..
At the beginning of his writing career Brunner wrote conventional space opera pulp science fiction. Brunner later began to experiment with the novel form. His 1968 novel "Stand on Zanzibar" exploits the fragmented organizational style John Dos Passos invented for his USA trilogy, but updates it in terms of the theory of media popularised by Marshall McLuhan.
"The Jagged Orbit" (1969) is set in a United States dominated by weapons proliferation and interracial violence, and has 100 numbered chapters varying in length from a single syllable to several pages in length. "The Sheep Look Up" (1972) depicts ecological catastrophe in America. Brunner is credited with coining the term "worm" and predicting the emergence of computer viruses in his 1975 novel "The Shockwave Rider", in which he used the term to describe software which reproduces itself across a computer network. Together with "Stand on Zanzibar", these novels have been called the "Club of Rome Quartet", named after the Club of Rome whose 1972 report The Limits to Growth warned of the dire effects of overpopulation.
Brunner's pen names include K. H. Brunner, Gill Hunt, John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Ellis Quick, Henry Crosstrees Jr., and Keith Woodcott.
In addition to his fiction, Brunner wrote poetry and many unpaid articles in a variety of publications, particularly fanzines, but also 13 letters to the New Scientist and an article about the educational relevance of science fiction in Physics Education. Brunner was an active member of the organisation Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and wrote the words to "The H-Bomb's Thunder", which was sung on the Aldermaston Marches.
Brunner had an uneasy relationship with British new wave writers, who often considered him too American in his settings and themes. He attempted to shift to a more mainstream readership in the early 1980s, without success. Before his death, most of his books had fallen out of print. Brunner accused publishers of a conspiracy against him, although he was difficult to deal with (his wife had handled his publishing relations before she died).[2]
Brunner's health began to decline in the 1980s and worsened with the death of his wife in 1986. He remarried, to Li Yi Tan, on 27 September 1991. He died of a heart attack in Glasgow on 25 August 1995, while attending the World Science Fiction Convention there
aka
K H Brunner, Henry Crosstrees Jr, Gill Hunt (with Dennis Hughes and E C Tubb), John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Keith Woodcott
Winner of the ESFS Awards in 1980 as "Best Author" and 1n 1984 as "Novelist"..
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
November 2, 2024
To Conquer Chaos has a unique sci-fi setting and is paced reasonably well, but suffers from a somewhat trite ending and a touch of Toxic Masculinity Heroism. The first 75% is well worth reading, but it was disappointing for the final act to resolve such unique characters into their primal archetypes.
March 31, 2022
A pair of misfits struggle to survive and unravel the mysteries of a post-apocalyptic world in this rather short scifi adventure from genre legend John Brunner.
May 19, 2019
I like Brunner and have read a few dozen of his novels. This one is 'typical' of his earlier work-- fast paced, centered on a handful of interesting characters trying to solve or fix some strange problem. Great imagination and he had a gift for storytelling. 3.5 stars.
January 27, 2018
Fun, quick 60's sci-fi remenecent of Early 70's sci-fi movies like Logan's Run in which a society has been living for centuries under a computer that no one knows how it operates-oh and has been teleporting man-eating creatures because of a glitch. Is the novel symbolic for the fear of autonomous robots/computers? Naaah! Just old fashion adventures and hijinx solved by the town schmuck.
March 7, 2018
3.5 stars
Another fun book with an interesting premise, the apocalypse has occurred do to an alien disease that was picked up via traveling through mini-worm-hole teleporters. Now those teleporters are still open and strange creatures and planets come through from time to time. Nothing very deep or philosophical, but an enjoyable adventure.
Another fun book with an interesting premise, the apocalypse has occurred do to an alien disease that was picked up via traveling through mini-worm-hole teleporters. Now those teleporters are still open and strange creatures and planets come through from time to time. Nothing very deep or philosophical, but an enjoyable adventure.
April 7, 2019
A city. Some dead land. Weird monsters. All that. And a very slow plot. And a plot twist that never came.
The story has such a good idea for, say, "environment", but it has a very slow pace at the start and there are a couple of possible plot twists that you can think of, but the thing is that there is no twist at all.
Lots of potentials. Lost.
The story has such a good idea for, say, "environment", but it has a very slow pace at the start and there are a couple of possible plot twists that you can think of, but the thing is that there is no twist at all.
Lots of potentials. Lost.
February 20, 2018
I really enjoyed this story - it felt relatively short but full of interesting stuff, with a nice setting mixing high and low technology societies. The ending explained most things nicely, and though the main plot wasn't super smart, it was fine and I enjoyed learning more about the world.
January 23, 2022
Nice quick, fun read with a bit of a rushed ending. I don't think I've ever read a full Brunner novel before (Not even Stand on Zanzibar) having probably only read him via collections. I think I need to rectify that this year. The cover on my beat-up Ace paperback is better.
June 21, 2025
Fun idea but I nothing ever really compelled to keep reading. The characters were flat. The "plot' just kinda felt like things happening without really leading anywhere. Not an unpleasant read at only 160 pages but nothing crazy either.
April 13, 2018
Took a while for the story to get going.
July 2, 2018
Science Fiction (first published 1963)
Netter altmodischer Science Fiction Roman, der ein bisschen an "The Day of the Triffids" erinnert.
Netter altmodischer Science Fiction Roman, der ein bisschen an "The Day of the Triffids" erinnert.
July 30, 2021
Kind of a hidden gem. A bit slow to start but fairly exciting with perhaps a usual amount of Brunner prescient conjectures. Short and satisfying.
August 18, 2024
To Conquer Chaos by John Brunner.
In the future, after some unknown disaster, mankind lives simple lives troubled only by the appearance of monsters from the impenetrable wasteland of The Barrenland.
Conrad, a young boy with mysterious visions of the past, and Yanderman, an experienced army officer, join forces to penetrate into the mysterious Barrenland to learn its secrets.
A simple story with a simple plot and characters. An enjoyable read.
In the future, after some unknown disaster, mankind lives simple lives troubled only by the appearance of monsters from the impenetrable wasteland of The Barrenland.
Conrad, a young boy with mysterious visions of the past, and Yanderman, an experienced army officer, join forces to penetrate into the mysterious Barrenland to learn its secrets.
A simple story with a simple plot and characters. An enjoyable read.
May 17, 2010
Early on, back in elementary school, dependent upon the kinds of cheap paperbacks available in drugstore bookracks, I came to look for a few authors in particular, two of them being Philip K. Dick and John Brunner.
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May 24, 2016A rollicking read and I think connected to some of his earlier work, about being able to walk between worlds. Tight writing. Lots of fun.
January 11, 2012
Grade B-.
April 23, 2017
I liked this better than I thought I would. It was an old sci-fi book I got for a dollar at a flea market. It proved to be a cool story. It has the elements of sci-fi, but also some portions of a medieval feel. It involves a group to people living on the edge of a barrenland traveling to another viillage and encountering "things" that come from the barrenland. They adventure into the land to find where these creatures come from and discover a large domed city. I won't give away anymore, but if you like old-school sci-fi this is pretty good.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews