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Endless Shadow
"Space bridge to disaster"
Ace Double F-299, printed with "The Arsenal of Miracles" by Gardner F. Fox
Ace Double F-299, printed with "The Arsenal of Miracles" by Gardner F. Fox
- GenresScience Fiction
Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
21 people want to read
About the author
John Brunner
572 books479 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 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 8, 2015
‘TWO WORLDS IN CONFLICT
Azrael – Where pain was the only reality, and murder was not a crime but a ritual
Ipewell – Where motherhood was honored and manhood meant a life of servitude and fear.
These two worlds were at the heart of a taut and dangerous situation which threatened to explode, and Jorgen Thorkild, director of the Bridge System that connected forty worlds among the stars had to try to tame them.
But Thorkild faced still another problem: the loss of his own sanity…’
Blurb from the 1964 Ace Double F-299 paperback edition
Earth is slowly reuniting herself with her lost colonies on worlds settled centuries before The Bridge which is essentially a wormhole gateway to the rediscovered worlds.
the latest worlds to be discovered are Azrael and Ipewell. Ipewell is a matriarchal society where men are treated as an inferior species. Azrael is a darker society where the inhabitants court death as a regular ritual in order to remind themselves of the reality of their own mortality.
Before the worlds can be opened up to this galactic community their society has to be analysed and assessed by a ‘programmer’, one who can accurately map the factors within an alien human society, determine what ‘makes them tick’ and how they can be prepared for integration into this Galactic civilisation of almost forty worlds.
In this decidedly van-Vogtian piece programmers are, it is suggested, an evolutionary advance. They are van Vogt’s logical pacifist hero. On Azrael, the last programmer made a fatal error and engaged in a ritual which ended in his death. His successor must use all his Programme training to find a way to analyse and undermine the Azrael philosophy before they can be admitted to the Bridge system.
Jorgen Thorkild, upon meeting the formidable leader of the Azraelis has a nervous breakdown and has to be relieved of his post. He is also plagued by the suicide of his predecessor.
Much of it is about people whose world-views are dramatically altered, most of them painfully but to their own benefit.
It’s an odd piece which perhaps has concepts which could not be properly explored within the word-count constraints of an Ace Double.
It was revised in 1982 as Manshape.
Azrael – Where pain was the only reality, and murder was not a crime but a ritual
Ipewell – Where motherhood was honored and manhood meant a life of servitude and fear.
These two worlds were at the heart of a taut and dangerous situation which threatened to explode, and Jorgen Thorkild, director of the Bridge System that connected forty worlds among the stars had to try to tame them.
But Thorkild faced still another problem: the loss of his own sanity…’
Blurb from the 1964 Ace Double F-299 paperback edition
Earth is slowly reuniting herself with her lost colonies on worlds settled centuries before The Bridge which is essentially a wormhole gateway to the rediscovered worlds.
the latest worlds to be discovered are Azrael and Ipewell. Ipewell is a matriarchal society where men are treated as an inferior species. Azrael is a darker society where the inhabitants court death as a regular ritual in order to remind themselves of the reality of their own mortality.
Before the worlds can be opened up to this galactic community their society has to be analysed and assessed by a ‘programmer’, one who can accurately map the factors within an alien human society, determine what ‘makes them tick’ and how they can be prepared for integration into this Galactic civilisation of almost forty worlds.
In this decidedly van-Vogtian piece programmers are, it is suggested, an evolutionary advance. They are van Vogt’s logical pacifist hero. On Azrael, the last programmer made a fatal error and engaged in a ritual which ended in his death. His successor must use all his Programme training to find a way to analyse and undermine the Azrael philosophy before they can be admitted to the Bridge system.
Jorgen Thorkild, upon meeting the formidable leader of the Azraelis has a nervous breakdown and has to be relieved of his post. He is also plagued by the suicide of his predecessor.
Much of it is about people whose world-views are dramatically altered, most of them painfully but to their own benefit.
It’s an odd piece which perhaps has concepts which could not be properly explored within the word-count constraints of an Ace Double.
It was revised in 1982 as Manshape.
December 9, 2025
The byline reads 'space bridge to disaster' - what it should read is 'space bridge to boredom'. Harsh, very harsh, I know. My mother told me if you don't have nice things to say then don't anything at all. I didn't listen to her. Endless Shadow, unfortunately has nothing going for it aside from a great cover. The print that populates the now 61yr old foxed pages does little justice to the pulp it is etched upon.
The early chapters are a kaleidoscope of chaos, pushing and pulling the plot in different off-worldly directions; from serpentine worshiping cults, to political posturing, to human traffic control aboard an intergalactic spacebridge, it's hard to know which thread to focus on.
The Space Bridge (akin to Thor's Bifrost) is the road which spawns many forks and is the place-setting which eventually spawns the braided narrative.
Jorgen Thorkild, sci-fi homage to Thomas' fat controller (pre-dating Thomas of course so homage isn't the right word, perhaps inspiration?) is an angst ridden government man who takes his job so seriously he ends up committed to a mental institution following a meeting with political dignitaries from seemingly dangerous worlds. It's through this lens that Endless Shadow starts to progress the plot with the Bridge core to proceedings.
Politics are plentiful, revolving around worlds signing up as a highway destination or risk rather harsh consequences; in the case planet Azrael, the destruction of the whole planet...there is rationale to support this overly dramatic interplay but it still reads as nonsensical escalation for the sake of nonsensical escalation.
Endless Shadow is the weaker of the two stories in this Ace Double feature, I suggest prospective readers enjoy the cover art before flipping the book upside down and turning it over to read The Arsenal of Miracles by Gardner F. Fox.
This review first appeared on my review site: https://justaguywholikestoread.blogsp...
The early chapters are a kaleidoscope of chaos, pushing and pulling the plot in different off-worldly directions; from serpentine worshiping cults, to political posturing, to human traffic control aboard an intergalactic spacebridge, it's hard to know which thread to focus on.
The Space Bridge (akin to Thor's Bifrost) is the road which spawns many forks and is the place-setting which eventually spawns the braided narrative.
Jorgen Thorkild, sci-fi homage to Thomas' fat controller (pre-dating Thomas of course so homage isn't the right word, perhaps inspiration?) is an angst ridden government man who takes his job so seriously he ends up committed to a mental institution following a meeting with political dignitaries from seemingly dangerous worlds. It's through this lens that Endless Shadow starts to progress the plot with the Bridge core to proceedings.
Politics are plentiful, revolving around worlds signing up as a highway destination or risk rather harsh consequences; in the case planet Azrael, the destruction of the whole planet...there is rationale to support this overly dramatic interplay but it still reads as nonsensical escalation for the sake of nonsensical escalation.
Endless Shadow is the weaker of the two stories in this Ace Double feature, I suggest prospective readers enjoy the cover art before flipping the book upside down and turning it over to read The Arsenal of Miracles by Gardner F. Fox.
This review first appeared on my review site: https://justaguywholikestoread.blogsp...
December 23, 2020
In spite of it's short page-count, I actually found this to be a kind of slow read. It's not bad at all, but something about Brunner's use of language kept me moving slowly. Reading this book from 1964, I'm reminded of how forward-looking many Science Fiction writers were. Without making a big deal about it, the cast of characters includes women and people of color in important and powerful positions. The kind of thing backward looking fanboys get angry about happening in TV shows today has been a core element of the genre for a long danged time. The story is pretty weird and its resolution especially so. A bit on the philosophical side of things.
March 31, 2025
I judge this book by its cover. The story is also surprisingly ok, with at least one good female character, without too much sexualisation. Still it’s old and it shows. But it aged well. And that cover is gorgeous, I mean look at this beauty!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews