The Gardens of the Apocalypse

by Brian M. Stableford (Adapted by, Translator), F. Richard-Bessière

Richard Bessière made his mark on 1960s French science fiction through a number of novels that featured an original blend of horror and SF. Two of his best works of the period are The Seven Rings Of Rhea (1962), in which Earth is described as seven concentric spheres with Hell at its core, and The Gardens Of The Apocalypse (1963) picturing a nightmarish post-cataclysmic Earth invaded by alien life forms, where survival is all but impossible. This edition also includes a bibliography and introduction by French SF scholar Rémy Le Chevalier.

264 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Brian Michael Stableford was a British science fiction writer who published more than 70 novels. His earlier books were published under the name Brian M. Stableford, but more recent ones have dropped the middle initial and appeared under the name Brian Stableford. He also used the pseudonym Brian Craig for a couple of very early works, and again for a few more recent works. The pseudonym derives from the first names of himself and of a school friend from the 1960s, Craig A. Mackintosh, with whom he jointly published some very early work.

Reviews

[William Oarlock · Rating 5 out of 5]

More fine translation from Brian Stableford of two SF Terror epics from Richard Bessiere.

The SEVEN RINGS OF RHEA starts off with familiar American pulp-style with a displaced humanity colonising Venus (like Henry Kuttner's "Fury" and even picturing Greta the Robot as a female-voiced version of FORBIDDEN PLANET's Robby) though when the expedition to explore the original home planet (re-baptised 'Rhea') arrives Bessiere takes us into a Dante's Inferno planetary fantasy.

The titular novel follows the struggle of a group of rebel youths fleeing their dying society and seeking sanctuary in a distant future post-human planet infested by creatures worthy of the imaginations of Hodgson and Clark Ashton Smith. Including canine humanoids, stomach-caves, mineral-hybrids, various malignant plants and giant arthropods to list a few.