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| Compact Books 1965 |
2: Simon is fearful of the Fireclown’s influence on the people. His grandson, Alan, is less convinced of the danger. Simon also has presidential aspirations, and is opposed by Helen Curtis, his Liberal party niece and Alan’s ex-lover. Later, Helen visits Alan and expresses support for the Fireclown. Alan tries to remain apart from the political machinations between Simon and Helen but curiosity drives him to head to the lower levels to see the Fireclown for himself.
3: Alan is prevented by the Fireclown’s “skinless” henchman Corso from exploring too much of the lower levels. After Alan gives the order to seal off access to the Fireclown’s lower levels, he meets resistance from the building staff. He fears that Simon’s orders may result in a riot.
4: Alan attends the Fireclown’s next rally. The Fireclown does not seem worried about the closing off of his lower levels, and is only really concerned with spreading his anti-technology message. Despite his ambivalence towards the government, the crowd uses the government’s draconian plans as a reason to storm the Council building.
5. Alan accuses Simon of using the Fireclown as an election issue. He also realizes that his followers are using him as an excuse for social rebellion. At the next Solar House debate, Helen accuses Simon of using her support of the Fireclown to weaken her political power. Simon states that he has proof that the Fireclown wishes to destroy the world.
6. The police raid the Fireclown’s headquarters and find plutonium bombs (P-bombs). Alan heads down into the lower levels and sees the Fireclown and his associates fleeing in a spaceship. A deadly fire breaks out, which Alan narrowly escapes.
7. Alan learns that Simon and Helen are part of an organization whose mission is to track down illegal dealers of old nuclear weapons left over from the past. They suspect that the Fireclown must have bought his P-bombs from these dealers.
8. Alan spends the night with Helen and tells her about the Fireclown’s escape into space. They theorize that the Fireclown may be hiding out at the Monastery of St. Rene Lafayette, a spacestation manned by monks. They decide to fly out to the orbiting base to investigate. There they witness some of the monks’ rituals which involve the "clearing" of their acolytes' "engrams".
9. The Fireclown denies responsibility for the Switzerland fire and any knowledge of P-bombs. He claims to have no motives at all except to spread his message. A man named Blas arrives, who Helen recognizes as a nuclear arms dealer. Helen is disappointed that the Fireclown has no real plans to crusade for mankind, and is apparently friends with the arms dealers. The Fireclown claims that he knows nothing of Blas’ weapons, and is only buying parts for his spaceship. Corso explains that the Fireclown had never wanted to be a prophet, but only to fix his ship. Ii was only the people that had perceived him as such and placed him in that position. Alan agrees to join the Fireclown on a mysterious space trip.
10. The Fireclown takes them to the edge of the sun where they are bathed in its blinding light. Although transfixed, Alan and Helen are not driven into a deranged mental state similar to the Fireclown’s. He explains that in an accident he had come close to the sun and had been endowed with the secret to approaching the sun through a form of time-space shunting.
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| Paperback Library 1969, Richard Powers |
12. Alan learns that the Fireclown is his father, Emmanuel Blumenthal (Manny Bloom), who had been thought killed when his ship had crashed into the sun. After his return to Earth, Simon had forced him to live a secret life, and after which he eventually became the Fireclown. Manny next plans to travel into deep space to try some experiments on pure consciousness and invites Alan to join him. Alan declines and he and Helen return to Earth alone. In the city, Alan accuses Simon of using the innocent Fireclown to allow the arms dealers to profit off of a manufactured threat, but the Solar Council is skeptical.
13. Helen continues her presidential campaign and Alan becomes her advisor. She refuses to demonize the Fireclown and meets hostile crowds. Religious zealots accuse Alan and Helen of being allied with the Secret Sons of the Fireclown, based in Mayfair, London. Alan suspects that the Secret Sons of the Fireclown may be connected to Blas’ criminal syndicate.
14. Alan arrives in Mayfair, a shady city in total decay and decrepituide. He infiltrates a Sons of the Fireclown meeting and learns that Blas is using the Fireclown’s imagery to encourage acolytes to do violence. Alan later finds Simon’s secretary Junnar at Blas’ apartment and realizes that Simon has been behind the false incrimination of the Fireclown from the beginning.
15. Alan brings Junnar and Blas to Simon’s office. Alan accuses his grandfather of working with Blas to frame the Fireclown, and theorizes that now Blas is blackmailing him. Unfortunately Simon’s pride does not allow him to confess. Terror attacks occur around the world, and Simon later announces that the government will be buying arms from Blas.
16. Alan and Helen track down one of Blas’ accomplices (a drug addict), who admits to his criminal dealings with Simon. Simon is confronted with witnesses at a council meeting and arrested. Alan feels conflicted for having been forced to betray his own grandfather.
17. Alan visits Simon in prison. Simon admits that he had sabotaged Manny Bloom’s space mission so that his ship would plunge towards the sun. Alan reflects ironically that the mob has quickly changed its allegiance from the Fireclown to Simon and now to Helen.
18. Helen becomes President. Alan and Helen become engaged. The Fireclown returns to Earth. When Alan and Helen enter his ship he threatens to use his technology to unleash a Time Fire on the Earth which will strip all humanity of intelligence (making them essentially catatonic). While Alan tackles his father, Helen adjusts the ship controls, causing it to malfunction. The three of them wind up in the ocean where they are rescued.“Why did they need heroes? (Alan) wondered. What was wrong in people that they could not find what they needed within themselves?”
Mayflower, Bob Haberfield
19. The Fireclown’s ship is stripped of its “time mechanisms”, but he refuses to explain any of his “chronon” technology to scientists. Both Simon and the Fireclown are imprisoned, but they later break out. After regaining his ship, the Fireclown and Simon fly into the sun. Society’s hysteria dies down, and although sociologists theorize that this recent outburst was due to a transition between “natural” existence and “artficial” existence, Alan thinks it may only have been from boredom.
“I am the victim of crude intelligence,” he told the bewildered jury. “Intelligence which has no business to exist in the universe. I have been pulled down by it as it will pull down the human race in time. I tried to help you but, for all your vaunted minds, you could not understand.”
The Wrecks of Time/The Rituals of Infinity (Synopsis)
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| Ace Books 1969, Jack Gaughan |
New Worlds 156
1. The Great American Desert: On Earth-3, Professor Faustaff picks up a redheaded hitchhiker named Nancy Hunt on his desert drive from San Francisco to LA. He also receives news that a UMS (Unstable Matter Situation) has arisen on Earth-15. The two stop at a motel where they briefly encounter the mysterious “Swedish” tourist Steifflomeis.
2. Three Men in T-Shirts: Faustaff contacts fellow operative George Forbes and learns that Earth-15 is in great danger. He then encounters a strange woman named Maggy White in the motel parking lot who he suspects is a D-Squad agent like Steifflomeis. Faustaff takes Nancy to San Francisco where he drops her off and then meets with 3 of his team at a Chinese restaurant (his E-3 team). He tells them to send the adjuster from Earth-1 to Earth-15 in order to counteract the UMS caused by the D-squads’ disruptor.
3. The Times They Are A-Changing…: Faustaff later meets a new recruit named Bowen and explains to him that Faustaff’s father had been working on a way to contain an atom bomb explosion when he accidentally discovered a way to tunnel through to 24 alternate Earths existing in “sub-space”. However, only 14 Earths now exist, since D-Squads (unknown demolition agents) have been using disruptors to cause UM situations to occur, ultimately destroying these alternate Earths. Faustaff and his organization try to use his father’s adjuster devices to halt the progress of these disruptors.
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| Arrow Books 1971, Geoff Taylor |
5. The Break-Up of E-15: Faustaff’s team creates a tunnel to E-3 and evacuates the populace of E-15. Unfortunately the tunnel collapses before Faustaff himself can cross over. He joins the salvagers’ group (over Orelli’s protestations) and crosses over with them to E-11.
6. Steifflomeis on a Mountain: When Ogg’s team departs on another salvage mission, Faustaff decides to hike through the mountains to a friendly base rather than rely on aid from the ruthless Orelli. He runs into Steifflomeis, who has been ordered by his superiors to kill Faustaff. Steifflomeis however is a bit reluctant to follow his Principals’ orders, as he has his own motives.
New Worlds 157
7. Cardinal Orelli's Camp: Faustaff and Steifflomeis’s confrontation is interrupted by the arrival of Orelli’s helicopter. Orelli takes them both back to his base camp and shows them two recovered D-squad agents, both apparently in a state of suspended animation. He is also disturbed when he sees that Orelli now possesses one of the D-squad’s planet-destroying disruptor devices.
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| NEL 1986 |
9. E-Zero: Just as Faustaff is about to sabotage Orelli’s disruptor, he is “invoked” (teleported remotely) back to his base on E-1 by his team. There, he learns that a new alternate Earth has appeared, dubbed Earth-0. Faustaff orders an attack on Orelli’s base on E-4, hoping it will destroy Orelli’s disruptor. Heading back to his home, he learns that a world war is about to break out on his Earth. At his house, he encounters Maggy again, who tries to seduce him. Faustaff realizes that she is also an android, and has been sent to try and dissuade him from his mission to save the people of the various Earths. When Faustaff learns that a nuclear war is impending on E-1, he heads back to his headquarters.
10. Escape From E-1: Faustaff and his team evacuate the war-torn E-1 to E-3 and his San Francisco base there. Agent Mahon tells Faustaff that Steifflomeis’ base in LA has been located. After picking up Nancy, Faustaff learns that Ogg has also arrived with news that Orelli and Steifflomeis have formed an alliance and plan to take over E-0. They have escaped Faustaff’s team’s attack by using their disruptor to teleport Orelli's cathedral to an unknown destination. Faustaff, Nancy and Ogg head to LA to intercept Steifflomeis.
11. The Way Through: Orelli, Steifflomeis and Maggy are all cornered at their Beverly Hills bungalow, but Steifflomeis surprises everyone by teleporting the entire house to E-0.
12. The Petrified Place: The occupants go outside where the E-0 “simulation” seems to be in a form of inert stasis. Steifflomeis tells Maggy that he believes the Principals’ attempts to create a utopian Earth will always be fruitless and that he and Maggy can rule this “semi-activated” Earth themselves if they wish it. A scuffle draws the attention of Steifflomeis’ men. Despite Steifflomeis’ warnings, Faustaff leaps into a nearby car and drives off with Ogg and Nancy.
New Worlds 158
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| Arrow 1975 |
14. The Crucifixion in the Cathedral: Back at Orelli’s cathedral base, Faustaff finds that Orelli has been crucified, in imitation of the crucifixion of Christ. Steifflomeis appears and is surprised that Faustaff’s personality has not yet been remade.
15. The Revels of E-Zero: Steifflomeis tells Faustaff that selected people from the other 15 Earths have been transferred to E-0 so that they can populate the new Earth. He then takes Faustaff around the area where they witness various violent and sexual pagan/mythological rituals carried out by blank-faced men and women. Faustaff perceives these rituals as being a part of magic-based worship, and wonders how magic fits into the technological creation of a new world.
16. The Black Ritual: Steifflomeis drives off and Faustaff follows him to a hacienda where he and Maggy lead a pagan ritual involving a blonde girl being an involuntary participant. Faustaff interrupts the ceremony, which is intended to help Steifflomeis and Maggy experience human pleasure. After Steifflomeis tells Faustaff that Ogg and Nancy are in Hollywood, Faustaff drives off with the would-be victim of the ritual.
17. The White Ritual: On the way to Hollywood Faustaff realizes that the people enacting the rituals are interacting with the activation of the planet itself, helping it to attain a stable reality. He finds Ogg dressed in white armor and challenging a black-armored knight on a medieval movie set, with Nancy the prize. The black knight eventually bends his knee to Ogg. Steifflomeis then arrives with Maggy, after which he challenges Ogg to a duel. Faustaff laughs at the ludicrousness of it all.
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| Daw 1978, Michael Mariano |
19. Conversation With the Principals: The Principals tell Faustaff that they are the immortal, near-omnipotent descendents of Earth from millions of years in the past. Since returning to the planet of their birth 10 thousand years ago they have been trying to recreate the circumstances of their own creation, merely as an exercise. Thus they make and remake Earths in order to get closer and closer to a race which will progress as they have. Falstaff convinces them to allow Earth-0 to progress naturally without being destroyed by the Principals’ D-squads, and that they should try to pursue more artistic achievements. The Principals decide to allow all 13 remaining Earths to exist simultaneously in the same time-space around a single sun as an “artistic experiment”. Falstaff returns to E-0 while Maggie remains with the Principals to help them in their new aims.
20. The Golden Bridges: Faustaff and Nancy are inspired when they see the other 12 Earths appear in the sky and realize that the planets have been situated so that the eco-system of one can aid the eco-system of its neighboring planet. Additionally, the principals erect golden bridges which allow for travel between the worlds – except for E-1 which remains a nuclear wasteland to remind mankind of the result of that world's unwise folly.
(Artwork by James Cawthorn)
New Worlds #144: Part 1
2: A Walk in the Flower Forest: A girl named Fastina Cahmin follows Clovis into the Flower Forest where the leaders of Earth discuss whether or not to continue intergalactic flights. It is also revealed that in 200 years the Earth will be destroyed by the arrival of an exploding galaxy. Fastina follows Clovis to his friend Narvo’s house where they are confronted by the strange man in dark clothes. The man (named Take) professes to know what Clovis is searching for, and then flees. Disturbed, Clovis finds distraction in Fastina’s company.
"I stand on the shores of death, where there is no ocean—Only an eternal dropping away." He turned. “That’s Alodios, I think. Something from one of his early pieces.”3: Memento Mori: Clovis and Narvo inspect a spaceship which has returned from a trip outside the galaxy. Inside are the remains of its crew who had gone mad and died on the journey, despite their training. Clovis returns to his room and realizes that Take has seen his itinerary and knows the next stop on his quest.
4: We Are Here!: Clovis visits the former bureaucrat Yoluf, who laments that Clovis’ dismantling of the government has caused all investigative work to become very difficult. They then learn that an alien ship is on its way towards Earth. At the Flower Forest’s Great Glade, Narvo announces a new project – sending a transmission into space simply stating “We are here!”
6. Two Kinds of Salvation: Narvo tells Clovis that the aliens (Shreelians) can help Earth survive the coming cataclysm by giving man the technology to shunt the solar system out of the way of danger. Clovis tells Narvo that he is more interested in his own salvation than mankind's. Laughing strangely, he departs in an aircar for the spaceport. The man in dark, Take, tells Fastina that Clovis’ ambitions will lead to madness.
New Worlds #145: Part 2
8. The Bleak World: Clovis endures the psychologically-devastating effects of space travel (“space-ache”) to get to the planet Klobax, in the Bleak Worlds system of Antares. There he is greeted by the native-born Retorsh, who describes the small artists'-colony/outlaw-hideout on Klobax as being desperate and bleak, although he himself seems fairly content. Clovis begins his search for Olono Sharvis, a notorious scientist who has apparently discovered the secret to immortality, the ultimate object of Clovis’ quest.
9. The Tragic Giant: After encountering several depraved residents of the shanty town on Klobax (including a murderer named Damiago whom Clovis had sentenced to exile many years ago), Clovis finds the great artist/writer Alodios, seemingly in a catatonic state. Take appears and tells Clovis that Alodios had asked Sharvis for the gift of immortality. Sharvis had then played a cruel joke on him by removing Alodios’ sense of passing time.
10. Act of Mercy: Take tells Clovis that Sharvis can grant immortality through the use of nonhuman bodies, but the process destroys that person’s humanity. Over 500 years ago, Sharvis had escaped Earth and made Take immortal (as an experimental subject), after which he forced Take to perform the procedure on Sharvis himself. Take actually wishes for death but a survival mechanism implanted in his mind prevents suicide. Take tries to stop Clovis from continuing his quest for the evil Sharvis and eventually stabs him with a piece of sharp metal.
11. Resurrection: On Earth, civil war breaks out and Narvo is assassinated. On Klobax, Clovis wakes up in Sharvis’ compound and leans that Sharvis (now a self-improved biological monstrosity) has saved his life. Sharvis claims that he is no longer the notorious “war criminal” from 500 years ago and will give Clovis immortality without any deception - however, he is not able to give Clovis invulnerability, as he had been able to give to Take.
12. Bargain: When Take arrives, Sharvis offers to give Take the death he wishes for and then give Take’s invulnerable body to Clovis. Take is suspicious of Sharvis but when Clovis insists on the idea he relents, although he suspects Sharvis of transferring his horrible fate to Clovis. He also tells Clovis that after he has become immortal he will no longer be able to reunite the people of Earth due to his transformation.
13. Life Of Sorts: Clovis emerges from the procedure and greets Fastina, who has just arrived in search of his help to save Earth. Clovis is upset to learn that he can no longer experience physical sensation, but Charvis tells him that he will eventually get used to it.
14.: Clovis returns to Earth but when he addresses the citizens at the Great Gathering they are unmoved by his voice (now devoid of feeling due to his transformation) and Clovis finds that he lacks his former empathy to form convincing arguments. Clovis and Fastina are forced to flee the angry mob in their ship.Later Clovis tells Fastina that he had hoped for his immortality to allow him to exist as a living repository/memorial to mankind and its accomplishments after its destruction. In the end he wonders if mankind can only accept simple short term solutions, rejecting more difficult questions (just as he has, by accepting Sharvis’ gift).
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| Mayflower 1974, Bob Haberfield (I can only assume that this cover is supposed to portray the aliens in the middle of halting the Earth's rotation...?) |
Prologue:
Enigmatic aliens halt the rotation of the Earth on a whim, after which they continue on to the edge of the universe on a mission of self-destruction. The perpetually-lit day side of Earth develops into a peaceful paradise, while the night side becomes uninhabited. Soon after this disaster, omega radiation spreads which causes the sterilization of all of mankind. Humanity will be extinct when the last person dies in 200 years.
Clovis Becker is born in the twilight band area (located between the light and dark hemispheres of Earth) where a reclusive society perpetuates itself through incest. Becker eventually migrates to the daylight side of the Earth and becomes a powerful government leader. When news of man's coming extinction arrives, he disbands the government and then disappears from Earth on a mysterious personal quest. Meanwhile the despairing people of Earth distract themselves through hedonistic parties. Becker finally returns to Earth a year after his departure.
Book One
Chapter 1: Something to Fear: During his "welcome home" party, Becker spies the mysterious Mr. Take who he has noticed has been following him from planet to planet during the past year. When an old man drops dead in the middle of the party, the party-goers merely choose to continue their party in less morbid surroundings.
Chapter 2: Someone to Love: Fastina Cahman, an admirer of Becker's, joins a meeting in the Great Glade flower forest where Becker’s friend Calax proposes an expedition to Titan to look for still-virile human colonists. She returns with Becker to his house. Becker's friend Narvo notes that the halted Earth has allowed mankind to achieve paradise, although it also doomed it.
Chapter 3: Something to Hide: After Narvo leaves, Becker catches Mr. Take sneaking around his house. After Mr. Take escapes, Becker confides to Fastina that he is searching for the notorious mad scientist Orlando Sharvis for purely selfish reasons. Becker had tracked Sharvis to Titan, but upon his own arrival had found no living humans.
Chapter 4: Something to Forget: A previously-thought lost spaceship returns to Earth from its scout expedition to Titan. Inside, Becker and Fastina discover dead victims of “space ache”, a madness which ensues when humans go into space for any length of time. They destroy the ship, knowing that news of its fate will only lower humanity’s morale.
Chapter 5: Something Ominous: With the government mostly dismantled, Becker is unable to find any information about the mysterious Take. Later, Becker is horrified to come across cultists setting fires to houses and worshipping oblivion - he believes that the end may come sooner than initially thought.
Chapter 6: Something to Hope For: Narvo sheepishly confides to Becker his desperate plan to broadcast a message into space saying “We are here”. He knows it is a futile gesture but he hopes such a project might be something constructive for people to do to stave off their despair.
Chapter 7: Somewhere to Go: During the following month Narvo begins work on his transmitter. Becker and Fastina fall in love.
Chapter 8: Something to Fight: The destructive cult group, known as the Brotherhood of Guilt, begin to threaten the construction of Calax’s spacehip to Titan. Fastina’s former lover Andros forms a vigilante group to oppose the Brotherhood. Narvo and Calax urge Becker to reform the government and reestablish control before things get out of hand, but Becker is reluctant to become involved.
Book Two
Chapter 1: Men of Action: Becker tries to find peace at Fastina’s house, but is called back to the city when the Brotherhood and Andros’ vigilantes come into violent conflict near Narvo’s house. One of Andros’ vigilantes scoffs at Becker and Narvo for their useless inaction.
Chapter 2: Men of Judgment: Becker and Narvo finally try to form a new council but it descends into chaos when the Brotherhood and Andros’ vigilante squads attack each other. Becker and Narvo quietly spend the next month in seclusion at Fastina’s place. However they are soon shocked by the broadcast of a public execution of Brotherhood members, carried out by Andros’ militia.
Chapter 3: Men of Conscience: Calax visits Becker and his friends to say farewell before his ship takes off for Titan. The next day, the ship explodes on take off. Becker is sure that Andros is behind the sabotage, as Andros immediately tries to blame the Brotherhood.
Chapter 4: Men of Reason: Becker visits Andros’ headquarters to confront him but Andros has no regrets for his actions. When Becker is pursued by Andros’ militia he realizes that Andros has also destroyed Narvo's space transmitter. He returns to Fastina's home but finds that Andros has already arrived and slain Narvo, and taken Fastina prisoner. Andros nearly kills Becker in a sword duel but the mysterious Take appears and whisks Becker and Fastina to safety.
Chapter 5: Men of Vision: Take brings Becker and Fastina to the abandoned (but still-functioning) twilight zone tower home where Becker had grown up before migrating to the daylight hemisphere. Take admits that Orlando Sharvis is still alive and that he is an unfortunate victim of Sharvis’ gift of immortality. He has been watching over Becker to prevent him from suffering a similar fate. He then leaves with the only aircar, marooning Becker and Fastina alone in the tower.
Book Three
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| New Worlds 144, 1964, Maxim Jakubowicz |
Chapter 2: The Pursuit: One of Andros’ vigilante soldiers finds Becker's tower. He tells Becker that Andros has ordered him to return, otherwise his tower will be destroyed in one month. Becker kills the vigilante in a trap originally designed for Take. After Take’s next supply visit, Becker uses the vigilante’s aircar to follow, hoping he will be led to Sharvis.
Chapter 3: The Cage: Take’s aircar leads Becker to the dark side of the Earth, where he discovers that the sea-bound Moon (hurled into the sea during the halting of the Earth's rotation) has been hollowed out. Inside he discovers a colony of immortal cybernetic humans who have all paid a terrible price for Sharvis’ “gift” (Becker finds both the famous murderer Damiago and the famous writer Alodios altered in pathetic ways). Take appears and kills Becker so that he will be able to continue to seek out Sharvis.
Chapter 4: The Resurrection: Becker awakes and realizes that Sharvis had found him and brought him back to life. Sharvis tells Becker that Andros and his men have arrived with Fastina and that they are futilely searching for Becker on the surface. He offers immortality to Becker but warns that he does not have the materials to make it a perfect operation. Becker asks Sharvis to save humanity from extinction with his science, but Sharvis is content enough knowing that his cybernetic colony will continue to survive.
Chapter 5: The Truth: Sharvis allows Andros and Fastina to enter his moon base, after which he tells Becker that, at the price of Take's life, he can grant immortality to both Fastina and himself. Take eventually relents despite his warnings to Becker. When Andros asks Sharvis if he can also restore Earth's rotation, the mutated scientist thinks he may have a solution to that as well.
Chapter 6: The Turn: Becker wakes up from Sharvis’ operation and is taken to see Fastina. Sharvis tells them that Fastina can now bear children, which is a form of immortality. Becker is now invulnerable and immortal (and virile), but has lost the ability to feel emotion or physical sensation. Sharvis next takes Andros and the others to a subterranean level where he activates a machine designed to “push” against the Earth in order to restart its rotation. The Earth turns until the day and night sides have been reversed, but the device then burns out. Andros feels betrayed now that his people have been plunged into darkness, but is told that that this is a good outcome for his people, as the dark landscape matches their nihilistic beliefs. Becker decides to return to his father’s tower with Fastina so that mankind can be saved – he and Fastina will produce new generations of humanity. Ironically he will have to have the same incestuous relations his ancestors had had in order to propagate the race, as he and Fastina are the only virile couple on Earth. As Becker leaves, he is still unsure if Sharvis has played a malicious trick on them all.
Epilogue: At the tower, Fastina informs Becker that she has become pregnant, but Becker’s distant attitude and inability to feel emotion saddens her.
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