Wolfbane - Frederick Pohl & C M Kornbluth
Wow! Not unlike William Gibson, in its way, but without the internet or any hint of drugs of any sort. Pohl always did produce fascinating books, and his collaboration with Kornbluth (at least this one) is superb. This is the fourth such co-written novel, the previous ones being The Space Merchants, Search The Sky and Gladiator-at-Law. This one was published in 1959, but they had apparently been co-authoring short stories since around 1940. I’m ashamed to admit that I haven’t knowingly read the three mentioned above - but I will!
Set in the relatively far future, though it isn’t particularly futuristic. The Earth has been literally captured by an unknown agency’s planet (that just happened to float into the Earth’s vicinity) and moved bodily away from the Sun. It is now in a cold area of the galaxy, but the mysterious Pyramids, the captors, set fire to the Moon (yes, our moon) every five years, to keep the humans alive.
Although not totally decimated, the human race seems to have shrunk somewhat, food is quite scarce, and the main section of society seems to have little to do except develop a very bizarre system of manners with which to connect with one another. There is another faction, whose adherents are known as Wolf - hence at least part of the book’s title - are more practical, and though not actually plotting the downfall of the others, is always wary of what is offered to them. Usually, a cry of ‘Wolf!’ will result in the miscreant being allowed to take the ultimate Donation of Fluid - by lumbar puncture. The result is always death.
One man, a Son of the Wolf, somehow escapes the Donation and ends up being translated to the captors’ planet, that is a huge industrial complex - of a sort. The humans are apparently considered as Components that the Pyramids find useful, putting many of them to work, after joining octets of the species together in both mind and body. This is where it gets a bit Gibson-ish. The octets are there to transmit signals to the various industial equipment somewhere on the planet, while the aliens do something else.
The story of how Glenn Tropile (the escapee) deals with his situation is what most of the book is about, and I wouldn’t want to spoil it for you by revealing any more of the plot.
My copy published 1967 by Penguin.
Copies are available from Alibris.co.uk and Abebooks