The Committed Men

M John Harrison's first novel, published in 1971 is a work of post-apocalyptic science fiction. What that apocalypse is, is never stated, but it has caused radiation levels to rise, blighting humanity with cancers, and society has fallen apart.

We meet our protagonist, Dr. Wendover, just at the point when things begin to disintegrate. There is civil war and illness. Hi wife leaves him. Then we leap forward 30 years to a time where people have reverted to an almost tribal existence. Mutants have appeared, specially adapted to survive the high radiation levels, anarchists roam the countryside.

Wendover and two other men, Arm (a dwarf mechanic) and Harper (a crippled young man) find themselves bound together on a journey to escort a young woman, Morag, and a mutant child from the ramshackle shanty town of Tinhouse, ruled over by the half mad Pauce, to deliver the child into the arms of other mutants further south.

There follows a surreal journey across crumbling motorways and deserted towns, encountering strange remnants of humanity who cling to old habits and rituals like some kind of safety blanket. There is violence and madness. Everything is breaking apart.

The style of the novel is a curious amalgam of Moorcock and Ballard. Harrison is a good writer and the story never flags, but he would go on to write better stories and novels. This is a writer struggling to find his novelistic voice. To my mind he found that voice with the second Viriconium novel, A Storm of Wings. This is a good book, but if you have never read any of his work, start with The Viriconium omnibus and move on from there.