Beyond Apollo

Beyond Apollo is a novel by Barry N. Malzberg, first published in 1972 in a hardcover edition by Random House. Malzberg credits the inspiration for the novel to "I Have My Vigil", a 1969 short story by fellow science fiction writer Harry Harrison.

Plot summary

Beyond Apollo is arguably Malzberg's most famous work and is one of his finest books. The novel's protagonist is Harry M. Evans, the lone survivor of the disastrous first manned expedition to the planet Venus. Evans provides details of the doomed expedition as a novel in progress, and he proves to be a remarkably unreliable narrator,^[1] constantly changing the particulars of his story as it progresses. It quickly becomes apparent to the reader that he may be completely insane, as a feeling of deep (and comical) paranoia underlies Evans's descriptions of the absurd conversations that ensue with the Venusian inhabitants. There is some indication that Evans could very well have murdered his fellow crewmember. The novel ends with a publishing house offering to purchase the rights to Evans's outlandish tale.

Literary significance & criticism

Like much of Malzberg's work, Beyond Apollo was extremely controversial at the time of its publication, receiving both praise and scorn from literary critics.^[1][2]

Harlan Ellison was one of Malzberg's greatest defenders, and noted that "Beyond Apollo put me out of commission for three days after reading it".

On the other hand, Bob Shaw said in Foundation "Malzberg's Beyond Apollo is, to me, the epithome of everything that has gone wrong with sf in the last ten years or so".^[1]

The novel won the first John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, presented in 1973.^[3][4]

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

• Beyond Apollo publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• website from the film with the same name about the book