| The Heads of Cerberus | |
|---|---|
Dust-jacket from the first edition |
|
| Author(s) | Francis Stevens |
| Cover artist | Ric Binkley |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Polaris Press |
| Publication date | 1952 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 191 pp |
| ISBN | NA |
| OCLC Number | 3102548 |
The Heads of Cerberus is a science fiction novel by author Francis Stevens. It was first published in book form in 1952 by Polaris Press in an edition of 1,563 copies. It was the first book published by Polaris Press. The novel was originally serialized in the magazine Thrill Book in 1919 and 1920. A scholarly reprint edition was issued by Arno Press in 1978, and a mass market paperback by Carroll & Graf in 1984.[1]
The novel concerns people who are transported to a future totalitarian Philadelphia in 2118, after inhaling a grey dust.
Groff Conklin called it "perhaps the first science fantasy to use the alternate time-track, or parallel worlds, idea."[2] Boucher and McComas praised the novel as "a slightly dated but still originally imaginative and acutely satiric story."[3]. P. Schuyler Miller found Cerberus "dated and olf-fashioned, though noting it was "a pioneering variation on the parallel worlds theme."[4]
Everett F. Bleiler described the novel as "highly imaginative work, one of the classics of early pulp fantastic fiction," commenting that despite simplistic characterization, "the cynical anti-authoritarianism" in the description of the imagined future culture "is refreshing." Bleiler also noted that the novel's resolution "is a fine anticipation of the work of Philip K. Dick."[5]