REVIEW _Fury_ by Kuttner & Moore

Had a cold so I got to read one that's been on my stack for awhile. In DMZ's John Campbell DVD, Barry Malzberg discusses his favorite issues of Astounding and mentions the 1947 serial "Fury" by Lawrence O'Donnell (Henry Kuttner & CL Moore). I found a paperback copy published by Magnum (anybody know anything about them? Cover mentions the "Magnum Science Fiction Library") with a nifty introduction by Moore.

Earth was made uninhabitable by atomic conflict so a bunch of folks left to colonize Venus. Attacked by the deadly flora & fauna, they built domes under the Venusian sea and were peacefully ruled by an elite of immortals and counseled by the prognostic Logician. The people lived in a drone-like peace for 700 years till our hero, Sam Reed, comes to shake things up. He fears that humans huddled under the sea will eventually just whither away to extinction and has a plan to insure that doesn't happen.

Through overcoming incredible adversity and a couple of tense, if contrived, 48 hour countdowns, we grow to dislike Sam's methods if condoning his goals.

Overall a fun, quick adventure in the "learns better" mode. I liked the Happy Cloak (a drug in the form of a parasite that eventually overtakes its host), the extensive use of moving sidewalks (called The Way - one of many religious references), and the idea of the Korium Key.

It has a very satisfactory ending

BTW, that DVD is available from http://dmznyc.com/

(ending spoiler space)

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