Next: The Blind Worm

Call it soul, call it humanity, species - sentience, anything - it was missing. And not only was it gone from mankind, but from man's ancient enemies, the rats, as well. There was no will to power, no will to live... Both intelligent species were dying.

The task of regenerating the world fell to Kavan Lochlain, the last living coward. The only man who cared enough to feel fear, Kavan was afraid of everything. But this fear was going to take him to the Cradle of the Sun, because he was too frightened to let anything stop him.

"I haven't been so struck by the vivid imagery in a book since The Jewels of Aptor or The Dying Earth." - JACK GAUGHAN

Published by Ace in 1969
Cover by Jack Gaughan

The human race faces a gradual decline into extinction; the rats - the only other intelligent race on Earth - seem to be doomed with them. A last attempt to analyse the reasons for their dying is made by the warden of humanity's museum and a quixotic rat.

B etween them they evolve an apparently hopeless plan to stop the coincident decline of the two races. Their weapon is Kavan Lochlain, whose pathological fear gives him alone, of the entire human race, the courage and determination to carry out the mission.

Kavan and his expedition cross hundreds of miles of the dying world to the abandoned continent of Tierra Diablo, to the crater of an extinct volcano called the Cradle of the Sun.

The force which drives Kavan, meets stronger and stronger opposition, and must inevitably drive him to eventual destruction. Kavan's fear, is a fear which will not permit cowardice and which will break him before it gives way. The battle between the grip of fear, and the draining of his strength and will, can only end one way, but a matter of life and death for two races hangs on the manner of its ending.

Published by Sidgwick & Jackson in 1969
SBN 283.98074

Cover and blurb supplied by Brett Bligh

Call it soul, call it humanity, species - sentience, anything - it was missing. And not only was it gone from mankind, but from man's ancient enemies, the rats, as well. There was no will to power, no will to live... Both intelligent species were dying.

The task of regenerating the world fell to Kavan Lochlain, the last living coward. The only man who cared enough to feel fear, Kavan was afraid of everything. But this fear was going to take him to the Cradle of the Sun, because he was too frightened to let anything stop him.

"I haven't been so struck by the vivid imagery in a book since The Jewels of Aptor or The Dying Earth." - JACK GAUGHAN

Published by Sphere in 1970

Review by Michael Murphy

Cast of Characters:
The librarian, Kavan Lochlain, Anselmas, Angela Heldt, Kristen, Ivain, Thor Anderson, Steffan Tjorsen, Clee, Saul, Alizander Rahal.

His first novel (1969) appears, at first, to be a Jack Vance-like tale of a dying earth setting. The human race is slowly dying out - the very will to live seems to have faded from the human race.

A lone human scholar, who is maintaining a library of ancient knowledge, is approached by Anselmas, the emissary of a nation of intelligent rats. Anselmas proposes an alliance and sharing of data between ratkind and the library, as the rats - emulators of human civilzation - are suffering the same fatal malaise afflicting humanity.

Together, they theorize that a "pyscho-parasite" is displacing both rats and men on the evolutionary cycle and will cause both races to become extinct in a millennia's passing. The librarian summons three humans to seek out the source of the disease: the paranoid coward Kavan (the main character, whose very fears drive him to heroic extremes), the tigerman warrior Thor and the amphibious beauty Angela. The three companions are accompanied by three of the ratkind on their quest and discover a number of genetically engineered races, creations of their unseen enemy, blocking their way.

The novel subverts expectations throughout - perhaps the best example being a cowardly protagonist whose very fears drive him to heroic feats that cannot be imagined by his companions, whose psyches lack fear and thus, any true survival instinct. The revelation of the villain's identity (one had expected a discorporate alien fiend) and the resolution of the final confrontation also do not end quite as you expected.

Even more oddly, the storytelling manages to be constantly upbeat despite the grimness of the novel's events and as mentioned before, the hero manages to be quite likable and dynamic, despite being a paranoid coward.

A rather unique book of its kind - worth the read and quite good for any novelist's first effort.

Read Brett Bligh's review HERE

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