A pair of Aces: The Atlantic Abomination (1960) and Sanctuary in the Sky (1960) by John Brunner

Two early novels released as part of Ace Doubles in 1960 show a different side to the UK's first winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novel.

Today, John Brunner (1934 - 1995) is best known for his four lengthy, unsettling, and prophetic “tract novels” published between 1968 and 1975. These were written during a period when he consciously elevated his ambition, and sought to grapple with the issues facing the world in the second half of the 20th century. The novels were critically successful. Most famously, the incredibly ambitious story of overpopulation Stand on Zanzibar made Brunner the first British winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novel. However, these novels were not lucrative and “they in no way made Brunner’s fortune.”

But Brunner’s work cannot be reduced to four novels. In his heyday in the 1960s and 1970s, he was extremely prolific. Notably, in the six years from 1959 he published a massive 27 novels through Ace Books alone. Many of these formed one half of the US publisher’s famous “Ace Doubles”, which comprised two short novels printed back-to-back in the dos-á-dos or tête-bêche format. In books like these, Brunner’s works were paired with stories by authors like Poul Anderson, Philip K. Dick, and Samuel R. Delany.

This is a look at two of the four short novels which Brunner contributed to Ace Doubles during one year, 1960. The Atlantic Abomination and Sanctuary in the Sky are described by the Science Fiction Encyclopedia as “are typical of the storytelling enjoyment he was able to create by applying to ‘modest’ goals the formidable craft he had developed.”

Terror from the deep: The Atlantic Abomination (1960)
Originally released as part of Ace Double D-465 with The Martian Missile by Donald A. Wollheim (writing as David Grinnell)

The seventh Brunner novel to see print as part of an Ace Double, The Atlantic Abomination is a brisk and highly effective science fiction horror story. It opens with a powerful prologue set 110,000 years ago. In this time period, the Earth is dominated by a race of aliens with immense psychic powers. Their abilities allow them to enslave the minds and bodies of the primitive humans of that time. With these armies of thralls, the aliens raise great cities and temples for their own grim edification. 

This alien heyday comes to a sudden end when the Earth undergoes a massive tectonic shift that the starfaring despots did not anticipate. The opening chapter follows one of their number, the cruel Ruagh, as he seeks refuge from the cataclysm. He ruthlessly exploits and wastes the lives of his human slaves in a doomed bid to survive. Before he dies, he is taunted by another alien, who has been able to retreat to a hidden fastness, there to wait out the chaos. The alien cities are flooded and destroyed, but it is clear that the surviving alien will return.

The narrative then shifts to the novel’s near-future setting, which is to say the late 1960s. Brunner refocuses on the crew of the Alexander Bache, an oceanographic research vessel exploring the Atlantic. It is the support ship for a cutting-edge deep-submergence vehicle (or DSV) used to plunge to the darkest depths. Here, Brunner deploys his hard SF credentials and research into deep-sea exploration. The mission is believable, and the super-bright nuclear fusion-powered lamp which pierces the darkness is an interesting invention.

Inevitably, the crew of the Alexander Bache accidentally revive the surviving alien from his millennia of slumber - although they do not realise it at first. The psionic creature revives Luke, a diver the crew believe to have died in an underwater collapse, and compels him to effect a rescue using the DSV. Soon, the alien has enslaved the 1,800 passengers of a nearby cruise ship, and then sets sail for the US mainland, bent on a new reign of terror…

“The Terror” is, aptly, the title of the novel’s second half. The (unnamed) alien sets up a base of operations in Jacksonville, Florida where much of the remainder of the story is set. Brunner expertly crafts a horrifying atmosphere as the creature builds an army of slaves, lays waste to the city, and seizes control of a nearby missile base. Brunner hasn’t the time or page count to develop his characters, but he executes a pulpy, fast-moving, and frightening SF horror story. The Atlantic Abomination is a great, fun read.

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Ship of fools: Sanctuary in the Sky (1960)
Originally released as part of Ace Double D-471 with The Secret Martians by Jack Sharkey

Sanctuary in the Sky was Brunner’s eighth novel to form half of an Ace Double. It is less impressive than The Atlantic Abomination, but it is very different and has an appeal of its own. Compared with the relatively grounded setting of the earlier book, this one has a far-flung, interstellar approach.

In the far future, humans have spread far from Earth and occupy a number of worlds in a distant arm of the galaxy. These worlds were separated for long enough that they gradually formed their own highly distinct cultures. Two of these, the Cathrodynes and the Pags, have become star-faring colonial powers. Each has a number of “subject” worlds within its dominion, whose inhabitants are treated as second-class citizens.

The officious Cathrodynes and intimidating, matriarchal Pags are also imperial rivals. In particular, they both covet Waystation, a vast space habitat with a million inhabitants. Waystation is an enigma; no-one knows who built it, or the truth about its inner workings. It is controlled by the Glaithes, a minor power whose supremacy over the station protects them from falling under the rule of the two imperial forces.

The novel mainly follows Vykor, a young man who is both a steward on a passenger ship that arrives at Waystation and an undercover asset for a group of revolutionaries. Vykor becomes increasingly drawn into the effort to understand the station, and potentially to control it. Central to the mystery is an enigmatic passenger, Lang, who appears to know far more about Waystation that he lets on.

The puzzle about Waystation, its origins and ultimate purpose, is the whole crux of Sanctuary in the Sky. Brunner drops various hints and misdirections, but wisely keeps the secret until the closing pages of this very short, simple story. There is little in the way of direct conflict or threat in the novel, which is arguably its major shortcoming. Brunner can squeeze only so much interest from his cursory explanation of the various cultures involved. But Sanctuary in the Sky does build to a pleasing climax.

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John Brunner was something of a tragic figure who died quite young in 1995. Today, few of his books are in print, but many are available as ebooks and these early novels - especially The Atlantic Abomination - are great, fast reads well worth a look.

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• Being US publications, Ace Doubles are scarce in the UK. However both of these novels (and many others by Brunner) are available as ebooks from Gollancz.
• In a sense, The Atlantic Abomination was quite topical. In January of 1960, deep-sea exploration hit the news when the bathyscaphe Trieste became the first vehicle to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
  
• The ship Alexander Bache is named for the American physicist, scientist, and surveyor Alexander Dallas Bache (1806 - 1867). He served as the Superintendent of what was then called the United States Coast Survey. In reality, two USCS ships were named after him.
  
• Sandy Ferber published an interesting review of The Atlantic Abomination at Fantasy Literature in 2023.