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Atlantic Abomination

John Brunner,

Ed Emshwiller (Cover Artist)

3.02 · Rating details · 108 ratings · 18 reviews

A horror novel by John Brunner?

A science-fiction shocker by the man who wrote the "Hugo" winning STAND ON ZANZIBAR? By the author of THE JAGGED ORBIT, CATCH A FALLING STAR, TIMES WITHOUT NUMBER?

Of course! The Brunner talent is manifest in this edge-of-the-seat novel about what happened when the first sea-bottom explorers brought up a not-so-dead body of an inhuman ...more

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Mass Market Paperback, 128 pages

Published 1960 by Ace Books (NY)

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Average rating 3.02 ·

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· 108 ratings · 18 reviews

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Oct 23, 2018 Carlex rated it liked it

A lovely little classic, three and half stars.

The Atlantic Abomination is good! Not as impressive as the best known science fiction especulative novels by the author (such as Stand by Zanzíbar) but it is an entertaining story about a mysterious creature found in an Atlantic abyssal deep. This novella maybe was influenced by the monster movies of the fifties, but it is not a “monster novel”, or not exactly, it is a good science fiction story. Disregarding some prejudices from its time: the role ...more

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Feb 04, 2014 tENTATIVELY, cONVENIENCE rated it liked it

Shelves: sf

review of
John Brunner's The Atlantic Abomination
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - February 3, 2014

After writing a huge review of OPEN SPACE 15/16 ( https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/... ) it's a relief to read something that I don't have much to say about. Brunner's been my 'new' favorite SF writer for awhile now so I don't mind considering one of his works to be borderline mediocre since all in all I like his work immensely. THIS is possibly the 'worst' thing I've read by him yet. It's ...more

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Apr 09, 2012 Chris rated it it was ok

Shelves: science-fiction

A giant alien monster is unearthed by deep-sea explorers, along with the ruins of its ancient city. Using its powers of psychic dominance, the beast corrals an army of human slaves to do its bidding. This future-world has ended the Cold War peacefully, having all but given up on nuclear weapons, and traditional countermeasures aren't slowing the beast down. There's also the issue of the millions of innocent slaves it's accrued, including the protagonist. So what's the military to do?

Sound like a ...more

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Jan 31, 2018 Josh rated it did not like it

Shelves: sf-f

This is one of the worst books that I have ever actually finished.

"Horror" is way too kind. Horrific, perhaps. Gross and largely pointless.

But other than that, I didn't care for it at all.

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Dec 20, 2019 Zane rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Enthralling!

A horrific horror story! I was totally enthralled by this book, the whole time I was reading it. My imagination kept me going. I couldn’t put this book down.

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Dec 06, 2017 James rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, sf

Brunner's take on Cthulu.

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Jun 13, 2014 Joe Santoro rated it really liked it

Shelves: soft_sf

Great Cover! And totally references the story. The scene in the front is pretty well described in the prologue, while the cool futuristic tower comes into play at the end.

Published 1960.. funnily enough, the back cover proclaims it a Horror Novel, though it's very clearly sci-fi. Looks like it was written in novel form (though, at 128 smallish pages, maybe more of a novella) from the start. it appears this was the 2nd printing of the book, first appearing as a double novel with The Martian Great Cover! And totally references the story. The scene in the front is pretty well described in the prologue, while the cool futuristic tower comes into play at the end.

Published 1960.. funnily enough, the back cover proclaims it a Horror Novel, though it's very clearly sci-fi. Looks like it was written in novel form (though, at 128 smallish pages, maybe more of a novella) from the start. it appears this was the 2nd printing of the book, first appearing as a double novel with The Martian Missile (I'm assuming the double novel was first due to the lower cover price).

There's also a later edition with a cheesy cover that doesn't do the monster justice. Amazon apparently recently put it out on Kindle, with a hypno-pattern cover (appropriate, but not as cool as the one I have)

Plot: In the days of promoridal Earth Ruagh ruled his portion of it, and his many human slaves with an iron mind. Then the land split asunder, and Ruagh, too long dependent on his slaves, was unable to save himself... on of his kind, with careful planning and forethought, retreated to a safe cave to wait out the cataclysm.

100,000 years later, Peter Trant heads an expedition deep in the Atlantic, and the unearth what may be a long forgotten civilization. The sleeper awakes, and attempted to re-establish his dominion over mankind... the fight for Earth is on!

Analysis: I think I've read John Brunner before (a couple of the titles on his wiki entry looked familiar), but nothing struck me (good or bad) enough to be memorable.

While not particularly fantastic or noteworthy, this was a quite enjoyable little story. Set in an unnamed Future from 1960, it has good pacing, a logical plot, and a fun conclusion. You see both the humans planning and the alien monster's internal thoughts, which is fun. You have a bit of a political message (it's stated quite a few times that it was a shame there were so many missile treaties, so they couldn't just nuke the alien into oblivion. That, and the collateral damage, but still), which was interesting in it's uniqueness. The author is quite enamored of missiles in the story, in fact. The real highlight was the vivid descriptions and characterization of how this alien monster used and abused the humans he enslaved... quite chilling, and probably why they described it as a horror novel.
...more

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Jul 29, 2013 John Bruni rated it liked it · review of another edition

You know those giant monster B-movies from the 'Fifties and 'Sixties? This is a thinking man's version of that. Imagine if Godzilla emerged from the ocean, but instead of stomping Japan flat, he wanted everyone to worship him instead. That's what this book is kind of like. The monster in this one has the ability to control people's minds, and before long, it has a legion of worshippers as the government does its best to battle the thing. It's a lot of fun, and the cover is one of the more ...more

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Mar 29, 2009 Evan rated it it was ok

What if a Lovecraftian horror actually made an attack on a modern mainland city? Find out in this hastily written trifle by John Brunner, from the glory days of the 75,000-word supermarket rack SF novel.

*spoilers*
A few good details will stick in my mind -- like "Old Hundred," the hymn chosen by the citizens of Jacksonville to worship their new abomination-overlord, or the naked fat woman plugging the hole in a sinking boat with her own body. This book came out in 1960 with three others by ...more

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Sep 03, 2012 Stephen Singer rated it liked it

I'm a little embarrassed to say I actually enjoyed this book. It's not very well written, or thought provoking, or compelling. But I found it a fun read. The ending didn't really make much sense at all... it's like the alien suddenly got stupid. Why not just go to another part of the world and begin the mind take-over process again? Instead he just sorta gets blowed up real good. Oops- spoilers.

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Apr 12, 2014 Jim Razinha rated it it was ok

Well...what an odd book. A contrast of respectable science fiction and pulpy science fiction; potentially good story and awful clichéd B-movie scripting; progressive vision and period sexism; flashes of decent prose and cringing melodrama. Too short to have any depth, the book's best feature is its short length. Still, I intend to read a few more of his before returning to Stasheff and Chalker.

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Nov 28, 2016 Juan Arellano rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016

Not in the style of Brunner's great novels, just a modest one. Even so is a good reading. Characters are not so developed but it is a short novel, just 100 pages, so I think plot was more important. Although for today's standards maybe is not a good book, I enjoyed it, and that was enough.

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Oct 13, 2009 Erik Graff rated it liked it

Recommends it for: Brunner fans

Recommended to Erik by: no one

Shelves: sf

I have a vague recollection of the contents of this science fiction novel, a clear recollection of its outrageous cover.

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Sep 11, 2009 Kristy Buzbee rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

Giant monster thinks mankind is just vermin, mankind steps up to the plate and hits a home run, good-bye giant monster. Mankind rules.

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Mar 23, 2012 Natasha Hurley-Walker rated it it was ok

An old-fashioned sci-fi 'Thing from the Deeps' story. I'd give it three stars but the ending was a bit of a let-down, and they could have gone into more detail about the alien race.

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Oct 07, 2013 Steve Joyce rated it liked it

A cliched potboiler that is far from John Brunner at his best. At only 128 pages, there really wasn't much room for development.

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Matthew Smonskey rated it really liked it
Nov 06, 2016

Zoicon5 rated it it was ok
Dec 31, 2014

Keith rated it it was amazing
May 06, 2019

Carl rated it liked it
Nov 11, 2017

Terry rated it it was ok
Jan 30, 2013

Patrick James Carroll rated it did not like it
Oct 16, 2019

Sandro rated it did not like it
Aug 25, 2016

Philip S rated it liked it
Apr 14, 2016

Cathie rated it it was ok
Feb 19, 2015

Slinkyboy rated it liked it
Jun 19, 2009

Den Macabre rated it liked it
Jul 14, 2014

Allan rated it it was ok
Sep 22, 2011

Stephen Hermer rated it really liked it
Jan 01, 2011

Zenodotus rated it it was ok
Jul 18, 2016

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About John Brunner

John Brunner

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John Brunner was born in Preston Crowmarsh, near Wallingford in Oxfordshire, and went to school at St Andrew's Prep School, Pangbourne, then to Cheltenham College. He wrote his first novel, Galactic Storm, at 17, and published it under the pen-name Gill Hunt, but he did not start writing full-time until 1958. He served as an officer in the Royal Air Force from 1953 to 1955, and married Marjorie John Brunner was born in Preston Crowmarsh, near Wallingford in Oxfordshire, and went to school at St Andrew's Prep School, Pangbourne, then to Cheltenham College. He wrote his first novel, Galactic Storm, at 17, and published it under the pen-name Gill Hunt, but he did not start writing full-time until 1958. He served as an officer in the Royal Air Force from 1953 to 1955, and married Marjorie Rosamond Sauer on 12 July 1958

At the beginning of his writing career Brunner wrote conventional space opera pulp science fiction. Brunner later began to experiment with the novel form. His 1968 novel "Stand on Zanzibar" exploits the fragmented organizational style John Dos Passos invented for his USA trilogy, but updates it in terms of the theory of media popularised by Marshall McLuhan.

"The Jagged Orbit" (1969) is set in a United States dominated by weapons proliferation and interracial violence, and has 100 numbered chapters varying in length from a single syllable to several pages in length. "The Sheep Look Up" (1972) depicts ecological catastrophe in America. Brunner is credited with coining the term "worm" and predicting the emergence of computer viruses in his 1975 novel "The Shockwave Rider", in which he used the term to describe software which reproduces itself across a computer network. Together with "Stand on Zanzibar", these novels have been called the "Club of Rome Quartet", named after the Club of Rome whose 1972 report The Limits to Growth warned of the dire effects of overpopulation.

Brunner's pen names include K. H. Brunner, Gill Hunt, John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Ellis Quick, Henry Crosstrees Jr., and Keith Woodcott.
In addition to his fiction, Brunner wrote poetry and many unpaid articles in a variety of publications, particularly fanzines, but also 13 letters to the New Scientist and an article about the educational relevance of science fiction in Physics Education. Brunner was an active member of the organisation Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and wrote the words to "The H-Bomb's Thunder", which was sung on the Aldermaston Marches.

Brunner had an uneasy relationship with British new wave writers, who often considered him too American in his settings and themes. He attempted to shift to a more mainstream readership in the early 1980s, without success. Before his death, most of his books had fallen out of print. Brunner accused publishers of a conspiracy against him, although he was difficult to deal with (his wife had handled his publishing relations before she died).[2]

Brunner's health began to decline in the 1980s and worsened with the death of his wife in 1986. He remarried, to Li Yi Tan, on 27 September 1991. He died of a heart attack in Glasgow on 25 August 1995, while attending the World Science Fiction Convention there

aka
K H Brunner, Henry Crosstrees Jr, Gill Hunt (with Dennis Hughes and E C Tubb), John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Keith Woodcott

Winner of the ESFS Awards in 1980 as "Best Author" and 1n 1984 as "Novelist".. ...more