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Eric Jome
United States
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
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There are two novels set in the current incarnation of the Gamma World setting. These are Sooner Dead by Mel Odom and Red Sails in the Fallout by Paul Kidd. I've read both these novels and have studied the entire game setting for this latest edition as well as being a fan of the setting through the years.
In short, these are not masterworks of literature. If you came to these books expecting something to rival Herbert or Asimov... what were you thinking? These are, however, passable and entertaining science fiction. They are particularly notable for their setting, which is something few if any other authors throughout time have taken on the challenge of tackling - a post-apocalyptic melange of weird mutants, strange happenings, and exotic elements. And, I think, this is why it is particularly worth reading and absorbing these works for the Gamma World fan; you aren't going to get a lot of other strongly compatible fiction from which to draw inspiration.
The two novels are very different in tone and style. Odom's Sooner Dead is a serious adventure tale inspired by the setting of Gamma World. By contrast, Kidd's Red Sails in the Fallout is a very faithful adaptation of precisely this version of the game, as if he carefully studied the supplements and held as true as he could to it.
Frankly, to me, this made Red Sails suffer a bit compared to Sooner Dead. The Gamma World setting is not one to which it is easy to remain faithful and still turn out a story that jives with modern or traditional literary sensibilities. Kidd's writing is scattered and too frequently changes perspective and protagonist. It plays loose and fast (not in a good way) with the principles of good writing. But! It is spot on for portraying the rules and game play as presented - weird mutants are our heroes in an epic cross continent journey through the Outback to restore drinking water to their desert home. He captures elements like alpha mutations and omega tech as well as classic terms the fanboys will recall like domars and duralloy, yexil and gamma moths. Red Sails heart is in the right place and worth reading as a sincere adherence to the source material.
Sooner Dead, by contrast, is a solid B grade standard science fiction novel that only subtly references the source material. That is to say, it doesn't really deal in the mechanics of the Gamma World game and doesn't really sweat the direct interpretation of this edition's quirks. Instead, it plays out much more like a classic Gamma World or indeed, general post-apocalyptic setting. The characters are cooler, deeper, more complex and the story a better crafted work of fiction. This one is more worth reading because it is a fair entry into a meager genre, an "after the fall: adventure in the style of Western. While Red Sails has perhaps more the feel of the fantastic and bizarre, with humor and tongue in cheek, Sooner Dead is gritty and serious, violent and grim.
These contrasting styles, though, do an excellent job of portraying the two primary ways in which this game has been played through the past. Gamma World has often struggled between farce and fierce, a place where in jokes about traffic signs come face to face with last stands at irradiated outposts against ravaging mutants. As such, I'd recommend that if you are into this game or the setting, you consider picking up these books and giving them the once over... and then maybe pass on your copies to your friends to avoid them having to buy it too; no sense in everyone shelling out perfectly good cash for books you'll read once, smile at as you go, and then briefly consider in the context of their inspiration before moving on with your life and forgetting they exist.
I have read many worse... and many better. The recommendation to read these comes not from anything objective in their quality, but in the special relationship they have to this game, itself a reflection of an underserved and, to me, fascinating genre.
Both are valiant efforts and I enjoyed them, finding the style of Sooner Dead and the character of Shaani, the "lab rat", in Red Sails the best parts respectively. You aren't going to see these things adapted to the big screen as multimillion dollar summer popcorn crunchers, but then the value to the gamer, especially the GM, is coming closer to the world of Gamma World.
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Maurice Tousignant
Canada
Windsor
Ontario
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You may have just sold me on these books. I would love to see how someone interprets the new Gamma World and I think it would be a great help to me as an occasional Gamma World GM.
Thanks for posting this.
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Anthony DuLac
United States
Minnesota
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Thanks for the insightful reviews. I remember reading an interview with THE Jim Ward (anyone know how he's doing, health-wise, these days?) about how he was pretty annoyed that his idea for the setting was translated into frivolousness when he had apparently wanted it to be a bit more serious in nature. I'd rather play it straight and more gritty/post-apocalyptic, myself, too.
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Joshua Harris
United States
Oshkosh
Wisconsin
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cosine wrote: ... and then maybe pass on your copies to your friends to avoid them having to buy it too;
Howdy friend... Any good books you wish to loan me? 
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