The Jewels of Aptor
Samuel R. Delany
159 pages
Published in 1962, extended version in 1968

This was Delany's first published novel, written when he was only nineteen. In fact, according to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, this was Delany's first published fiction, at a time when the normal career path for a sf novelist was through writing short fiction for the various magazines. The Jewels of Aptor first came out in 1962 but had its text cut by a third to fit the rigid Ace books format. The edition I read is the restored 1968 one, also published by Ace Books. Ironically, nowadays this book would probably be too short to be published on its own.

For a first book this is quite good, not brilliant or very original, but an enjoyable read and just that little bit better then it needed to be. At heart, this is a quest story, with a small group of companions fighting off the dangerous of a forboding land to get the treasure and return home. In this case, home is the land of Leptar, some untold number of years after the Atomic Holocaust.

Geo is a poet, his companion Urson a sailor. Together with a four armed mutan boy named Snake, they muster on an expedition to the land of Aptor, to steal back the daughter of the Goddes Argo from the the Dark God Hama, as wel as his jewels, which have strange powers. A fairly straight forward tale, but things are not as black and white as they seem at first sight.

What I liked about this post apocalyptic story is that the apocalypse is handled so matter of factly. The Great Fire happened long ago, but civilisation has restarted, if at a lower level and there are few if any of the usual cliches present. I also like is the lush way in which Delany describes things:

As they turned it emerged under the white and flaring lamps. Translucent insides bubble-pocked and quivering, it slipped forward, across the road, towards the skeletons. Impaling itself on the bones, it flowed around them, covered them, molded to them. A final surge, and its shapelessness contracted into arms, a head, legs. The naked man-thing pushed itself to its knees and then stood, its flesh now opaque. Eye sockets caved into the face. A mouth ripped low on the skull, and the chest began to move. A wet, steamy sound came from the mouth hole in irregular gasps.

All in all, this is certainly worth a look.