Damnation Alley | Sci-Fi Story | Podcast

Damnation Alley | Sci-Fi Story | Podcast

From Nightshade Diary by M.P. Pellicer

January 17, 2026 · 2h 43m

About this episode

The episode discusses Roger Zelazny's novella 'Damnation Alley', set in a post-apocalyptic world where a convict undertakes a dangerous mission to deliver a plague vaccine.

Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny is a novella published in 1967. The story is set in a post-apocalyptic Southern California, thirty years after a nuclear war has devastated the United States. The world is buffeted with hurricane-force winds above 500 ft. preventing air travel, and unpredictable "garbage storms" combined with giant, mutated animals and insects making surface travel extremely dangerous. "Hell" Tanner, is an imprisoned member of the Hells Angels, a convicted killer and thief, who is offered a full pardon for his crimes in exchange for undertaking a suicide mission: driving a convoy of three heavily armed vehicles through "Damnation Alley," a radiation-free passage across the ruined continent to Boston. The mission is to deliver a desperately needed plague vaccine to survivors. A film adaptation by the same name was released in 1977. The story inspired the 2011 Lonesome Road downloadable content for Fallout: New Vegas, and the original Fallout game drew from its premise. The story also inspired the The Cursed Earth arc in 2000 AD magazine, the album Quark, Strangeness and Charm by Hawkwind, and the novel Hardwired by Walter Jon Williams. Host - M.P. Pellicer…

People in this episode

Host: M.P. Pellicer

Topics covered

  • post-apocalyptic
  • nuclear war
  • survival
  • science fiction
  • mutated creatures

Keywords

  • Damnation Alley
  • Roger Zelazny
  • post-apocalyptic
  • Hells Angels
  • nuclear war
  • survival mission
  • mutated animals
  • plague vaccine

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Hells Angels

Books & works: Damnation Alley, Fallout: New Vegas, 2000 AD, Quark, Strangeness and Charm

Places: Southern California, Boston

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