Review: “Alarm Clock” by Everett B. Cole (1961)
Posted on January 13th, 2008
There was recently no review of Alarm Clock on the web, and little information about the author, Everett B. Cole, so I read this novelette knowing it was a crap shoot. Luckily, I rolled a 7 and got a nice payout. I can’t stress enough that discovering this sort of science fiction from the public domain is this blog’s raison d’etre; the idea is to fill a gap and guide readers to enjoyable speculative fiction instead of gambling on unknowns.
In this corker, the main character is Stan Graham, a prison inmate on the planet Kellonia. The planet, one of the first settled in space three hundred years earlier, had slowly slid from a frontier world independence to a fascist prison-dependent corporatism. Stan, on a layover, is seized and tossed into prison on the flimsiest of charges and must fight his way into position to make the positive changes he feels are morally necessary.
Along the way, we find out that he has been put into this position by Special Corps, a hidden agency similar to the Special Corps in the Stainless Steel Rat series but not composed of criminals. In the resolution, a seemingly metaphorical ability manifests literally, which turns out to be the reason why Special Corps placed Stan into the Kellonia crucible.
The excellent ink illustrations are by Van Dongen and capture the sturdy, square-jawed working world well. The few action scenes are, like the main character, modest, and the 
drawings manage to capture them with a sparse style that adds to, rather than detracts from, the story itself.
I would have liked to have seen a few things done differently. After all, U.S. history shows that when strong powers are given to law enforcement, they are eventually abused until they are pulled back to reach the proper balance. Therefore, I think the whole idea of a “Special Corps” type body with essentially unchecked power is a bad idea in general, although I apparently enjoy reading about the concept in fiction. I also didn’t care for the extraordinary power manifested by Stan that seemed unnecessary to the resolution of the story; I would have much preferred just his wits, fists, and grit instead. But that’s just personal observations and the story works just fine.
This story was very enjoyable and I highly recommend giving it a read.
It is available at Project Gutenberg in a couple formats.
Tags: free science fiction, public domain science fiction, Review, speculative fiction
Filed under Cole, Everett B., Free Stuff, Review, Science Fiction & Fantasy (SFF) |