Another classic by Roger Zelazny, and another one I had in my reading list for years.

The book follows Conrad Nomikos, the titular immortal, as he wanders a future Earth which has become a shadow of her former self, with a tiny population and overrun with mutated and alien lifeforms.

Well, I say wander, but actually Conrad is accompanying some aliens tourists on a visit to Earth’s historic […]

https://riffraff.info/2025/12/micro-review-this-immortal-by-roger-zelazny/

So, I’ve been re-reading Donnerjack by Roger Zelazny and Jane Lindskold (1997). It was plotted out and partially written by Roger and finished by Jane. At the time it was panned by a number of reviewers and there was only ever one hardback printing. I’ve never seen it in any electronic format.
I remembered that it did not read or feel like a Zelazny book but on the re-read with no recent reads of other Zelazny novels it seems a lot more like Roger’s work. Roger’s normal style would probably now be described as cosy SF or fantasy and many of the scenes in Donnerjack are a lot more raw and dark. Still not in the modern gritty fantasy stakes but different to his usual style.
Of the 500 pages Roger wrote about a hundred and left detailed notes covering the rest. The way that Roger wrote was unusual in that he would write out key scenes in great detail and then fill out the connections later. Some critics complained that the book is too dense with too many characters and in need of a good edit. Reading the book again and taking note of the way the narrative shifts I would say that the story was originally conceived as a trilogy or maybe a tetralogy. That would have made that story a lot more manageable and diffused the extra characters.
At pretty much the same time Lord Demon was also published and while finalised by Jane it reads like a Zelazny novel. I suspect the dissonance with Roger’s previous work, the compressed nature of the narrative and probably a measure of “who the hell is this Jane Lindskold anyway” all contributed to the sidelining of this book.
But it worth a read anyway and you will get a fair number of scenes that are pure Zelazny brilliance. You will also get some interesting other observations. This is not the first time that Roger has tackled cyberspace like environments but here he incidentally explores how the illusion of the space is created from the underlying hardware and software but it would not be Zelazny if it just stopped there. If you can find a copy, read it, but be aware that it is a period piece from a different culture.
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