The Nemesis of Evil
The Nemesis of Evil is a science fiction novel by Lin Carter, the first in his "Zarkon, Lord of the Unknown" series. It was first published in hardcover by Doubleday in 1975, with a paperback edition following from Popular Library in March 1978. It was reissued by Wildside Press in 1999. An ebook edition was issued by Thunderchild Publishing in August 2017.[1]
 Cover of first edition | |
| Author | Lin Carter |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Tim Lewis |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Zarkon series |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Doubleday |
Publication date | 1975 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | xiv, 172 |
| ISBN | 0-385-00583-0 |
| Followed by | Invisible Death |
Summary
Zarkon the Ultimate Man is sent back to the present time from the future in order to prevent the otherwise inevitable triumph of evil against mankind. After saving and becoming prince of the small Balkan nation of Novenia, he uses the fortune thus amassed to assemble his band of Omega Men to combat the arch criminals who would otherwise take over the world. Here he battles Lucifer, leader of the fraudulent devil cult the Brotherhood of Lemuria, actually scientific genius Dr. Zandor Sinestro. Elvira of "lucious, well-formed lips" and heaving bosom provides romantic interest.
Reception
Robert M. Price characterizes the Zarkon series as "five delightful novels ... Lin Carter's loving homage to Doc Savage and his creator Lester Dent." They celebrate "'the gloriously fourth-rate,' the pulps, radio, comics, and movies he loved as a kid." He notes that "[t]he novels manage quite successfully to walk the tightrope between salute and parody," and "the humor never seems to impede or undermine the action." While "[i]t is not difficult to pick out a flaw here and there" and the series is "not entirely free from Carter's later-career sloppiness ... on the whole these books are vastly superior to much of what else he was writing during the same period. The Zarkon novels all command a crisp, snappy prose, sometimes reminiscent of Lester Dent's."[2]
Marguerite Burgess in Library Journal writes "You want this spoof of the Doc Savage stories to work, but sadly it does not." Calling it a "comic book sans pictures," she rates it as "[n]ot recommended for library purchase" though without utterly dismissing it. "There is a place for this undemanding, basically good-humored genre: the newsstand."[3]
The book was also reviewed by Don Yee in The Science Fiction Review, August 1975, James K. Burk in Delap's F & SF Review, October 1975, and Algis Budrys in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March 1976.[1]
Notes
- The Nemesis of Evil title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Price, Robert M. Lin Carter: A Look Behind His Imaginary Worlds. Mercer Island, WA, Starmont House, 1991, pages 75-79.
- Burgess, Marguerite. Review in Library Journal v. 100, iss. 16, Sep 15, 1975, pages 1654-1655.