Hellstrom's Hive
 Cover of the first edition | |
| Author | Frank Herbert |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | David K. Stone |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Doubleday |
Publication date | 1973 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 278 pp |
Hellstrom's Hive is a 1973 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert. It is about a secret group of humans who model their lives upon social insects, and the unsettling events that unfold after they are discovered by a deeply undercover agency of the US government.
Inspiration
David L. Wolper's quasi-documentary film The Hellstrom Chronicle, released in 1971, was the inspiration for Herbert's novel.[1] In an interview with Tim O'Reilly, Herbert stated: "I said, 'In terms of what we want now, as we think of our world now, what would be the most horrible kind of civilization you could imagine?' And then I said, 'Now I will make... [the members of that civilization] the heroes of the story, by taking negative elements of the surrounding society and treating them as the villain.' That creates a very peculiar kind of tension."[2]
Reception
David Pringle gave Hellstrom's Hive three stars out of four and called it "a powerful novel".[1]
Awards
In 1978 Hellstrom's Hive won the Prix Tour-Apollo Award for best science fiction novel published in French.
References
- 1 2 David Pringle,The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction: An A-Z of Science Fiction Books by Title Scolar Press, 1995 ISBN 1859280714, (p. 170)
- ↑ O'Reilly, Timothy. Frank Herbert, Ungar, 1981, ISBN 080442666X (p.146-48).