The Heads of Cerberus is a science fiction novel by American writer Francis Stevens. The novel was originally serialized in the pulp magazine The Thrill Book in 1919, and it was first published in book form in 1952 by Polaris Press in an edition of 1,563 copies. It was the first book published by Polaris Press. A scholarly reprint edition was issued by Arno Press in 1978, and a mass market paperback by Carroll & Graf in 1984.ISFDB bibliography
Plot introduction The novel concerns people who, after inhaling a grey dust, are transported to a future totalitarian Philadelphia in 2118.
Reception Groff Conklin called it "perhaps the first science fantasy to use the alternate time-track, or parallel worlds, idea.""Galaxy's 5 Star Shelf", Galaxy Science Fiction, December 1952, p.124 Boucher and McComas praised the novel as "a slightly dated but still originally imaginative and acutely satiric story.""Recommended Reading," F&SF, October 1952, p. 99 P. Schuyler Miller found Cerberus "dated and old-fashioned", but noted it was "a pioneering variation on the parallel worlds theme.""The Reference Library", Astounding Science Fiction, September 1952, p.170
Everett F. Bleiler described the novel as "highly imaginative work, one of the classics of early pulp fantastic fiction", commenting that despite simplistic characterization, "the cynical anti-authoritarianism" in the description of the imagined future culture "is refreshing." Bleiler also noted that the novel's resolution "is a fine anticipation of the work of Philip K. Dick."E. F. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years, Kent State University Press, 1990, p.704 Damon Knight wrote "Those who insist on the close reasoning and the satirical wit of modern science fiction will find surprising amounts of both here."Damon Knight, In Search of Wonder, 1996 (third edition), p. 20
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