The Empty People
A husband chases his wife through a city of the dead.
The Empty People is a science fiction novel by American writer Barry N. Malzberg, writing as K. M. O'Donnell, first published in 1969 by Lancer Books. The story follows Della as she contends with both her husband James Archer's brain tumor and an alien invasion, after which the aliens compel James to pursue Della through a city of deadlike reconstituted people.
Quick Facts
- Author
- Barry N. Malzberg as K. M. O'Donnell
- Cover artist
- Howard Winters
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Genre
- Science fiction
- Publisher
- Lancer Books (original 1969 edition)
- Released
- 1969
- Format
- Print (Paperback)
Facts from the source article.
Plot summary
The narrative of The Empty People moves between an alien invasion and a brain tumor affecting James Archer. Della consults a controversial Swiss doctor and later has an affair with him. Della and an amnesiac James, who takes on the role of a poet, perceive the invasion differently. In Della’s account, the X’Ching invade by killing all men and abducting women. In James’s, the Keepers imprison humanity and erase their memories. In both versions, the aliens force a chase through New York City: Della must rescue an unknown person, while James acts as the Follower. The aliens reconstitute the dead as backdrop figures. During an argument, James kills a reconstituted traffic cop by thrusting his hand through its shoulder, causing it to shatter. A messianic figure named Rogers waits for a vague event, joined by alien tourists. James follows Della without sleep for six days. They confront each other at a subway, a fascination parlour, and a bar. At the bar, James tries to give Della a head start, but she rants at him. The reconstituted bartender asks them to leave; James shoots it in the head, and its new head resembles James’s and mocks him. Della flees to Coney Island but finds the Follower at a soda stand. He chases her to a subway station, where she escapes despite a sprained ankle. Later, he tracks her to a hotel. In the lobby, James meets a prosthetic person behind a typewriter who advises him to think on the solution, and he intuits her location. James decides not to kill her. They talk and discover discrepancies between their realities. Rogers and the alien tourists begin to burn. A figure from the fire winks at Rogers and then stabs him. James Archer’s body shifts in the hospital bed, but no one notices. As he dies, he understood.
Reception and legacy
In 1970, Joanna Russ in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction called The Empty People 'a well-written book which I do not understand at all. In 1971, Russ compared it to Leo P. Kelley's Time Rogue, noting 'perhaps it's only the effect of incoherence interspersed with very good writing. Jan Slavin of Luna Monthly remarked, 'I have read the book twice, and still it seems to be a couple of short stories that someone cut up page by page and gave to a moron to rearrange. In 1994, Malzberg reflected that his early work, 'particularly The Empty People or In the Enclosure,' has 'the closed, hermetic feel of a Woolrich stalk and a similar mindlessness of unidentifiable but efficient menace. In 2008, Michael Hemmingson in Science Fiction Studies opined it 'perhaps the weakest of O'Donnell's or Malzberg's work, an early effort by a writer who has not yet found his voice. In 2013, Don D'Ammassa in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction noted it 'involved the formation of a gestalt personality.
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