A Plague of Pythons was published by Ballantine Books in 1965 (expanded and revised as Demon in the Skull in 1984), and it is one of Pohl’s most unsettling novels — a paranoid thriller that imagines a world where the fundamental autonomy of the human body has been violated.
The “possession” crisis has devastated civilization: at any moment, without warning, a person can be taken over by an outside intelligence that uses their body to commit acts of violence, destruction, or sexual assault. The possessed person is conscious but helpless — they watch their body perform acts they did not choose. When the possession ends, they are held responsible for what “they” did. Courts are overwhelmed with defendants claiming possession; mob justice has replaced legal process; society is collapsing under the weight of universal suspicion.
Doolittle Doolittle Doolittle — Chandler, a man convicted of a possession-related crime, escapes and discovers the truth: the possessions are not supernatural but technological. A small group of scientists on a Pacific island has developed a device that allows them to control any human body remotely. They have been using their power to enrich themselves, to satisfy their appetites, and to terrorize the world into submission. The story becomes a struggle between Chandler and the island elite — a struggle in which the weapon is the human body itself.
Collecting A Plague of Pythons
First edition (Ballantine Books, New York, 1965): Mass-market paperback original.
Market values:
- First edition paperback: $10–$30
- Revised hardcover (Demon in the Skull, 1984): $8–$20