Beyond the Poseidon Adventure
Read Beyond the Poseidon Adventure Online
Authors: Paul Gallico
BEYOND THE
POSEIDON ADVENTURE
The Poseidon Adventure
was not only a major best-seller but a major motion picture. Unlike the book, the picture ended with the
Poseidon
still afloat. Determined to send the ship to its inescapable fate, Paul Gallico has written a new novel that combines the characters he made famous with the dramatic flair for which he is noted. The result is a sequel that stands completely on its own—a breathtaking adventure of the horrors of impending disaster and of the danger from those modern-day pirates of the sea: scavengers.
Sixteen hundred people died in the
Poseidon
when the luxury liner was capsized by a tidal wave. Only six were saved by the French helicopter that swept over the wreckage. And those six had gone through all the tortures of hell in the eight hours they spent working their way out of the inverted ship.
Now their leader, Rogo, the tough New York cop, is demanding at gunpoint to be returned to the
Poseidon
to see to the secret shipment he had aboard to guard. He finds himself with unexpected company when Manny Rosen, whose beloved wife died trying to help the others to safety, and James Martin, the little haberdasher who had just had the one adventure of his life, determine to join him.
Back the three go, aware they will be reentering a chaotic world in which everything is literally upside down, with death and debris everywhere. And they quickly find things even worse than when they left. For others have come to the site, not to rescue but to plunder, and these newcomers are not afraid to kill for what they want.
Paul Gallico takes his original adventure and makes of it the prelude to a novel that is as dramatic as it is vivid.
Books by PAUL GALLICO
Novels
ADVENTURES OF HIRAM HOLLIDAY
THE SECRET FRONT
THE SNOW GOOSE
THE LONELY
THE ABANDONED
TRIAL BY TERROR
THE SMALL MIRACLE
THE FOOLISH IMMORTALS
SNOWFLAKE
LOVE OF SEVEN DOLLS
THOMASINA
MRS. ’ARRIS GOES TO PARIS
LUDMILA
TOO MANY GHOSTS
MRS. ’ARRIS GOES TO NEW YORK
SCRUFFY
CORONATION
LOVE, LET ME NOT HUNGER
THE HAND OF MARY CONSTABLE
MRS. ’ARRIS GOES TO PARLIAMENT
THE MAN WHO WAS MAGIC
THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE
THE ZOO GANG
MATILDA
THE BOY WHO INVENTED THE BUBBLE GUN
MRS. ’ARRIS GOES TO MOSCOW
MIRACLE IN THE WILDERNESS
BEYOND THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE
General
FAREWELL TO SPORTS
GOLF IS A FRIENDLY GAME
LOU GEHRIG, PRIDE OF THE “YANKEES”
CONFESSIONS OF A STORY WRITER
THE HURRICANE STORY
THE SILENT MIAOW
FURTHER CONFESSIONS OF A STORY WRITER
THE GOLDEN PEOPLE
THE STORY OF “SILENT NIGHT”
THE REVEALING EYE, PERSONALITIES OF THE 1920’s
HONORABLE CAT
THE STEADFAST MAN
For Children
THE DAY THE GUINEA-PIG TALKED
THE DAY JEAN-PIERRE WAS PIGNAPPED
THE DAY JEAN-PIERRE WENT ROUND THE WORLD
MANXMOUSE
Published by
Delacorte Press
1 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
New York, N.Y. 10017
Copyright © 1978 by Mathemata-Anstalt
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law.
Manufactured in the United States of America
First printing
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication
Data Gallico, Paul, 1897-1976
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure.
I. Title.
PZ3.G13586Be [PS3513.A413] 813’.5’2 77-26905
ISBN 0-440-00453-5
to
IRWIN ALLEN
CONTENTS
3: “IT’S A DISAPPOINTING WORLD”
12: “LIKE YOUR PRESENT, ROGO?”
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure
is a book brought about wholly by modern times. It is a sequel, not to the original novel, but to the film made from that novel.
The original novel,
The Poseidon Adventure,
was first published in 1969, then bought by producer Irwin Allen and made into a motion picture by him at Twentieth Century-Fox. It appeared in 1972 as the first of the highly successful series of catastrophe movies that followed it.
Every writer knows that when his work is produced as a motion picture the adaptation will impose changes and
The Poseidon Adventure
was no exception. Of necessity characters were dropped, others added, characterizations altered and, in some cases, the plot altered also. But by and large the film reflected the spirit and the plan of the novel.
There is no help for changes made in the transference of the book to the screen. Every sensible producer and writer knows this. Nevertheless the producer still wants his picture to follow the book as closely as possible, particularly when the latter is a bestseller and the former a smash hit.
This last has evoked in Irwin Allen, producer of the film, a desire to make a sequel to the first film.
This is where both producer and writer find themselves in these days when hit movies are followed by sequels using the same characters and sequel novels flower at the same time.
Ever since the rise of the paperback the film has needed the novel, the novel the film. Each aids in the campaigns of publicity and promotion. In the sequel the novel and the film are projected to arrive simultaneously if possible. The problems connected with this in the case of
The Poseidon Adventure
and
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure
were unique. For in the original novel the gallant
Poseidon,
to the sound of the sirens of the surrounding rescue craft, plunges beneath the waves forever and the characters disperse in accordance with the plan of the author.
In the film the
Poseidon
does not sink and we are left with the final scene of the after portion of the upturned hulk with the giant propellers showing, and the surviving characters, Mike Rogo, Manny Rosen, James Martin, Nonnie, and Susan and her younger brother, Robin, being airlifted off from the hull by a French naval helicopter and flying away.
How fortunate! For had not Irwin Allen decided upon this ending to the picture and with the
Poseidon
at the bottom of the sea no sequel would have been possible.
The novel herewith produced,
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure,
takes the surviving characters as delineated in the motion picture and carries on with some of them as they were, looked, and behaved in the film, the action taking place both inside and outside the partly submerged hulk of the
Poseidon
but with the addition of a whole new starring cast.
The filmmaker must follow his knowledge of how to entertain the viewing public, the novelist must follow his bent on how to intrigue and satisfy his reading public. Thus, it is almost certain that, just as in the first case, the film
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure
will make changes from the novel to the detriment, one hopes, of neither. In some cases the two will go their own ways in accordance with the necessities of their creators.
The main thing to remember is that this book is a sequel to the film and everything that was in that film. If you enjoyed that picture as millions seem to have done I hope perhaps you will be intrigued by, and find entertainment in, what happened to some of these people afterwards.
P.W.G.
Monaco, June 1976
1
The thick blanket settled warm and heavy on his shoulders and the hot coffee burned sweetly in his mouth. Rogo waited for the sense of relief to wipe away the fear and tension. It didn’t.