A TOWN IS DROWNING by FREDERIK POHL and C. M. KORNBLUTH BALLANTINE BOOKS NEW YORK This is an original novel--not a reprint--published by Ballantine Books, Inc. © 1955 by Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 55-12407 PRINTED IN U.S.A. BALLANTINE BOOKS, INC. 404 Fifth Avenue, New York 18, N. Y. [Transcriber's Note: Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] _By Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth_ _Contemporary Novel_ A TOWN IS DROWNING _Science Fiction_ THE SPACE MERCHANTS SEARCH THE SKY GLADIATOR-AT-LAW TORN FROM TODAY'S HEADLINES This novel takes you right into the heart of the _new_ flood country, the Northeast United States which had generally been free of hurricanes and attendant floods. Now disaster has struck, more than once--terrible and grim. * * * * * Although this novel will give you an accurate and brilliantly vivid picture of what it's like to live through a flood, even more importantly it will show you what the people are like who fought the catastrophe and how those who survived are still fighting. In the persons of Starkman the burgess, Groff the dynamic young executive, Sharon the shrewd opportunist, Mrs. Goudeket, the resort owner, and others, you will meet and understand the varying human elements that the flood unleashed and intensified. Through it all you will sense a growing feeling of pride--that despite the selfishness of some, the people of the town met the terrible onslaught with courage and a sense of mutual help. * * * * * Already well known for their superb science fiction, Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth demonstrate here their equal power in the realistic contemporary novel. CHAPTER ONE The man in the filling station was clearly of two minds about it, but finally he buttoned up his raincoat and pulled on his hat and came out to Mickey Groff's car. "Sorry to make you come out in the rain like this," Groff said. "Fill it up, will you?"