...And Call Me Conrad

This Immortal

Cover of the first edition
Author	Roger Zelazny
Cover artist	Gray Morrow
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Science fiction novel
Publisher	Ace Books
Publication date	July 1966
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	174 pp

This Immortal, serialized as ...And Call Me Conrad, is a science fiction novel by American author Roger Zelazny. In its original publication, it was abridged by the editor and published in two parts in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in October and November 1965. It tied with Frank Herbert's Dune for the 1966 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

Most, but not all of the cuts made for the serialized version were restored for the first paperback publication by Ace Books and the title was changed by the publisher to This Immortal. Zelazny stated in interviews that he preferred the original eponymous title. The abridged version was novel length at over 47,000 words; the paperback version was over 58,000 words after the cuts were restored. However, it was not until a book club version was published in the 1980s that Zelazny realized that some cuts had not been restored to the book version; thus, earlier publications of This Immortal were still not complete. The abridged magazine version also contains 10 paragraphs of text not in the book version, starting from "And the long-dormant Radpol was stirring again, but I did not know that until several days later" and ending with "The days of Karaghiosis had passed." Also, the "Synopsis of Part One" that appeared in the November 1965 issue of F&SF (immediately prior to Part Two) is written in the first person and contains material about Conrad's character and backstory that is not in the main text of ...And Call Me Conrad nor the 1980s restored version of This Immortal.

After being devastated by a nuclear war, the Earth is a planet with a population of only 4 million, overrun by a variety of mutated lifeforms. Worse, much of the Earth is now owned by the Vegans, a race of blue-skinned aliens who see the planet as a tourist location. Conrad Nomikos, the first person narrator, is a man with a past that he'd rather not talk about who's been given a task that he'd rather refuse: to show an influential Vegan around the old ruins of Earth. But Conrad suddenly finds himself the reluctant protector of this alien visitor when attempts are made on the Vegan's life. Conrad knows that keeping the Vegan alive is important—but now he must find out why.