Titelbild von Maelo Cintron für
"Earthblood" von Keith Laumer und Rosel George Brown
Dell 12313, April 1980
(AmeS)

#sciencefiction #Dell #RoselGeorgeBrown #KeithLaumer #MaeloCintron

Updates: Recent Science Fiction Purchases No. CCCXLVI (Kim Stanley Robinson, Miriam Allen DeFord, Keith Laumer, and Jack Dann)

Which books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?

Finally acquired a new scanner!

1. The Memory of Whiteness, Kim Stanley Robinson (1985)

• Fred Gambino’s cover for the 1999 edition

From the back cover: “In the 33rd century humanity is scattered among the planets of the Solar System. Millions of lives depend on the revolutionary physics of Arthur Holywelkin; millions of hears are moved by the music created by the strange, eerie instrument he built in the last years of his life: the Orchestra. Johannes Wright is the Ninth–and youngest–Master of the Orchestra. But as he sets out on his first Grand Tour of the Solar System, unseen foes are at his heel, ready to reveal all but the meaning of their enmity. In confronting them, Wright must redefine the Universe–for himself and all humanity.”

Initial Thoughts: I should have a review of an early Kim Stanley Robinson novel up on the site soon. I have fond memories of reading Red Mars (1992) and Green Mars (1993)–and less fond memories of Blue Mars (1996)–as an older teen. The only Robinson work I’ve reviewed on the site is “Exploring Fossil Canyon” (1982). Unfortunately my cover of The Memory of Whiteness had a pernicious sticker that damaged the cover…

2. Greylorn, Keith Laumer (1968)

• Richard Powers’ cover for the 1st edition

From the back cover: “GREYLORN. Humanity’s last hope lay in one spaceship racing through the voids of the universe. The Red Tide had all but engulfed the Earth, and there was just enough time to find Omega, the planet that had long ago been colonized–and then had simply disappeared.

After four years in space, the ship felt the hand of calamity all at once. Its food stores were destroyed by a meteor crash. its crew was set to mutiny. And, worst of all, was the threatening alien ship, with its strange cargo of human bodies…”

Contents: “Greylorn” (1959), “The Night of the Trolls” (1963), “The Other Sky” (variant title: “The Further Sky”) (1964), and “The King of the City” (1961).

Initial Thoughts: I’ve only read Laumer’s (successful) attempt at a New Wave story — “In the Queue” (1970).

3. One Way and Other Stories, Miriam Allen deFord (2025).

• Uncredited cover for the 1st edition

From the back cover: “Miriam Allen deFord (1988-1975) was a feminist, a suffragette, birth control advocate, journalist, editor, winner of the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award, and author of science fiction, mystery, and true crime. Now, at long last, a collection of her science fiction short stories are back in print with One Way and Other Stories.

Mystery writer, Fortean, anti-fascist, feminist of the first generation, and science fiction trailblazers for five decades, Miriam Allen deFord masterfully weaves all of her facets into her stories, bringing a macabre, fantastic tone to her tales: Bradbury meets Hitchcock. She was already the grand dame of science fiction when the genre reached its second peak with the magazine boom of the early ’50s. Her work thus paced and led the way for SF’s Silver Age.

Miriam Allen deFord somehow slips under the radar when luminaries are listed. With luck, this volume will remedy this oversight.

~Gideon Marcus, editor of Rediscovery: Science Fiction by Women.“

Contents: “Not Snow, Nor Rain” (1959), “Oh, Rats!” (1961), “One Way” (1955), “The Margenes” (1956), “The Akkra Case” (1962), “Time Out for Redheads” (1955), “Where the Phyh Pebbles Go” (1963), and “The Eel” (1958).

Initial Thoughts: It’s always nice to see a lesser-known classic author getting a collection of stories in print. The indie press Space Cowboy Books also published Jaroslav Olša, Jr.’s Dreaming of Autonomous Vehicles: Miloslav (Miles) J. Breuer: Czech-American Writer and the Birth of Science Fiction  (2025), which I featured earlier this year. I’ve enjoyed some of deFord’s work in the past–in particular her earlier work. You can snag a copy of Other Stories here. They include small reproductions of the original interior art.

4. Junction, Jack Dann (1981)

• Uncredited cover for the 1st edition

From the back cover: “GO TO HELL. The hundred-eyed bird monster told Ned Wheeler that his foreordained quest must begin in Hell–which lay just beyond the borders of Junction, the tumultuous, bawdy, pious town that knew damnation as a daily experience and salvation as a distant hope.

ned’s odyssey took him to a place stranger than Junction, stranger than Hell–the bizarre, unbelievable, dangerous city called New York.

Its learned scientists told him of incredible things, like the laws of cause and effect and the fact that they had ceased to operate. It was as if the entire world were living in a chaotic dream–perhaps Ned Wheeler’s dream…”

Initial Thoughts: I recently reviewed, and enjoyed, Dann’s Nebula-nominated novella “Junction” (1973). This is the fix-up novel version that also includes the short story “The Islands of Time” (1977). I’m a bit worried. I felt like the original novella version could have been trimmed and tightened. Not sure how a novelization will add to the metaphysical kaleidoscope that was the original. We shall see!

For book reviews consult the INDEX

For cover art posts consult the INDEX

For TV and film reviews consult the INDEX

#1950s #1960s #1970s #1980s #bookReviews #JackDann #KeithLaumer #KimStanleyRobinson #MiriamAllenDeFord #paperbacks #sciFi #scienceFiction

Recent Science Fiction Purchases No. CCCXLIV (Margaret St. Clair, Edgar Pangborn, Keith Laumer, and Edmund Cooper)

Which books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?

It’s the summer Joachim Boaz. Where are the reviews? I’m currently on a much needed vacation (Iceland). I will be back soon! In the meantime here are four recent purchases.

1. The Dancers of Noyo, Margaret St. Clair (1973)

• Davis Meltzer’s cover for the 1st edition

From the back cover: “Like so many others before him, reluctant Sam MacGregor was sent on a pilgrimage for the Frail Vision by the Dancers: androids grown from the cells of one man, with the powers of hypnotism and illusion–androids who held the tribes of the Republic of California in thrall.

But soon Sam began to doubt his own identity, for he experienced, in close succession, extra-lives in different corridors of time and space.

And he could not know whom his search would destroy: the Dancers… or himself.”

Initial Thoughts: Um, the tagline: “How long would men dance beneath the whips of the androids?” Good question! A reader of the city recommended this novel to me as an example of intriguing SF inspired by the Counterculture.

2. Still I Persist in Wondering, Edgar Pangborn (1978)

• Uncredited cover for the 1st edition

From the back cover: “The waters rose, and darkness was upon the earth… For a few decades after the Twenty-Minute War and the Red Plague, there were those who remembered the ways and pleasures of civilization, but soon the harsh realities of life in the flooded seaboard of North America pushed the survivors into a new Dark Age–an age of superstition and brutality, but one of seeking and poetry as well. This is the world of Edgar Pangborn’s classic Davy.”

Contents: “The Children’s Crusade” (1974), “Harper Conan and Singer David” (1975), “The Legend of Hombas” (1974), “Tiger Boy” (1972), “The Witches of Nupal” (1974), “My Brother Leopold” (1973), “The Night Wind” (1974).

Initial Thoughts: Acquired due to my goal to read all of Pangborn’s fiction. This contains most of his short stories within the same universe as Davy (1964), “The Music Master of Babylon” (1954), and The Company of Glory (1974, novelized 1975).

3. Tomorrow Came, Edmund Cooper (1963)

• Uncredited cover for the 1st edition

From the back cover: “WORLDS OF IMAGINATION–OR REALITY? Ranging from sheer terror to the frankly incredible, from the mysteries of outer space to a world of destruction and a society where everyone lives like millionaires by order, these stories probe deep into the unknown tomorrow–a tomorrow where the unexpected is an everyday occurrence and the unforeseen an ever-present danger… the tomorrow that is about to become TODAY!”

Initial Thoughts: To be completely honest, I can’t for the life of me remember why I bought this one. Maybe one of the stories came up in a work of scholarship I was reading. Looking through the contents, none of the stories ring a bell. It’s been sitting in my pile of purchases next to my desk for at least two years. At least my mysterious late-night purchases tend to only cost a few dollars!

4. Worlds of Imperium, Keith Laumer (1961, novelized 1962)

• Ed Valigursky’s cover for the 1967 edition

From the inside page: “For Brion Bayard, the discovery of an alternate world to Earth where history took a different turn in the road was not a pleasant experience. His kidnapping brought him some startling revelations. Here was a world in which appeared identical doubles of famous personages–including a dangerous and hated dictator named Brion Bayard!

His assignment was simple enough. Dressed as his double, Brion was to enter the enemy stronghold, kill the dictator, and take his place until law and order could be maintained.

But once having seen his mirror-image brother, Brion had a little inclination to murder him as some other people had to let him live.”

Initial Thoughts: SF Encyclopedia describes Laumer’s Imperium sequence as his most interesting series. I assume that’s why I acquired the first volume.

For book reviews consult the INDEX

For cover art posts consult the INDEX

For TV and film reviews consult the INDEX

#1950s #1960s #1970s #art #avantGarde #books #EdgarPangborn #EdmundCooper #KeithLaumer #MargaretStClair #paperbacks #sciFi #scienceFiction

#PAFFL is my new fave acronym. To escape some of the insanity in my country, I started reading some old #KeithLaumer sci-fi from the golden age.

In "Gambler's World" (1961), he describes the People’s Anti-Fascist Freedom League, #PAFFL.

Where to I sign up? Until today's Senate vote, I thought supporting Democrats was enough.
I was wrong.

Ulme kirjastamisest Eestis ehk Rapla graafiline ulmetoodang...

Kunagi oli Eesti Ekspressis kuulutus, kus otsiti ulme- ja põnevusromaanide tõlkijaid. Hiljem kirjutati samas lehes ka nn Rapla Hollywoodist ja sellest, kuidas Toivo Kurmet (ans Virmalised jne) Saksamaalt tagasi Eestisse naases, kaasas kohver ulme ja põnevusromaanidega.

Kokku ilmus kuus raamatut (ilmumisjärjekord Sirbi uudiskirjanduse põhjal):
- Keith Laumer «Põrgukoerad» (A Plague of Demons; 1965) – Rapla, Estonian Graphic Center, 1992 (Fantaasia)
- Doris Piserchia «Flugerlane» (The Fluger; 1980) – Rapla, Graafiline Produktsioon, 1992
- Desmond Morris «Jason imedemaal» (Inrock; 1983) – Rapla, Estonian Graphic Center, 1992 (Fantaasia)
- Tanith Lee «Itta, vastu keskööle (East of Midnight; 1977) – Rapla, Graafiline Produktsioon, 1993
- Walter Ernsting «Päev, millal jumalad surid» (Der Tag, an dem die Götter starben; 1975) – Rapla, Graafiline Produktsioon, 1993
- Alistair MacLean «Põrgupisilane» (The Satan Bug; 1962) – Rapla, Graafiline Produktsioon, 1994

Neid raamatuid on omajagu kritiseeritud – valik, tõlked, lühendamine, kaudtõlkelisus jne –, aga ilmumishetkel olid nad sündmus ja oma kindel koht maakeelses ulmes on neil tänaseni.

Eraldi ja iseäranis positiivselt tuleks aga ära märkida Jaan Männiku kaanepildid ja illustratsioonid kolmes ülemise rea raamatus.

#ulme #ulmekirjandus #kultuur #kirjandus #Rapla #ToivoKurmet #JaanMännik #TanithLee #KeithLaumer #DorisPiserchia #WalterErnsting #AlistairMacLean #DesmondMorris