KEITH LAUMER: THE GLORY GAME

Popular Library paperback, 1973. Cover artwork uncredited.

Rear-cover synopsis: 

"Commodore Tom Dalton, of Terran's Space Navy, is approached by the Softliners, politicians who want to avoid war with the Hukk invaders. He is also approached by the Hardliners, who want him to provoke a full-scale battle with the Hukks. Out in space, Dalton is faced with the harsh reality of the situation when the Hukk admiral suddenly pulls a fast one. Dalton's decision can mean mutiny, space war, or instant defeat..."

THE INFINITE CAGE

Berkley Medallion paperback, July 1974. Cover art by
Richard M. Powers

"A little wisp of a man appears from who-knows-where, apparently suffering from delusions, schizophrenia, paranoia, and mental maladies not yet named. His misadventures in a hostile world would put Walter Mitty to shame for lack of imagination. He finds he has strange powers that bring him spectacular success at whatever he attempts - followed, it seems inevitably, by crushing disaster. At last, on the verge of utter despair, he stumbles onto a clue to the secret of his existence... 

Keith Laumer, famous for his witty novels of galaxy-hopping adventure, has created a spooky, funny, hauntingly brilliant novel that cannot be put down - and will never be forgotten- 

WELCOME TO ADAM'S WORLD."

GALACTIC ODYSSEY

Berkley Medallion paperback, September 1967. Cover painting
by Richard M. Powers.

"IT WAS STRANGE 

enough to begin with - I, Billy Danger, stranded on a planet with the beautiful Lady Raire. After the massacre that took two of our party, we alone were left, waiting to be rescued. 

Hope filled my breast when a spaceship landed, but the batlike dwarfs that emerged, viciously beat me up, grabbed the Lady Raire...And when I came to, they were gone, with her. 

She was my charge - i was responsible for her safety, and i meant to find her, even if i had to Itravel to each and every planet in the galaxy. 

I was a bluff young lad in those days - and might have chosen differently, if i had known what grisly adventures were in store for me in the century's most hair-raising GALACTIC ODYSSEY."

THE HOUSE IN NOVEMBER

Berkley Medallion paperback, May 1971. Cover artwork by
Richard M. Powers.

"There had been an invasion, and the town of Beatrice, Nebraska, was occupied. The question was, by whom? 

To Jeff Mallory, awakened one morning to find that he had lost three months out of his life; that his teenage daughter was missing (and his wife denied that she had ever existed); that he was a slave to incomprehensible tasks in the mile-high star tower that had not been there when he went to sleep - the invaders were ALIENS... 

To the bizarre Russo-American army poised on the edge of town and determined to destroy it utterly, the invaders were CHINESE... 

To the strange old man who lived in the old house, and who carried in his mind the key to the whole mystery, the invaders were the MONE..."

Loved this one; very cinematic - that is, I imagine it translating very well to film - it's a great adventure story. The House In November follows familiar Laumer motifs: the pariah, superhuman transformation, transcendence. I found it notable too for the original aliens, in a refreshing change from the usual green-skinned, multi-limbed or bipedal creatures, the Mone are parasitic organisms. (4/5)