Two complete novels, and a host of novelettes fill a large volume by the master of science fiction adventure. In the first novel, "A Trace of Memory," a drifter named Legion is hired by a millionaire who claims to be centuries old, but has nearly complete amnesia. He can only remember that "something "is hunting for him, and Legion's job is to protect him. The job turns out to be more than Legion bargained for when he finds himself and his employer on a prehistoric starship hurtling into the unknown. In "Planet Run," Laumer joins forces with SF legend Gordon R. Dickson in a novel of two ancient heroes who are going to trade the rest of their lives for one sweet year, and the chance to solve the secret of the last unexplored planet in this sector of the galaxy. Plus four short novels of exciting interstellar action and adventure. With an introduction by Joel Rosenberg, author of the best-selling "Guardians of the Flame" series. Contents: A Trace of Memory was first published as a serialized story in Amazing magazine (July–September 1962) and then reissued as a novel by Berkley in 1963. Planet Run was first published in 1967 by Doubleday. "The Choice" was first published in Analog in July, 1969. "Three Blind Mice" was first published in The Many Worlds of Science Fiction (Ben Bova, ed.), E.P. Dutton, 1971. "Mind Out of Time" was first published as "The Mind Out of Time" in The Farthest Reaches (Joseph Elder, ed.), Trident 1968. "Message to an Alien" was first published in Analog in June, 1970.
Author
John Keith Laumer was an American science fiction author. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, he was an officer in the U.S. Air Force and a U.S. diplomat. His brother March Laumer was also a writer, known for his adult reinterpretations of the Land of Oz (also mentioned in Keith's The Other Side of Time). Keith Laumer (aka J.K Laumer, J. Keith Laumer) is best known for his Bolo stories and his satirical Retief series. The former chronicles the evolution of juggernaut-sized tanks that eventually become self-aware through the constant improvement resulting from centuries of intermittent warfare against various alien races. The latter deals with the adventures of a cynical spacefaring diplomat who constantly has to overcome the red-tape-infused failures of people with names like Ambassador Grossblunder. The Retief stories were greatly influenced by Laumer's earlier career in the United States Foreign Service. In an interview with Paul Walker of Luna Monthly, Laumer states "I had no shortage of iniquitous memories of the Foreign Service." Four of his shorter works received Hugo or Nebula Award nominations (one of them, "In the Queue", received nominations for both) and his novel A Plague of Demons was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1966. During the peak years of 1959–1971, Laumer was a prolific science fiction writer, with his novels tending to follow one of two patterns: fast-paced, straight adventures in time and space, with an emphasis on lone-wolf, latent superman protagonists, self-sacrifice and transcendence or, broad comedies, sometimes of the over-the-top variety. In 1971, Laumer suffered a stroke while working on the novel The Ultimax Man. As a result, he was unable to write for a few years. As he explained in an interview with Charles Platt published in The Dream Makers (1987), he refused to accept the doctors' diagnosis. He came up with an alternative explanation and developed an alternative (and very painful) treatment program. Although he was unable to write in the early 1970s, he had a number of books which were in the pipeline at the time of the stroke published during that time. In the mid-1970s, Laumer partially recovered from the stroke and resumed writing. However, the quality of his work suffered and his career declined (Piers Anthony, How Precious Was That While, 2002). In later years Laumer also reused scenarios and characters from his earlier works to create "new" books, which some critics felt was to their detriment: Alas, Retief to the Rescue doesn't seem so much like a new Retief novel, but a kind of Cuisnart mélange of past books. — Somtow Sucharitkul (Washington Post, Mar 27, 1983. p. BW11) His Bolo creations were popular enough that other authors have written standalone science-fiction novels about them. Laumer was also a model airplane enthusiast, and published two dozen designs between 1956 and 1962 in the U.S. magazines Air Trails, Model Airplane News and Flying Models, as well as the British magazine Aero Modeler. He published one book on the subject, How to Design and Build Flying Models in 1960. His later designs were mostly gas-powered free flight planes, and had a whimsical charm with names to match, like the "Twin Lizzie" and the "Lulla-Bi". His designs are still being revisited, reinvented and built today.
