A Plague of Demons
by Keith Laumer
science fiction
copyright 1965
read in October 2014
rated 7/10: well worth reading
This is good, fun, old fashioned science fiction adventure. Rated up because... well... it's from the good old days of science fiction :-)
And I've read it before. Though I've never read it before. Eh ?!
Yes, I've read it before. Many, many years ago. In my youth. I've thought of it since then, and wondered if it would be as good from my current point of view. And now I've read it again.
And yet... This time... it's different !
Human brains, stolen from Earth-normal humans. Programmed to run alien war machines. Take over the machines, beat the aliens, return to Earth...
Except that I remember a pastoral version of Earth. Meditation is the thing. The achievement of absolute internal peace results in -- your mind being snatched by aliens. In this version the aliens are on Earth, in disguise, stealing brains in the middle of local wars.
In my youth, the story contained the classic line, "The minutes crawled by like stepped-on roaches." The hero is waiting for an opportunity to sneak by some guards. In this version, there's the same classic line. In a completely different scene !
Did Laumer write two versions of his brain-snatching story ? Is one an expanded -- and varied -- version of an original novella ? I don't know...
And, interesting as it is, I don't really care :-)
It's fun, it's exciting, the good guys win. And I like that in a book :-)
====
Problems ? Solved
No comments:
Post a Comment