Keith Laumer

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John Keith Laumer (born June 9, 1925 in Syracuse , New York , † January 23, 1993 in Brooksville , Florida ) was an American writer of science fiction literature. Many of his novels deal with time travel and parallel universes in a funny and ironic way .

Life

Laumer attended Philips University in Enid , Oklahoma , and Coffeyville Junior College in Kansas . In 1943 he joined the US Army and served in Europe until 1946. He then studied architecture until 1952 and joined the US Air Force in 1953, before moving to the State Department in 1956 and u. a. Was a diplomat in Rangoon , Burma . It was during these years that he discovered his true calling, writing. In 1960 he quit diplomatic service and returned to the Air Force, which he finally left in 1965 to become a freelance writer.

Keith Laumer published his first SF story Greylorn in 1959 in the magazine Amazing Stories . The first novel, Worlds of the Imperium, followed in 1962 and initiated the Imperium-Alternative Worlds cycle. In the series around the diplomat Retief, which started in 1969, the author processed his experiences as a diplomat in twelve novels and collections.

In addition to his SF stories, he had his hobby aircraft model making. He designed around two dozen of his own constructions, which were published 1956–1962 in relevant American and British magazines (in Air Trails , Model Airplane News or Aero Modeler ). He also wrote a textbook on the subject: How to Design and Build Flying Models , 1960.

A stroke in 1971 kept the author, who had been very productive up to that point, from writing for years, and when he started producing new texts he was unable to build on his pre-illness career. A second stroke resulted in his death in 1993.

Works

Series and cycles

imperium
  • 1 Worlds of the Imperium (1962)
  • 2 The Other Side of Time (1965)
  • 3 Assignment in Nowhere (1968)
  • 4 Zone Yellow (1990)
  • Beyond the Imperium (1981, Omnibus 2 + 3)
  • Imperium (2005, Omnibus 1–3)
Diplomat James Retief
  • Envoy to New Worlds (1963, collection)
    • German: Diplomat of the Stars. Pabel , Terra Vol. 226, 1973.
  • Galactic Diplomat (1965, collection)
    • German: Diplomat of the Galaxy. Pabel, Terra special series No. 115, 1966.
  • Retief's War (1965)
    • German: Diplomat and Rebel from Terra. Moewig, 1968.
  • Retief and the Warlords (1968)
    • German: Diplomat of the Grenzwelten. Pabel, 1970.
  • Retief: Ambassador to Space (1969, collection)
    • English: The dragon slayer. Moewig, 1970.
  • Retief of the CDT (1971, collection)
    • German: The man from CDT. Pabel, 1972.
  • Retief's Ransom also: Retief and the Pangalactic Pageant of Pulchritude (1971)
    • German: Peace Commissioners of the Galaxy. Pabel, 1974.
  • Retief: Emissary to the Stars (1975)
  • Retief at Large (1978)
  • Retief Unbound (1979)
  • Diplomat at Arms (1982)
  • Retief to the Rescue (1982)
  • The Return of Retief (1983)
  • Retief in the Ruins (1986)
  • Reward for Retief (1989)
  • Retief! (2001, collection)
  • Gambler's World (2009)
  • The Yillian Way (2009)
Lafayette O'Leary
  • The Time Bender (1966)
    • German: The great time adventure. Moewig, 1968.
  • The World Shuffler (1970)
    • German: Universe der doppelganger. Pabel, 1972.
  • The Shape Changer (1972)
  • The Galaxy Builder (1984)
Invaders
  • The Invaders (1967)
    • English: Invaders of the Earth. Moewig, 1969.
  • Enemies From Beyond (1967)
    • German: enemies from beyond. Moewig, 1969.
Time trap
  • Time Trap (1970)
  • Back to the Time Trap (1992)
Bolo
  • Annals of the Dinochrome Brigade (1976)
  • Rogue Bolo (1986)
  • The Compleat Bolo (1990)
  • Bolo Brigade (1997, with William H. Keith )
  • Bolo Rising (1998, with William H. Keith)
  • Bolo Strike (2001, with William H. Keith)
  • Bolo! (2005, with David Weber )
  • Bolos: Their Finest Hour (2010)
Combat Command
  • The Omega Rebellion: In the world of Keith Laumer's Star Colony (1987, RPG book by Troy Denning based on Laumer)

Single novels

  • A Trace of Memory (1963)
  • The Great Time Machine Hoax (1964)
    • German: Under the spell of the time machine. Moewig, 1966.
  • A Plague of Demons (1965)
    • English: war on the moon. Moewig, 1967.
  • Catastrophe Planet (1966)
    • German: The disaster world. Pabel, 1977.
  • Earthblood (1966, with Rosel George Brown )
    • German: Blood of the Earth. Heyne, 1969.
  • The Monitors (1966)
    • English: Invasion of the Monitors. Pabel, 1973.
  • Galactic Odyssey (1967, also as a spaceman! )
    • English: Galactic Odyssey. Heyne, 1968.
  • The Long Twilight (1969)
    • English: Duel of immortality also: Duel of immortals. Pabel, 1972.
  • The Day Before Forever (1969)
  • The Seeds of Gonyl (1969)
  • The House in November (1970)
    • English: Invasion of the aliens. Pabel, 1971.
  • Dinosaur Beach (1971)
    • German: Zeit-Odyssey. Pabel, 1973.
  • The Star Treasure (1971)
  • The Infinite Cage (1972)
    • German: Intelligence out of nowhere. Pabel, 1979.
  • Night of Decisions (1972)
  • The Glory Game (1973)
  • The Ultimax Man (1978)
  • Star Colony (1981)
  • The Breaking Earth (1981)
  • End as a Hero (1985)
  • The Stars Must Wait (1990)
  • Judson's Eden (1991)
  • It Could Be Anything (2009)

Story collections

  • Nine by Laumer (1967)
  • Planet Run (1967, with Gordon R. Dickson )
  • Greylorn / The Other Sky (1968)
  • It's a Mad, Mad, Mad Galaxy (1968)
    • English: The war against the Yukks. Pabel, 1973.
  • The Day Before Forever and Thunderhead (1969)
  • Five Fates (1970)
  • Once There Was a Giant (1971)
    • German: Beyond time and space. Pabel, 1973.
  • The Big Show (1972)
  • Timetracks (1972)
    • German: Foreign Dimensions. Pabel Terra No. 214, 1973.
  • The Undefeated (1974)
  • The Best of Keith Laumer (1976)
  • Knight of Delusions (1972)
  • Chrestomathy (1984)
  • Alien Minds (1991)
  • Odyssey (2002, with Eric Flint )
  • The Lighter Side (2002)
  • A Plague of Demons and Other Stories (2003)
  • Future Imperfect (2003)
  • Legions of Space (2004)
  • The Long Twilight: and Other Stories (2007)
  • Earthblood: And Other Stories (2008, with Rosel George Brown)
  • Beyond the Moons of Neptune (2010)
  • The Keith Laumer SciFi Collection: Greylorn / It Could Be Anything / Gambler's World / Retief: The Yillian Way (2011)

As editor

Bolos (with Bill Fawcett )
  • Honor of the Regiment (1993)
  • The Unconquerable (1994)
  • The Triumphant (1995)
  • Last Stand (1997)
  • Old Guard (2000)
  • Cold Steel (2002)

Non-fiction

  • How to Design and Build Flying Models (1960)

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Laumer, Keith
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Laumer, John Keith (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American author of science fiction literature
DATE OF BIRTH June 9, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Syracuse , New York
DATE OF DEATH January 23, 1993
Place of death Brooksville , Florida