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Richard Blade #6
Monster of the Maze
BLADE DID NOT BELIEVE IT!
He did not want to believe it. The computer had played strange tricks before, but this? Was he a Tom Thumb, reduced in size to a minikin? Or was he still his normal self, in a dimension where everything else was so massive that he was dwarfed?
It was much worse than that. Blade looked at his hand. It was small and pink and chubby. Tiny. He was a baby. The computer had reduced him to an infant. He was Richard Blade, he knew it, but his tiny pink body was that of a newborn babe.
He tried to raise his head. Too heavy. He could not even move it. That made sense, if any of this made sense. Despite his size, his brain was full-grown and housed in the cranium of a full-grown man. He was a macrocephalic horror! Whoever found him would probably kill him on sight and either stuff him or preserve him in a bottle.
But where was he? And who would find him?
He did not want to believe it. The computer had played strange tricks before, but this? Was he a Tom Thumb, reduced in size to a minikin? Or was he still his normal self, in a dimension where everything else was so massive that he was dwarfed?
It was much worse than that. Blade looked at his hand. It was small and pink and chubby. Tiny. He was a baby. The computer had reduced him to an infant. He was Richard Blade, he knew it, but his tiny pink body was that of a newborn babe.
He tried to raise his head. Too heavy. He could not even move it. That made sense, if any of this made sense. Despite his size, his brain was full-grown and housed in the cranium of a full-grown man. He was a macrocephalic horror! Whoever found him would probably kill him on sight and either stuff him or preserve him in a bottle.
But where was he? And who would find him?
185 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 1973
75 people want to read
About the author
Jeffrey Lord
253 books18 followersA house pseudonym used by multiple authors including:
Manning Lee Stokes
Roland Green
Lyle Kenyon Engel
Ray Faraday Nelson
Richard D. Nolane
Christian Mantey
Arnaud Dalrune
Yves Chéraqui
Gerald Moreau
Paul Couturiau
Amelina Defontaine
Didier Le Gais
Yves Bulteau
Raymond Audemard
Nadine Monfils
Patrick Eris
Nemo Sandman
Manning Lee Stokes
Roland Green
Lyle Kenyon Engel
Ray Faraday Nelson
Richard D. Nolane
Christian Mantey
Arnaud Dalrune
Yves Chéraqui
Gerald Moreau
Paul Couturiau
Amelina Defontaine
Didier Le Gais
Yves Bulteau
Raymond Audemard
Nadine Monfils
Patrick Eris
Nemo Sandman
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 9, 2025
I griped that the last entry in the series was a little bit too down the middle in its approach to transdimensional heroic fantasy, so it's only fair that I go out of my way to applaud this book for being unabashedly wacky. In no particular order, we get:
1) Our muscle-bound hero transformed into an infant as he's beamed from 1970s London to Dimension X.
2) An H. Beam Piper-esque use of future knowledge to gain a tactical advantage as our hero invents the submarine (sort of) and the hot air balloon (also sort of).
3) A crystalline siren goddess/ancient queen statue that sneaks into the story at the last moment to play a pivotal role.
4) A Blade vs. Snake-thing vs. bratty queen encounter that plays out bizarrely and nothing at all like the cover of the book.
Plenty of things could be said about what makes this book not particularly good, or not particularly worth rescuing from the rubbish bin of history, but for all of its glaring flaws, there remains something charming in its weirdness.
1) Our muscle-bound hero transformed into an infant as he's beamed from 1970s London to Dimension X.
2) An H. Beam Piper-esque use of future knowledge to gain a tactical advantage as our hero invents the submarine (sort of) and the hot air balloon (also sort of).
3) A crystalline siren goddess/ancient queen statue that sneaks into the story at the last moment to play a pivotal role.
4) A Blade vs. Snake-thing vs. bratty queen encounter that plays out bizarrely and nothing at all like the cover of the book.
Plenty of things could be said about what makes this book not particularly good, or not particularly worth rescuing from the rubbish bin of history, but for all of its glaring flaws, there remains something charming in its weirdness.
February 26, 2019
The Sixth adventure into Dimension X!
Blade is done with the program. After this mission he is giving it up. Lord L has implanted a crystal into Blade's brain so he can communicate with home dimension while abroad. Blade insists on prematurely entering Dimension X only to find himself a wee little baby when he wakes up there.
Blade is drawn into the politics of this new world. The priesthood eyes the throne, while an army of barbarians are waiting at the borders.
Not as much sex this time around. Blade makes some critical errors that almost jeopardizes his mission.
All in all a decent read. Certainly not one of my favorites.
Blade is done with the program. After this mission he is giving it up. Lord L has implanted a crystal into Blade's brain so he can communicate with home dimension while abroad. Blade insists on prematurely entering Dimension X only to find himself a wee little baby when he wakes up there.
Blade is drawn into the politics of this new world. The priesthood eyes the throne, while an army of barbarians are waiting at the borders.
Not as much sex this time around. Blade makes some critical errors that almost jeopardizes his mission.
All in all a decent read. Certainly not one of my favorites.
Want to read
July 19, 2020elibrary
July 11, 2015
OK.Blade as a baby was quite amusing.
January 23, 2016
Richard Blade travels to new worlds and never fails to find danger and love. Good quick men's adventure read. Recommended
April 20, 2017
This is the 6th out of 37 Richard Blade adventures and by this point beginning to lose their edge a little. Our hero Blade is a pulp fiction cross between James Bond and Conan. He gets sent By his spy-masters J and Lord Leighton back through the computer to another X-Dimension though this time he has a crystal chip in his brain so that his masters can monitor what's going on.
Ooh guess what its YET ANOTHER world of Barbaric splendour - pretty much the same as the previous 5 with warring factions, evil priests and insatiable princesses. The one slight difference to begin this one is that Blade enters the world as a baby - it takes him a month or so to mature - so he has to entrust his care to Valli, a harem woman who later becomes one of his lovers.... which just feels a little wrong. The start with blade in the body of a baby and the mind of a man is however, quite fun. The ruler dies and Blade sets himself up as messiah upsetting the evil priest who wanted to seize power - his usual MO. Blade marries the princess Higra but fails to satisfy her which is a nice turn up for the books...
We later lean however than no man could satisfy her because the evil priest has been creating hybrid monsters and has her addicted to sex with a kind of scaled minotaur hybrid. Just wish the hybrid monster plot didn't come in until so late in the story because its actually quite cool and interesting, far more so than what this novel focuses on - Blades capture... and subsequent escape by balloon from the rival peoples - the Barbarian Hitts.
One other nice idea this throws in is the diamond statues - Blade becomes obsessed with this... diamond statue goddess... Janina. She comes to life somehow and while they are having sex they fall down a gaping chasm... suddenly Blade appears in our world naked with a naked diamond statue - it's hilarious, trashy and so typically Blade - but its another throw away idea that should have been explored far more and not just tacked on at the end.
You can definitely tell this one is penned by multiple authors (I believe Jeffrey Lord is in fact 4 different people) - its a very fractured story - the main body is woefully formulaic, but there are a couple of fun and interesting ideas buried in this one.
This series is a total guilty pleasure - its pure escapist trash but there's something addictive about it.
Ooh guess what its YET ANOTHER world of Barbaric splendour - pretty much the same as the previous 5 with warring factions, evil priests and insatiable princesses. The one slight difference to begin this one is that Blade enters the world as a baby - it takes him a month or so to mature - so he has to entrust his care to Valli, a harem woman who later becomes one of his lovers.... which just feels a little wrong. The start with blade in the body of a baby and the mind of a man is however, quite fun. The ruler dies and Blade sets himself up as messiah upsetting the evil priest who wanted to seize power - his usual MO. Blade marries the princess Higra but fails to satisfy her which is a nice turn up for the books...
We later lean however than no man could satisfy her because the evil priest has been creating hybrid monsters and has her addicted to sex with a kind of scaled minotaur hybrid. Just wish the hybrid monster plot didn't come in until so late in the story because its actually quite cool and interesting, far more so than what this novel focuses on - Blades capture... and subsequent escape by balloon from the rival peoples - the Barbarian Hitts.
One other nice idea this throws in is the diamond statues - Blade becomes obsessed with this... diamond statue goddess... Janina. She comes to life somehow and while they are having sex they fall down a gaping chasm... suddenly Blade appears in our world naked with a naked diamond statue - it's hilarious, trashy and so typically Blade - but its another throw away idea that should have been explored far more and not just tacked on at the end.
You can definitely tell this one is penned by multiple authors (I believe Jeffrey Lord is in fact 4 different people) - its a very fractured story - the main body is woefully formulaic, but there are a couple of fun and interesting ideas buried in this one.
This series is a total guilty pleasure - its pure escapist trash but there's something addictive about it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews