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Future Imperfect
Mal was heading across an America ravaged by worldwide earthquakes when he ran into a dying stranger who babbled of men who weren't really men, and had an unusual gold coin which no expert could identify. Soon, someone who wanted the coin back was on his trail - and they weren't human...The commander of the fleet that just annihilated the alien enemy has decided to become world dictator unless his second in command can stop him...A national test condemns a man to a life of unskilled labour, unless he can find a way around the system...
384 pages, Paperback
First published April 29, 2003
4 people are currently reading
77 people want to read
About the author
Keith Laumer
498 books227 followersJohn 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 28, 2023
Excellent 1960s scientifiction. Several Laumer stories of a dystopian bent. Laumer usually goes the humor route but these are straight up end of the world stories following the usual 60s tropes of overpopulation and evil world spanning corporations, including alien mind control slug worms. There's even a new take on Harrison Bergeron. The men in these stories can really take a beating, some of them can dish one out, and there is no shortage of graphic violence. The women serve their usual purposes as housewives and nurses.
It's always interesting to see what these guys got right about the future. Still no flying cars, and there aren't 27 billion people here, but the stories include something like the internet and VR along with desktop computers 20 years before they were introduced. And, obviously, evil corporations controlling the population and the government. Remember when Google's Code of Conduct started with "Don't be evil"? That ship has long sailed.
It's always interesting to see what these guys got right about the future. Still no flying cars, and there aren't 27 billion people here, but the stories include something like the internet and VR along with desktop computers 20 years before they were introduced. And, obviously, evil corporations controlling the population and the government. Remember when Google's Code of Conduct started with "Don't be evil"? That ship has long sailed.
October 22, 2009
The first story, "Catastrophe Planet" illustrates the Laumer philosophy:
* Any man who flattens himself against a door is invisible.
* Heroes will always unerringly wander in the optimal direction, even when lost. There's a gadget to explain this, but the phenomenon begins before the gadget appears.
* Heroes never give up, and always win.
* Most hero ends up with a unique and wonderful girl, devoted to him. The others don't seem to mind -- they often have supertanks as consolation.
"Worldmaster" is along the same lines, but here the model is that the hero need never do the smart thing, because he's gutsy and the author is on his side. When confronted by 3 men with guns, with guards outside, spit in their eyes! You'll win through eventually, because the author insists, and you're half cybernetic anyway. To escape from a jail, just wait until the guards/assassins shows up and beat them up. Don't worry. Be happy!
"The Day Before Forever" is a rumination on the risks of immortality and power. Again, blind luck is enough to ensure our hero (eventually) defeats all possible barriers and saves the day.
* Any man who flattens himself against a door is invisible.
* Heroes will always unerringly wander in the optimal direction, even when lost. There's a gadget to explain this, but the phenomenon begins before the gadget appears.
* Heroes never give up, and always win.
* Most hero ends up with a unique and wonderful girl, devoted to him. The others don't seem to mind -- they often have supertanks as consolation.
"Worldmaster" is along the same lines, but here the model is that the hero need never do the smart thing, because he's gutsy and the author is on his side. When confronted by 3 men with guns, with guards outside, spit in their eyes! You'll win through eventually, because the author insists, and you're half cybernetic anyway. To escape from a jail, just wait until the guards/assassins shows up and beat them up. Don't worry. Be happy!
"The Day Before Forever" is a rumination on the risks of immortality and power. Again, blind luck is enough to ensure our hero (eventually) defeats all possible barriers and saves the day.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 30, 2011
This is a collection of several dystopic stories. The concepts behind the stories were all very interesting. However, some were not very fleshed out and most of them were alpha male, men better than women crap. I wish they were better.
September 14, 2016
A collection of uneven dystopia stories. Most have very dramatic descriptions using 20 words to describe a detail when 5 will work as well. A couple of the stories were really interesting. Make it through the first story and you will find some treats.
September 3, 2012
Collection of Laumer short stories/novellas. Darker than his normal, but with the action associated with his Retief stories.
June 4, 2013
Fast-paced entertaining sf adventure, but with little substance.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews