To Outrun Doomsday

by Kenneth Bulmer

The planet Kerim must have been Utopia - once. All its inhabitants had to do when they wanted something was to pray out loud for it - and what they wanted would materialise before their eyes. But by the time Jack Waley crashed on it, its best days had long been gone - and its future was strictly limited.

Which was typical Jack Waley luck. He had bungled and blundered his way across the space lanes, messing up everything he tried and being castaway on Kerim looked like the end of the line.

For Kerim's people were now bands of confused savages and its cities crumbling ruins. And this time Waley knew that he'd have to change a whole world's luck if he wanted to save his own neck one more time.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

159 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

Henry Kenneth Bulmer
aka:
Alan Burt Akers
Ken Blake
Ernest Corley
Arthur Frazier
Adam Hardy
Philip Kent
Bruno Krauss
Neil Langholm
Karl Maras
Manning Norvil
Charles R. Pike
Andrew Quiller
Richard Silver
Tully Zetford

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why not? I'll give this fast fun read from 1967 all of 3 stars. And it has a great cover by Kelly Freas. It's pulpish sci-fi about a guy crash landing on a truly weird planet. A one-time Utopia, it's now sliding into savagery. In order to save his own neck, our space hero will have to save the planet!
It's by British author Kenneth Bulmer (1921-2005), who wrote A LOT. I've enjoyed all the stories of his I've read. Nothing deep and certainly nothing that stays with you. Just fun sci-fi, pure escapism--and who doesn't need that now and then?

[Howard Lenos]

Nostalgic read from my youth, found it kicking around the house. Not quite as interesting as I remember, but a bit of a fun revisit. Recycled the book afterward.

[Sam Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a fun read. Our anti-hero, Jack Varley, while in hiding from a thwarted lover in the bowels of his spaceship, finds his spaceship blown up and comes to on a becoming-ever-stranger planet. Weirdness follows weirdness in rapid succession. He goes a'hunting beasts, gets captured, enslaved, freed... all the while on the make. For Jack Waley read Flashman, along with every other lecherous Jack the Lad. This is an amoral romp, a tad over-enthusiastic at times, author Kenneth Bulmer having fun with language. What could happen, for instance, when a 'ratbaggagewonderment' meets a 'slopbucket of happyplace throwouts'? In this Rabelaisian adventure there are also lollygaggers, of course a princess, even varlets. Arrrrr.....

[Steve LaForest · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this novel in July 1971, after I had bought the paperback. One of the few fantasies I had read back then - I continue to be primarily a science fiction fan.

My rating system:
Since Goodreads only allows 1 to 5 stars (no half-stars), you have no option but to be ruthless. I reserve one star for a book that is a BOMB - or poor (equivalent to a letter grade of F, E, or at most D). Progressing upwards, 2 stars is equivalent to C (C -, C or C+), 3 stars (equals B - or B), 4 stars (equals B+ or A -), and 5 stars (equals A or A+). As a result, I maximize my rating space for good books, and don't waste half or more of that rating space on books that are of marginal quality.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a short book written in 1967, its a fun romp through the story of an anti-hero hiding in the bowls of a space ship following a failed pick up, when disaster strikes and the ship crashes onto what is a backwater planet, and his adventures here to save the day or the planet.

A fun read, nothing deep or serious and as result just short. In some ways there was so much more that could have been written .... or not!

[Kay Hawkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not that great of a story. So much is going on and it moves through it so fast for a bland ending. I hoped for more but in the end I wished it would just end. Even tough the ending has the most action in the story.

[Stephen Rowland · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite annoying.

[Rog Petersen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This Ace edition features a rather fuzzy Kelly Freas cover.

[Mark Ford · Rating 4 out of 5]

To Outrun Doomsday by Kenneth Bulmer.

What we have here could be considered a bit SF with sword and sorcery thrown in or vice versa.

The story of a rather unlikeable ships junior crew member who considers himself a ladies man, this would be Casanova ends up on an uncharted planet (due to a catastrophic failure of his ship) that is facing a doomed future.

Our protagonist Jack seems to get himself into trouble because he's a selfish and headstrong idiot that doesn't think through the consequences of his actions. He lurches from one predicament to another on this strange alien world until he encounters a travelling companion, a frontiersman by the unlikely name of Krotch (I kid you not) and his fortunes seem to be on the up. His character does start to develop along the way.

A quest ensues for the god Pel'chen to see if a hope of saving the people of Kerim can be found.

Rather flowery prose at times and a simple tale all told, I remembered most of the plot from decades ago and that must mean something in its favour. The language and attitudes expressed are obviously of their time but this doesn't lessen the enjoyment of the story.

4/5 because of the nostalgic feel it gave me.

[Andy]

1ST NEL EDITION.

[SciFiOne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Grade D+