Sleeping Planet and the Condé Nast Analog

In early May I posted on some new arrivals to my collection, including some large format Analog magazines. I was especially happy to get this copy with part one of Burkett's Sleeping Planet as I mentioned below.

  "Earlier, I mentioned how happy I was to get a copy of the SFBC edition of Foundation. It was the centre piece of many of the SF book club ads I had seen in my older books and magazines and it really struck a chord. When I saw this Analog with the Kelly Freas cover for William R. Burkett's Sleeping Planet, an image I have seen reproduced many times, I really had a similar feeling, that my collection had taken on a whole new shape and significance for me. "

https://ajaggedorbit.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2018-05-19T15:25:00-07:00&max-results=5

Since then I have returned to the store on several occasions and picked up more issues including those containing parts 2 and 3 of Sleeping Planet. I also googled to see why the format changed. Wikipedia offered the following explanation. Analog's current publisher Condé Nast also published a number of "slick magazines". 

"All the advertisers in these magazines had plates made up to take advantage of this size, and Condé Nast changed Analog to the larger size from the March 1963 issue to conform. The front and back signatures were changed to glossy paper, to carry both advertisements and scientific features. The change did not attract advertising support, however, and from the April 1965 issue Analog reverted to digest size once again."

What I loved about them is that the covers held up better and the reproduction of the interior illustrations was great. I had only been lukewarm on Freas as an illustrator, but his work on the interiors here is magnificent. So I have included three of those interiors in this post. 

Another often reproduced Freas illustration from part one.

I had planned to do an extensive review of Sleeping Planet here. But Alan Brown, as part of his wonderful series on classic science fiction novels on Tor, has provided an excellent overview here. 

https://www.tor.com/2016/02/23/front-lines-and-frontiers-sleeping-planet-by-william-r-burkett-jr/

So I will just offer some comments. The plot concerns the invasion of Earth's solar system by a race known as the Llralans. The Earth at the time of the story, has colonies on Mars and Venus and the Terran Federation has expanded to a number of other star systems. At one time the two groups coexisted peacefully and movement between the two  empires was possible. Now a vicious war has broken out. The latest assault on Earth and the nearby planet sees the Liraions use a bioweapon that puts Terrans into a state of hibernation for an extended period. This leaves the Liraions free to occupy Earth and demand concessions from the larger Federation. A few humans are unaffected, the most important are Bradford Donovan a truck driver who lost his legs to a wild animal attack and James Rierson a lawyer who is hunting at the time of the invasion. Sleeping Planet is interesting in that an almost equal amount of the story is devoted to the Llralan side, primarily to the commander of their forces, Martak Sarno and their chief of security Drelig Sjilla. I read a paperback version and have to say I found it a bit long, especially the portions devoted to the Llralans which seemed a bit repetitive.   

However I was impressed when I found out that this was really the author's first published science fiction, novel or short story.

from Brown's post on Tor

"One of the remarkable things about this book is the fact that Mr. Burkett wrote it at age 18, and published it at age 20. But despite this auspicious start, he soon turned his attention from fiction to a career in journalism, and then to public affairs. He also did work related to his lifelong love of hunting and the outdoors. After retirement, he turned his attention back to writing SF."

I especially enjoyed the portion involving James Rierson and the robots and the more I thought about it the more impressed I was at the portrayal of Martak Sarno the Llralan commander and the deterioration of his personality over the course of the story, when faced with apparently unlimited power. A worthwhile read in my opinion. 

I also want to encourage you to read Alan Browm's other posts on Tor.com, (The one on Heinlein's Starship Troopers in one of the most insightful and even handed reviews I have read) I will return to Brown's comments on the various authors he encountered in the pages of Analog in another post. 

A Plague of Demons - Keith Laumer

I took a number of SF books to the cabin this summer including the Berkley Medallion edition of A Plague of Demons with the Powers cover. While visiting my wife's family farm, which is down the road, I pillaged the library for SF titles and found the Warner Books edition with the cool skull cover by David Meltzer, these were my wife's books originally so they were not missed,  how could I resist? The back covers, below, combine to give away the entire plot fairly effectively, so be warned!

A Plague of Demons is a very enjoyable read, it is not deathless prose and it is festooned with so many of the standard tropes from the spy and sf genres that it is hard to count them. I had to add a number of labels to cover all the subjects. What I think makes this work for me is the almost breathless pace at which everything unfolds. Laumer gives you your money's worth in 159 pages. 

John Bravais, the protagonist, is a likeable character, reminiscent of the wise cracking but extremely dedicated agent/spy/detective from any number of novels. There are plot twists, hair raising escapes, nifty toys, and really scary demon dogs. Also, while it is not apparent to start, Laumer is moving his character in a very different story arc from the standard genre novel. There will be no blondes with a heart of gold for John Bravais. I have already added Laumer's  A Trace of Memory to my to be read pile.

Spoilers

Plague of Demons starts with fairly standard espionage plot with John Bravais tasked by his handler Felix Severance with investigating the disappearance of soldiers from the battlefield. Warfare is conducted in fairly scripted  battles which are monitored to enforce preset guidelines. Felix's group has determined that more soldiers are missing than
can be accounted for in normal circumstances. The novel follows a fairly standard pattern, Bravais is followed, warned off by the authorities, given brand new top secret gadgets to test etc. What happens next is what takes it into the SF realm. 

Bravais discovers that the brains of some death soldiers are being extracted by large dog "demons" with human hands. When he takes this information to the local general he finds the general is a super strong creature in league with the demons. Not to worry, John returns to Felix who admits he is member of a super secret organization overseeing the welfare of mankind and luckily he is also able to turn John into a a super soldier. What follows is a frantic chase with John menaced by increasing numbers of demon dogs who can move unrecognized by mankind. Felix is killed, John injured, stows away on a ship, is healed in a secret automated base, and eventually is killed along with a sailor he befriended on the ship. Wow what a strange ending, except this is page 109, I did mention there are 159 pages, so now we find out what the demon dogs do with the brains.

If you have read Fritz Leiber's Big Time, feel the thrill of recognition and enjoy or if not prepare to be surprised.