Keith Laumer


John Keith Laumer was an American science fiction author. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, he was an officer in the United States Air Force and a diplomat in the United States Foreign Service. His older brother March Laumer was also a writer, known for his adult reinterpretations of the Land of Oz. Frank Laumer, their youngest brother, is a historian and writer.

Writing career

Keith Laumer is known for the Bolo and Retief stories. Stories from the former chronicle the evolution of super 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 US Foreign Service. In an interview with Paul Walker of Luna Monthly, Laumer states "I had no shortage of iniquitous memories of the Foreign Service."
In addition to his Bolo and Retief stories, Laumer's more serious adventures included the subjects of time travel and alternate-world adventures such as found in his The Other Side of Time, A Trace of Memory, and Dinosaur Beach.
Four of his shorter works received Hugo or Nebula Award nominations and his novel A Plague of Demons received a nomination for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1966.
During the peak years of 1959–1971, Laumer was a prolific science fiction writer. His novels and stories tend to follow one of three patterns:
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 Dream Makers Volume II, he refused to accept the doctors' diagnosis. He came up with an alternative explanation and developed an alternative treatment program. Although he was unable to write in the early 1970s, he had a number of books published that had been unpublished at the time of the stroke.
In the mid-1970s, Laumer partially recovered from the stroke and resumed writing. However, the quality of his work suffered, and his career declined. In later years, Laumer also re-used scenarios and characters from earlier works to create new books, which one critic felt limited their appeal:
His Bolo creations were popular enough that other authors have written standalone science fiction novels about them.
An anthology "Created by Keith Laumer", Dangerous Vegetables, appeared in 1998. Actually edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Charles G. Waugh, the book's introduction said the book was Laumer's idea but that he had died without completing it.

Model airplane designer

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 Aeromodeller. 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.

Bolo

Books concerning the Bolo self-aware tanks. Co-author book credits also indicated at Bolo.
Satirical adventures of Retief, the galactic diplomat. Most are collections; novels are shown as.
Books set in the Imperium mythos: a continuum of parallel worlds policed by the Imperium, a government based in an alternate Stockholm. In the science fiction novel Worlds of the Imperium, the Imperium is formed in an alternate history where the American Revolution did not occur, and the British Empire and Germany merged into a unified empire in 1900. The protagonist, American diplomat Brion Bayard, is kidnapped by the Imperium because the Brion Bayard in a third parallel Earth is waging war against his abductors. Further adventures follow after Bayard decides to remain in the service of the Imperium.
A comic equivalent of the Imperium mythos, in which the hero has the ability to travel to feudal/magical alternate Earths.

Mad Dog Graphics: ''Keith Laumer's Retief''

  1. Policy
  2. Sealed Orders
  3. Protest Note
  4. Saline Solution
  5. Ultimatum
  6. The Forest in the Sky

    Adventure Comics: ''Keith Laumer's Retief''

  7. The Peace Makers
  8. Ballots and Bandits
  9. Mechanical Advantage
  10. Aide Memoire
  11. Wicker Wonderland

    Adventure Comics: ''Retief and the Warlords''

  1. The Forbidden City
  2. The Castle of Light

    Adventure Comics: ''Retief the Giant Killer''

  3. The Giant Killer

    Adventure Comics: ''Retief: Grime & Punishment''

  4. Grime & Punishment

    Adventure Comics