Product Description
The Answer
The Cosmic Computer
Crossroads of Destiny
Day of the Moron
Dearest
The Edge of the Knife
Flight From Tomorrow
Four-Day Planet
Genesis
Graveyard of Dreams
He Walked Around the Horses
Hunter Patrol
The Keeper
Last Enemy
Little Fuzzy
Lone Star Planet
The Mercenaries
Ministry of Disturbance
Murder in the Gunroom
Naudsonce
Null-ABC
Omnilingual
Oomphel in the Sky
Operation R.S.V.P.
Police Operation
Rebel Raider
The Return
A Slave is a Slave
Temple Trouble
Time and Time Again
Time Crime
Uller Uprising
... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

32 Short Stories and books + 1
I have been collecting H. Beam Piper stories for a number of years. This is a wonderful collection of short stories and novels that I had not seen in print (read them all).While the title states this is 32 books, most are short short stories.Also, due to an editing error, where a short story does not have a break.It also includes a 33 book, the novel Space Viking.The books are: Little Fuzzy, The Cosmic Computer, Space Viking, and the Uller Uprising.It contains a couple short books, Four Day Planet, and Lone Star Planet.The remainder are a set of hard to find short stories.If you are an H. Beam Piper fan, this is a good one for your collection.

Speaking of misleading ...
Found another misleading item:I didn't get a Table of Contents with mine.Maybe you don't get a TofC when you buy it for your 'Kindle for PC' ...

Misleading
Sci Fi publishers have been trying to disguise short story collections as novels for some time but to call this 32 "books" is flat-out misrepresentation. I knew that when I bought it, inasmuch as dear old H.Beam never wrote 32 books in his abbreviated career. But that doesn't make the misrepresentation any better.

Having said that, it is still a worthwhile collection, although I think the Table of Contents should have been better edited to make clear which are stories, which novellas and which are novels. It's a shame Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen is not included.

Oldies and goodies
Little Fuzzy is here but Lord Kalvan is missing.Many of his other "time" stories are represented as well as some non-science-fiction tales.Of particular interest to me was the short biography of Mosby.
H. Beam Piper has the ability to tell a story simply and clearly and yet deal with subjects that can be convoluted and twisted.
If you are a returning reader, you will feel at home immediately.If you are a new reader, settle back for some fun.
... Read more

Product Description
Blurbs for books. Days are we write so many of them we could just . . . well. But it's clear we aren't the only ones who feel this way.

H. Beam Piper sold "Crossroads of Destiny" to Fantastic Universe Science Fiction, which published it in their July 1959 issue. "No wonder he'd been so interested in the talk of whether our people accepted these theories!" they said of the story. We aren't at all certain what they meant by that, but you'll probably have a clue.

The blurb for "Hunter Patrol" (Amazing Stories, May 1959 -- a collaboration with John J. McGuire) is equally oblique: "Readers who remember the Hon. Stephen Silk, diplomat extraordinary, in Lone Star Planet (FU, March 1957), later published as A Planet for Texans (Ace Books), will find the present story a challenging departure -- this possibility that the history we know may not be absolute. . . ."

On the other hand, when "Dearest" appeared in Weird Tales, inMarch, 1951, the folks at that magazine blurbed it, "Many men have dreamed of world peace, but none have been able to achieve it. If one man did have that power, could mankind afford to pay the price?" An interesting thought, we say. And it seems to us that they had a lot more to say about the story than the SF mags did (above).

On the other other hand (it makes us feel like such Moties to say that), when True: The Man's Magazine, published "Rebel Raider" in December 1950 they said, "Jeb Stuart left John Singleton Mosby behind Northern lines 'to look after loyal Confederate people.' But before the war was over, Mosby did a lot more than that. . . ." (We think they actually read the piece before they published it, by golly!)

And on the last hand of all, there's no evidence that anybody at the house that published The Science-Fictional Sherlock Holmes, (1960 -- another collaboration with John J. McGuire) even read "The Return" -- they didn't say a word about it! Harrumph. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Great Collection From a Great Author
I make it a point to collect nearly everything H. Beam Pipe, and this is a great collection of his shorter stories.

Piper was a very good writer and definitely a product of his time.His books are heavy on individualism and self-reliance, combined with old-fashioned space opera of the best sort.Some stories are clunkers but most are at least enjoyable and a couple are superb, showing clearly early ideas he expanded on later in his novels.

A great collection of stories from a sadly deceased author.Recommended.

Some of Piper's more unusual and hard-to-find tales
With the transition of much of H. Beam Piper's work into the public domain publishers like Aegypan Press have finally begun to bring Piper's work back into print and for that fans of Piper owe them a debt of gratitude.This collection provides an introduction to some of Piper's most unusual tales.The title story illustrates the parallel worlds idea upon which Piper's Paratime setting is based without any appearances by the Paratime Police who are central to the yarns contained in The Complete Paratime."Hunter Patrol" is an odd, chilling, and sometimes silly telling of the classic science-fiction "what if you could change the past" time travel tale that uses a theme popularized decades later in the film Groundhog Day."Dearest" is a mystery yarn of sorts about an aging gentlemen who is assisted in his struggles with conniving would-be heirs by a supernatural entity."The Return," co-authored with John J. McGuire, chronicles the encounter of survivors of a nuclear war with an isolated community that has chosen a rather intriguing pre-war fictional character as their moral compass.Perhaps the best thing about this collection is the first-ever reprinting of "Rebel Raider," Piper's historical account of Confederate guerilla John Singleton Mosby.

Finally, this book uses the cover art from the May 1959 issue of Amazing Science Fiction Stories in which Piper's "Hunter Patrol" was first published which is an odd choice because this is _not_ an illustration from that story!

Also recommended by Piper are Uller Uprising, Murder in the Gunroom, Time Crime, Four-Day Planet, Little Fuzzy, Space Viking, and The Cosmic Computer. ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

H. Beam Piper's Murder in the Gunroom.
For you murder mystery fans this is an excellent whodunit set in the early fifties. If you are a fan of Piper you will enjoy this book. ... Read more

Product Description
NOTE: This edition has a linked "Table of Contents" and has been beautifully formatted (searchable and interlinked) to work on your Amazon e-book reader, Amazon Desktop Reader, and your ipod e-book reader.

The Terro-Human Future History is Piper's detailed account of the next 6000 years of human history.1942, the year the first fission reactor was constructed, is defined as the year 1 A.E. (Atomic Era). In 1973, a nuclear war devastates the planet, eventually laying the groundwork for the emergence of a Terran Federation, once humanity goes into space and develops antigravity technology.

It's important to note that many of these stories work fine as stand-alone books and you don't necessarily have to read them in order.

The story "The Edge of the Knife" (Book One) occurs slightly before the war, and involves a man who sees flashes of the future. It links many key elements of Piper's series.

Most of the stories take place during the next millennium, during the age of the two Federations. Most notable among these novels Little Fuzzy, which concerns the recognition of a peculiar alien species as sapient, and the efforts of the two species to learn to live together on the Fuzzies' home adopted world of Zarathustra.

The Federation collapses in the System States War and following Interstellar Wars (a bit of which can be seen in Book Eight: The Cosmic Computer), leading to a lengthy time of instability, during which there is no central human power. Space Viking is set in this chaotic period.

Piper's future history resemble in some ways Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, and was probably influenced by it.

This volume includes two of the most loved science fiction stories ever written:

Little Fuzzy--The story revolves around determining whether a small furry species discovered on the planet Zarathustra is sapient. Along the way a gentle kind of libertarianism that emphasizes sincerity and honesty is advocated. But things are not as simple or as nice as they appear to be...

Space Viking--One day, a starship rediscovered the Old Federation. Civilization had collapsed, presumably due to the war; many of the planets had regressed to varying stages of semi-barbarism. Taking advantage of the situation, space vikings proceeded to raid the poorly defended Federation worlds over the next three hundred years for loot.

In the face of this isolation and the political instability, Lucas Trask, seeks to avenge his wife's murderer and discover his true destiny...

In this volume:

Book One: The Edge of the Knife
Book Two: Omnilingual
Book Three: Four-Day Planet
Book Four: Uller Uprising
Book Five: Naudsonce
Book Six: Little Fuzzy
Book Seven: Oomphel in the Sky
Book Eight: The Cosmic Computer
Book Nine: Space Viking
Book Ten: A Slave is a Slave
Book Eleven: Ministry of Disturbance
Book Twelve: The Keeper

A must-read for classic sci-fi and pulp-fiction fans! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Best collection on Amazon!!
Folks, this is what I'm talking about! TWELVE books in one book. This is the advantage of e-books and the Kindle--whole interlinked collections that you can carry around without the weight.

Linked table of contents worked awesome and the formatting looks great on my Kindle.

The first H. Beam Piper book I read was Space Viking. Loved it and shortly afterword found Little Fuzzy. This is sci-fi with intelligence! Piper was a brilliant author that committed suicide before his writing got the credit it deserved.

All twelve books are loosely connected because they take place in the same future that Piper dubbed the "Terro-Human Future."

But they do not have to be read in order or anything like that. They aren't really connected by characters or anything, so you can skip around read them out of order.

Space Viking remains my favorite from this collection (think Star Wars with more background and action), followed by the very great "Four-Day Planet" and "Uller Uprising."

But let's not forget the best known, "Little Fuzzy," which is a sci-fi classic about a small sentient species accidentally found on a planet that was set to be destroyed.

All twelve books are great and many of them I never would have found if it weren't for this collection. Makes the Piper suicide all the more tragic--he was a great writer. Classic science fiction at it's best. For less than a dollar? Oh yeah.... ... Read more

Product Description
H. Beam Piper is one of science fiction's most enigmatic writers. In 1946 Piper appeared seemingly from out of nowhere, already at the top of his form. He published a number of memorable short stories in the premier science fiction magazine of the time, Astounding Science Fiction, under legendary editor John W. Campbell. Piper quickly became friends with many of the top writers of the day, including Lester Del Rey, Fletcher Pratt, Robert Heinlein and L. Sprague de Camp. Piper also successfully made the turn from promising short story writer to major novelist, authoring Four-Day Planet, Cosmic Computer, Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen and Little Fuzzy, which was nominated for a Hugo award.Even those who counted Piper among their friends knew very little about the man or his life as a railroad yard bull in Altoona, Pennsylvania. This biography illuminates H. Beam Piper, both the writer and the man, and answers lingering questions about his death. Appendices include a number of Piper's personal papers, a complete bibliography of Piper's works, and an essay on Piper's Terro-Human Future History series. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Carr's Piper Biography is an Unqualified Success!
In his preface to _H._Beam_Piper:_A_Biography_ John F. Carr lays out his intended task: "very little was known about H. Beam Piper the man . . . [and] I intend to lift this veil of secrecy from Piper's life and show my readers the real H. Beam Piper beneath his carefully created facade."In this task Carr succeeds tremendously.We learn more about H. Beam Piper in Carr's biography than has every been available before, including a remarkable insight into the inner mind of the author whose life ended tragically in suicide in 1964 after writing such science-fiction classics as Space Viking, Little Fuzzy, Junkyard Planet, and Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen.

One of the most fascinating things about Carr's biography is the way it dispels so many of the myths which have surrounded Piper and corrects much of the hyperbolic and appreciative overstatement which has been proffered by Beam's admirers over the years.Carr shows us Piper the man, Piper the writer, rather than the facade which Piper himself worked so hard to maintain during his life and which has unfortunately endured among his fans and admirers long after his death.

Carr's success is in no small part due to his unprecedented access to a variety of primary materials, including "The Early Letters," a compilation of correspondence between Piper and his good friend Ferd Coleman, and "Piper," an unpublished manuscript written by Mike Knerr, a Piper protege of sorts who was called to the scene of Piper's suicide.Carr quotes extensively from these sources, which provide a wealth of insight into Piper as observed by those who knew him personally, but this reviewer often found himself wanting Carr to add more analysis of these observations himself, giving the reader better advantage of Carr's own insights gained through a lifetime of study of Piper and his work.

This biography is clearly the definitive work on H. Beam Piper and fans of this underappreciated writer owe John F. Carr a debt of gratitude for his efforts.In addition to this new biography, Carr has co-authored three sequels to Piper's Paratime novel _Lord_Kalvan_of_Otherwhen_: Great Kings War, Kalvan Kingmaker, and Siege of Tarr-Hostigos.

Those who are less familiar with Piper's work can find an excellent introduction in Terro-Human Future History Stories from H. Beam Piper.Other Piper works include the anthologies Paratime, Federation, Empire, and The Worlds of H. Beam Piper, all edited by Carr. ... Read more

Product Description
NOTE: This edition has a linked "Table of Contents" and has been beautifully formatted (searchable and interlinked) to work on your Amazon e-book reader, Amazon Desktop Reader, and your ipod e-book reader.

These are the classic H. Beam Piper stories of the Paratime Police, a law enforcement organization which has learned how to move between parallel universes with alternate histories. They must also protect the secret of paratime travel.

In the Paratime universe, there are an infinite number of timelines, but in each timeline, events occurred differently. They are grouped into five Levels, based on the probabilities of success of an attempt by Martians to colonize Earth 75,000 to 100,000 years ago. They use this time-traveling ability to trade for goods and services which their own, exhausted Earth cannot provide.

In this volume:

Book One: Genesis

Book Two: Police Operation

Book Three: Last Enemy

Book Four: Temple Trouble

Book Five: Time Crime

A must-read for classic sci-fi and pulp-fiction fans! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Short Stories, not novels
This is a collection of five short stories, not novels. As far as I can tell, Piper did actually write a paratime novel called Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen.He also wrote a few collections of paratime stories.The five stories in this collection together translate roughly into a 250 page book, hardly five novels.

Anyway, as for the stories themselves, I enjoyed them.I love pulpy 50s sci-fi, where they will have space ships and flying cars, and ray guns, but people still use magnetic tape dictation machines and are sexist and smoke...a lot.

This collection includes the original illustrations that came with the stories, which are neat.Definitely worth the price. This is what the Kindle was born for. Out of print (out of copyright in this case) stories.Publishers get with the program.

Finally, the orginal version of these books...
This volume as all five novels of the Paratime collection. These are the orginal versions--the way the author orginally wrote them. Most other copies are the heavily edited versions.

Most people know Piper from his Little Fuzzy books. This is a whole
different style of book. Great writing and surprise twists throughout. It's a great riff on time travel and the implications that are involved.

The first three novels are the strongest, but the last two hold up very well, so it's very nice to get them all in one volume.

Formatting and table of contents looked and worked great on my Kindle. Great sci-fi from one of the period's best writers.

These may not be the editions you're looking for.

There's a bewildering mix of H. Beam Piper works for the Kindle. I found this one from a mention on tor.com's blog. These are the magazine versions of the stories, and I suspect this edition is a compilation of the public domain versions from Project Gutenberg (gutenberg.org).

However, for less than a dollar, these are some of the best SF writing of the 50s and 60s. ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Kindle DL...and FREE!!
Great story! I read this years ago ans reading it again was like seeing an old friend after a long absence. Wish the rest of the Fuzzt Series was available for the Kindle! ... Read more

Product Description
More than three decades ago, H. Beam Piper's bestselling science fiction novel Little Fuzzy captivated readers everywhere. Now, all three of Piper's delightful books are available for the first time in one volume: Little Fuzzy, Fuzzy Sapiens and Fuzzies And Other People. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

so... why a land rush once they figure out the planet already belongsto someone??
I like the stories, despite the glaring anachronisms.Those were to be expected since the whole thing was written before I was even born, but the underlying logic of the treatment of occupied vs unoccupied planets seems completely stupid to me.Oh look, a nice unoccupied planet, let's restrict access.Gee whiz, there are intelligent natives, let's all stampede across the globe.

Every time I read the fuzzy books this trips me up and flings me out of the world Piper was trying to create.It must have made sense to the author in some strange way, but I can't for the life of me imagine why.Oh well.

Rare Jewels
A delightful discovery awaits you. Buy this book that contains the three Fuzzy novels.You will find yourself drawn into a story that grabs you and will have you wanting more.Just buy it.You don't have to thank me...just do it!

Fuzzies are great
I have all the books on the Fuzzies, and love them all.H. Beam Piper really knows how to tell a story about these cute little Fuzzy Sapients.First time I read about them, I fell in love with Little Fuzzy and the whole clan.

Dated, but a good yarn nonetheless
The Complete Fuzzy is an anthology of Piper's three "Fuzzy" books: Little Fuzzy, Fuzzy Sapiens, and Fuzzies and Other People. The books center around Jack Holloway, frontier sunstone prospector on the colonial planet Zarathustra, and his new friends, a race of newly-discovered creatures dubbed Fuzzies. They're bipedal, roughly human-proportioned even though they're only about knee-height, covered in fur, and more intelligent than their evident lack of speech may indicate. The very possibility that these creatures are a race of sentient beings threatens the monopoly of the Chartered Zarathustra Company, a quasi-governmental entity that owns the planet Zarathustra outright, in the first of the three books. In the second, a group is kidnapping Fuzzies, and the race is on to find out who and why. In the last book, the Fuzzy kidnappers are on trial, and the prosecution hinges on testimony from the kidnapped Fuzzies. However, Fuzzies don't know how to lie, therefore the truth detection systems known as veridicators cannot be proven to tell when they are lying. On top of this, Little Fuzzy, the first Fuzzy ever found, is missing from a sunstone digging site, and presumed dead.

Futurist sci-fi writers are in the unenviable position of predicting future technologies. Even Arthur C. Clarke, one of the greatest, best-known, and most scientifically-grounded sci-fi authors of all time, wrote that by 2001 we would have a permanent outpost on the moon, manned missions to the outer planets, mind/machine interface, and artificial intelligence. Piper had an even greater disadvantage; his books were written in the 50's and early 60's. He never saw a man land on the moon (Spaceflight in general was only a few years old when he was first published). He never saw the technological marvel that is the integrated circuit, which revolutionized science fiction faster than the computers they were based on. Piper's works were written in an era of science fiction not far removed from Flash Gordon.

As an understandable consequence, some predictions of the future that are evident in The Complete Fuzzy are laughable. Virtually no one today can envision the future 600 years from now being anything remotely like Piper's books. Even though the world of Piper's future has interstellar travel, anti-gravity, and video communication, tobacco smoking is still a cultural pursuit, cocktail hour is a quasi-religious custom, gunpowder cartridges still power weapons, and zippers are a fashion statement. Computers are still largely mechanical devices taking up huge rooms. Voice is recorded on magnetic tape and recordings are transferred audibly across videoscreen connections at "sixty-speed", similar to dubbing. And the colonial worlds, of which the Fuzzy series deals mostly with the planet Zarathustra, are the new Wild West in the literal sense.

Piper also has a style of futurism similar to his contemporaries in that, even though there are alien races, humankind is the most intelligent and advanced race of anything discovered. Most of the science fiction written in Piper's time either takes this stance, or leave out alien races altogether, making space a vast empty playground for humans. Later generations scoff at this; our solar system is relatively new in the universe (Piper couldn't know this either) and we relatively new to this planet; odds are that any intelligent life we encounter in the cosmos will be more advanced than ourselves.

Regardless of this, there are some fundamental human stories that stand up through ages. People with power who don't want to lose it, people standing up for the little guy in the face of those who would exploit them and their world, and the fundamental human nature of greed. The "Wild West with anti-grav" setting of the stories seems cheesy now, but actually serves as an exciting backdrop for the action that takes place. It seems that no novel is complete anymore without armed conflict, whether between planes, ships, spaceships, or two men with six-shooters, and this is a place where Little Fuzzy doesn't disappoint. The three books together also shine as courtroom dramas, hingeing on questions that have yet to be answered in science-fact: what is the definition of sentient life? How do you test for sentience? And perhaps most importantly, what are the rights under law of a race of cute fuzzy intelligent beings?

And the Fuzzies are perhaps Piper's most darling creations: cute, intelligent, and totally innocent, with no knowledge of deception or evil (As a character in the books puts it, "You can't lie to your environment, and if you lie to yourself about it, it kills you"). There are also some very poignant comments on current affairs: "That was the trouble with being in an irresistible position for so long; you didn't expect resistance".

The books are dated; it's near impossible to write a sci-fi piece that stands up to 40 years of the kinds of technological advances we've had. It's possible the next generation of sci-fi readers, who grew up watching DVDs and listening to CDs and MP3s, will find this novel impossible to grasp due to its ancient technology. But for now, the generation that grew into the digital age rather than being born into it will find this a nostalgic look at the future that was.

One great book, one mediocre book, one unfinished book
3 books in one volume. The first book in the series is the best. Compelling characters,uplifting eco-friendly "people vs corporation" plot.

The excitement of finding that first sapient life, that we are not alone.. It strikes a universal chord. And the Little Fuzzys are so darn cute. That newness of finding and getting to know the "aliens" loses some of its luster over the next two books. I wouldn't recomend buying the "complete" unless you are already a big fan and need to replace your copies of the books.

While the actual plot is a little formulaic, the characters and situations are very believable. Unlike another reviewer who thought any advanced technological civilization would not have guns, liquor, or imperfections like obesity or old age..I feel it makes the characters and situations much more real. If all the "new" drugs of the past 500 years have not supplanted liquor, tobacco, or caffiene as the drug of choice... why would another 500 years change that. ... Read more

Product Description
This Halcyon Classics ebook contains thirty-three works by American science fiction writer Henry Beam Piper (1904-1964).He is best known for his extensive Terro-Human Future History series of stories and a shorter series of "Paratime" alternate history tales.This collection contains several of his most noted works, including LITTLE FUZZY and SPACE VIKING.

This ebook is DRM free and includes an active table of contents for easy navigation.


Novels:

Little Fuzzy
Four-Day Planet
Lone Star Planet
Murder in the Gunroom
Time Crime
Uller Uprising
The Cosmic Computer
Space Viking
Null-ABC

Short Stories:

Crossroads of Destiny
Dearest
Flight From Tomorrow
Genesis
Graveyard of Dreams
He Walked Around the Horses
Hunter Patrol
Last Enemy
Ministry of Disturbance
Naudsonce
Omnilingual
Oomphel in the Sky
Operation RSVP
A Slave is a Slave
Day of the Moron
Police Operation
Rebel Raider
Temple Trouble
The Answer
The Edge of the Knife
The Keeper
The Mercenaries
The Return
Time and Time Again
... Read more

Product Description
32 of the best H. Beam Piper novels and short stories in one collection, with active table of contents:

The Answer
The Cosmic Computer
Crossroads of Destiny
Day of the Moron
Dearest
The Edge of the Knife
Flight From Tomorrow
Four-Day Planet
Genesis
Graveyard of Dreams
He Walked Around the Horses
Hunter Patrol
The Keeper
Last Enemy
Little Fuzzy
Lone Star Planet
The Mercenaries
Ministry of Disturbance
Murder in the Gunroom
Naudsonce
Null-ABC
Omnilingual
Oomphel in the Sky
Operation R.S.V.P.
Police Operation
Rebel Raider
The Return
A Slave is a Slave
Temple Trouble
Time and Time Again
Time Crime
Uller Uprising
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Calling all Piper fans
As a long-time fan of H. Beam Piper's stories, I was thrilled to get this large collection of his writing. Some are works I have read in the past, often distant past; others are new to me. They are all filled with Piper's spot-on view of human nature and how mature, honest people should act, both with each other, and with those who are . . . not like that. Even more than that, these tales showcase Piper's talents as a story-teller. He could write with a deliberate style, building the tension up to the climax, and was just as good at stepping up the pace enough to please any video-game junkie. His characters are timeless, even though their actions in a few of the short stories set in his (mid-twentieth-century) era seem odd because those societal conditions are long gone. Piper was not easily categorized; he could write in different styles. But they are all eminently readable. ... Read more

Product Description

excerpt from CHAPTER I:

Customer Reviews (2)

Absolutely great!
This story stands alone, which is to say that is it is not in Piper's Terro-Human Future History or Paratime milieus. New Texas was founded when the whole ornery state of Texas built themselves spaceships and headed out to the new frontier - space. But now, these rugged and independent New Texans are the target of an expansive race of extraterrestrials, and it's up to the Solar League's ambassador to guide them back into Earth's embrace. Well, mister, it's going to take one tough and wily ambassador to steer the New Texans - but is Stephen Silk that tough and that wily?

This story is absolutely great! H. Beam Piper (1904-64) is one of the little recognized greats of science fiction. He was an expert at creating fascinating worlds that were both fantastic and yet utterly believable, and this story shows his writing ability off to great effect. If you like good sci-fi, then you will like this book. If you are a fan of H. Beam Piper, then it is a must-have!

H.L. Mencken and his influence on science fiction
...
Originally published as A PLANET FOR TEXANS in the magazine FANTASTIC UNIVERSE (Vol. 7, No. 3, March 1957), this novella was expanded by John J. McGuire and published as a short novel in 1958.

This work is a clear and obvious tribute to H.L. Mencken's classic essay "The Malevolent Jobholder" (from THE AMERICAN MERCURY, June 1924), in which Mencken proposed:

"...that it shall be no longer malum in se for a citizen to pummel, cowhide, kick, gouge, cut, wound, bruise, maim, burn, club, bastinado, flay, or even lynch a [government] jobholder, and that it shall be malum prohibitum only to the extent that the punishment exceeds the jobholder's deserts. The amount of this excess, if any, may be determined very conveniently by a petit jury, as other questions of guilt are now determined."

In 1999, the novel won the Prometheus Award, Hall of Fame Award for Best Classic Libertarian SF Novel. This tongue-in-cheek tale features a planet of Texans whose dinosaur-sized cattle have to be herded with tanks and helicopers, and whose system of government derives its character from Mencken's essay.

The protagonist is an insubordinate Terran junior diplomat who is appointed as ambassador to this cantankerously independent planet in the hope that he will be assassinated (as the previous ambassador had been), thereby justifying the forcible invasion and conquest of the Texans. The crux of the story is the trial of the previous ambassador's assassins - actually paid killers hired by an alien empire also planning invasion - under a legal system that considers the killing of a practicing politician to be justifiable homicide.

An interesting premise, carried out with typical '50s-style space opera ingenuity and light-hearted disrespect for government authority.
--
... Read more

Product Description
From the creator of the Terrohuman Future History and the bestselling Fuzzy novels come all the classic Police Paratime stories in one volume. Includes the original Paratime, which introduced the elite time-traveling police force, and Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen, the story of a state trooper's conquest of a parallel Earth. The Complete Paratime is a grand science fiction experience. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

The Complete Paratime
I found this book very entertaining and engrossing. The male characters although stereo typical of the 1950s or early 1960s (cigarette smoking macho men) are well rounded and have detailed personalities. The women are slightly dated as well. The women are as capable and as dangerous and deadly as the males, Beautiful, sexy but bland personalities and always secondary characters. Personally I found the characters to be entertaining, even if they weren't politically correct and everyone was a smoker. Piper not only names the concept of paratime for us but he gives an excellent explanation and description of his concept parallel time lines. He combines it into a form that allows for atories of parallel worlds and alternate histories.Pipers concept of time lines allow for a variety of storylines past, present, and futuristic.

How unfortunate for those of us who have enjoyed his writing that he chose to discarnate. I hope he gave us all of the stories he wanted to share with us.

Myself, I hope the volitionist theory is correct. I certainly don't want to deal with reincarnation and Karma.

OK but felt ripped off
This book includes LAST ENEMY, TIME CRIME, TEMPLE TROUBLE, HE WALKED AROUND THE HORSES and POLICE OPERATION. I would have saved my money for another book as I had read the others. Amazon should list titles of stories in a book they have for sale.
Still great Beam reading.

Alternate Historicians Reincarnations Science Fiction
Eric Meeks - Author of the Author Murders says:

I never knew this author before I read these stories but the premise of sliding sideways through timelines was a unique enough concept. It reminded me of the string theory of time whereby there are many alternations of the same timeline.

H. Beam Piper wrote a captivating storyline which held my attention throughout a week a reading and it usually takes me three weeks to finish a book. It's actually a collection of short stories centering on a single storyline and one main character.

Good police work, good science fiction all wrapped into one. I'll definitely look for more books by this author.

Eric Meeks
The Author Murders

A treat for Alternate Historicians
Eric Meeks - Author of the Author Murders says:

I never knew this author before I read these stories but the premise of sliding sideways through timelines was a unique enough concept. It reminded me of the string theory of time whereby there are many alternations of the same timeline.

H. Beam Piper wrote a captivating storyline which held my attention throughout a week a reading and it usually takes me three weeks to finish a book. It's actually a collection of short stories centering on a single storyline and one main character.

Good police work, good science fiction all wrapped into one. I'll definitely look for more books by this author.

Eric Meeks
The Author Murders

Policing Realities
"The Complete Paratime" collects all the works from H. Beam Piper that deal with paratime, i.e. the existence of alternate universes and people either accidentally or purposefully crossing from one to another.This collection, published in 2001, contains a previous collection called "Paratime", which was published in 1981.The previous collection included five stories.Also included is the novel called "Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen" which was originally published in 1965 and itself was a collection of two previously published stories along with a new one.

"He Walked around the Horses" is Piper's first paratime story, and doesn't directly fit with the other stories collected in this book.This novelette was first published in April of 1948, and is the story of a British envoy to the court of Austria who vanished while en route from Vienna to Hamburg in 1809.The story is cleverly told as a series of statements from witnesses as being reported by the Minister of Police.

"Police Operation" is the first story to feature Verkan Vall, a Paratime policeman who in tracing someone, learns that they have broken the law by bringing along a pet from another time-line, which ultimately threatens to reveal the existence of paratime.This is another novelette which was first published in July of 1948, and it serves as a good introduction to the Paratime Police and Verkan Vall, both of which are present in the rest of the stories in this collection.

"Last Enemy" is perhaps the best of the stories in this collection.This novelette was first published in August of 1950.This novelette brings in the character of Dalla, and is an interesting story involving a time-line where reincarnation is considered an established fact.This is his only story which involves a Second Level time-line, which means a civilization nearly as advanced as that of the First Level. This story was nominated in 2001 for the Retro-Hugo for novelettes written in the year 1950.

"Time Crime" is the novella story, which was first published in February and March of 1955.The story involves a criminal slave ring operating out of the First Level.This is the longest individual story of the series, although the joining of the three Lord Kalvan stories did create one longer work.Much of this story deals with the First Level, which makes it very different than the other stories.

"Temple Trouble" is a novelette which was first published in April of 1951.In this story the Paratime Police are called in to help fix a problem with a commercial venture, only to find that there may be a bit more to the problem than they originally thought.

"Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen" is a novel created out of three pieces of shorter fiction.The first was called "Gunpowder God", in which Corporal Calvin Morrison is accidentally taken from the "Earth" time-line to a Fourth Level time line.There his knowledge of how to make Gunpowder makes him looked at as a powerful sorcerer, and a potential threat to the Paratime Police.This novelette was first published in "Analog" in November of 1964.The second part is "Down Styphon", which picks up the story where it was left off, and covers the war between Hostigos and Nostor.This novelette was first published in "Analog" in November of 1965.The last section, as far as I know, was never published apart from being the conclusion of the entire novel.Here Kalvan becomes the great King Lord Kalvan in pursuing his war against Styphon.

This is an interesting series of stories, and there is a good variety of themes explored in them as well.I would definitely recommend this to fans of Piper, as it is an interesting blend of science fiction and fantasy.
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Customer Reviews (7)

A gem!
This third book in Piper's wonderful Fuzzy series picks up almost immediately after Fuzzy Sapiens. With the trial of the Fuzzy kidnappers coming up, all the friends of this newly discovered sentient race are hoping for a decisive conviction. However, the kidnappers' lawyer, Hugo Ingermann, has a few aces up his sleeve, the biggest ace being that a standard lie detected will now show when a Fuzzy is lying, making their testimony inadmissible. The biggest problem seems to be that Fuzzies do not understand the concept of lying, so now the race is on to find a Fuzzy that can lie.

This book was written before H. Beam Piper's tragic suicide in 1964, and was subsequently lost. Later found in an old trunk, it was published in 1984, and what a gem it is! Written with the same gentleness as the first two books in the series, this one also starts out somewhat slowly, and then picks up speed, reaching its final crescendo with the final court case. As a matter of fact, I must say that my favorite part of the book comes when we see the court case through the eyes of Hugo Ingermann!

This is an excellent book, a worthy addition to the library of H. Beam Piper books. He was a great author, and his death was truly our loss. If you are a fan of H. Beam Piper, then you really MUST get this book!

Another case on the frontier of colonial law
"They don't even know that lying is possible. They don't have anything to lie about naturally. Their problems are all environmental, and you can't lie to your environment; if you try to lie to yourself about it, it kills you. I wish their social structure was a little more complicated; lying is a social custom. I wish they'd invented politics!"
- Leslie Coombes, chief counsel for the Charterless Zarathustra Company (CZC), in this book

This 3rd Fuzzy novel was first published in 1984 - twenty years after Piper's death, which left his estate in such a mess that the manuscript had been lost for most of that time. Consequently, the two farmed-out Fuzzy novels of the early 1980s - Tuning's FUZZY BONES and Mayhar's GOLDEN DREAM - were written to be consistent only with Piper's first two Fuzzy novels, not with this one, although they don't overlap in time.

The first chapter serves as a refresher for those who've had a long separation from Fuzzy fuzzy holloway - the species now recognized as Fuzzy sapiens zarathustra, the two-foot-tall golden-furred people only just discovered on Zarathustra, 25 years after the planet's discovery, much to the chagrin of the Chartered (now Charterless) Zarathustra Company. The Pendarvis Decisions of the murder trial forming the heart of the first book, LITTLE FUZZY, established not only that Fuzzies are people too, but that legally they have the status of minor children - being super-sane and generally very decent people, they're considered too innocent to cope with the complex snares of human society. Neither side of the human/Fuzzy communication problem understands the other's language and mindset well enough to explain/understand things like ownership of land and so forth. (Fuzzies fortunately live on only one continent, the least explored and most lightly settled.)

However, the Fuzzies' minor-child status is based a reversible judicial opinion, lacking the force of law unless and until it can be enshrined in Zarathustra's soon-to-be-written constitution, although it's been the foundation for all Fuzzy-related policy on Zarathustra in the 6 months since the ruling. It's the reason why the Native Affairs Commission could finance its Fuzzy health and education programs by leasing the Yellowsand sunstone deposits on the Fuzzy reservation back to the CZC.

What were the odds that with so much money at stake, the minor-child status would go unchallenged? Hugo Ingermann, the sleazeball mob lawyer defending the Thaxter/Evins/Novaes attempted robbery from FUZZY SAPIENS, hasn't got a prayer of winning on the burglary and larceny charges, but he hopes to cop a plea to drop the faginy and enslavement charges (they kidnapped a small group of Fuzzies from the wild and forced them to sneak through a security system). He plans to attack the minor-child status by arguing that adult Fuzzies are adult aborigines, and the enslavement charge by claiming that Fuzzies can't legally testify in court, since no Fuzzy test-witness can be found to red-light a veridicator (something much more sophisticated than a polygraph).

For Fuzzies to be proven to be truthful witnesses, their human protectors must first find one Fuzzy that can understand - or be taught - lying. If Fuzzies can't testify under veridication, their testimony's inadmissible - and if they're treated as adults, they can't even appoint a power-of-attorney, since that has to be done under veridication.

Unlike LITTLE FUZZY, here the trial itself - in the new Native Cases court rather than Pendarvis' supreme court - takes up only part of two chapters at the book's end; the issue of veridication has to be figured out one way or the other *before* anybody gets to court, since no competent lawyer would wait until trial to find out about something as important as that, and *all* the lawyers involved, including Ingermann, are *very* competent.

The main action of the book changes viewpoint between several different players. Little Fuzzy himself, the first Fuzzy ever to meet a human, becomes the first to test the Fuzzy education program in the field, when he's caught in a rockslide at Yellowsand and swept downriver into uncharted territory. He links up with an unusually large band of Fuzzies - eight - who've seen signs of humans' presence in the area but disagree on whether to seek out these strange Big People. (Fuzzies are quite intelligent, but have low-paleolithic technology and consequently a limited vocabulary for artifacts; Piper handles the difference between languages in a way that preserves the alien viewpoint.)

On the human side, Ingermann hopes at worst to plea-bargain the capital charges off the table, while Jack Holloway wants to ensure that the precedents set now will get human/Fuzzy relations off to a good start: he wants Ingermann's clients convicted not so much for their own sake as to clearly establish that Fuzzies can't be maltreated with impunity. The various scientific Fuzzyologists get frightening results when they try to explain lying to their two test subjects, since a veridicator doesn't exactly detect truth versus lying as such. (Kraft and Ebbing, named by the psychologists after von Kraft-Ebbing, author of PSYCHOPATHIA SEXUALIS, are a typical example of how humans name Fuzzies, whose own names tend to be Big She, Other She, and so on; since they live in very small hunter-gatherer groups, they tend to be 'hey, you' in practice until they meet the much larger Fuzzy group at Holloway's Camp.)

The Fuzzy-viewpoint scenes have the same tone, complete with a mix of pidgin Lingua Terra and Lingua Fuzzy, as those in Piper's earlier works; Mayhar's GOLDEN DREAM took a completely different approach. The problems of this story - complex criminal trial issues but simple constitutional convention issues - are the reverse of those in Tuning's FUZZY BONES, making it very interesting to read them back-to-back.

A gem!
This third book in Piper's wonderful Fuzzy series picks up almost immediately after Fuzzy Sapiens. With the trial of the Fuzzy kidnappers coming up, all the friends of this newly discovered sentient race are hoping for a decisive conviction. However, the kidnappers' lawyer, Hugo Ingermann, has a few aces up his sleeve, the biggest ace being that a standard lie detected will now show when a Fuzzy is lying, making their testimony inadmissible. The biggest problem seems to be that Fuzzies do not understand the concept of lying, so now the race is on to find a Fuzzy that can lie.

This book was written before H. Beam Piper's tragic suicide in 1964, and was subsequently lost. Later found in an old trunk, it was published in 1984, and what a gem it is! Written with the same gentleness as the first two books in the series, this one also starts out somewhat slowly, and then picks up speed, reaching its final crescendo with the final court case. As a matter of fact, I must say that my favorite part of the book comes when we see the court case through the eyes of Hugo Ingermann!

This is an excellent book, a worthy addition to the library of H. Beam Piper books. He was a great author, and his death was truly our loss. If you are a fan of H. Beam Piper, then you really MUST get this book!

Cocktail hour! Silver-based movie film! The 60s in Space!
I first read the Fuzzies books in high school. I was glad to find anotherin the series. And it certainly reads like the real Piper. When you readJules Verne, you're amazed that a writer a hundred years ago could predictthings like weightlessness. When you read H. Beam Piper, you're amazed thata writer thirty-five years ago couldn't predict that anything at all wouldchange. There are so many anachronisms. And then there are quasi-meltingpot names like (get this) Hirohito Bjornsen. Hirohito Bjornsen?!

A natural follow-on
I liked this story.I get a warm 'fuzzy'feeling from the Fuzzy stories,and this one was no exception.If my memory serves me correctly, this wasdone based on Piper's notes, after his death. It was certainly done withPiper's style.Recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Fiction / Science Fiction / General; Fiction / Fantasy / General; Fiction / Science Fiction / General; Fiction / Science Fiction / Adventure; Fiction / Science Fiction / Space Opera; Juvenile Fiction / Science Fiction, Fantasy, Magic; ... Read more

Customer Reviews (24)

Little Fuzzy....gives Big Fuzzies
Read other reviews for synopsis of book....When you read this book, you will keep the copy forever and reread it over and over.You wont give up your copy, but buy other copies for everyone else.Amazing story and characters.

A Squandered Opportunity
Anyone could tell from reading the reviews here or simply glancing at the cover that "Little Fuzzy" is an onslaught of cute.The story, after all, is about a rugged outdoorsman, Jack Holloway, who digs for gems on the planet of Zarathustra.One day he finds his home invaded by a foot-tall being that quickly captures Jack's heart with a bunch of adorable antics: emptying wastebaskets, building tools, watching TV and so forth."Little Fuzzy", as Jack affectionately calls him, soon brings in an entire family and things are going swimmingly until the evil corporation that runs the planet gets wind of it.Problem is, if the planet is inhabited by intelligent beings, then the company loses its charter and its profits, according to interplanetary law.

Now this seems like a good setup for a novel.I was expecting lots of clever action sequences in which the fuzzies with their primitive tools took on the incompetent servants of the wicked corporation villains.Instead, however, the story devolves into a courtroom drama.Yes, it turns out to be mostly about lawyers arguing the definition of sapience.Worse yet, it never even really brings the slightest bit of suspense.The judge is clearly on the side of the good guys from the start, and frankly the bad guys are so heavily beaten down that one almost feels sorry for them.It's certainly true that Piper was a talented writers with a good eye for detail, especially the little things that make characters believable, but there just isn't enough to make "Little Fuzzy" worth reading.

Enjoyable, but simplistic
I did enjoy this book, but it is rather two-dimensional. The only complexity offered by the book was in regards as to how sapience is defined.
I didn't find much mystery or adventure in this story.It's the kind of story that is so sweet and simple that, when you are done, you feel like you're on a sugar high.I just like my sci-fi with a little more complexity.But, despite all of that, it is a quick read and an occasionally sweet/simple story isn't that bad :-)

Great First Contact Story
Jack Holloway works alone in Zarathustra's wilderness, mining rare sunstones and looking after himself.Soon he finds himself looking after a tribe of newly discovered "Fuzzies" as they encounter humans for the first time.Things become interesting as Jack's new friends' appearance threatens the charter of a powerful corporation--and Jack shoots one of its employees defending them.The action moves from the jungle to the courtroom as everyone argues about whether to recognize Fuzzies as sentient beings.

This book is a classic and the first in a series of Fuzzy books written by H. Beam Piper and others.A good tale in its own right, "Little Fuzzy" also explores the overlapping boundaries of practical, scientific, legal and emotional definitions of intelligence.As a sometime psychology instructor, I have encouraged students to read this fairly brief book to stimulate discussion of how psychologists define intelligence.Such discussion also prepares students to understand how scientific psychology and the law have different conceptions of insanity and personal responsibility.

I read this book years ago and recently re-enjoyed it as an audio download.The audio experience highlighted the large number of supporting characters that crowd into the latter half of the story.It seems harder to track and distinguish between them in the audio version.This does not interfere with enjoyment of the story, but is slightly unsettling.I'd advise reading rather than listening for this one.

HooRaa for Little Fuzzy!!!
"Little Fuzzy" is one of my top ten science fiction stories of all time.Since I have read a couple of thousand sf novels and more thousands of short stories and novellas, that is a pretty big compliment!

The book is an excellent read.Jack Holloway is a gem hunter.He is working his claim on a far distant planet when he comes across a small species of alien.This cute creature creates big problems.It appears to be intelligent.Then, another fuzzy is killed.If fuzzies are sapient, that is murder and the Zarathusta Company has just lost a heck of a lot of claims to the planet.The book moves quicly and entertainingly, through the series of adventures that follow, to a satisfactory ending.

Gues what?More books based on Little Fuzzy followed.What fun!

Buy the book.You will be hooked! ... Read more

Product Description
This Halcyon Classics ebook THE JUNKYARD PLANET by H. Beam Piper was originally published in 1963, the year before Piper's death.

In JUNKYARD PLANET, Conn Maxwell returns from Terra to his poverty-stricken home planet of Poictesme, “The Junkyard Planet”, with news of the possible location of Merlin, a military super-computer rumored to have been abandoned there after the last war. The inhabitants hope to find Merlin, which they think will be their ticket to wealth and prosperity. But is Merlin real, or just an old rumor? And if they find it will it save them, or tear them apart?
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Customer Reviews (8)

Read it and you'll reread it.
This is a dual book combining Little Fuzzy and Fuzzy Sapiens, and though I have read it several times, my memory, specifically is a little fuzzy. Charming, heart-warming are keywords that I can attribute to these tales. It deals with our human expansion to the stars and our encountering those little green martians we have always expected. Accept they are not what we have thought.

That have not always been there in their UFO's spying on us, or are part of a xenocidal race that wants our extinction. If anything man wants to see the end of the alien. Perhaps bleeding heart liberals would be the thought of the defender of the Fuzzy, but Piper writes of Fuzzy in such a way as to make then an endearing race. Part little child, part puppy dog, if my memory is correct.

The conflict is that if there are alien intelligences out there, who owns that world. We have see Cherryh look at this from a distance in Downbelow Station, and the same with Weber in On Basilisk Station, but those books were not focused on the thought of someone speaking up for that Alien's rights and ensuring that they are protected. That is the plot line here. We have a company world that wants to exploit the world, we have a native intelligence that needs to be defended working within the system, but unable to articulate for themselves their defense. Hence a really great set of books that led to two additional authors writing books about them, and then years after Piper's death, a third tome being unearthed and published.

Wonderful stories, splendid illustrations
This book is a combination of two of the redoubtable H. Beam Piper's most popular science fiction books: Little Fuzzy (1962) and Fuzzy Sapiens (1964). Little Fuzzy tells the story of a small, furry humanoid's adventures among the humans sharing his world, and how he came to trouble the counsels of the wise and powerful. Fuzzy Sapiens picks up where Little Fuzzy left off, with man's increase in knowledge about the Fuzzy race, and all the surprises it has in store for humanity.

These wonderful stories, coupled with Victoria Poyser's splendid illustrations make for a great immersion into the world of Zarathustra and the Fuzzies. These are two great stories, both of which should be considered classics in the field of science fiction. So, if you are interested in the Fuzzies, and can get this book, then I highly recommend that you do so.

Finished by choice....
When I was in the 6th grade my dad made me read this book and do a 5 page book report. I fought him for almost 2 months. When I finally did start to read it, I couldn't put it down. Now almost 10 years later I can't talk my mom out of his copy so I am getting my own.

Absolutly involving
Some have commented on the dated nature of H. Beam Piper's book, and I must agree, but that is part of the charm of older Sci-Fi. It seems that smoking and hard drinking are cool in Mystery, but unsavory for Sci-fi. The Fuzzy Papers is an involving, and riviting novel. I highly recomend it to fans of a good story. It has a light natured atmosphere, and is hard to put down. Please don't be put off by the name "Fuzzys" perhaps giving the image of Ewoks or such. They are a very well rounded, fleshed out, and alien character.

Wonderful stories, splendid illustrations
This book was created by Ace Books in 1980, and is a combination of two of the redoubtable H. Beam Piper's most popular science fiction books: Little Fuzzy (1962) and Fuzzy Sapiens (1964). Little Fuzzy tells the story of a small, furry humanoid's adventures among the humans sharing his world, and how he came to trouble the counsels of the wise and powerful. Fuzzy Sapiens picks up where Little Fuzzy left off, with man's increase in knowledge about the Fuzzy race, and all the surprises it has in store for humanity.

These wonderful stories, coupled with Victoria Poyser's splendid illustrations make for a great immersion into the world of Zarathustra and the Fuzzies. These are two great stories, both of which should be considered classics in the field of science fiction. So, if you are interested in the Fuzzies, and can get this book, then I highly recommend that you do so. ... Read more

Product Description
This Halcyon Classics ebook SPACE VIKING is set in the distant future, when civilization has collapsed into feudalism and anarchy.

The murder of his wife-to-be on their marriage day sets Lucas Trask on a quest for revenge. With the purchase of a space ship, Trask enters the world of Space Vikings, and begins raiding worlds while simultaneously searching for his beloved's killer. Realizing that raiding is a waste of resources, Trask begins to trade, begins to build a galactic empire, and begins to face the despotic power of his wife's killer.

This ebook is DRM free.
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The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. ... Read more

Product Description
The Cosmic Computer is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by H. Beam Piper is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of H. Beam Piper then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

A bit dated, but still good. not great, but not bad.
Plot you can pick up from other reviewers.

This is a great example of late 60's, early 70's SciFi.The story is fair enough, but facts, names, events, etc. fly by you a bit too quickly for my tastes.A bit too "... and then we blew up their planet, and THEN...."

I found myself wanting to know the characters more, give me a reason to want them to win, but it lacked depth when it came to personalities, high on technical crap.

It's dated in how it refers to technology; 'tape' on computers, lack of cell phone type communication, assumption of large sizes needed for computers... maybe its intended but i kept getting distracted by the terminology. I'm glad there wasn't any steam-powered star cruisers.. lol.

Still, it was good, and I recommend it as a low-cost book.

Still a classic
Even though it's an older title and an older book it arrived in great condition from this seller.
It's one of pipers better stories, One of those rare paperbacks you end up reading cover to cover in one sitting.
Age old story of greed and power that gets to the most humble. Still a classic tale.

A really good adventure book
Wow, where to begin.I first read this as a short story in Piper's Federation when I was a teenager.That story spawned many enjoyable hours of Traveler game play based on that short story.

Now, 28 years later, I find the story just as captivating as I ever did.Funny thing is that I work in the IT industry, and I never seemed to mind the "antiquated" description of computers throughout the story.It is so well written that those references and descriptions just seem to add to the charm of adventure.

If you like well written and straight forward adventures, then I highly recommend this book.

"Meaner Than a Junkyard Robot"
There is a marvelous cover painting by Ed Emshwiller for the February, 1960 issue of _Galaxy_. It depicts a middle-aged woman in shorts and a halter, with her hair in curlers. She is sitting in an old acceleration chair and knitting. A ball of yarn sits on the ground beside her. Behind her is a fence and a sign that says: JENNY'S JUNK: USED SPACESHIPS, SECOND HAND ROBOTS. Inside the fence is a jumble of rockets, space stations, antigravity cars, computers, engines, and robots-- most of them gutted for parts.

I would not want to say that the junkyard is exactly a science fiction archtype, but it is not unknown. Lee Correy's _Contraband Rocket_ (1957) is about a group of rocket buffs who assemble a lunar rocket from raw material from a spaceship junkyard. Robert A. Heinlein's _The Rolling Stones_ (1952) opens with the Stone twins dickering for the shell of a spaceship at a lunar junkyard.

H. Beam Piper probably did the most elaborate treatment in _Junkyard Planet_ (1963), in which he imagines an entire planet of junk that has passed into the public domain. There are legends of a supercomputer named Merlin that may be hidden on the planet. The hero, Conn Maxwell, and his father know that there is no such computer. But in order to raise an expedition to the planet to mine other treasures, they must lie and pretend that Merlin exists.

Piper has a good feel for the difficulties and false starts that must be endured to successfully launch an expedition. He also does well with his picture of the treasures and traps on the junkyard planet itself:

They found the fissionables magazine and in it plenty of plutonium, each sub-critical slug in a five hundred pound collapsium cannister. There were repair-robots, and they only had to replace the cartridges in the power units of three of them. They sent them inside the collapsium-shielded death-to-people area-transmitter to relay what the others picked up through receptors wire-connected to the outside; foreman robots, globes a yard in diameter covered with horns and spikes like old-fashioned ocean-navy mines; worker robots in a variety of shapes, but mostly looking like many-clawed crabs. (111-12)

There are a number of effective twists and turns along the way, and Piper's main theme is sound. Sometimes you need a myth to revitalize a society.

Though _Junkyard Planet_ was written for a juvenile audience, it is comparable in quality to his adult novel, _Space Viking_ (1963) that was written at about the same time. It is solid, well-crafted, and intelligent... but just a little bit routine. _Junkyard Planet_ has sometimes been issued under the much inferior title, _The Cosmic Computer_. Buy it under either title.

One of Piper's best novels
With the transition of much of H. Beam Piper's work into the public domain publishers like Aegypan Press have finally begun to bring Piper's work back into print and for that fans of Piper owe them a debt of gratitude.This novel, set in Piper's Terrohuman Future History, is one of his best.Poictesme (pronounced "pwa-tem") is a backwater planet, its economy crashed in the aftermath of an interstellar civil war, its surface dotted with known and unknown installations from the war.Conn Maxwell, freshly returned from computer studies on Terra (the non-miniaturized technology here will make some readers stumble), leads an exciting search for the fabled lost supercomputer, Merlin, that helped to win the war.In an adventure that takes us across the planet and into the local solar system Conn and his colleagues encounter pirates, Merlin-worshippers, wayward robots, and saboteurs before discovering a long-kept secret that threatens all of interstellar civilization!This is an exciting, tightly-written story that showcases Piper's storytelling at its complex and intricate best.

Other Terrohuman Future History works by Piper include Uller Uprising, Four-Day Planet, Little Fuzzy, and Space Viking. ... Read more