Keith Laumer
Keith Laumer was an influential American science fiction writer, born on June 9, 1925, in Syracuse, New York. His early life included a mix of education in various colleges and military service, notably in the Army during World War II and later in the Air Force. Laumer's experiences in military and diplomatic roles, particularly in Burma, significantly shaped his writing, which often featured themes of interstellar diplomacy and complex action-adventure plots. He gained recognition for his distinctive works, such as the Jaime Retief series and the novel "Worlds of the Imperium," which explored multi-dimensional warfare.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Laumer produced a diverse array of novels, encompassing both dramatic narratives and humor, as exemplified by "The Great Time Machine Hoax." His writing often delved into the realms of superhumanity and cyborg experiences, reflecting deeper philosophical questions. Despite a prolific and dynamic career, Laumer faced significant health challenges after suffering a stroke in 1971, which impacted his later works. He continued to write until his death on January 23, 1993, in Brookville, Florida, leaving behind a legacy as a prominent figure in the science fiction genre.
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Keith Laumer
Writer
- Born: June 9, 1925
- Birthplace: Syracuse, New York
- Died: January 23, 1993
- Place of death: Brookville, Florida
Biography
Keith Laumer was born on June 9,1925, in Syracuse, New York, and spent his teenage years in Florida. He attended Philips University in Enid, Oklahoma, and Coffeeville Junior College in Kansas before joining the army from 1943 through 1946, serving in Europe before and during the occupation of Germany. He married Janice Perkinson in 1949; they had two daughters before their eventual divorce. He completed his education at the University of Illinois in Urbana, obtaining a bachelor of science degree in 1950, and a bachelor of architecture degree in 1952. He was briefly on the staff of the university before returning to military life, serving in the air force from 1952 through 1956, and again in 1959 through 1965. In between these two tours of duty he was a diplomat in the foreign service in Rangoon, in what was then Burma; his novel Embassy is based on that experience. He was a keen builder of model airplanes, as reflected in his book How to Design and Build Flying Models.
During his second stint in the air force, Laumer began publishing science fiction, drawing on both his military and diplomatic experience to develop robust action/adventure thrillers and comedies of interspecies relationships. Much of his early work was energetically dramatic. A quirky series featuring unorthodox interstellar diplomat Jaime Retief, begun in the 1960’s, attracted particular attention by its distinctiveness; early examples were collected in Envoy to New Worlds and four other collections. His first novel, Worlds of the Imperium, is an extravagant account of war ranging across a continuum of alternative worlds; The Other Side of Time, and Assignment in Nowhere are sequels to this book.
A Trace of Memory was the first of several mysteries involving burgeoning superhumanity, following a pattern pioneered by author A. E. van Vogt; two of Laumer’s other books,The Long Twilight, and The Infinite Cage, were similar mystery tales. The Great Time Machine Hoax was the first book in which Laumer developed his humorous fiction at novel length, and he continued in that vein with a series of enterprising comedies involving adventures in parallel worlds, beginning with The Time Bender. A darker side of his work was elaborately displayed in a series featuring the nightmarish experiences of cyborg soldiers, including the novel A Plague of Demons, and the collections Bolo: The Annals of the Dinochrome Brigade, and Rogue Bolo.
After ten years of high productivity, during which he became one of the leading writers in the science fiction field, Laumer suffered a near-fatal stroke in 1971. He never fully recovered his health, although he fought hard to do so. There was a five- year gap between his disenchanted account of The Glory Game (1973) and his return to accounts of acquired superhumanity in The Ultimax Man (1978). Most of his subsequent books recycled or augmented previous books, and the new fiction he contrived to produce was dispirited by comparison with the remarkable energy of his early work. He died of a stroke on January 23, 1993, in Brookville, Florida, where he had maintained a home base since 1952.