Thursday, December 16, 2021

Harvesting Earthlings for Fun and Profit

Harvesting Earthlings for Fun and ProfitHarvesting Earthlings for Fun and Profit by Philip Raymond Brown
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Highly entertaining mashup of history and sci-fi!

Forty-some years ago my uncle gave me a science fiction anthology. It was a thick red hardback that I read from cover to cover. It inspired a lifelong love of the genre. The stories in that book made me think outside the box. They filled me with awe for the imagination it took to write them. That book still remains in my collection today. The title is OMNIBUS OF SCIENCE FICTION, edited by Groff Conklin, a well-known and prolific editor of the genre. It was published in 1952, the Golden Age of Science Fiction. It’s a substantial volume, 562 pages, with 43 stories divided into sections relating to a common theme. Some stories are fun, some are thought-provoking, and some are adventurous. I love them all.

HARVESTING EARTHLINGS FOR FUN AND PROFIT by Philip Raymond Brown is the hilarious sequel to the authors first book in this series, IT GIVES YOU STRENGTH. Again, this is another mashup fiction of history and sci-fi and the result is nothing short of pure nutty fun! It’s a classy, clever and cockle-warming novel that will have you turning the pages from beginning to end. It really is that good.

The book description gives a sneak preview: ‘In “Harvesting Earthlings for Fun and Profit” it is 1934 and Dr. Zho’s once idyllic planet Dagan is ruled by a brutal dictator. Zho is now a refugee hiding on the primitive planet Earth to escape Dagan. Of course, in 1934 the United States was in the throes of the Great Depression and Dr. Zho experiences a very different America. The book examines those differences while also building the world of Zho’s home planet Dagan, where the Dictator Arixn is using a modified version of the Roman Coliseum to divert the attention of Dagan’s citizens from the fact that their civil rights have been severely eroded. Running low on gladiators for its New Coliseum, the dictator Arixn decides to send a force to “Harvest Earthlings” to fight to the death on Dagan. Zho elicits the help of old friend Major Mike Kelly to stop the Harvesters.’

HARVESTING EARTHLINGS is well-written, satirically lighthearted and exactly the right length to give you excitement and laughs with many surprises along the way, and then it's over, leaving you feeling good but eagerly anticipating more. There aren't many books I'd describe as perfect, but Philip Raymond Brown’s time travel yarns fit the bill. This is a series that also has a distinctly cinematic feel to it. Very highly recommended and a well-deserved five stars from me. Looking forward to reading more in this series.

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1 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this wonderful review of my novel.

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