Colin Kapp (1928–2007)

When I bought this book used last week, I had never heard of the author and knew nothing about the book. It just sounded kind of interesting, even though it was somewhat old and probably out of date. Also, it had mediocre ratings on Goodreads. So, imagine my surprise when I opened the book up a couple of days ago and began reading and couldn't put it down! I finished this 252 page book in less than 20 hours, while also reading parts of three other books, and I was astonished at how much I show more loved this book. I think it's pretty damn awesome! Knowing nothing about the author, I looked him up and found he was British and born in the 1920s and is now dead. He wrote mostly in the 1960s and '70s and his works are now virtually impossible to find, except that some are available in Kindle editions. I had hoped this book had a sequel, because the way it ended was perfect for a sequel to come along and finish the story, but it was noted on the man's Wikipedia page as being a standalone book, which was disappointing.

The book is about Hub planet Castalia's Major Dam Stormdragon, who is chosen to go serve as part of the planet's military tithe to Earth, the Mother World, even though he has forebodings, misgivings, and is against everything Earth stands for. Earth has been attacking some of the 50+ Hub (colonized by Earthmen some time ago) planets lately and completely destroying them with planet buster bombs, but the Hub worlds don't know why. We find out later it's merely because Earth is trying to assert its military superiority. Utter stupidity.

When Dam gets to Earth, he is accosted immediately by an arrogant military officer who demands to see his ship and crew's private records, which he is forced to hand over. He's not happy. His commanding officer encourages him to go to the planet for some R&R and he does. And meets a girl in a bar. And goes back to her place. Which is really stupid. Cause he has something to drink ... and wakes up beat up with men with guns surrounding him and the girl lying near him with her head blown off and his gun lying nearby. Accused of murder, he can't escape and no Castalian can help him. He's given a trumped up trial. His lawyer is denied access to represent him. He is drugged so he can't speak for himself. And he's given a death sentence. He can't believe this has happened to him.

Four hours before his execution, a strange man comes to his cell and makes him a strange offer. Surrender his life to him, for all intents and purposes, "die" and cease to exist and become a part of a new, experimental, highly dangerous combat team that is super secret and super elite. Only the toughest make it. The rest die in training. He agrees and is given his death certificate. He's taken to a camp, where he meets a woman named "Absolute," who will become his evil tormentress. She gives him the name of "Lover" and everyone else in the camp has fake names too. It's explained to him that he doesn't know pain, but he will, unlike any he's ever experienced, and that they are involved with a process called para-ion transformations, where people are somewhat magically/scientifically turned ionically into different matter and cease to exist as humans. They become what are known as "ghost soldiers." They are virtually indestructible. No bullets, lasers, grenades, bombs, nothing can harm them. They can take weapons anywhere and annihilate entire planets with 12 man crews because no one can touch them and this is what Earth has been doing to Hub worlds. And this is what Dam will be trained for.

Meanwhile, several Hub worlds have already been destroyed and an agent named, oddly, Liam Liam is trying to gather information about how Earth is doing it so effectively, how they are destroying good defenses, how they are eradicating entire planets. He has the support of the Hub Council, but not the actual planets, which believe that if they stay on Earth's "good side," nothing bad will happen to them. They don't believe Liam when he tells them that Earth's objective is to destroy them all. He spies and sets up cameras and recording devices, sees ghost soldiers at work as they destroy a planet with friends of his as he escapes, but he escapes with footage. Now he has information and that's something. The next time these ghost soldiers go into the interior of a planet, a nuke is set off, blowing the hell out of them. Unfortunately, to Liam's shock, some of them actually survive and he witnesses this and is determined to find out their technology and duplicate it. Because the footage he has shot has identified one of the ghost soldiers and he has confronted the Hub politician who knows this person. So, he knows they are flesh and blood like anyone else. The question is how to get a hold of this technology.

Meanwhile, Dam is put into a mesh suit and sent into a 1200 degree furnace. It's agonizing. Using a technical device, he is ionized and is turned into a ghost soldier. He is transparent. He is lighter, faster, more powerful. But the pain he endured from the heat was ungodly. The torture he's been enduring has been unlike anything he ever expected. Absolute is a sadist. In order to turn back into his human form, Dam has to escape the furnace and get back into another device that will enable him to make the transition. He only has five minutes, or he will start making the transition no matter where he is, including in the furnace. Frantic, he does everything to get out of the furnace, beats it by nine seconds, feels ungodly pain being brought "back to life" again and wonders what's next. And so begins a training regimen. Barriers are erected in the furnace, time limits are shortened, people die, are incinerated before their eyes, they find strength they never knew they had. Finally, Absolute comes to him with a proposition. She tells him he's her best and she wants to make him the leader of a new experiment that will make Earth unbeatable, because the Hub rebels have destroyed two ghost soldier ships lately and kidnapped another, as well as several technicians and Earth military officers feel it's a matter of time before the Hub worlds come up with their own ghost soldiers. Which is exactly what Liam is working on.

Before now, they have had to carry an ungainly, and somewhat heavy pack on their backs to power their ionizations and it's slowed them down and made them vulnerable. Now, it's possible to perform a surgery on a ghost solider where his skin is stripped away, leaving his nerve endings open and vulnerable, and a new, thinner, hardier mesh suit is applied to the body, with its own ionization power packs built it, and the skin is then sewn back on over the mesh suit. It's supposed to be unbelievably painful, but it will make the ultimate killing machine. And Absolute has chosen Dam for this honor. He can't believe it. He thinks she's batshit crazy. He says no freaking way. Then she unbuttons her blouse, takes his hand, places it on her chest, and he can feel metal beneath her skin. Shocked, he realizes she's already undergone this process. He would be the second one. Nonetheless, he states that he merely wants to be a combat solider and refuses to do this. The next morning, he gets a call from her telling him he wins, he's going to be transferred to combat duty and she'll never forgive him. He's to pack his stuff and be ready shortly. Soon, some men arrive, but to his horror, so does Absolute and these men strap him down to a gurney and she leads them off to an operation room. He's been screwed over. All he can think of is "bitch!" At some point, he wakes up, feels some pain, is given a pain killer, goes back to sleep, wakes again, feels more intense pain, like his whole body is burning, is given another pain killer and then Absolute appears. She tells him when she underwent this they had to find out how effective it was and she was given no pain killers and she simply had to endure and from now on, he would get no more pain killers. He can't believe her cruelty. And he's in ungodly, agonizing pain as his nerves graft back together and his skin grows back and meshes with the metal. After a week, he's feeling better, however, and whereas before he was worried about what a freak he would be as a "metal man," now he's almost proud of his indestructibility. Soon, he's going to find out how it works in action.

Earth targets a new Hub planet and, of course, Liam finds out about it. Indeed, it's a trap to get Liam. Liam has figured that out, but he's determined to test his new ghost soldiers against Earth's ghost soldiers and will be there. Dam's unit has a multi-part plan. One ship will land taking some 10 regular ghost soldiers who will descend to the depths where this capital city is located underground and they will be followed by Absolute and Dam, as well as some regular commandos. Absolute and Dam are Earth's secret weapons, because nothing will stand up to them. However, unknown to them, the first group of ghost soldiers has been ingeniously trapped by Liam's crew and he makes an offer for them to switch sides since they're largely all Hub conscripts. All but one do. Finally, Absolute and Dam appear and there's a fight between the opposing ghost soldiers, but then Absolute does something strange. She calls for Liam to come out. He does and she tells him he might be able to save the planet if he takes his men and takes off through space, trying to evade the fleet. She gives him his freedom. He takes it. She and Dam go back up and to everyone's horror, planet busters are sent down, blowing the planet to smithereens.

Absolute is in real trouble though. She's placed under arrest on the mother ship, while Dam wonders about his own future. Suddenly, a section commander approaches the ship, announcing he's taking the prisoner, docks with the ship, and sees Absolute being brought to him. She recognizes Liam, but then Dam ruins everything by appearing with a gun and blowing all to hell and taking the pinace and taking off, while everyone is knocked out by a stun grenade someone threw.

I was near panic as the book was nearly over. How the hell was this going to be finalized? Would Liam escape with Absolute, and how? What would happen to Dam? Would he make it back to a Hub world? Where would the Earth military head next? Really, to find answers to these questions, there aren't many pages left in the book and I thought there was no possible way they could be answered. I thought this was going to simply be a cliff hanger leading to a sequel. But, NO, everything is resolved in just a few short pages, and satisfactorily! Of course, there's still much to be done. A war has to be fought. The Hub worlds have to be brought together. This has all the makings of an awesome sequel. Imagine my bitter disappointment to find there is none. Hell, I feel like writing my own 40 years after this was written. Earth has to be stopped!

This was an action packed, tension filled, technically innovative book that read quickly and was quite entertaining. What more can you ask for? It's not the best sci fi book I've ever read, but it's one of the most satisfying and that says something. I can't recommend this one enough. But good luck finding it because it's out of print. I was lucky to just stumble onto it. If you can find it, give it a chance. I really think you won't be disappointed. Highly recommended. show less

The Survival Game is a pulp fiction story of intrigue and action I’ve read twice and possibly three before. I was much closer to my USMC years the first time and the tale of resourceful earthmen who confront overwhelming adversity and confound powerful star lords resonated with my young persona. In later years, I found the story to be an enjoyable escape that resonated with my no-nonsense approach to solving problems. A week ago, my semi-sporadic revisiting of earlier SciFi favorites show more brought me to this book again. I was surprised and delighted to find strengths I almost certainly overlooked in my earlier, more superficial readings.

Colonel Bogaert, military aid and technical consultant, Miriam, tall, slender, seemingly fragile wife of the King of Kings, and her children, Arma and Zim, are stranded on Avida. Also present is Bethschart, a native of Avida. The planet is so hostile to human life only extreme vigilance and luck will allow a human to survive a single day. Star lord Xzan removed the last 100 inhabitants for use in his army. Bethschart, his assassin, is returned with instructions to kill Bogaert.

On the surface, this is a story of the superiority of earthmen (most likely of Western European descent) to aliens from other solar systems. But such a casual interpretation misses the point. The earthmen triumph because of their philosophical approach to science and knowledge, not innate superiority.
The aliens possessed Ransad, a library of scientific knowledge left behind by an earlier civilization. Ransad allowed them to achieve a technologically advanced state, but it asserted that everything knowable is known.

This stagnating approach to the search for new knowledge has found expression in numerous contemporary settings. Many fundamentalist religions espouse the literal interpretation of their religious texts, leading them to oppose social and scientific advances in knowledge and increased understanding and tolerance of individual differences. This forms the basis for their treatment of women and their opposition to alternative lifestyles. Anti-vaxxers are similar in their rejection of modern scientific findings. The political leadership in the USSR from Lenin to the early 1990s required science and technology to conform to the approved dogma of the communist party. Mendelian inheritance was rejected in favor of Lamarckian interpretations, and the theory of relativity was dismissed as bourgeois idealism. The resistance of many right-wing political parties to scientific findings and social change that does not reinforce their worldview echoes this hostility.

The earth dwellers in Survival Game have a new philosophy that emphasizes the scientific method and an openness to new ideas and research findings that contradict the prevailing view. Much like the protagonists in Andy Weir’s The Martian and Hail Mary, the earthman survives life-threatening situations by using his knowledge of science and his willingness to experiment.

The Survival Game is a story of the triumph of the scientific approach and an openness to gender equality over an unquestioning reliance on tradition.

As a genre, science fiction is a rainbow-hued collage of the inventive range of human creativity. Oh, yes, and many SciFi stories are also swashbuckling pulp thrillers. show less

I didn't finish this book, nor come close, as I was really put off by Colin Papp's overt misogynistic writing style. One of the primary characters in the book is consistently referred to as "Honey-Bitch" and the back cover describes her as "a sadistic bitch-goddess," which I guess should have been a dead give away. I guess I didn't realize it was going to permeate the entire book so sordidly. It's rather nauseating. Why not call the male lead "ball sac?" That might even things out a little show more bit? And while this is an old book, published in 1972, it's still "new" enough to have been published well after women's lib got its start, so it should have been more sensitive to this fact, unless the author was, as I've suggested, simply a misogynistic asshole. Which I assume is the case. So I read two chapters and quit. It didn't seem like I would be missing much anyway. Not the most enticing sci fi I've read. If you want dated, sexist, bad sci fi, this is for you. Otherwise, trash it. One star. show less

Another of the books that I greatly enjoyed as a teenager but haven't read for some years. Fortunately it turns out that this is one I still enjoy. A man wakes in the middle of a vicious attack upon a city by a starship, dragged from unconsciousness by a voice inside his head. He has no memory of who he is and what he's doing there, but the voice in his head is no hallucination. The first priority is to get him up and moving to where he's supposed to be -- because Bron is a deepcover agent show more with a telepathic link back to his base, and being amnesiac doesn't excuse him from the job he was sent to do. Within a few hours, the planet he's on will be destroyed by hellburners, deadly missiles that can tear a planet apart. And in those hours, the Destroyer fleet will raid, taking slaves and goods, and most particularly anyone with expertise in chaos theory -- the concept that the patterns of chaos can be read to predict the future. One of the first things Bron learns about himself is that he has a synthetic personality embedded to allow him to pass as one of those experts, making him a target for the raiders - and a Trojan horse.

Which would be an interesting story in its own right, and the initial phase of the book is a very good story of a deepcover agent rediscovering who he is a bit at a time, while in the middle of the most dangerous job he's ever done. But Kapp takes it to a new level, as Bron comes to understand that the hellburner was aimed at him. Specifically him, personally. And that it's been on its way for 700 million years...

This is a solid piece of 1970s space opera, with a plot on the grand scale combined with some fascinating details to flesh out the universe, and some well-realised characters. It's short by modern standards, but that's all to the good, as it's a tightly written story. An entertaining way to pass a few hours. show less