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Syn
SYN
One was discovered quite by accident. A man in a mental hospital said he wasn't real. He wasn't.
SYN
There were more. Scientists feared that half the popultion of Earth might be Syns.
SYN
Methodically, the Syns were being rooted out and destroyed. In turn, they were carrying out their own fearful destruction of human life and works.
SYN
Everyone's humanity had been challened. Every man was aligned against each other...
..because no one knew what a Syn was.
One was discovered quite by accident. A man in a mental hospital said he wasn't real. He wasn't.
SYN
There were more. Scientists feared that half the popultion of Earth might be Syns.
SYN
Methodically, the Syns were being rooted out and destroyed. In turn, they were carrying out their own fearful destruction of human life and works.
SYN
Everyone's humanity had been challened. Every man was aligned against each other...
..because no one knew what a Syn was.
- GenresScience Fiction
141 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 1969
1 person is currently reading
23 people want to read
About the author
Raymond F. Jones
189 books13 followersRaymond Fisher Jones (November 15, 1915, Salt Lake City, Utah - January 24, 1994, Sandy, Salt Lake County, Utah) was an American science fiction author. He is best known for his 1952 novel, This Island Earth, which was adapted into the 1955 film This Island Earth and for the short story "The Children's Room", which was adapted for television as Episode Two of the ABC network show Tales of Tomorrow, first aired on February 29, 1952.
Jones' career was at its peak during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. His stories were published mainly in magazines such as Thrilling Wonder Stories, Astounding Stories, and Galaxy. His short story Noise Level is known as one of his best works. His short story "The Alien Machine", first published in the June, 1949 Thrilling Wonder Stories, was later expanded into the novel This Island Earth, along with two other short stories, "The Shroud of Secrecy", and "The Greater Conflict", known as The Peace Engineers Trilogy, featuring the character Cal Meacham. Jones also wrote the story upon which the episode "The Children's Room" was based for the television program Tales of Tomorrow in 1952.
Jones' career was at its peak during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. His stories were published mainly in magazines such as Thrilling Wonder Stories, Astounding Stories, and Galaxy. His short story Noise Level is known as one of his best works. His short story "The Alien Machine", first published in the June, 1949 Thrilling Wonder Stories, was later expanded into the novel This Island Earth, along with two other short stories, "The Shroud of Secrecy", and "The Greater Conflict", known as The Peace Engineers Trilogy, featuring the character Cal Meacham. Jones also wrote the story upon which the episode "The Children's Room" was based for the television program Tales of Tomorrow in 1952.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 26, 2011
* After two years on a space colony computer engineer Arthur Zoran returns to Earth, where humans are at war with Syns. Syns, he is told, are artificial human lookalikes, bent on taking over the planet. Arthur knows something is not right, and since his fiancee has gone missing after being branded a Syn, he is determined to find out what it is.
* The second book from 1969 I've read recently (the first was "The Shadow People" by Margaret St. Clair). Both are socially-conscious, giddily pell-mell plot-driven stories that make more recent novels look positively plodding by comparison.
* Here, the ending is dated and unsatisfying, yet not wholly unexpected, but the whole thing reads so fast that this is merely regrettable, not fatal.
* The fun part is everything before that, following Arthur, a hardboiled scientist (he's not back on Earth for more than a few hours before he's already killed a couple of people), through a nightmare, post-nuclear Earth where no one trusts anyone else and murder and execution are a part of daily life. It's not logical, of course, but like a dark Indiana Jones, it's an enjoyable ride.
* By the way, what's the popular, well-known literary equivalent of Indiana Jones?
* The second book from 1969 I've read recently (the first was "The Shadow People" by Margaret St. Clair). Both are socially-conscious, giddily pell-mell plot-driven stories that make more recent novels look positively plodding by comparison.
* Here, the ending is dated and unsatisfying, yet not wholly unexpected, but the whole thing reads so fast that this is merely regrettable, not fatal.
* The fun part is everything before that, following Arthur, a hardboiled scientist (he's not back on Earth for more than a few hours before he's already killed a couple of people), through a nightmare, post-nuclear Earth where no one trusts anyone else and murder and execution are a part of daily life. It's not logical, of course, but like a dark Indiana Jones, it's an enjoyable ride.
* By the way, what's the popular, well-known literary equivalent of Indiana Jones?
Displaying 1 of 1 review