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The Infinite Cage
WELCOME TO ADAM'S WORLD...
When he awakens in a skid row alley, Adam knows nothing. Not who he is, nor where he's from. Money is a mystery. So are women. All he begins his new life with is a will to survive. But he learns fast: first, how to get away; then how not to have to. In the beginning Adam wants to be friends with us. Before he's through he just might run the human race off its feet...
When he awakens in a skid row alley, Adam knows nothing. Not who he is, nor where he's from. Money is a mystery. So are women. All he begins his new life with is a will to survive. But he learns fast: first, how to get away; then how not to have to. In the beginning Adam wants to be friends with us. Before he's through he just might run the human race off its feet...
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
99 people want to read
About the author
Keith Laumer
498 books225 followersJohn Keith Laumer was an American science fiction author. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, he was an officer in the U.S. Air Force and a U.S. diplomat. His brother March Laumer was also a writer, known for his adult reinterpretations of the Land of Oz (also mentioned in Keith's The Other Side of Time).
Keith Laumer (aka J.K Laumer, J. Keith Laumer) is best known for his Bolo stories and his satirical Retief series. The former chronicles the evolution of juggernaut-sized tanks that eventually become self-aware through the constant improvement resulting from centuries of intermittent warfare against various alien races. The latter deals with the adventures of a cynical spacefaring diplomat who constantly has to overcome the red-tape-infused failures of people with names like Ambassador Grossblunder. The Retief stories were greatly influenced by Laumer's earlier career in the United States Foreign Service. In an interview with Paul Walker of Luna Monthly, Laumer states "I had no shortage of iniquitous memories of the Foreign Service."
Four of his shorter works received Hugo or Nebula Award nominations (one of them, "In the Queue", received nominations for both) and his novel A Plague of Demons was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1966.
During the peak years of 1959–1971, Laumer was a prolific science fiction writer, with his novels tending to follow one of two patterns: fast-paced, straight adventures in time and space, with an emphasis on lone-wolf, latent superman protagonists, self-sacrifice and transcendence or, broad comedies, sometimes of the over-the-top variety.
In 1971, Laumer suffered a stroke while working on the novel The Ultimax Man. As a result, he was unable to write for a few years. As he explained in an interview with Charles Platt published in The Dream Makers (1987), he refused to accept the doctors' diagnosis. He came up with an alternative explanation and developed an alternative (and very painful) treatment program. Although he was unable to write in the early 1970s, he had a number of books which were in the pipeline at the time of the stroke published during that time.
In the mid-1970s, Laumer partially recovered from the stroke and resumed writing. However, the quality of his work suffered and his career declined (Piers Anthony, How Precious Was That While, 2002). In later years Laumer also reused scenarios and characters from his earlier works to create "new" books, which some critics felt was to their detriment:
Alas, Retief to the Rescue doesn't seem so much like a new Retief novel, but a kind of Cuisnart mélange of past books.
-- Somtow Sucharitkul (Washington Post, Mar 27, 1983. p. BW11)
His Bolo creations were popular enough that other authors have written standalone science-fiction novels about them.
Laumer was also a model airplane enthusiast, and published two dozen designs between 1956 and 1962 in the U.S. magazines Air Trails, Model Airplane News and Flying Models, as well as the British magazine Aero Modeler. He published one book on the subject, How to Design and Build Flying Models in 1960. His later designs were mostly gas-powered free flight planes, and had a whimsical charm with names to match, like the "Twin Lizzie" and the "Lulla-Bi". His designs are still being revisited, reinvented and built today.
Keith Laumer (aka J.K Laumer, J. Keith Laumer) is best known for his Bolo stories and his satirical Retief series. The former chronicles the evolution of juggernaut-sized tanks that eventually become self-aware through the constant improvement resulting from centuries of intermittent warfare against various alien races. The latter deals with the adventures of a cynical spacefaring diplomat who constantly has to overcome the red-tape-infused failures of people with names like Ambassador Grossblunder. The Retief stories were greatly influenced by Laumer's earlier career in the United States Foreign Service. In an interview with Paul Walker of Luna Monthly, Laumer states "I had no shortage of iniquitous memories of the Foreign Service."
Four of his shorter works received Hugo or Nebula Award nominations (one of them, "In the Queue", received nominations for both) and his novel A Plague of Demons was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1966.
During the peak years of 1959–1971, Laumer was a prolific science fiction writer, with his novels tending to follow one of two patterns: fast-paced, straight adventures in time and space, with an emphasis on lone-wolf, latent superman protagonists, self-sacrifice and transcendence or, broad comedies, sometimes of the over-the-top variety.
In 1971, Laumer suffered a stroke while working on the novel The Ultimax Man. As a result, he was unable to write for a few years. As he explained in an interview with Charles Platt published in The Dream Makers (1987), he refused to accept the doctors' diagnosis. He came up with an alternative explanation and developed an alternative (and very painful) treatment program. Although he was unable to write in the early 1970s, he had a number of books which were in the pipeline at the time of the stroke published during that time.
In the mid-1970s, Laumer partially recovered from the stroke and resumed writing. However, the quality of his work suffered and his career declined (Piers Anthony, How Precious Was That While, 2002). In later years Laumer also reused scenarios and characters from his earlier works to create "new" books, which some critics felt was to their detriment:
Alas, Retief to the Rescue doesn't seem so much like a new Retief novel, but a kind of Cuisnart mélange of past books.
-- Somtow Sucharitkul (Washington Post, Mar 27, 1983. p. BW11)
His Bolo creations were popular enough that other authors have written standalone science-fiction novels about them.
Laumer was also a model airplane enthusiast, and published two dozen designs between 1956 and 1962 in the U.S. magazines Air Trails, Model Airplane News and Flying Models, as well as the British magazine Aero Modeler. He published one book on the subject, How to Design and Build Flying Models in 1960. His later designs were mostly gas-powered free flight planes, and had a whimsical charm with names to match, like the "Twin Lizzie" and the "Lulla-Bi". His designs are still being revisited, reinvented and built today.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 13, 2021
La novela comienza con un misterioso hombre sin nombre encerrado en una celda. El prisionero escapa y actúa de manera nada natural, todo le parece extraño, hasta su cuerpo. Pronto sabremos que es capaz de leer las mentes para extraer conocimientos, incluso a distancia, algo que le resultará muy útil en el futuro.
‘La jaula infinita’ (The Infinite Cage, 1972), de Keith Laumer, tiene un muy buen primer tercio, y un buen tercer tercio. En la parte central me sobran páginas, la trama se hace repetitiva. Aun así, me parece una entretenida novela, más fantástica que de ciencia ficción.
‘La jaula infinita’ (The Infinite Cage, 1972), de Keith Laumer, tiene un muy buen primer tercio, y un buen tercer tercio. En la parte central me sobran páginas, la trama se hace repetitiva. Aun así, me parece una entretenida novela, más fantástica que de ciencia ficción.
July 1, 2016
The first in my 52 in 52 and boy what a read it was. Laumer is the greatest hack in all of hacky science fiction. This was a great read through and through even if the plot holes and physics of any of it make little to no sense.
August 9, 2020
An existential thriller with sci-fi trappings, this is a witty, fleet romp through a satirical landscape which ends in a very unfunny place. The final shifts may be off-putting for most readers, but if you are flexible, you might enjoy this alacritous potboiler.
November 12, 2018
Decent story about a man hearing voices.
April 4, 2020
Don't judge a book by its cover, or its first 40 pages. What starts out as a good exploration of human consciousness unburdened by memory and ambitious turns into another bad sci fi story
March 1, 2020
An idiot with no memory gains the power of telepathy but has no motivation to use it (at first). He falls into the hands of a greedy fortuneteller who wants to use his gifts in her act. Gradually he learns how to use his gift to make money, and he falls in love but rejects everything when she spurns him. This is well written but rather depressing in its view of humanity. The main thing this book does is show how much better Ted Sturgeon's More than Human is in comparison. And considering this book came out about 20 years later, there's no reason for it.
August 29, 2023
This is what happens if you drain anything interesting or fun out of a Vonnegut novel and then try to marry it to late 60s and early 70s trippy spirtualism. A meandering plot that doesn't venture toward anything interesting. A character who is essentially a weird guy who can do weird things but is oblivious to the fact that they are weird. Good and bad stuff happens to him. He hits rock bottom. Only to discover he is the midway point between man, dream, and God. Congrats... now congrats... I just spared you from having to read it.
April 19, 2024
Picked this book in an antique shop to impress the fella I was with, didn’t read until 3 years later. One of my favorite stories.
October 9, 2023
a favorite of mine!
November 10, 2012
Fun read. I think I like Laumer better when he's not trying to be funny (Retief).
December 15, 2014
1984 grade C
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews