Joe Mauser: Mercenary From Tomorrow

Joe Mauser #1b-2b

by Mack Reynolds, Michael A. Banks

Is the story of 21st Century Earth - a world where work is forgotten, where the masses fight boredom with trank pills and telly, and where it is almost impossible to leave the social class you were born in. You could break the class barrier only by hiring yourself out as a mercenary to fight in the prime-time wars that are fought to keep the telly-viewing public satisfied. That is the only way to move up the ladder if you could stay alive long enough.

Genres: Science Fiction

280 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1986

About the author

Dallas McCord "Mack" Reynolds was an American science fiction writer. His pen names included Clark Collins, Mark Mallory, Guy McCord, Dallas Ross and Maxine Reynolds. Many of his stories were published in "Galaxy Magazine" and "Worlds of If Magazine". He was quite popular in the 1960s, but most of his work subsequently went out of print.

He was an active supporter of the Socialist Labor Party; his father, Verne Reynolds, was twice the SLP's Presidential candidate, in 1928 and 1932. Many of MR's stories use SLP jargon such as 'Industrial Feudalism' and most deal with economic issues in some way

Many of Reynolds' stories took place in Utopian societies, and many of which fulfilled L. L. Zamenhof's dream of Esperanto used worldwide as a universal second language. His novels predicted much that has come to pass, including pocket computers and a world-wide computer network with information available at one's fingertips.

Many of his novels were written within the context of a highly mobile society in which few people maintained a fixed residence, leading to "mobile voting" laws which allowed someone living out of the equivalent of a motor home to vote when and where they chose.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a novel that Baen published in 1986 as a collaboration between Banks and Reynolds, who had passed three years before. It's something of a rewritten fix-up of two previous Reynolds novels in his Joe Mauser series. The stories are fast-paced adventures, with some sharp satire that doesn't overwhelm the entertainment. Mercenary was published in the April 1962 issue of Analog, and Reynolds expanded it for book publication by Ace in 1968 with the title Mercenary from Tomorrow. It had a good cover painted by Jack Gaughan. The second novel was also published in John W. Campbell's Analog; Frigid Fracas was serialized in the March and April issues in 1963, during its bedsheet era. Pyramid published it in mass market paperback later that year with the title The Earth War, and a John Schoenherr cover. I liked both novels as separate entities the way they appeared initially; the Banks book is okay (except maybe for a terrible cover that looks like a cartoon Lex Luthor scowling at Sylvester Stallone), but if something isn't broken it doesn't need to be fixed.

[Sean Brennan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mack Reynolds was one of the true greats of 'pulp' SF although largely unknown today. This like most of his work combines a good plot, great storytelling and insights in where society was leading. In this great book we witness a World where socio-economic advancement is stifled apart from The Military Category where a form of entertainment has evolved called the 'fracas' where disputes between Corporations are played out to the 'tranked' out masses by televised battles. The book has a lot to say about the lengths the elite no matter how destructive will go to maintain the status quo, but unlike many lesser writers never gets in the way of a great story.

[Camille J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Une nouvelle brillante et extrêmement lucide écrite dans les années 60 pour avoir deviné nos tendances actuelles : l’invention de la carte de crédit qui s’est complètement virtualisée, des entreprises au pouvoir quasi-étatique qui règlent leurs conflits au travers de conflits encadrés retransmis à la télé en direct.. la lecture marxiste sur l’impossibilité du héros à s’élever hors de sa classe résonne encore aujourd’hui. Je suis surprise qu’elle n’ait jamais été adaptée en film (à ma connaissance) mais elle a sûrement influencé des sagas comme Hunger Games.

[D'Monti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comparing this to the last Reynolds book I read is like comparing an apple and an orange, both are fruit just as both are sci-fi books, but that is about all. While there were some of the same underlying themes in the previous book I had read by him, they were so obvious and thrown out there that the shitty romance story was more entertaining. However, in this short novel there is much more offered. It tasted less like cardboard and more like a deli sandwich. (I'm hungry if you can't tell).