The Deadly Sky

by Paul W. Fairman, Ivar Jorgensen (pseudonym)

There was nothing unusual about the traffic accident victim with a broken leg until intern Frank Corson found he had two heartbeats. He thought that strange, but not as strange as passing the identical man in the street a few minutes later. One by one eight identical strangers are discovered, five dead, and each with two hearts. Eight artificial creatures, identical in every respect down to the fingerprints, and none of them human. They claim they are the vanguard of an alien invasion. And there are two more on the loose. To stop the destruction of the human race, we must stop the... Ten From Infinity.

Genres: Science Fiction

188 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Paul Warren Fairman (1909-1977) was an editor and writer in a variety of genres under his own name and under pseudonyms.

In 1952, he was the founding editor of If, but only edited four issues. In 1955, he became the editor of Amazing Stories and Fantastic. He held that dual position until 1958. His science fiction short stories "Deadly City" and "The Cosmic Frame" were made into motion pictures.

Wrote the "Man from S.T.U.D." series of espionage spoofs under the pseudonym of F.W. Paul.

He also wrote under the pseudonym Ivar Jorgensen

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel by Fairman was originally published under the pseudonym of Ivar Jorgensen, which was a pen name originally specific to the Ziff-Davis digests (Amazing and Fantastic); it was also used occasionally by other authors including Howard Browne, John Jakes, Randall Garrett, Harlan Ellison, and Robert Silverberg. The novel first appeared in 1963 and has a remarkably graphic and misogynistic sexual content for that year; Kay Tarrant would have never approved! The story involves ten androids who have been manufactured as the vanguard of an alien invasion. Standing to oppose them are a photographer, a government agent, a young doctor, and his girlfriend, who spends most her time unclothed due to the curiosity and hypnotic power of the tenth android. It's not a terrible story compared to other such of the time, but on the other hand it doesn't have much to recommend it. I did enjoy the very brisk and excellent reading by Karen Savage who performed it on the Librivox version to which I listened.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had such high hopes for this book, hopes that were almost immediately dashed. The premise is very interesting - 10 identical men suddenly appear at 10 different points on earth. Who are they? What are they? Unfortunately, that early promise is never realized as this extended study in science fiction stupidity descends into the depths of mediocre writing hell without even bothering to attempt a plot.

I’ve already used more words that this stinker deserves, so let me just leave you with the most incredible passage in the entire book—incredible in that 1960s American sexism and atrocious writing are blended together in almost perfect harmony:

Actually, he was thinking of a different chest and different legs at the time—the ones belonging to a copper-haired girl named Rhoda Kane. Rhoda’s legs were far more alluring. Her chest had added equipment that was a haven of rest under trying circumstances, and Corson yearned for midnight when he would quit this charnel house and climb into Rhoda’s convertible and—perhaps later—do a little chest analysis without benefit of stethoscope.

[Zharel Anger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading this book is a great way to take a dive into a bad 1960’s sci-fi. Many parts are so bad that they are hilarious.

The good parts in this book are the alien androids, Number 10 being the best of all the androids. He is keenly interested in the opposite sex and is very blunt about his desire to research and experience. As I chuckled through the book, I realized I had seen the sex-bot android joke done more elegantly in the Heavy Metal movie and Star Trek TNG.

The bad is experiencing the 1960’s idealized world of powerful, disciplined, and clever American men. It is a world where only America matters, even to the aliens. As for the women, they are objectified, weak sexual creatures that are meant to be in the service of men. The author’s fantasies about the ideal place of women and how women should be treated was embarrassing. Also, the author displayed little knowledge of the operation of different government departments and so defaulted to patriots vs populists to envision struggles between the government and the private sector. You could say that the foibles of this book are elements of the times, but the vast majority of the books from that era are not so over-the-top in their promotion of a misguided male utopia.

I give the book two stars because it can be therapeutic to laugh at something as misguided and misogynistic as this.

[Eden Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Visit JetBlackDragonfly (The Man Who Read Too Much) at www.edenthompson.ca/blog

"No Threat Of Pain Or Death Could Stop These Strange Creatures From Outer Space" Here is a Monarch Books paperback original from 1963. Ivar Jorgensen is a pseudonym used by several writers, in this case it is classic science fiction author Paul W. Fairman.

A pedestrian is hit by a cab in downtown Manhattan and taken to Park Hospital. "And far out in space, among the yellow pinpoints we call stars, a signal was registered - Something has gone wrong."
Dr. Frank Corson treated the man for a broken leg, but, was he mistaken the man had two heartbeats? The blood was also strangely inhuman, a synthetic plasma. No identification.
Brent Taber heads a secret government force briefing the Navy, Air Force, Treasury, FBI, and State Departments on what has been discovered. Eight other clones have been found in cities across the United States, exact replicas of each other from identical fingerprints to overdeveloped brains for telepathic communication, yet outwardly appearing as pleasant men in blue suits.
Frank confides his concerns to his self sufficient girlfriend Rhoda, but is shocked to see the same man walking around New York the next day! Yes, the tenth android has the cold judgement to make the broken ninth nonfunctional - and still complete the task, for he admits they know what they were created for. The other androids met with strange accidents or malfunctions, as if they were trying to discover how to live in our world. In a quest to extract information from Frank about the clone autopsies, the android casts a hypnotic spell over Rhoda. He has never seen a woman before. Quickly he is discovering there is a difference, and Rhoda is powerless in his arms - but seems to be having a pretty good time.

The story flashes back and forth between Frank and Rhoda, Brent and the government agencies, and the quest of the tenth android, detached from the killing needed to complete his task. Being 1963, there is a Russian invasion theory, but this stays in the medical and scientific realm, including some interesting theories of synthetic emotion and transference. The men are not men; machines but not machines. If they walk and breathe but hold no emotion, are they alive?

But you aren't reading this for edification.
If you like speculative science fiction of alien invasion, you'll be entertained.

Paul W. Fairman wrote many short stories for popular magazines; one filmed as a Twilight Zone episode and another the basis for the films Invasion Of The Saucer Men (1957) and it's remake The Eye-Creatures (1967).

[Joseph Carrabis · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting latish Golden Age scifi "let's panic America" story from 1963. Aliens are invading except it might be a communist plot. They look completely normal except they all look exactly the same. Actually, they are androids and each one of the ten has a slightly different body chemistry and internal arrangement because the aliens haven't quite figured out how to copy us correctly, hence have sent down these ten and watched to learn which survives best.
That one which survives best will be the prototype for the invasion army.
The story is an interesting mix of scifi, propaganda, cold war hysteria, and contains the requisite number of idiot government and opportunistic politicians to be completely believable in its day. A bit long by today's standards (for the story told) and with some slow sections easily skimmed, what impressed me most was the logic the characters used to determine who the alien/androids were and how to find them.
A good study of scifi from that time and place, me thinks. Not sure if it has any more to offer than that.

[Timothy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book started out better than I had any reason to expect. But somehow it lost all grip on sense and narrative flow. Or else I lost grip, and could not pay attention. I am more certain about this: On the sentence level it started out well enough, but couldn’t maintain its focus.

[Dina_FK · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't want to be mean. I know the author is not alive anymore but I'd rather not lie. This science fic book is most certainly outdated. The author lacks description in this story. It's more of a dialogue-driven novella or a short novel. The good side is... it's not a heavy read. I can't relate to any of the characters...Nothing interests me and the reason why I bought this book is because of Karen Savage who did an audiobook for "Ten from Infinity". The good stuff about this book is that the dialogues are well-written and I guess its the only thing the author did well in his part.

[Foggo Ravencha]

My copy of this book was printed in Israel and is credited to the author "Ivar Jorgensen" It was put out by Priory Books but says "First Printed by Monarch Books" on the inside flap. No dates or other info in it, but it was only $1.00 in Canada at the time so it is fairly old.

[Terena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting Read

This is certainly not as fanciful or gripping as science fiction today but neither was it boring. The Earth is invaded by aliens trying to ascertain what they must do to acclimate themselves to our environment with the express intent of taking over the world.

[Cleat · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit dated but still a good read. The characters speak in a voice from an earlier time... the technology didn't go quite where the author thought it might, but close enough.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slight, dated, but still has its moments.

[David Blaylock · Rating 2 out of 5]

This 50+ year old tale did not age very well.

[Bella Clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Artificial human /androids are found in New York, are they an advanced guard for an interstaller invasion? It was a quick read and the story moves along nicely. The characters do reflect the time that the book was published, the only females are secretaries, assistances, or lovers.