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Земная кровь
Захватывающий роман о судьбе юноши-землянина, родившегося вдали от родной планеты. Попадая в разные миры Галактики с их необычными порой чудовищными обитателями, герой начинает понимать, что существует какая-то тайна, связанная и с его происхождением и с появлением на этой планете, и с самым существованием планеты Земля. С этого момента он одержим идеей-любой ценой раскрыть эту тайну, обнаружить планету Земля и разыскать своих настоящих родителей.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
445 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1966
3 people are currently reading
168 people want to read
About the author
Keith Laumer
499 books227 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.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
January 5, 2023
Keith Laumer & Rosel George Brown give us a rollicking adventure yarn like they don’t write much any more! A bildungsroman beginning with a viable pure Terran embryo purchased with his foster parents’ citizenships and wordly wealth, Roan grows up wild and filled with wanderlust on the backwoods planet of Tambool. His father was crippled when fleeing from the embryo merchant when unknown thugs tried to regain Roan’s vial and Roan has always felt a call to a destiny not on his home planet. Press-ganged into a freak circus Roan grows up performing highwire tricks as a ‘real’ Terran but eventually he and a few Gooks and Geeks are rescued from their crippled ship after an attack from an alien Niss ship. The Niss, thought extinct for thousands of years, had waged a stalemate war with Terra 10,000 years prior, and Roan finds that the ship that attacked them was automated. The Niss on board were mere dust and mummies. Spending some time as a fake officer in the defunct Terran Navy, Roan finally decides that finding Terra is his ultimate goal. But when he finally reaches Terra he starts to wonder just why the fabled planet had such an exalted reputation. Roan is a hard character to like: violent, impulsive, vindictive, but also with some more honorable human traits. Serialized in Worlds of IF in 1966 it’s an entertaining read!
July 17, 2015
First read this in my teens, but always remembered some scenes from the book. Decided to re-read it recently (40+ years later). Didn't have the same impact now of course, but I still enjoyed it and it was interesting to see which parts I had remembered about the book and which I had forgotten. I give it 4 stars because of the original impact that lasted so long. Reading it today I would give it between around 3 stars for the old, adventurous, pulp feel to it.
October 14, 2017
Проходной роман про "из грязи в князи", чудом выжив, со всеми остановками.
August 25, 2017
Read the Science Fiction Book Club edition back in late 1966 (possibly a bit later, I don't really remember exactly). Remember enjoying it, but don't remember a lot about it otherwise. Still own the copy. Maybe I'll reread it sometime.
October 25, 2021
I have read this book again
I read this book when I was a kid. Now I am 65 years old. And it still is a good book
I read this book when I was a kid. Now I am 65 years old. And it still is a good book
November 28, 2020
A new favorite crazy ass space shit story. I am disappointed I didn't read it sooner, glad I finally did. It's a hoot.
It's a parody, really, of the sort of story it is, and an effective one. (Though admittedly not a necessary one: either you already felt this way about this sort of story so didn't need a parody, or you are never going to get what's wrong with this sort of story and aren't going to get the joke, because it's on you.) The ending is so over the top I can't believe Heinlein's head didn't explode when he read it.
Anyway. Written in van Vogtese, probably traded back and forth as they one-upped each other into narrative corners, concocting ludicrous escapes until they reached point B. A brilliant performance. I wish I could have told them. Kudos!
It's a parody, really, of the sort of story it is, and an effective one. (Though admittedly not a necessary one: either you already felt this way about this sort of story so didn't need a parody, or you are never going to get what's wrong with this sort of story and aren't going to get the joke, because it's on you.) The ending is so over the top I can't believe Heinlein's head didn't explode when he read it.
Anyway. Written in van Vogtese, probably traded back and forth as they one-upped each other into narrative corners, concocting ludicrous escapes until they reached point B. A brilliant performance. I wish I could have told them. Kudos!
May 23, 2022
I bought this hoping for more of Rosel George Brown's sparky Sibyl Sue Blue style, but it turned out to be just another dull hero's journey, with a dim male protagonist who has an undeserved sense of racial superiority and a propensity for violence when he doesn't get his way. There are lots of weird aliens, but no world-building to give them context. DNF about half-way through.
September 9, 2019
This took me almost an entire year to read because it was so unbearable. I would have given up, but I’ve never left a book unfinished. Just about every female in this book either dies horribly and violently, is maimed, or cuts off their own limbs. The plot is weak and the characters are as well. I definitely wasted my time reading this and I curse my damn self for not donating it after chapter 5.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 22, 2022
The unstoppable hero "on a lonely quest—for a shining planet known as Earth." It's not Battlestar Galactica, but readers will recognize the arc of the story. Fun read that doesn't demand a lot of concentrated mind power to enjoy.
December 23, 2009
This is my all time favorite book. it is exciting and full of adventure. It's world and vision could have been one of the templates for the later epic "Star Wars."
Roan is a pure-breed human boy who lives with his mother (a mixed breed human) and his "uncle" T'hoy Hoy. As he matures he heads out with an intergalactic circus run by a slimy, octopoidal ringleader. He is first and foremost interested in searching the known galaxies in search of another pure-bred human. he eventaually finds Harry Dread, a full blood terran like himself who is a space pirate. the story is action packed from that point forward.
This is a great book and would surely appeal to lovers of space opera as well as fans of "Star Wars." Check it out!!!
Roan is a pure-breed human boy who lives with his mother (a mixed breed human) and his "uncle" T'hoy Hoy. As he matures he heads out with an intergalactic circus run by a slimy, octopoidal ringleader. He is first and foremost interested in searching the known galaxies in search of another pure-bred human. he eventaually finds Harry Dread, a full blood terran like himself who is a space pirate. the story is action packed from that point forward.
This is a great book and would surely appeal to lovers of space opera as well as fans of "Star Wars." Check it out!!!
October 23, 2014
This probably doesn't deserve 4 stars, but at least 3. It was one of my favorite books as a teenager. I liked the whole Campbellian theme behind it, at the time. I still like the book & read it every few years, but the 'earthmen are the best' idea doesn't quite ring as true. Still, if you like heroic space fantasy, this is for you. It's one of the best ever written.
August 12, 2016
The beginning of this novel, when the protagonist is growing up, the lone human kid in an off-world ghetto, is truly paradigm-shifting when read at the right age, as I did. I was in my early teens when I first read this book and I have never forgotten it. The rest of the book is OK, a decent quest/space opera--but, oh, the beginning is poetry. Read it. Recommend it.
May 12, 2012
Earthblood is my favorite Laumer book, and one of my favorite space adventure reads of all time. I'd love to see it made into a movie someday. Earthblood truly stretches the imagination. If you've never read it, you've missed a fun read!
October 30, 2012
Definitely a book you should read as a teenager. A long lost Earth empire, evil mysterious aliens and a travelling space circus. As an adult, most tastes would have moved on. If you enjoy this read the Space Brat series by John Morrisey.
April 1, 2015
A good read, especially in the middle. Surprise ending but I personally didn't care for it (matter of personal taste, others will love it).
It begs for a sequel, but I don't think they ever wrote one.
It begs for a sequel, but I don't think they ever wrote one.
January 10, 2008
More of the usual... 60s Sci Fi at its best. Fallen Terran Empire is populated by mutants- the true "terrie" child grows up to find that his gook and geek friends are human after all.
August 6, 2010
Typical fast Laumer romp, a little darker than usual, but somehow this time it comes across thin and flat. Not his best work by a wide margin.
January 3, 2018
Your basic pulp scifi space opera. I kept this one after reading it once and now I have no idea why.
December 15, 2014
1981 grade C+
with R. Brown
with R. Brown
July 22, 2016
A good JV manly man book don't know how I missed it the first time, NOT surprised at the ending
March 29, 2021
Roan, a captive human boy on exhibit in a space carnival, is rescued during a raid by space pirates and adopted into their crew. A Science Fiction Book Club selection.
October 7, 2008
I just dimly remember reading this coauthored Laumer/Brown story upon scanning its description.
December 3, 2010
I liked it very much, but it's been decades since I read it, so I don't recall too many details.
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May 2, 2019I have the german edition: Blut der Erde
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews