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D-99
Five citizens of Terra were being held on other worlds—and the ultra-secret Department 99 existed only to set them, and others like them, free.
- GenresScience Fiction
148 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1962
6 people are currently reading
30 people want to read
About the author
H.B. Fyfe
94 books3 followersHorace Browne Fyfe (1918-1997) wrote several Science Fiction novels and short stories, spanning more than a decade.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
December 13, 2015
H.B. Fyfe was a writer of good science fiction in the tradition of Christopher Anvil and H. Beam Piper and other such stalwarts of Campbell's Astounding/Analog. His name is unfortunately not as well remembered, but his better works, such as D-99, still hold-up and are thoroughly enjoyable.
December 6, 2021
Dull, humdrum, tiring, stale, boring, flat, spiritless, unexciting, and monotonous. Did I mention boring?
April 15, 2017
Mankind has started to spread throughout the galaxy, and has met alien races with all sorts of, to humans, strange laws. When those laws are broken, and a human is thrown in jail, the Department of Interstellar Relations is tasked with getting them out and off the planet. When that doesn't work, D-99 gets the job. It's one of those super-secret agencies that officially does not exist.
A pair of men crash landed on a planet where such a thing is illegal. The natives had just finished an interplanetary war, so they were understandably wary of outsiders. The plan is to slip them pills which, when consumed, will make them look dead. The natives will dump their bodies in the nearby desert, where a ship will pick them up. A female journalist is arrested on a different planet for wanting to buy a souvenir, and for being excessively feminine. The plan is to have her transferred to a work farm outside the city, but she never gets there.
Meantime, back on Earth, a major power failure has stranded the D-99 employees at the office on the 99th floor of a skyscraper (that's where the "99" comes from). They can't call for help, because the D.I.R. will never let them hear the end of it. So everyone is stuck until the power is restored. A more serious problem concerns Lydman, one of the employees. He is an ex-spacer who spent time in an alien prison. Everyone is worried about what he will do when he learns that he is trapped at the top of a skyscraper. Does Lydman find his own solution? Despite the handicap, does D-99 rescue the detained humans?
The book is certainly interesting and readable, but there is not much reason to recommend it, either. I wish I could say more than just Meh.
A pair of men crash landed on a planet where such a thing is illegal. The natives had just finished an interplanetary war, so they were understandably wary of outsiders. The plan is to slip them pills which, when consumed, will make them look dead. The natives will dump their bodies in the nearby desert, where a ship will pick them up. A female journalist is arrested on a different planet for wanting to buy a souvenir, and for being excessively feminine. The plan is to have her transferred to a work farm outside the city, but she never gets there.
Meantime, back on Earth, a major power failure has stranded the D-99 employees at the office on the 99th floor of a skyscraper (that's where the "99" comes from). They can't call for help, because the D.I.R. will never let them hear the end of it. So everyone is stuck until the power is restored. A more serious problem concerns Lydman, one of the employees. He is an ex-spacer who spent time in an alien prison. Everyone is worried about what he will do when he learns that he is trapped at the top of a skyscraper. Does Lydman find his own solution? Despite the handicap, does D-99 rescue the detained humans?
The book is certainly interesting and readable, but there is not much reason to recommend it, either. I wish I could say more than just Meh.
December 27, 2019
Horace Brown D. Fyfe's Book D-99 doesn't quite deserve the bad rating it gets here on Goodreads, but on the other hand you don't miss much if you skip it.
It's based on quite a good idea. We are quite far in the future, space is well populated. D-99 is the nickname for the department with the task to rescue earthlings who get into trouble on planetes because they are not familiar with the local laws.
What sounds like a good adventure story is written quite boringly and a lot of the book is office life at D-99. Sometimes the author describes every single door and each corridor somebody passes through on his way out of trouble. You also have to accept very stereotypical 1950's characters and an everydaylife which doesn't differ much at all from the life sixty years ago.
Hmmm, sadly no need to read it.
It's based on quite a good idea. We are quite far in the future, space is well populated. D-99 is the nickname for the department with the task to rescue earthlings who get into trouble on planetes because they are not familiar with the local laws.
What sounds like a good adventure story is written quite boringly and a lot of the book is office life at D-99. Sometimes the author describes every single door and each corridor somebody passes through on his way out of trouble. You also have to accept very stereotypical 1950's characters and an everydaylife which doesn't differ much at all from the life sixty years ago.
Hmmm, sadly no need to read it.
November 6, 2022
Escapology
A sort British seeming tale of an organization that specializes in breaking people out of alien prisons. The shifting points of view are a little confusing.
A sort British seeming tale of an organization that specializes in breaking people out of alien prisons. The shifting points of view are a little confusing.
October 9, 2012
I grabbed this one off of Gutenberg, but I can no longer find it there. Anyway, you won't be missing much.
It's about a special department, Department 99, which is tasked with rescuing humans who have gotten themselves into trouble on other planets.
Half the book takes place in the D-99 offices as a city-wide blackout traps them there for hours! Oh noes! Trapped after work! With a generator for power and ample food! They do throw in a complication meant to add some suspense to being stuck at the office after hours. Still, who cares?
The other half takes place at various locations where humans need help escaping.
Oddly, the book initiates a situation on a planet but never resolves it. But it does resolve several situations already in place at the start. It's almost as if it's part of a serial, although it isn't.
The writing is sturdy. The characters are okay if you can ignore the rampant sexism. Sure, it's written in 1962. Still, Tau Zero (which I read soon after) is really only seven years later and has a much more enlightened view of sexual relationships and roles.
Should you read it? Nah.
It's about a special department, Department 99, which is tasked with rescuing humans who have gotten themselves into trouble on other planets.
Half the book takes place in the D-99 offices as a city-wide blackout traps them there for hours! Oh noes! Trapped after work! With a generator for power and ample food! They do throw in a complication meant to add some suspense to being stuck at the office after hours. Still, who cares?
The other half takes place at various locations where humans need help escaping.
Oddly, the book initiates a situation on a planet but never resolves it. But it does resolve several situations already in place at the start. It's almost as if it's part of a serial, although it isn't.
The writing is sturdy. The characters are okay if you can ignore the rampant sexism. Sure, it's written in 1962. Still, Tau Zero (which I read soon after) is really only seven years later and has a much more enlightened view of sexual relationships and roles.
Should you read it? Nah.
August 25, 2010
#83 - 2010.
This is via Librivox.org. Chapters alternate between stories of five Terrans being held by the authorities on alien planets and the efforts of a secret Terran government department to come up with plans to free them. In the midst of the planning and problems, a huge power outage causes even more trouble for D-99 as they struggle to keep the trouble from a problematic agent whose previous sufferings cause him to have severe claustrophobia and to react violently from it. Enjoyable in an old style science fiction story way.
This is via Librivox.org. Chapters alternate between stories of five Terrans being held by the authorities on alien planets and the efforts of a secret Terran government department to come up with plans to free them. In the midst of the planning and problems, a huge power outage causes even more trouble for D-99 as they struggle to keep the trouble from a problematic agent whose previous sufferings cause him to have severe claustrophobia and to react violently from it. Enjoyable in an old style science fiction story way.
December 28, 2016
The book takes part in a department that helps people from earth that are in trouble on some far flung planets and then it follows the people they help rescue.
It is a book that has aged. The action is not bad and the writing works for what it is. It has a lot of sexism and the smell of the 50s, but then it is a book of its time.
I think it is readable more for the plot than for how the characters are developed, and they are not very developed at all. It gets a 3, but a weak 3, something you can read in lack of something else.
It is a book that has aged. The action is not bad and the writing works for what it is. It has a lot of sexism and the smell of the 50s, but then it is a book of its time.
I think it is readable more for the plot than for how the characters are developed, and they are not very developed at all. It gets a 3, but a weak 3, something you can read in lack of something else.
February 17, 2009
Bad science fiction novel about a special department of the Earth government which is in charge of getting people who have been arrested by freaky alien societies out of trouble. The really funny bit is the overwhelming sexism in the office. Recommended for anyone who wants to know exactly how bad sci-fi can be. Pretty darn funny.
February 4, 2013
Terrans are being held hostage on other worlds and Department 99 must try to free them...
http://librivox.org/d-99-by-h-b-fyfe/
http://librivox.org/d-99-by-h-b-fyfe/
November 22, 2015
I'm a fan of older science fiction but I'm not a fan of this book. It was struggle to finish it. The whole situation with the blackout was difficult to read as it was so preposterous.
July 8, 2012
2 1/2 stars.
March 25, 2017
Prose is poorly written.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews