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Froomb!
John Brunt was an irresponsible, globetrotting thrill-seeker. No adventure was too outlandish for him. But then he met Professor David Packard, who made the most outlandish proposal of all ... to send John all the way to Heaven - by killing him and then bringing him back from the dead.
Now a cold chill was creeping through Brunt. He was a captive in a terrifying alien land, and his interrogator treated him like a mental case. There was nothing of Heaven here ... in fact, it was more like Hell.
Suppose Professor Packard couldn't bring him back from wherever it was he'd been sent? Suppose he really was dead and ... had to stay in this world of madness ... forever?
Now a cold chill was creeping through Brunt. He was a captive in a terrifying alien land, and his interrogator treated him like a mental case. There was nothing of Heaven here ... in fact, it was more like Hell.
Suppose Professor Packard couldn't bring him back from wherever it was he'd been sent? Suppose he really was dead and ... had to stay in this world of madness ... forever?
- GenresScience Fiction
191 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
2 people are currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
John Lymington
28 books9 followersJohn Lymington is a pseudonym for author John Newton Chance.
John Newton Chance was born in London in 1911 and educated at a private school there. He went to a Technical College with the intention of becoming a Civil Engineer, but left that to become a Quantity Surveyor. While surveying, he began to write for the BBC, and on his twenty-first birthday gave up all honest work to become a writer. The first novel was published in 1935, was hailed as a masterpiece and, like so many such, grossed more glory than gain. But it established the writer's career, which he has followed ever since with the exception of the four war years. When his war ended, he and his wife came to live in Hampshire where their first son was horn. Seventeen books later a second son arrived, and six books further on, the third came along. Among the books of the time there were a number for children, and the adult stories were published here, in America and on the Continent; some were filmed and a number broadcast.
source: his autobiography Yellow Belly
He would eventually write over 160 books under several names. Pseudonyms used by Chance throughout his career included:
John Drummond, John Lymington, David C. Newton, and Jonathan Chance. He was also one of the writers who used name the Desmond Reid which was one of the many personas responsible for the 'Sexton Blake' series that spanned decades.
John Newton Chance was born in London in 1911 and educated at a private school there. He went to a Technical College with the intention of becoming a Civil Engineer, but left that to become a Quantity Surveyor. While surveying, he began to write for the BBC, and on his twenty-first birthday gave up all honest work to become a writer. The first novel was published in 1935, was hailed as a masterpiece and, like so many such, grossed more glory than gain. But it established the writer's career, which he has followed ever since with the exception of the four war years. When his war ended, he and his wife came to live in Hampshire where their first son was horn. Seventeen books later a second son arrived, and six books further on, the third came along. Among the books of the time there were a number for children, and the adult stories were published here, in America and on the Continent; some were filmed and a number broadcast.
source: his autobiography Yellow Belly
He would eventually write over 160 books under several names. Pseudonyms used by Chance throughout his career included:
John Drummond, John Lymington, David C. Newton, and Jonathan Chance. He was also one of the writers who used name the Desmond Reid which was one of the many personas responsible for the 'Sexton Blake' series that spanned decades.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 22, 2011
So I bought this at a charity auction for Bubonicon* many years ago, and though I read it, I still couldn't really tell you what it's about.
*This book has been used for raising money for charity at Bubonicon for a long time and is full of written comments on everything from the prose to the plot (or lack thereof) as well as syntax, sentence structure and its various other literary, erm, merits.
*This book has been used for raising money for charity at Bubonicon for a long time and is full of written comments on everything from the prose to the plot (or lack thereof) as well as syntax, sentence structure and its various other literary, erm, merits.
March 28, 2019
This one got my attention because of the title.... apparently it stands for 'fluid's running out of my brakes!' and is from a political cartoon at the time commenting on the nuclear arms race.
The basic theme here is beware of the wrong sort of progress.. but Lymington is really all over the place with his themes. The main plot, one which the British minister of Science kills a guy on purpose with the intent to bring him back after 24 hours so he can see if Heaven exists, is weird, but a good point for discussion. What happens is the guy goes into the dreary future instead, and, after figuring out that's what happened, tries to get back as soon as possible to prevent it from taking place.
Time Travel! Ugh! The author chooses not to actually tell us what happens at the end,.. I guess that's better than making my head hurt. Just.
His post-apocalyptic vision is not nuclear war, but in alot of ways both worse and more plausible at the time.. the science is a bit questionable, but that shouldn't get in the way of a good story.
There's some really ahead of his time stuff about genetically modified foods, and the the science guy, Packard, is a great study in Science v. religion, but each of those themes can have a story on their own... mixing them all together is a messy hodge podge with barely a plot is kinda a mess.. but at least it's not boring.
The basic theme here is beware of the wrong sort of progress.. but Lymington is really all over the place with his themes. The main plot, one which the British minister of Science kills a guy on purpose with the intent to bring him back after 24 hours so he can see if Heaven exists, is weird, but a good point for discussion. What happens is the guy goes into the dreary future instead, and, after figuring out that's what happened, tries to get back as soon as possible to prevent it from taking place.
Time Travel! Ugh! The author chooses not to actually tell us what happens at the end,.. I guess that's better than making my head hurt. Just.
His post-apocalyptic vision is not nuclear war, but in alot of ways both worse and more plausible at the time.. the science is a bit questionable, but that shouldn't get in the way of a good story.
There's some really ahead of his time stuff about genetically modified foods, and the the science guy, Packard, is a great study in Science v. religion, but each of those themes can have a story on their own... mixing them all together is a messy hodge podge with barely a plot is kinda a mess.. but at least it's not boring.
November 16, 2023
"What's that?"
"Froomb!"
"Vroom?"
"No. Froomb!"
"You don't have to shout."
"That's not really shouting. That's an exclamation point in the title. Froomb!"
"Fruit of the Loom?"
"No. But I miss those guys. Forgot them until you said that."
"TANSTAAFL?"
"No. But you're in the right ballpark now. 1960s SF, uses an acronym. Not so memorable, though, this time."
"And what is Froomb?"
"Doomb and gloomb, mostly. Time travel experiment gone wrong, in the sense that I'm not clear on even whether it was a time travel experiment. Very odd. Guy arrives in a bleak post-apocalypse that that wants to be a dystopia, when he thought he was going to heaven. Not a lot happens, and things are explained more than shown - but, I have to admit, what we get of the dystopia is frightening, intriguing...and Zoomb!, it helps that it's a quick 187 pages. Ending not great - my liking for things about this book somewhat mollifies my feelings about the ending, and some stuff that would get a "that did not age well" doesn't get expanded enough to really get offensive. Sort of a Pandora's Box with cool bullet-point summaries of contents included - including a sort-of ghost and misnamed witches - and a quick peek inside before it snaps shut."
"So it was okay?"
"Boomb! You got it. Kind of a hidden meh, but better. Sort of the Reader's Indigestible (almost) Abridged Too Far (but thank goodness) version of Timescape by Gregory Benford, soured by Edmund Cooper, partially ghost written by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come."
"Froomb!"
"Vroom?"
"No. Froomb!"
"You don't have to shout."
"That's not really shouting. That's an exclamation point in the title. Froomb!"
"Fruit of the Loom?"
"No. But I miss those guys. Forgot them until you said that."
"TANSTAAFL?"
"No. But you're in the right ballpark now. 1960s SF, uses an acronym. Not so memorable, though, this time."
"And what is Froomb?"
"Doomb and gloomb, mostly. Time travel experiment gone wrong, in the sense that I'm not clear on even whether it was a time travel experiment. Very odd. Guy arrives in a bleak post-apocalypse that that wants to be a dystopia, when he thought he was going to heaven. Not a lot happens, and things are explained more than shown - but, I have to admit, what we get of the dystopia is frightening, intriguing...and Zoomb!, it helps that it's a quick 187 pages. Ending not great - my liking for things about this book somewhat mollifies my feelings about the ending, and some stuff that would get a "that did not age well" doesn't get expanded enough to really get offensive. Sort of a Pandora's Box with cool bullet-point summaries of contents included - including a sort-of ghost and misnamed witches - and a quick peek inside before it snaps shut."
"So it was okay?"
"Boomb! You got it. Kind of a hidden meh, but better. Sort of the Reader's Indigestible (almost) Abridged Too Far (but thank goodness) version of Timescape by Gregory Benford, soured by Edmund Cooper, partially ghost written by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come."
August 3, 2009
As I've said before, time travel is not my cup of tea particularly but this one was OK. Not quite as good as it's reputation. I thought.
May 25, 2013
I love books about time travel
November 22, 2014
It has some interesting ideas - but the writing isn't great, and the story drags.
March 1, 2015
1977 grade F
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews