Dead Ringer

by Lester del Rey, Dick Francis (Illustrator)

Dead Ringer appeared in the November 1956 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction.

There was nothing, especially on Earth, which could set him free—the truth least of all!

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories

Nook

First published April 13, 2010

About the author

Lester del Rey was an American science fiction author and editor. Del Rey is especially famous for his juvenile novels such as those which are part of the Winston Science Fiction series, and for Del Rey Books, the fantasy and science fiction branch of Ballantine Books edited by Lester del Rey and his fourth wife Judy-Lynn del Rey.

Also published as:
Philip St. John
Erik van Lhin
Kenneth Wright
Edson McCann (with Frederik Pohl)

Reviews

[Charles van Buren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strange invaders, June 25, 2016

Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: Dead Ringer (Kindle Edition)

This is a very interesting and entertaining sci-fi story from 1956. A sort of Invasion of the Body Snatchers with a twist. There is no dated science to distract from the story.

Some of the negative reviews are by people who are upset because they thought that Dick Francis, illustrator is Dick Francis, mystery author. Then there are those upset because this is a short story rather than a novel. The description clearly shows length to be some twenty plus pages. Others are more understandably unhappy because there are no illustrations in the free Kindle edition. This lack of illustrations is standard for Amazon Kindle public domain stories and books. The illustrations for public domain works can usually be found on the web at no charge. I checked project Gutenberg and found this story with one very plain illustration.

Lester Del Rey was a well known sci-fi author and editor who, along with his wife, edited Del Rey books. The man was also a "character" who made up stories about his name and family, apparently for his own amusement.

[SpookySoto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5/5 I liked it 😊
Format: ebook
Random pick project oct 2024

Entertaining


The protagonist thinks there are body snatchers aliens among us, at the end he tries to kill himself and discovers he's one of them.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantasy listening

Alexa reads to me due to eye damage and issues from shingles.
Another will written fantasy Sci-Fi adventure novella by Lester Del Rey with a very troubled main character and a strange ending. I would recommend this novella to anyone looking for a quick read. Enjoy the adventure of reading 📚2021😈

[Forked Radish · Rating 5 out of 5]

People say I’m crazy when I say the world is flat and stationary just as ancient scientists determined and the Michelson Morley interferometer proves as well as Airy’s failure along with hundreds of other proofs and corroborated by Albert Einstein in GR ch. 28. So this one resounded with me. This evening I’ll watch the sunset (literally) in commemoration, if it isn’t overcast.

[Phil Giunta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dane Phillips, war veteran and journalist, has eyewitness proof of aliens living among us in human form. However, every attempt to convince others only lands him in a psychiatric hospital-where he learns the sickening truth.

[DOUGLAS J BERRY · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sci fi short story

Seems like A psychological thriller. Could have been a good novel . One wonders why it wasn't demonstrated at the insane asylum?

[Bookworms.161212 · Rating 3 out of 5]

💜💜💜

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

The horse racing world made for an interesting setting for a murder mystery. Fun read.

[Christopher Ganiere · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lester Del Rey was one of my favorite elementary school authors. I found tat many of his works are available for free digital downloads.

[Tony Ciak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scifi short story by a master, well done!!

[Liam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Strange and short little sci-fi story. Listened to on the Lost Sci-Fi podcast.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow, quite the tale of madness and paranoia. Or is it? Good audio story.

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first del Rey. It's a very quick short story available through Project Gutenberg, something I read over lunch. It has good tension and causes you to question the narrator's sanity. Very enjoyable; I'll have to read more classic Lester del Rey in the future.

[Perry Whitford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alien zombies have invaded Earth, a journalist has proof, or is he mad?

1950s paranoia, electro shock therapy and a grisly smattering of what I could best describe as undertaker's old wives'tales combine in a decent yarn which begs the question: 'What better place for an alien than in the guise of a psychiatrist?'

No wonder they charge so much, rocket fuel don't come cheap.

[Katya · Rating 4 out of 5]

A zombie story (of sorts) before the world went crazy over zombie stories. This is a very fast read and even though the reader may get a sense of where events are headed, the ending is just creepy enough to pull the whole tale together.

[for-much-deliberation ... · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hmmm... An interesting science fiction tale, I was a bit supprised by the ending. I wonder if I'm dealing with humans or aliens...

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story even if the ending was signposted in advance. Lester del Rey was a good writer and his stories are generally enjoyable.