This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2003 by Baen Books.
A Plague of Demons was first serialized as The Hounds of Hell in If magazine (Nov-Dec., 1964) and reissued as a novel in 1965 by Berkley. "Thunderhead" was first published in Galaxy in April, 1967. "End as a Hero" was first published in Galaxy in June, 1963. "Doorstep" was first published in Galaxy in February, 1961. "Test to Destruction" was first published in Dangerous Visions (Harlan Ellison, editor), Doubleday 1967. "The Star-Sent Knaves" (aka: "Time Thieves") was first published in Worlds of Tomorrow in June, 1963. "Greylorn" was first published in Amazing in April, 1959. "Of Death What Dreams" was first published in Worlds of Tomorrow #24 (1970) and then reissued in Five Fates, published by Doubleday, 1970.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.
A Baen Books Original
Baen Publishing Enterprises
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ISBN: 0-7434-3588-5
Cover art by Richard Martin
First printing, February 2003
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Laumer, Keith, 1925–1993A plague of demons and other stories / by Keith Laumer.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-7434-3588-5 (pbk.)
1. Human-alien encounters—Fiction. 2. Science fiction, American. I. Title: Plague
of demons and other stories. II. Title.PS3562.A84 P56 2003
813'.54—dc21
2002034186
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
Production by Windhaven Press, Auburn, NH
Printed in the United States of America
"Spare, clean prose style and muscular storytelling technique . . . I consider him to be one of the three or four authors who had the greatest influence on me throughout my life, as both a reader and a writer."
—David Weber
"For those who are confronting Laumer for the first time . . . I envy you: you are about to discover a prose stylist whose single aim is to pleasure you."
—Harlan Ellison
"One of the most productive and popular writers of science fiction."
—Ben Bova
[Laumer's Retief stories are] "Some of the funniest, cleverest, and most (unfortunately) realistic stories ever written about life at the sharp end of international relations. You're about to have fun."
—David Drake
"[Laumer's Dinosaur Beach is] unrivalled not only in its class, but in a class by itself." —Gordon R. Dickson
"[Laumer's Retief is] a James Bond figure among helpless bureaucrats . . . adventure tales that are brisk, light and sardonic. . . ."
—Publishers Weekly
"Laumer is a master of both science fiction and mystery."
—Seattle Times
"[Laumer's Retief stories offer] satirically wild SF adventures . . . improbable plot-twists and slapstick action."
—Kirkus Reviews
"Keith Laumer is one of science fiction's most adept creators . . . suspenseful action makes this story a first-rate thriller."
—Savannah News-Press
"Hilarious! Swinging! Brilliant!"
—Galaxy
Retief!
Odyssey
Keith Laumer: The Lighter Side
A Plague of Demons & Other Stories
The Bolo Series:
The Compleat Bolo
Created by Keith Laumer:
The Honor of the Regiment
The Unconquerable
The Triumphant
by David Weber & Linda Evans
Last Stand
Old Guard
Cold Steel
Bolo Brigade
by William H. Keith, Jr.
Bolo Rising
by William H. Keith, Jr.
Bolo Strike
by William H. Keith, Jr.