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Think Yourself to Death
Think Yourself to Death
A Johnny Mayhem Adventure
If you've never read a Johnny Mayhem story before, you are in for a treat. Johnny, who wears different bodies the way ordinary people wear clothes, is one of the most fascinating series characters in science fiction.
Book Excerpt
fanatic gurus ever thought of that. Then the door in front of him opened again and a fat, unctuous-looking Ophiuchan came out. He seemed to be an official of sorts.
"One more!" he said. "Only one! The rest of you begone."
Behind Pandit there was a general press of bodies, but he was first in line and did not surrender his position. The unctuous-looking man admitted him, half-expecting a bribe. Pandit passed him by; he didn't have a single copper.
He approached a desk. The crowd noise outside was loud, those who had not joined the line crowing because most of those on it had been turned away. Behind the desk sat a small Denebian man of middle years. He looked nervous.
"Can you fly?" he asked in a voice almost desperately thin.
"Yes," Pandit said. Then the rumors were right.
"How much experience?"
"Five years on and off."
"You have a license?"
"There are no licenses on Ophiuchus IX," Pandit pointed out.
"Yes, of course. I'm sorry. Habit. You
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On one of the planets of Ophiuchus, something suspicious is going on, but every agent the Galactic League sends in to investigate commits suicide. So they send Johnny Mayhem.
Johnny Mayhem was killed some time ago, but his personality was kept alive and is transferred into a new dead body every month. It so happens that the League has a dead native Ophiuchian to transfer Johnny into, so his infiltration should be undetectable.
An okay pulp story, the only mystery turns out to be what's going on on the planet.
Johnny Mayhem was killed some time ago, but his personality was kept alive and is transferred into a new dead body every month. It so happens that the League has a dead native Ophiuchian to transfer Johnny into, so his infiltration should be undetectable.
An okay pulp story, the only mystery turns out to be what's going on on the planet.
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This was my first Mayhem adventure. As the description says, Johnny Mayhem inhabits dead bodies and solves mysteries. In this story (episode?) he's been dispatched to a world colonized by East Indians and where any offworlder who enters the society commits suicide, purportedly by the gurus who run the planet. There's a bit of gimmeckry in the telling but it's still a pretty good pulp tale.
07/14/2010
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FEATURED AUTHOR - Philip Booker lives in southern Idaho with his wife Katey, his step-daughter CaraLee, two cats, a dog, and a ton of fish. Philip has been writing stories since third grade when he decided he wanted to be an author. While he has written many short stories, Smoke in the Wind was his first completed novel. As our Author of the Day, Booker tells us all about this book.