On 21 Jan 2004, at 8:23 pm, Gautam Mukunda wrote:
OK guys, you're my last resort on this one. A long, long time ago I read a short story by Algis Budrys named, I think, Shadow on the Stars. It was about a mercenary military genius hired by an alien empire, who ended up being a human in disguise. Sounds sort of dumb, but I actually ended up liking it a lot. It read as if it was part of a larger series. IIRC, the ending was something like "And all roads now led to Earth. To wily, scheming Earth. The die had been cast." Which sure reads like a lead-in to a series to me. Does anyone else on this list have any idea what I'm talking about? Does this sound familiar? Was it part of a series? Have I, in fact, lost my mind (note that the answer to this question is not necessarily related to the previous ones)?
It's not listed in his bibliography under that title. And I don't remember reading it although I have read most of his collected shorter works. But I could be wrong :)
I would say that that kind of ending, enough plot for a trilogy these days, was often stuffed into a short story in the wildly inventive sf of the late fifties and early sixties.
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