INTRODUCTIONJohn Keith Laumer (1925–1993) was an American science fiction author. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, he was an officer in the United States Air Force and a diplomat in the United States Foreign Service. His older brother March Laumer was also a writer, known for his adult reinterpretations of the Land of Oz (also mentioned in Laumer’s The Other Side of Time). Frank Laumer, their youngest brother, is a historian and writer.
My introduction to Keith Laumer’s work came through his Retief stories—tales of a space-travelling Earth diplomat, who had to match wits not only with aliens, but the dim-witted human bureaucracy that he supported. Somehow, he always came through. Retief led to discovering the Imperium series (of which Worlds of the Imperium is the first), then to suc
