& Other Stories
Technically, this is a review of Earthblood (& Other Stories) by Keith Laumer, but only the "other stories" are worth much.
The title novel is long: 241 pages long and feels much longer. The setting is a galaxy full of mutated humans, so strongly adapted to their alien worlds that they can no longer interbreed. The Terran Empire, and the alien Niss that crushed it are both long gone: the stuff of legends. Our hero, Roan, is stolen from a mysterious gene bank, raised in alien poverty, kidnapped into a galactic circus, and then into galactic piracy: all of these mediated by his strange identity as one of the last "pure blood" Earthmen. It ought to be good fun, especially for fans of space opera-cum-bildungsroman, of which I am one. Perhaps it's the mysterious human heritage which seems to kick in whenever it's wanted by the plot, (a bit like broken twigs in The Leatherstocking series, albeit in reverse) but not otherwise; the which is never satisfactorily explained. Roan is Just! True! Human! And that makes him a very special snowflake, indeed. Ho-hum.
But if the protagonist is a bit of a cipher, that needn't be a showstopper. The alien settings: slum, circus, pirate ship, et al., ought to be some of the most entertaining parts of the book. Alas, the more intriguing the alien the more likely they are to be shuffled off-stage--and then killed; with the exception of the initial slum, the setting is given short shrift. Again, with the dullsville. Indeed, the only reason I finished re-reading the book, is because I wanted to be able to write this review.
The which review is still going to conclude that the Earthblood, et al. is probably (possibly) worth buying. Happily there are three "Niss" stories, each (as the editor notes) a working-out of a possible Terran-destroying threat, each one, however, unique. They're good solid thwarting-the-alien-invasion stories, and a pleasant way to pass an evening. By themselves, they warrant going on-line and ordering a copy from your local library.
The tome, (and it's a door-stopper) concludes with six Rosel George Brown short stories. One can only infer from the infelicitious combination of their talents in Earthblood, that Laumer and Brown were, as writers, oil and water, because they mixed so poorly. All by herself, Brown is a treat-and I have read elsewhere that these are not even among her best stories. Save Your Confederate Money Boys, features a "snake oil" salesman for the new century (and spray-on corsets); Flower Arrangement, reminded me nothing so much as one of Zenna Henderson's or Connie Willis's charming slice-of-life stories about children and their space-time-continuum-warping games (sometimes it just seems that way to their harried parents); while Fruiting Body, is a wonderfully nasty story about the "perfect murder" gone awry. "Visiting Professor," "Car Pool," and "And a Tooth" all share one or more of these characteristics. They read a bit like what you might get if you crossed Suzette Haden Elgin with Robert Heinlein-and the progeny was viable.
So there you have it: If you can't get the Rosel George Brown Stories anywhere else (Powell's, Amazon, your local used book dealer, etc.) the 75 pages of short stories are well-worth the $14 price tag; and you get three decent Keith Laumer stories as lagniappe!