The Lighter Side

IT'S A SERIOUSLY DERANGED UNIVERSE OUT THERE!

Chester W. Chester IV had inherited his great grandfather's lifework: a super computer that could bring any situation or time to life. Chester and his shady pal thought that they could make a fortune, but they should .have read the instruction book first....

Roger Tyson was being pursued through time by a motorcycle-riding rutabaga-like alien in a world where ages millions of years apart have been combined in an insane smorgasbord of aeons. And he must somehow convince superbeings from the distant future that the human race is not a horde of vermin who should be wiped from the pages of history....

To these two complete novels of hapless heroes caught in out-of-kilter spacetime clockwork, add a beleaguered Satan asking a college professor for help when extra-dimensional aliens invade Hell itself; another group of aliens using Earth for a set for a multi-D thriller and preparing to destroy the set after the big finish; a world where a 98-pound weakling can buy the body of a major hunk; and much more, in a huge volume of humorous science fiction adventure from Keith Laumer, the creator of Retief.

". . . adventure tales that are brisk, light and sardonic. . . ." Publishers Weekly

"... satirically wild SF adventures . . . improbable plot-twists and slapstick action." Kirkus Reviews

"..'. . zany humor and puns. . . ." VOYA

Cover art by Richard Martin

Paperback

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.

First printing, May 2002

Distributed by Simon & Schuster
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Printed in the United States of America

A Baen Books Original
Baen Publishing Enterprises
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Production by Windhaven Press
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Electronic version by WebWrights
http://www.webwrights.com

ISBN: 0-7434-3537-0

"In the Queue" was first published by Putnam in 1970 as part of the anthology Orbit 7, edited by Damon Knight. "The Planet Wreckers" was first published in Worlds of Tomorrow, February 1967. "The Body Builders" was first published in Galaxy, August 1966. Time Trap was first published by Putnam in 1970. "The Devil You Don't" was first published by Doubleday in 1970 as part of the anthology Alchemy & Academe, edited by Anne McCaffrey. "The Exterminator" (aka "A Bad Day for Vermin") was first published in Galaxy, February 1964. "The Big Show" was first published in Galaxy, February 1968. "Goobereality" was first published by Berkley in 1968 as part of the anthology of Keith Laumer stories entitled It's a Mad, Mad, Mad Galaxy. "Prototaph" was first published in Analog, March 1966. The Great Time Machine Hoax was first published by Simon & Schuster in 1964.

BAEN BOOKS by Keith Laumer:

The Compleat Bolo
Retief!
Odyssey
Keith Laumer: The Lighter Side