[Book 41] The Duplicators by Murray Leinster (1964)

Link Denham awakens after a magnificent drinking binge to discover he’s on a ramshackle starship owned by a peevish and paranoid crackpot explorer named Thistlethwaite who refuses to tell Link their destination, only that while drunk he signed on board as Astrogator for his ship, the Glamorgan, and must obey his orders. 

Figuring out their destination to be Sord III with a bit of subterfuge using the ship’s hard-copy of The Practical Astrogator, Link is nonplussed to read among the terse description of the world in this otherwise sober reference work the following lines: “The last report on this planet was from a spaceyacht some two centuries ago. The yacht called down asking permission to land and was threatened with destruction if they did.  The yacht took pictures from space showing specks that could be villages or the ruins of same but this is doubtful.”

Within minutes of landing on this unexplored world Link is left alone inside the Glamorgan, with Thistlethwaite beetling off to meet an unknown partner. Link’s feeling of being left utterly alone doesn’t last long, however, as  Link has a a strange welcome by a pair of pig-like uffts and a more sinister one by a group of five human riders who seem to be riding unicorns and are wearing pieces of Thistlethwaite’s clothing!

The Duplicators is a humorous, tongue-in-cheek SF novel that still has some well grounded SF ideas. The ‘mystery’ at the heart of this planetary story is well exploited by Link, and reminded me how much I liked 1960s SF. The novel itself reminded me as a cross between another Leinster novel I read and enjoyed, The Pirates of Zan (formerly the Pirates of Ersatz) and H. Beam Piper’s A Planet for Texans. My copy was part of an Ace Double (No Truce with Terra by Philip E. High on the other flip side).

Murray Leinster (whose real name is Will F. Jenkins) is an unjustly forgotten SF writer that fans would be amply rewarded by tracking down his works. Despite being one of his minor efforts, The Duplicators is still highly recommended for Murray Leinster fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of fast adventure, political intrigue, and a just touch of romance.

::B::