D. K. Strickland joined Virtual Pulp recently, and since he’s a fellow author, I was curious about what he had written. That’s how I came to find Fringeman and picked up a copy.

I gave up on science fiction (and almost all fiction from the New York Publishing Cartel) years ago, for the same reason Larry Correia founded the Sad Puppies, and why so many sci-fi fans empathize with the Sad and Rabid Puppies: We’re sick of thought cops more interested in ramming their leftist and feminist messages down our throats than they are in telling a good story.

Fringeman is the kind of sci-fi novel that could break us out of that literary gulag.

Gunnar Schmidt is a Ranger (not Airborne…think more like Texas; except in outer space) with a quick wit and acid tongue that get him in a lot of trouble. His boss assigns him to the “fringe” of the “republic” where the central government’s authority is minimal at best. (As just about anything with “republic” contained in its title, it’s only nominal.)

This is a fool’s mission to the outer planets at the edge of “the Republic.” Schmidt’s boss is obviously hoping he’ll be killed. The plan had its merits, since Gunnar goes in and out of differing levels of captivity while awaiting a death sentence from the local feudal lord, and spends pretty much the entire novel getting the daylights beaten out of him.

I’m guessing this is to be a series, and this first novel is mostly a setup for an interstellar lawman with knowledge of and clout in the more primitive cultures, to execute justice and maybe enjoy some unofficial adventures.

After reading a couple Gor novels and being severely disappointed, it’s clear to me John Norman could have learned a thing or two from Strickland about how to explain a slave culture and explore the psychology of bondage, submission, etc. without bogging down the narrative.

Hopefully Don will get the next one finished soon.

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