Parenthetical.net

A group of bad-ass teen criminals get kicked off Earth to be the lead team of colonizers of the planet Klydor. If they die, eh, no harm done. If they survive, ColSec — Colonization Section, part of the massive government that runs Earth — shows up to claim a nicely broken-in planet. There are giant worms and dangerous humanoid natives to contend with, but first they have to deal with one of their own, the psychopathic Lamprey.

Apocalypse how? This is post-apoc in letter if not in spirit: “So Cord knew only vaguely about the Virus Decades, a century before, that had wiped out much of Europe and Asia and eastern America. And he had only a dim idea of the Organization, formed by rich and powerful people, that had taken charge of the wreckage of human civilization, and dragged the world out of its new Dark Age.” Blah blah vague apocalypse and Generic Repressive Government-cakes. All of the action takes place among the six characters on Klydor.

But I just remembered that it’s the start of a trilogy, one of the few I can think of from that era. And by the end of the trilogy, I dimly recall, the Klydoreans go back to Earth to stage a rebellion against the Organization.

13 vs. 31: I had to include a Douglas Hill, because for some reason I was obsessed with him. It’s hard now to remember why. I think I liked reading about tough heroes confidently joking around with their tough-guy friends and fighting for justice and survival… you know, toughly. In real life I was such a wuss.

As a slightly less wussy adult, the characters are still fun, but I care less about the fight scenes. I am also far less enamored of “he is so strong and heroic, but also so tortured.” The alien relationships echo Orson Scott Card’s Speaker for the Dead, but with far less subtlety and, um, science.

S saw this on my coffee table last night and remarked that it looked like a comfort-food book. (His comfort-food books have giant worms and laser guns on them, which is one of the many reasons we get along.) How could I forget about one of the most important parts of nostalgic re-reading: cheesy cover art! Thus the array of editions above. The first one is the edition I have now, the second is the one from my childhood, and I found the third online.