Junkyard Planet [Paperback]

H. Beam Piper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 8, 2007

This novel had its genesis in a much shorter story called "Graveyard of Dreams" (Galaxy, 1958) Piper expanded it to book length, and it appeared in 1963 as Junkyard Planet. Ace later renamed the book The Cosmic Computer for its paperback appearance. This edition returns the book to Piper's original title, Junkyard Planet.

Conn Maxwell returns from Terra to home world of Poictesme, dubbed "The Junkyard Planet" because of all the military equipment left behind after the last war. Conn claims he has found the location of Merlin, a military super-computer rumored to have been left behind. But is Merlin real, or just a myth? And if Conn does have access to Merlin, will the computer save Poictesme -- or tear the world apart?

Product Details

• Paperback: 166 pages
• Publisher: Wildside Press (May 8, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1434400794
• ISBN-13: 978-1434400796
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,078,253 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars H. Beam Piper - Great Author, July 31, 2010

By 

M. David Brim - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Junkyard Planet (Hardcover)

Junkyard Planet (Cosmic Computer) is one of H. Beam Piper's best works. Would have liked to have seen more based in that universe.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Piper's best novels, July 26, 2007

By 

David Johnson - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Junkyard Planet (Hardcover)

With the transition of much of H. Beam Piper's work into the public domain publishers like Wildside Press have finally begun to bring Piper's work back into print and for that fans of Piper owe them a debt of gratitude. This novel, set in Piper's Terrohuman Future History (and oddly issued under its original title--Piper preferred The Cosmic Computer), is one of his best. Poictesme (pronounced "pwa-tem") is a backwater planet, its economy crashed in the aftermath of an interstellar civil war, its surface dotted with known and unknown installations from the war. Conn Maxwell, freshly returned from computer studies on Terra (the non-miniaturized technology here will make some readers stumble), leads an exciting search for the fabled lost supercomputer, Merlin, that helped to win the war. In an adventure that takes us across the planet and into the local solar system Conn and his colleagues encounter pirates, Merlin-worshippers, wayward robots, and saboteurs before discovering a long-kept secret that threatens all of interstellar civilization! This is an exciting, tightly-written story that showcases Piper's storytelling at its complex and intricate best.

Other Terrohuman Future History works by Piper include Four-Day Planet, Uller Uprising, Little Fuzzy, and Space Viking.