Editing Keith Laumer (section)

==Writing career==
Keith Laumer is best known for his [[Bolo universe|Bolo]] and [[Jame Retief|Retief]] stories. Stories from the former chronicle the evolution of super [[tank]]s that eventually become [[self-aware]] through the constant improvement resulting from centuries of intermittent warfare against various alien races. The latter deals with the adventures of a cynical spacefaring diplomat who constantly has to overcome the red-tape-infused failures of people with names like Ambassador Grossblunder. The Retief stories were greatly influenced by Laumer's earlier career in the US Foreign Service. In an interview with Paul Walker of ''Luna Monthly'', Laumer stated, "I had no shortage of iniquitous memories of the Foreign Service."

Laumer's other adventures often included the subjects of time travel and alternate worlds, such as found in ''A Trace of Memory'', ''Dinosaur Beach'' and the Imperium series.

Four of his shorter works received [[Hugo Award|Hugo]] or [[Nebula Award]] nominations ("In the Queue" was nominated for both), and ''A Plague of Demons'' (1965) received a nomination for the [[Nebula Award for Best Novel]] in 1966.

During his peak years of 1959–1971, Laumer was a prolific science fiction writer. His novels and stories tend to follow one of three patterns:

* fast-paced, straight adventures in time and space, with an emphasis on lone-wolf, latent superhuman protagonists, self-sacrifice, and [[transcendence (philosophy)|transcendence]]
* broad, sometimes over-the-top, comedies
* experimental work verging on [[New Wave science fiction]]

In 1971, Laumer suffered a [[stroke]] while working on the novel ''[[The Ultimax Man]]''. As a result, he was unable to write for a few years. As he explained in an interview with [[Charles Platt (science-fiction author)|Charles Platt]] published in ''Dream Makers Volume II'' (1983), he refused to accept the doctors' diagnosis. He came up with an alternative explanation and developed an alternative (and very painful) treatment program. Although he was unable to write in the early 1970s, he had a number of books published that had been unpublished at the time of the stroke.

In the mid-1970s, Laumer partially recovered from the stroke and resumed writing. However, the quality of his work suffered, and his career declined.<ref>[[Piers Anthony]], ''How Precious Was That While'',  2002</ref> In later years, Laumer also re-used scenarios and characters from earlier works to create new books, which one critic felt limited their appeal:

{{bquote|Alas, ''Retief to the Rescue'' doesn't seem so much like a new Retief novel, but a kind of Cuisinart mélange of past books.<ref>[[Somtow Sucharitkul]] (''[[The Washington Post]]'', March 27, 1983. p. BW11)</ref>}}

His Bolo creations were popular enough that other authors have written standalone science fiction about them.

An anthology "Created by Keith Laumer", ''Dangerous Vegetables'', appeared in 1998. Actually edited by [[Martin H. Greenberg]] and Charles G. Waugh, the book's introduction (by [[Ben Bova]]) said the book was Laumer's idea, but that he had died without completing it.