"Planet of the Gods (Perry Rhodan #27)" by Kurt BMahr, translated by
Wendayne Ackerman
https://www.amazon.com/Planet-Gods-Perry-Rhodan-27/dp/3441660110/

Book number twenty-seven of a series of one hundred and twenty-six space
opera books in English. The original German books, actually pamphlets,
number in the thousands. The English books started with two translated
German stories per book and transitioned to one story per book with the
sixth book. The German books were written from 1961 to present time,
having sold two billion copies and even recently been rebooted again. I
read the well printed and well bound book published by Ace in 1973 that
I had to be very careful with due to age. I bought an almost complete
box of Perry Rhodans a decade or two ago on ebay that I am finally
getting to since I lost my original Perry Rhodans in The Great Flood of
1989. In fact, I now own book #1 to book #103, plus the Atlan books.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Rhodan

BTW, this is actually book number 35 of the German Pamphlets. There is
a very good explanation of the plot in German on this website of all of
the PR books. There is automatic Google translation available for
English, Spanish, Dutch, Japanese, French, and Portuguese.
https://www.perrypedia.de/wiki/Im_Land_der_G%C3%B6tter

In this alternate universe, USSF Major Perry Rhodan and his three fellow
astronauts blasted off in a three stage rocket to the Moon in 1971. The
first stage of the rocket was chemical, the second and third stages were
nuclear. After crashing on the Moon due to a strange radio
interference, they discover a massive crashed alien spaceship with an
aged male scientist (Khrest), a female commander (Thora), and a crew of
500. It has been over ten years since then and the New Power has
flourished with millions of people and many spaceships headquartered in
the Gobi desert, the city of Terrania.

Four of Rhodan's mutants accompanied the Springer ship to the Springer
Captain's meeting as members of the crew. The crew does not remember
them as strangers, having their minds changed by one of the mutants.
They interrupted the Captain's meeting and actually killed many of the
Captains while they were planning to turn Earth into a planet of slaves.
The mutants escape from the meeting, steal space suits, and make it to
the opposite side of the planet to wait for Rhodan's space ship to pick
them up. But, there is no pickup and Pucky is sent to their rescue,
also to cause further damage to the Springers.

One has to remember that this book was written in German in 1962 and
translated to English in 1973. Many items that came about in the 1970s
and beyond such as cell phones are not reflected in the book. However,
commercial aircraft commonly traveling at Mach 3 are not available to
the public as talked about in the book. Niels Bohr's saying "Prediction
is very difficult, especially about the future" comes to mind.

Two observations:
1. The publisher should have put two to four of the translated stories
in each book. Having two stories in the first five books worked out
well. Just having one story in the book is too short and would never
allow the translated books to catch up to the German originals.
2. Anyone liking Perry Rhodan and wanting a more up to date story should
read the totally awesome "Mutineer's Moon" Dahak series of three books
by David Weber.
https://www.amazon.com/Mutineers-Moon-Dahak-David-Weber/dp/0671720856/

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 5 out of 5 stars (1 review)

Lynn

Lynn McGuire wrote:
> "Planet of the Gods (Perry Rhodan #27)" by Kurt BMahr, translated by
> Wendayne Ackerman
> https://www.amazon.com/Planet-Gods-Perry-Rhodan-27/dp/3441660110/
>
> Book number twenty-seven of a series of one hundred and twenty-six space
> opera books in English. The original German books, actually pamphlets,
> number in the thousands. The English books started with two translated
> German stories per book and transitioned to one story per book with the
> sixth book. The German books were written from 1961 to present time,
> having sold two billion copies and even recently been rebooted again. I
> read the well printed and well bound book published by Ace in 1973 that
> I had to be very careful with due to age. I bought an almost complete
> box of Perry Rhodans a decade or two ago on ebay that I am finally
> getting to since I lost my original Perry Rhodans in The Great Flood of
> 1989. In fact, I now own book #1 to book #103, plus the Atlan books.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Rhodan
>
> BTW, this is actually book number 35 of the German Pamphlets. There is
> a very good explanation of the plot in German on this website of all of
> the PR books. There is automatic Google translation available for
> English, Spanish, Dutch, Japanese, French, and Portuguese.
> https://www.perrypedia.de/wiki/Im_Land_der_G%C3%B6tter
>
> In this alternate universe, USSF Major Perry Rhodan and his three fellow
> astronauts blasted off in a three stage rocket to the Moon in 1971. The
> first stage of the rocket was chemical, the second and third stages were
> nuclear. After crashing on the Moon due to a strange radio
> interference, they discover a massive crashed alien spaceship with an
> aged male scientist (Khrest), a female commander (Thora), and a crew of
> 500. It has been over ten years since then and the New Power has
> flourished with millions of people and many spaceships headquartered in
> the Gobi desert, the city of Terrania.
>
> Four of Rhodan's mutants accompanied the Springer ship to the Springer
> Captain's meeting as members of the crew. The crew does not remember
> them as strangers, having their minds changed by one of the mutants.
> They interrupted the Captain's meeting and actually killed many of the
> Captains while they were planning to turn Earth into a planet of slaves.
> The mutants escape from the meeting, steal space suits, and make it to
> the opposite side of the planet to wait for Rhodan's space ship to pick
> them up. But, there is no pickup and Pucky is sent to their rescue,
> also to cause further damage to the Springers.

„Im Land der Götter“ Nr. 35 (in the land of the gods) kicks off a three
story cycle. It gives readers the "lay of the land." The terrain takes
the form of continents on oceanic planet Goszul. Native schooners sail
its oceans while Springer space ships speed overhead.
Superior Springer science enables them to pose as gods to Goszul's
oppressed indigenous people. Nonetheless, a nascent native resistance
movement exists.
One Perry Rhodan theme entails spontaneous Third Power alliances
formed with tyrannized subjects in order to overthrow odious overloads.
Another theme involves secret subterranean tunnels.
The tunnel in the Goszul story descends from a small seacoast
settlement to its docks. It egresses a hand's width above the water at
low tide. The tunnel's depicted in the last Perrypedia panel at
https://www.perrypedia.de/wiki/Im_Land_der_G%C3%B6tter
Tako takes a potshot at a Springer scout ship on the Moewig cover at
the link.

In the Ace, Ackerman divulges a little more about Wendayne's new
assistant translator, a Brazilian house guest named Norbert Novotny.
Assiduous Ackerman arranges for Novotny to act as ambassador to Southern
California's premier Startrekon, while Forry stays at home to type
translations. Novotny also possesses a curious ability to "perch one TV
set on top of another, turn to two different channels (sound on both)
and simultaneously watch, understand, and enjoy two science fiction
films!"

Danke,

--
Don.......My cat's )\._.,--....,'``. https://crcomp.net/reviews.php
telltale tall tail /, _.. \ _\ (`._ ,.
tells tall tales.. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'

Lynn McGuire wrote:
> "Planet of the Gods (Perry Rhodan #27)" by Kurt BMahr, translated by
> Wendayne Ackerman
> https://www.amazon.com/Planet-Gods-Perry-Rhodan-27/dp/3441660110/
>
> Book number twenty-seven of a series of one hundred and twenty-six space
> opera books in English. The original German books, actually pamphlets,
> number in the thousands. The English books started with two translated
> German stories per book and transitioned to one story per book with the
> sixth book. The German books were written from 1961 to present time,
> having sold two billion copies and even recently been rebooted again. I
> read the well printed and well bound book published by Ace in 1973 that
> I had to be very careful with due to age. I bought an almost complete
> box of Perry Rhodans a decade or two ago on ebay that I am finally
> getting to since I lost my original Perry Rhodans in The Great Flood of
> 1989. In fact, I now own book #1 to book #103, plus the Atlan books.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Rhodan
>
> BTW, this is actually book number 35 of the German Pamphlets. There is
> a very good explanation of the plot in German on this website of all of
> the PR books. There is automatic Google translation available for
> English, Spanish, Dutch, Japanese, French, and Portuguese.
> https://www.perrypedia.de/wiki/Im_Land_der_G%C3%B6tter
>
> In this alternate universe, USSF Major Perry Rhodan and his three fellow
> astronauts blasted off in a three stage rocket to the Moon in 1971. The
> first stage of the rocket was chemical, the second and third stages were
> nuclear. After crashing on the Moon due to a strange radio
> interference, they discover a massive crashed alien spaceship with an
> aged male scientist (Khrest), a female commander (Thora), and a crew of
> 500. It has been over ten years since then and the New Power has
> flourished with millions of people and many spaceships headquartered in
> the Gobi desert, the city of Terrania.
>
> Four of Rhodan's mutants accompanied the Springer ship to the Springer
> Captain's meeting as members of the crew. The crew does not remember
> them as strangers, having their minds changed by one of the mutants.
> They interrupted the Captain's meeting and actually killed many of the
> Captains while they were planning to turn Earth into a planet of slaves.
> The mutants escape from the meeting, steal space suits, and make it to
> the opposite side of the planet to wait for Rhodan's space ship to pick
> them up. But, there is no pickup and Pucky is sent to their rescue,
> also to cause further damage to the Springers.

Correction, „Im Land der Götter“ Nr. 35 (in the land of the gods) is the
second story of a four part cycle kicked off by „Levtan, der Verräter“
Nr. 34 (Levtan, the Traitor). The first story brings earthmen to Goszul's
Great Concave of Springer patriarchs while the second installment gives
readers the "lay of the land." The terrain takes the form of continents
on oceanic planet Goszul. Native schooners sail its oceans while Springer
space ships speed overhead.
Superior Springer science enables them to pose as gods to Goszul's
oppressed indigenous people. Nonetheless, a nascent native resistance
movement exists.
One Perry Rhodan theme entails spontaneous Third Power alliances
formed with tyrannized subjects in order to overthrow odious overloads.
Another theme involves secret subterranean tunnels.
The tunnel in the Goszul story descends from a small seacoast
settlement to its docks. It egresses a hand's width above the water at
low tide. The tunnel's depicted in the last Perrypedia panel at
https://www.perrypedia.de/wiki/Im_Land_der_G%C3%B6tter
Tako takes a potshot at a Springer scout ship on the Moewig cover at
the link.

In the Ace, Ackerman divulges a little more about Wendayne's new
assistant translator, a Brazilian house guest named Norbert Novotny.
Assiduous Ackerman arranges for Novotny to act as ambassador to Southern
California's premier Startrekon, while Forry stays at home to type
translations. Novotny also possesses a curious ability to "perch one TV
set on top of another, turn to two different channels (sound on both)
and simultaneously watch, understand, and enjoy two science fiction
films!"

Danke,

--
Don.......My cat's )\._.,--....,'``. https://crcomp.net/reviews.php
telltale tall tail /, _.. \ _\ (`._ ,.
tells tall tales.. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'