Kill Me If You Can!: Restored Classics to Go Edition

· Otbebookpublishing
Ebook
18
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

In the rigidly controlled world of Apollyon, assassination is not a crime but a civic ritual, and Rad Bartol is seized because his face can stand in for a ruler's. Surgically altered and hypnotically conditioned into the exact double of the Autarch, he is forced to smile, wave, and play his part even as an attack on the palace begins. The premise fuses political satire with science-fiction suspense, trapping Bartol between his stolen identity and the commands buried in his mind. Chosen because he is the closest physical match, Bartol is needed where androids fail: their artificial brain radiation would expose them, making a human decoy essential. As the Commander explains the brutal logic of Apollyon's system—where the Benevolent Society of Assassins replaces rulers every five years and propaganda keeps fear in power—the novel sharpens into a biting critique of authoritarian control, manipulation, and ritualized democracy. When the assassin breaks through, Bartol's buried training resurfaces. He slips free, swaps places with a guard, and turns the palace corridors into a tense cat-and-mouse chase, hunting the killer while struggling to reclaim his own will. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.
In the rigidly controlled world of Apollyon, assassination is not a crime but a civic ritual, and Rad Bartol is seized because his face can stand in for a ruler's. Surgically altered and hypnotically conditioned into the exact double of the Autarch, he is forced to smile, wave, and play his part ...

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About the author

Randall Garrett was an American science fiction and fantasy writer whose lively imagination, sharp wit, and love of puzzle-driven storytelling made him a memorable voice in mid-century genre fiction. Born in 1927 and active during the 1950s and 1960s, he built his reputation through a wide range of magazine stories, collaborations, and series that blended adventure, mystery, and speculative ideas with an unmistakable sense of fun. He became especially known for clever plots, brisk dialogue, and a talent for turning familiar tropes into entertaining intellectual games, often using humor to illuminate deeper questions about identity, power, and human ingenuity. Across his work, Garrett explored the tension between reason and chaos, the resilience of ordinary people in extraordinary situations, and the appeal of solving problems through wit rather than force. Those themes still resonate today, especially in an era that values both creativity and critical thinking. Though his career was relatively short, his influence endures in the way he helped shape humorous and puzzle-oriented science fiction for later readers and writers. Readers who enjoy fast-paced speculative fiction, brainteasers, and stories with a playful edge will find much to admire in Randall Garrett's work.

Randall Garrett was an American science fiction and fantasy writer whose lively imagination, sharp wit, and love of puzzle-driven storytelling made him a memorable voice in mid-century genre fiction. Born in 1927 and active during the 1950s and 1960s, he built his reputation through a wide range ...

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