'The Leaves of Time' (205 pp) was published by Lancer Books in 1971.
Let me state at the outset: the best thing about this book is its cover, a brilliant piece of psychedelic art by the gifted New Zealand artist Mike Hinge (1931 - 2003).
Information about Mike Hinge is available at the Onyx Cube blog.
'Leaves' has an interesting premise: in the aftermath of a battle against a race of ruthless aliens known as the Gorgons, soldier Jon DeHaviland finds himself teleported to an alternate Earth, and the city of Vriesborg, in the country of Vinaskaland.
Vinaskaland, which occupies the same territory as Canada does in 'our' world, is analogous to Sweden of the early 70s: progressive, peaceful, forward-thinking, and chock-full of gorgeous 'liberated' women..........!
Just when DeHaviland is thanking the Fates for bringing him to a Socialist Wonderland, he receives unwelcome news: a Gorgon has followed him through the teleporter.
Bred to be the ultimate supersoldier, the Gorgon is capable of assuming the form of any human, and its high IQ allows it to be fluent in any language, as well as learning the cultural and social mores of the society within which it has chosen to operate.
Once secreted among its foes, the Gorgon can manipulate politics to its own advantage - and world war is one such advantage. The Gorgon will use the chaos of conflict to place itself - and its clones - as the sole survivors.
Can Jon DeHaviland convince his new allies that their world is in peril from a quasi-invincible alien invader ? Or will the Gorgon succeed in turning those allies against DeHaviland........and engineer the destruction of Vinaskaland ?
'Leaves' was Neal Barrett Jr.'s second novel and it shows an author who is learning his way. Rather than a sci-fi novel, it's more of a late 60s spy novel / thriller with a sci-fi backstory.
The narrative suffers from slow pacing and an overemphasis on dialogue; many chapters consist of nothing but conversations between protagonist DeHaviland, and various collections of alt-Earthers who are skeptical about his story of an alien supersoldier.
The sub-plots and intrigues that burden the main plot pay yet more allegiance to the spy-thriller model, and lead to a denouement that struck me as having too many contrivances ('mind control' being one of them) to be effective.
Summing up, I can only recommend 'The Leaves of Time' to Neal Barrett, Jr. completists.
'Leaves' has an interesting premise: in the aftermath of a battle against a race of ruthless aliens known as the Gorgons, soldier Jon DeHaviland finds himself teleported to an alternate Earth, and the city of Vriesborg, in the country of Vinaskaland.
Vinaskaland, which occupies the same territory as Canada does in 'our' world, is analogous to Sweden of the early 70s: progressive, peaceful, forward-thinking, and chock-full of gorgeous 'liberated' women..........!
Just when DeHaviland is thanking the Fates for bringing him to a Socialist Wonderland, he receives unwelcome news: a Gorgon has followed him through the teleporter.
Bred to be the ultimate supersoldier, the Gorgon is capable of assuming the form of any human, and its high IQ allows it to be fluent in any language, as well as learning the cultural and social mores of the society within which it has chosen to operate.
Once secreted among its foes, the Gorgon can manipulate politics to its own advantage - and world war is one such advantage. The Gorgon will use the chaos of conflict to place itself - and its clones - as the sole survivors.
Can Jon DeHaviland convince his new allies that their world is in peril from a quasi-invincible alien invader ? Or will the Gorgon succeed in turning those allies against DeHaviland........and engineer the destruction of Vinaskaland ?
'Leaves' was Neal Barrett Jr.'s second novel and it shows an author who is learning his way. Rather than a sci-fi novel, it's more of a late 60s spy novel / thriller with a sci-fi backstory.
The narrative suffers from slow pacing and an overemphasis on dialogue; many chapters consist of nothing but conversations between protagonist DeHaviland, and various collections of alt-Earthers who are skeptical about his story of an alien supersoldier.
The sub-plots and intrigues that burden the main plot pay yet more allegiance to the spy-thriller model, and lead to a denouement that struck me as having too many contrivances ('mind control' being one of them) to be effective.
Summing up, I can only recommend 'The Leaves of Time' to Neal Barrett, Jr. completists.
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