XPost: alt.fan.perry-rhodan
From: lynnmcguire5@gmail.com

"The Columbus Affair: Perry Rhodan #80" by K. H. Scheer
https://www.amazon.com/Columbus-Affair-Perry-Rhodan-80/dp/B0014G3CYU/

Book number eighty of a series of one hundred and thirty-six space opera
books in English. The original German books, actually pamphlets, number
in the thousands with several spinoffs. The English books started with
two translated German stories per book translated by Wendayne Ackerman
and transitioned to one story per book with the sixth book. And then
they transition back to two stories in book #109/110. The Ace publisher
dropped out at #118, so Forrest and Wendayne Ackerman published books
#119 to #136 in pamphlets before stopping in 1978. 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 1975 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 #106, plus the Atlan books, and some of the Lemuria books.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Rhodan

BTW, this is actually book number 88 of the German pamphlets written in
1963. There is a very good explanation of the plot in German on the
Perrypedia German 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/Der_Fall_Kolumbus
There is alternate synopsis site at:
https://www.perryrhodan.us/summaries/88#

In this alternate universe, USSF Major Perry Rhodan and his three fellow astronauts blasted off in a three stage rocket to the Moon in their
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 seventy years since then and the Solar Empire has flourished with tens of millions of people and many spaceships
headquartered in the Gobi desert, the city of Terrania. Perry Rhodan
has been elected by the people of Earth to be the World Administrator
and keep them from being taken over by the robot administrator of Arkon.

The Druufs have an outpost on Earth. And the Druufs have created a
tunnel between their universe and Earth's universe into which they are
pouring thousands of fighter spaceships. So now Perry Rhodan has to
appeal to Atlan, the hidden administrator of the Arkonide empire behind
the robot administrator, for 10,000 fighting spaceships. So now the
position of Earth is known across the galaxy. Atlan sends the ships but
the Springers show up also.

Two observations:
1. Forrest Ackerman should have put two or three 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: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 5 out of 5 stars (1 reviews)

Lynn

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XPost: alt.fan.perry-rhodan
From: g@crcomp.net

Lynn McGuire wrote:

"The Columbus Affair: Perry Rhodan #80" by K. H. Scheer
https://www.amazon.com/Columbus-Affair-Perry-Rhodan-80/dp/B0014G3CYU/

Book number eighty of a series of one hundred and thirty-six space opera books in English. The original German books, actually pamphlets, number
in the thousands with several spinoffs. The English books started with
two translated German stories per book translated by Wendayne Ackerman
and transitioned to one story per book with the sixth book. And then
they transition back to two stories in book #109/110. The Ace publisher dropped out at #118, so Forrest and Wendayne Ackerman published books
#119 to #136 in pamphlets before stopping in 1978. 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 1975 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 #106, plus the Atlan books, and some of the Lemuria books.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Rhodan

BTW, this is actually book number 88 of the German pamphlets written in
1963. There is a very good explanation of the plot in German on the Perrypedia German 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/Der_Fall_Kolumbus
There is alternate synopsis site at:
https://www.perryrhodan.us/summaries/88#

In this alternate universe, USSF Major Perry Rhodan and his three fellow astronauts blasted off in a three stage rocket to the Moon in their
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 seventy years since then and the Solar Empire has flourished with tens of millions of people and many spaceships
headquartered in the Gobi desert, the city of Terrania. Perry Rhodan
has been elected by the people of Earth to be the World Administrator
and keep them from being taken over by the robot administrator of Arkon.

The Druufs have an outpost on Earth. And the Druufs have created a
tunnel between their universe and Earth's universe into which they are pouring thousands of fighter spaceships. So now Perry Rhodan has to
appeal to Atlan, the hidden administrator of the Arkonide empire behind
the robot administrator, for 10,000 fighting spaceships. So now the
position of Earth is known across the galaxy. Atlan sends the ships but
the Springers show up also.

Its mostly militaristic motif made this story sort of a slog for me.
Because MilSF is among my least favorite sub-genres.
But all is not lost. The title remains enigmatic to me. And this is probably a good place to sort it out.
The titular Columbus suggests Christopher Columbus. With Druufs
depicted as discoverers of the Earth's location.
Fearing an astronomical alien attack, the first eighty-seven PR installments kept the location a closely guarded secret. And now it
ends with a debut denouement by Druufs.

--
Don.......My cat's )\._.,--....,'``. veritas _|_ telltale tall tail /, _.. \ _\ (`._ ,. liberabit |
tells tall tales.. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.' vos |

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XPost: alt.fan.perry-rhodan
From: naddy@mips.inka.de

On 2025-09-10, Don <g@crcomp.net> wrote:

"The Columbus Affair: Perry Rhodan #80" by K. H. Scheer
https://www.amazon.com/Columbus-Affair-Perry-Rhodan-80/dp/B0014G3CYU/

Its mostly militaristic motif made this story sort of a slog for me.

That's K. H. Scheer for you. The ship's hull reverberated like a
bell from the recoil of the transform guns.

But all is not lost. The title remains enigmatic to me. And this is probably a good place to sort it out.
The titular Columbus suggests Christopher Columbus. With Druufs
depicted as discoverers of the Earth's location.

The Perrypedia entry explains it as the code name for the event of
Earth's discovery by an alien power. "Operation Columbus" might
be a more idiomatic translation, judging from the real-life "Operation
London Bridge" when Elizabeth II passed away... or various military
planning from WWII, now that I think about it.

--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de

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