The Deathworld Omnibus by Harry Harrison as the magazine and books variants
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Overview: Deathworld is the name of a series of science fiction novels by American writer Harry Harrison, including the books Deathworld (first published 1960, serialized in Astounding Science Fiction), Deathworld 2 (1964, initially titled The Ethical Engineer and serialized in Analog) and Deathworld 3 (1968, serialized in Analog as The Horse Barbarians), plus the short story "The Mothballed Spaceship" (1973, written as part of a tribute to John W. Campbell). The central hero is a gambler who becomes involved with colonists of an extremely hostile planet.
Genre: Fiction > Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Deathworld 1
The planet was called Pyrrus…a strange place where all the beasts, plants and natural elements were designed for one specific purpose: to destroy man. The settlers there were supermen…twice as strong as ordinary men and with milli-second reflexes. They had to be. For their business was murder… It was up to Jason dinAlt, interplanetary gambler, to discover why Pyrrus had become so hostile during man’s brief habitation…
Deathworld 2
In Deathworld 2, Jason is kidnapped by the self-righteous Mikah, who is determined to bring him back to the planet Cassylia, ostensibly to be tried for his various crimes but really (Cassylia does not want Jason returned, since his huge winnings have been spent and the planet has used the incident to promote the "honesty" of its casino) to help Mikah’s movement to overthrow the government, which they consider corrupt. Jason forces a crash-landing on a planet where the human population has regressed. The technology is extremely primitive and knowledge is split up among many small clans, each one jealously monopolizing what it knows. Jason uses his ingenuity to survive, trading his knowledge for protection and power in one of these clans. He eventually allies with a clan which has the knowledge of electricity. He creates innovations and machinery for the clan, in the process devising a crude device that signals his location to a spaceship piloted by his Pyrran girlfriend, Meta.
Deathworld 3
In Deathworld 3, Jason invites those Pyrrans who cannot adapt to the changes on their home world to colonize "Felicity", a planet rich in mineral wealth, but home to humans who are divided into two primitive societies, reminiscent of early Asia. One is an agrarian society living in towns and cities; the other is composed of nomadic clans that constantly fight amongst each other, strongly reminiscent of the Mongols before they invaded China and settled down. The two are divided by an impassible, miles-high, continent-spanning cliff. Most of the warlike clans have recently been united under a wily leader calling himself Temujin.
Jason tries to infiltrate the warrior society and use his Pyrrans to wrestle the leadership of the clans away from Temujin, but is unmasked as an off-worlder and thrown down a deep cave. He survives the fall, landing in a bank of snow and finds that it is a passageway through the cliff. Jason changes his plans and contacts Temujin, who takes him for an unkillable demon. Jason offers the barbarian leader his greatest wish, to conquer the rest of the continent. Temujin does indeed prove unstoppable, but is perceptive enough to realize, at the peak of his triumph, that he has to pay an enormous price for what he has won, as his people are becoming corrupted by the easy life of civilisation and will forget their nomadic ways.
"The Mothballed Spaceship"
In "The Mothballed Spaceship", a hostile armada is heading towards Earth, and its government contracts Jason and the Pyrrans to reactivate an ancient mothballed battleship. It is cheaper to use the battleship, a relic from the First Galactic War, than it is to build a fleet from scratch. Unfortunately, when the ship was deactivated for storage, or "mothballed", it was programmed to destroy any approaching object so it could not be stolen by Earth’s enemies. The only way it can be used is if it receives the correct codeword.
The armada is just weeks away, so Jason and Kerk must race against time to enter the ship. Jason approaches the problem with intelligence and guile, and is able to board it with plenty of time to spare. Kerk’s Pyrran combat skills then make short work of the ship’s on-board defenses. But when they reach the control center, the computer starts a self-destruct sequence—a final option to keep the ship from being "stolen".
Just in time, Jason’s Pyrran lover, Meta, discovers the correct codeword, canceling the self-destruct. It turns out to have been a simple five-letter word in Esperanto: "Haltu" or, "Stop".
This short story was featured in Astounding: The John W. Campbell Memorial Anthology which was published after the death of the famed, influential editor.
Deathworld: The Complete Saga (ed. Jerry eBooks 2018)
DEATHWORLD
Astounding Science Fiction, January-March 1960, Vol. LXIV, Nos. 5-7
THE ETHICAL ENGINEER
Analog Science Fact->Science Fiction, July-August 1963, Vol. LXXI, Nos. 5-6
THE HORSE BARBARIANS
Analog Science Fact->Science Fiction
Part One, February 1968, Vol. LXXX, No. 6
Part Two, March 1968, Vol. LXXXI, No. 1
Conclusion, April 1968, Vol. LXXXI, No. 2
“The Mothballed Spaceship”
Astounding: John W. Campbell Memorial Anthology, November 1973
The Deathworld Omnibus (ed. Jim3692) (a book variant)
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The series in 3 separate books here: https://forum.mobilism.org/viewtopic.php?f=1293&t=403811&hilit=Deathworld+Harry+Harrison
