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Title | The White Invaders
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Series | ---
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Author | Ray Cummings
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Cover Art | ---
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Publisher | ---
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First Printing | ---
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Category | Science Fiction
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Warnings | None
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Main Characters
| Don, Bob, Tako, Julia
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Main Elements | Interdimensions
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Don's shotgun went up. "Bob, we'll hold our ground. Is it--is he armed, can you see?" "No! Can't tell."
Armed! What nonsense! How could this wraith, this apparition, do us physical injury!
"If--if he gets too close, Bob, by God, I'll shoot. But if he's human, I wouldn't want to kill him."
The shape had stopped again. It was fifty feet from us now, and we could clearly see that it was a man, taller than normal. He stood now with folded arms--a man strangely garbed in what seemed a white, tight-fitting jacket and short trunks. On his head was a black skull cap surmounted by a helmet of strange design.
Don's voice suddenly echoed across the rocks.
"Who are you?"
The white figure gave no answer. It did not move.
"We see you. What do you want?" Don repeated.
Then it moved again. Partly toward us and partly sidewise, away from the sea. The swing of the legs was obvious. It was walking. But not upon the path, nor upon the solid surface of these Bermuda rocks! A surge of horror went through me at the realization. This was nothing human! It was walking on some other surface, invisible to us, but something solid beneath its own tread.

This tale has a bit of an unfortunate name, especially through a modern reader's eye and the fact the tale starts off in Bermuda. After all, with a comment like "the negroes of Bermuda being more intelligent than most" the white invaders that popped into mind were in fact our protagonists, the rich white guys. But the white invaders Cummings had in mind were interdimensional travellers who, when partially materialized in our world appears a glowing white figures. They also wear white clothes and have silvery hair. Fortunately the racist cringeworthy bits were just a few offhand comments at the start, eventually our protagonists are kidnapped into the invader's dimension and they head off to devastate New York.
The interdimensional aspect was interesting, especially as the invaders walk around their terrain passing through ours as if they were ghosts. Where we might have a flat field, they might have a hill so they walk up into the air. Where we have a river they might have a gully so they will sit below the surface of the water. That imagery was kind of neat.
However, the villain was completely one dimensional. Why was he invading our world? To steal pretty girls to increase his harem, and as such his ranking among the other nobles of his world. Though technically it was a woman scorned that saved the day...but only because she was pissed off, so out of spite she just went bananas, not exactly an inspiring heroine, though good for her standing up to being cast away as an older model when a newer shiner girl shows up.
Cummings died in 1957, though Goodreads lists this story as first published in 1980, so sometimes as a modern reader you just need to shudder a bit and try to take it with a grain of salt. For what it's worth the story doesn't promote racism or sexism, it just assumed they were the norm of the day. Unfortunately, other than the concept of invaders from a world that overlaps our own, the rest was your standard pulp SF adventure, with light beams and all. I wasn't expecting anything else but when it's over 100 pages long it can drag a bit.
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