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hard sci fi - SF Story identification 1960s story Analog magazine aliens conquer Earth by making everyone fall asleep


I'm trying to recall an SF story that was serialized in Analog magazine in the 1960s. Aliens invaded Earth by using a gas that made almost everyone fall asleep. A few individuals were either immune or in a protected environment. One of these was a man who had lost one or both legs. Normally he used robotic legs, but for some reason they were taken away. He may have been in a prison. Together, the few humans left awake somehow defeat the invasion.



I'm not sure if this story was ever published in book form. I read in Analog.


If anyone can point me in the right direction, that would be wonderful. Thanks!



Answer



Sleeping Planet by William R Burkett


Serialized in Analog, 1964, July, August, and September.



Science Fiction Encyclopedia described this as a “hard-edged” tale of the 24th-century conquest of Earth by an alien empire the humans had judged too stupid to pull off such a coup. Only a handful of humans escaped the effects of a mutated narcoleptic drug that put humanity into protracted hibernation. The battle to liberate Earth is fought by those few...



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