Slaves of Sleep

Slaves of Sleep

Dust-jacket from the first edition
Author	L. Ron Hubbard
Cover artist	Hannes Bok
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Heroic fantasy
Publisher	Shasta Publishers
Publication date	1948
Media type	Print (hardback)
Pages	206 pp
Followed by	The Masters of Sleep

Slaves of Sleep is a heroic fantasy novel written by L. Ron Hubbard. It was first published in book form in 1948 by Shasta Publishers; the novel originally appeared in 1939 in an issue of the magazine Unknown. The novel presents a story in which a man travels to a parallel universe ruled by Ifrits. The protagonist takes on the identity of a human in this dimension, and becomes involved in the politics of Ifrits in this fictional "Arabian Nights" world.

The novel concerns Jan Palmer, a young millionaire, who surprises a prowler who is attempting to burgle his collection of antiques. The prowler opens a jar that bears the seal of Sulayman releasing an Ifrit, named Zongri, that was imprisoned. The Ifrit kills the thief and curses Palmer with eternal wakefulness. At night, Palmer assumes the identity of an adventurer in another dimension where the Ifrits rule the humans under the Ifrit queen where he becomes embroiled in the conflict between Zongri and the Ifrit queen.

The story later published in book format, was first released in July 1939 in the United States, in the magazine Unknown. Its first book publication was in 1948 in the U.S. by Shasta Publishers in a hardback format. The first edition of the book contained a publication of 3,500 copies, of which 250 were signed by Hubbard. It was published in Germany in 1963 in hardback format by Utopia-Kriminal. It was re-published in the U.S. in a paperback format in 1967, by Lancer Books.

Actor René Auberjonois performed audio reading for the 1993 adaptation of the book in spoken format, as a dual release with its sequel, titled together: Slaves of Sleep & the Masters of Sleep. In 1993 actors Michelle Stafford, Sisu Raiken, Jim Meskimen, Christopher Smith and Tait Ruppert performed segments from the book with Interplay, their improv comedy organization. The 1993 edition by Bridge Publications was part of re-released fictional works by L. Ron Hubbard.