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Retief! A Collection of Stories Keith Laumer Eric Flint 9780671318574 Books

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Retief! A Collection of Stories Keith Laumer Eric Flint 9780671318574 Books

If you're a fan of the dry Brit wit of sci-fi like Douglas Adams'"Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", and Connie Willis'"To Say Nothing of the Dog", you should check out the "Retief" series. Very funny satirical space-farce, with a rather inept space diplomacy corps trying to keep the galaxy from erupting into complete chaos & warfare, with Retief as a seemingly minor-diplomatic aide being the only one capable enough to actually do the job (and the job of his utterly clueless superiors as well), while being surrounded by all sorts of pompous, ambitious and dodgy sorts of characters, both human and alien and all angling for power in a Pythonesque universe! And speaking of Monty Python, I couldn't help but mentally cast them in all the character roles in my head, since their brand of humor, silliness & social satire would've dove-tailed nicely with the Retief stories if they'd ever been made into movies! I could also picture Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie nicely plugged into this universe as well, since there was something vaguely Wodehousian about the satire of the pompous, contrived,upper-class mannerisms of many of the diplomats & other characters as well, so I can even see fans of "Jeeves & Wooster" enjoying Retief if they happen to enjoy cracking good Brit sci-fi!


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Retief! A Collection of Stories Keith Laumer Eric Flint 9780671318574 Books Reviews

_Retief!_ (2002), ed. Eric Flint is a posthumous omnibus of Keith Laumer's early Retief stories. It consists of the very first Retief novella from _Fantastic_, "Diplomat- at- Arms," which is presented as a portrait of Retief late in his career. It doesn't really fit comfortably with the rest of the tales.

The remainder of the tales are all of the short stories from _Envoy to New Worlds_ (1963) and _Galactic Diplomat_ (1965) and the complete first Retief novel, _Retief's War_ (1966)-- though the story sequence is slightly different from their original chronology. I don't see that Flint's tinkering has done any real harm. All of these later stories were originally published in _If_.

For readers not in the know, Jame Retief is a low-ranking member of the Corps Diplomatiques Terrestrienne (CDT), often in disgrace with his superiors for breaking protocol or ignoring orders. But in fact, Retief is really the man who gets things done, using a two-fisted diplomacy when the bungling of his superiors has failed.

No, the Retief stories are not Laumer's best writing. And yes, they are formulaic. But they are passable entertainments, and these early stories generally show Retief in his best form.
I ordered this book for ...what came through was a single short story "Yillian"....what a bunch of crap that was....99 cents for an Analog length story. need to get their act together and make sure their system is accurate. This book isn't on ...surprise!
In this age of The Diplomatic Reset being pushed by the Obama Administration, the Retief tales collected in this volume by Eric Flint do show a bit more muscular, realistic, down-to-earth view of interacting with others. If only the current US Department of State could be inspired by this...
Fan of the series
I've read shorter Retief books before. This is a nice long collection, with enjoyable stories, including my favorite from my youth, Diplomat-at-Arms.
One of my favorites from the '60s, Retief has the right mixture of humor, mystery, action...the James Bond of the Diplomatic Corps. Nice to see so many stories in one large volume.
If you're never read Retief Galactic Diplomat at Arms, you must. If you are over fifty or sixty, you will howl at the references. Buy this book if you want to be entertained!
If you're a fan of the dry Brit wit of sci-fi like Douglas Adams'"Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", and Connie Willis'"To Say Nothing of the Dog", you should check out the "Retief" series. Very funny satirical space-farce, with a rather inept space diplomacy corps trying to keep the galaxy from erupting into complete chaos & warfare, with Retief as a seemingly minor-diplomatic aide being the only one capable enough to actually do the job (and the job of his utterly clueless superiors as well), while being surrounded by all sorts of pompous, ambitious and dodgy sorts of characters, both human and alien and all angling for power in a Pythonesque universe! And speaking of Monty Python, I couldn't help but mentally cast them in all the character roles in my head, since their brand of humor, silliness & social satire would've dove-tailed nicely with the Retief stories if they'd ever been made into movies! I could also picture Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie nicely plugged into this universe as well, since there was something vaguely Wodehousian about the satire of the pompous, contrived,upper-class mannerisms of many of the diplomats & other characters as well, so I can even see fans of "Jeeves & Wooster" enjoying Retief if they happen to enjoy cracking good Brit sci-fi!