Retief's Peace

Retief

by William H. Keith Jr.

"Retief is Back! The Galaxy's one and only two-fisted diplomat returns to make the universe safe for terrans in spite of his bungling and cowardly superior officers." "Peace, it's wonderful! Except when the Peace Movement is actually a subterfuge by the warlike and imperialistic Krll to get the Terrans off of a planet, leaving it defenseless and ripe for conquest." "Of course, the Terran diplomats have their usual primary concerns: covering their, ah, flanks and not doing anything that might threaten their careers ... which means that they're not about to do anything, period." Once again, it's up to Retief to thwart the would-be conquerors, even if the unthinkable happens, and he's drummed out of the Corps Diplomatique Terrestrienne! And Retief has never been more dangerous to the villains than when he's operating outside the rules of diplomacy!

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

304 pages, Hardcover

First published May 22, 2005

About the author

Bill Keith was raised in the mountains of western Pennsylvania, and served in the Navy as a corpsman for many years. In addition to writing fiction and non-fiction works, he is an award-winning illustrator/artist.

He has also published under the psuedonyms:
Ian Douglas (SF series: Heritage, Legacy, Inheritance, Star Carrier, Andromedan Dark)
H. Jay Riker (SEALS:The Warrior Breed series)
Keith Douglass (Carrier and Seal Team 7 series)
Bill Keith
Keith William Andrews (Freedom's Rangers series)
Robert Cain (Cybernarc series)

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Retief's Peace by William H. Keith a.k.a. Ian Douglas is a novel based on the character created by Keith Laumer. Mr. Keith has remained true to Keith Laumer's character and this book was like reading a new Retief novel written by Keith Laumer himself. It was a fun, fast read and I enjoyed it very much. Kudos to William H. Keith for writing such a fun adventure in the world of the Corps Diplomatique Terrestrienne!

[Jeannette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I tend to avoid continuations of deceased authors' series by new writers because my past experience is they tend to read like very bad fanfiction with little relation to original canon, character or style and manage, almost as if intentionally, to not contain any of the elements that made that original so good.

So William H. Keith's addition to Keith Laumer's "Retief" series was a pleasant surprise to me, the next best thing to reading Laumer himself and an excellent homage to him. Retief, Magnan, the Groaci, the usual embassy and military types were all recognizable as the characters I've always loved when in the mood for a bit of tongue-in-cheek "diplomacy" and adventure. If Mr. Keith ever decides to write another Retief I'll be happy to read. it.

[Sedengr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Practical application of diplomacy by the main character who seems to be the only one with common sense in the story other than the natives he is trying to save.

[Scott van_Wetten · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author was trying to hard to fit humor into this book. The humor is in this book is similar to that in "A Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy." But in this book, the humor just fell flat.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing deep here, but this is a fun romp.